The Morning the Cows Got Out

I have to tell you about my morning. I woke up early and decided that I would go for a run. I got all ready, walked out the door and I could hear the cows mooing. Our barn is about a 1/2 mile from our house. Now hearing the cows from the house is not that unusual…but they did seem a little louder than normal. So I warmed up, stretched and was on my way. As I was coming closer to the barn I noticed the cows making a lot of noise. I thought that maybe they were very anxious for Andy to get up there. Andy goes up every morning to do his morning chores. I crossed the creek and looked over at our neighbor’s property…and there were our 13 cows…out..loose….Holy Cow!

They were over there visiting the 2 cows that our neighbor has. I turned around and took off at a sprint back for the house….but the house is a long way off…it would take me forever to get there. I quickly changed my mind and decided it would be better to go to the barn. It was closer. So I sprinted to the barn. I am just starting to run regularly so I am still a bit out of shape. I ended up getting so out of breath as I ran up the hill to the barn that I had to stop and walk, which was very frustrating because time was of the essence. As I came to the barn I noticed poop everywhere out front…where poop is not supposed to be. I ran in and called the house and thankfully Andy answered….”The cows are out!...They're at the neighbor’s! ...Get the kids!” I grabbed the grain bucket and jumped in the truck and took off. I’m getting good at this. LOL! I helped a friend chase her cows a few weeks ago.

I went tearing down the driveway…and I mean tearing. I saw the cows venturing away from the fenced cows in the direction of the road. So I came to our neighbor’s driveway and parked the truck crossways to help block them in. I jumped out with the bucket and started running and banging the bucket. We call the cows in everyday by banging the bucket. The bucket means grain...and they LOVE grain.

They were back by the fence when I got there and very interested in me and the beloved bucket. I walked up slowly…thankfully I quickly figured out how to open the fence to the neighbor’s fenced in pasture..opened it up and walked in banging the bucket. They weren’t sure at first but they began walking into the fenced in area. All you have to do is get some of them in and usually the rest follow. Andy got there by this time and helped coax in a couple of strays. Bam! Fence closed…cows caught. LOL! That was easy! That was when the kids showed up in the gator. Mommy had to show off a little cause I caught the cows...practically by myself.

Now we had to get our cows back to our pasture. Andy went and got the stock trailer. The neighbor’s pasture has a little corral attached to it which has a chute off to the side. So Andy backed up the trailer to the chute. We then had to get out in the field and coax the cows toward the corral. That wasn’t too hard but it takes time. You have to be slow and patient with them. So we get them in the corral and weed out the neighbor’s cows.

Seems like it will be easy from there…but it wasn’t…it was much harder. We got some down the chute but they would stop dead in front of the trailer and refused to go in. Then we get too many down the chute…some heading in, some heading out. They would get all wedged in there and not move. We were pushing and kicking and shoving. I was climbing up and down the fence, which was really high, trying to coax them in. Pushing them with my feet...twisting their tail. FRUSTRATING! Finally…after MUCH effort…. we got them in. Two loads.

I was covered in poop, dirt and hay. I was exhausted because I was up and down and up and down this fence…pushing..shoving..opening and closing the trailer door. I have to say that cow wrangling is much more tiring than running. I came home, ate breakfast, took a shower and now I am back in bed. Everyone’s gone…maybe I will take a nap.

The whole novelty of chasing cows has worn off for me. I hope I won’t be doing it again for anytime soon.

Oh, and it was Andy’s fault. He had to take down some of the electrical fence when he was baling yesterday. He didn’t realize that it caused the fence to go down where the cows where. They must have been out all night….partying.

So that was my morning. Just had to share.