MADISON  — A Montevideo man is charged in the theft of 23 steers from a western Minnesota feedlot.

Forty-year-old Richard Kenneth Nelson was charged Thursday with felony theft and receiving stolen property.

On Sunday, the Holstein steers were noticed missing from a Madison farm.

Investigators found the missing cattle, worth about $40,000, at livestock auctions in Pipestone and Benson, with Nelson’s name listed as the seller. When confronted, authorities say Nelson acknowledged selling the animals but said they were his.

Nelson was released from the Chippewa County Jail after posting bail. A home phone number for Nelson could not be found.