There are a few words that are sure to bring on an intense response on the farm. ‘Fire’ is one. The report of rain when you have a whole field of hay down ready to be baled is another. Right up there next to ‘Fire’ is the phrase I yelled to my husband after working all night and just getting into a deep sleep. ‘Cows are OUT!!!!’ He jumped out of bed, dazed but ready for action when I had to tell him, oops, my mistake. They just LOOKED like they were out! Sorry, honey.
To this false alarm, we had our share of real bovine on the loose escapades! A very memorable one is the time the cows got out just after an electrical storm – the boogers knew the electric fence was out. I was in the barn feeding my horses when I saw out of the corner of my eye a flash of shaggy brown fur. That could be a moose on the loose but unlikely since we are in Ohio.
We had a herd of Scottish Highlanders cattle which are quite unique in their appearance with shaggy brown fur and long horns! They look like a cross between yaks and a giant Lhasa Apso dog with horns. So I walk out of the barn to see half of the herd circling the farmhouse at a dead run, with the occasional cow hop thrown in! Not good. So I yell, ‘Cows are OUT’ to get the troops in action!!! My kids are young so the ‘troops’ consist of me and hubby. To add to the drama, it is just before dusk and a thick fog is rolling in. We had minutes to get this group gathered up before we lost all visibility. My husband gets the ATV out with wheels spinning and mud flying and sets out to ’round up’ the herd. To our dismay, the herd had split with half heading to the back 40 and half up by the house and the road. Really not good. He got the herd in the general vicinity of one another as he disappears down our back lane swallowed up in the dense fog as I yell after him, ‘Don’t get hurt!!!’ My words are drowned by the roar of the engine. This is a man on a mission!
I wait at the end of the lane feeling kind of helpless as the minutes tick by and the light fades. The fog has settled in so thick it muffles the sound of beast and engine so I am enveloped in this white cloud of suspense. I hope and pray my husband isn’t in a ditch somewhere being trampled by shaggy beasts.
Then like a dream, shadows of cows appear and become more distinct. Sounds of hoofbeats, breath and moos follow so I know its not just my wishful thinking that brought them back to me. I am able to direct them back into their pasture with my very satisfied husband pulling up the rear. We are able to secure the gate after the last cow just as the light fades completely.
That night my mind wants to go over the ‘what ifs’ of hurt bodies, loose cows on highways in the dark, little children waiting for mom and dad to appear thru the fog but my body is too tired. You learn to live with unknowns and suspense on a farm because you deal with nature and weather and economy, all of which you have little control over. But today we had victory!
Sue, if there weren’t a few more victories than defeat, there wouldn’t be many farmers, but “victory” is sometimes in the eye of the beholder! :)
We never had more than one milk cow, but we rented a large corral to a dairy that kept its dry cows in it One time I remember so well… it had been a wet spring and the ground was saturated. One morning I woke up to the sound of “thump! slurrrrppp… thump!”
I could literally feel my heart sink when I went to the window to see a small herd of Holsteins a foot deep in muck that was our lawn just the night before.
LOL!! Oh yes. Been there done that Pat! We went on a rare family vacation with only part of our family because someone had to stay home with the animals. As we drove down our long lane we started seeing tell tale signs of a large animal invasion on our front lawn. Our young adult, and very capable son had just spent the better part of the morning, after working all night (how do the cows know this???) rounding up cows from the front lawn. Maybe we should of invested sooner in better fences?? :) Although I could tell you stories of helping my husband with fencing while 8 months pregnant with toddlers and some wild eyes horses but I’ll save that for another Tales From the Farm stories!
How many times we have all faced the fog of uncertainty and the chill of excitement as we gather up the animals from where they have wandered. And I hope for those times that it is the animals who have made this decision to vacate the premises.
But here in the wild, wild West….Virginia, my cow chases are usually the result of “neighborly intervention”. Yes, folks, cattle rustling is alive and well. My cows have been hustled away through the hills so many times, they seem to show relief and total subordination by the time we find them and take them back. You’d think they were teenagers being dragged (but really rescued) from some folly of theirs.
When we get them home, we check for damages and put them to bed. And we never make them talk anything until they’re ready. Moo-o-re later.
LOL! Glad everyone returned safe and sound. Fortunatley I did not ever have neighbor problems– usually fence or someone left a gate open. Not ME, of course! No one ever admits to being the one who left a gate open.
We did have a feral cow though who lived in our back woods. He came from the farm down the road and it took months for the neighbor to get him back– the longer he lived back there the wilder he got! We would have cow sightings– shadowy black glimpses kind of like the loch ness monster!
Love it! Although it wasn’t cows. Sunday morning, DH and DD at church, me at home with really bad flu – early spring. Cows might have been better but our sheep – 7 ewes and 16 lambs decided to take a stroll down the road above our property. I was awakened by a stranger who had driven down wanting to know if the “black and white sheep in the road were ours”. Clad in pjs, he drove me up to the road and, with the help of six strangers, got the sheep with their lambs back behind the pasture fence. After finding where they got out, this stranger (named Joe) went back to his pick-up, got out a hammer, small bucket of nails, some barbed wire, and work gloves. He was just finishing up making repairs when my DH and DD, coming home from church, turned down our road. DH shook his hand with a “mighty nice of you to stop”. We never saw Joe or his pick-up again despite living in a “small” town (around 32K). If someone asks me if there are angels, I can honestly say, “Yes, and his name was Joe.”
Oh what a great story, Diane! Joe was a good samartian who came equipped with his own tools!
How do the animals know though to do this kind of stuff when we are either sick, away or its raining cats and dogs? They just don’t get out when its nice or convenient!