Cows...gotta love em!

It was a lovely morning, not to hot, not to cold. Husband had left for work awhile ago and I was spending a few extra moments (errr hours) laying in my bed reading a new book I had just picked up. I hear a knock at my door. What in the heck? I look at my clock, a little after 8:00 am. It is either family or an emergency. Hoping out of bed and at this point knowing there is nothing quick that I can do to make myself look presentable, I throw on my robe and laugh as I look in the mirror at my scantiwhompus hair (Coty loves that word). At my door is a neighbor. Great, I was hoping it would be someone I would never have to see again. I could tell he was amused at my attire, he told me I had a baby calf out. I thank him and tell him I will get it taken care of. This is where I would rally the troops and we would all go out and get the situation take care of. But we are short a few troops now. Down by 2 boys. I now have a 14 year old daughter and a 7 year old. I figure I will go assess the situation first. I get out side and realize, oh crude, it is this little guy....


The one on the right. If you will notice, most of our cows are Herefords. Herefords are mild (for the most part), easy going and pretty reasonable to deal with. Yah, this guy has a little Angus in him. My father in law has all Angus and they will bust through a fence if they think you are withholding fresh grass cuttings from them. Plus they are squirrely as all get out. I run in the house, knowing I will need back up. Courtney, being the last realiable member of the troop, changed out of her PJs quickly and came outside. By this time I had formulated a plan. This was after getting stuck on the barbwire fence, chasing the little calf through the neighbors yard and wishing I had my cell phone on me so I could call my husband and tell what I thought about "his" cows.

The plan... I get a grain bucket and lure the mama cows up the fence line. The calf should then follow mama cows up the fence, down the road, down the other road (which is a pretty busy road) to the gate which my 14 year old daughter has open. Grain bucket in hand I hop the fence, give the bucket a couple of good shakes and make some noise to get the mama cows attention.... and then it went down hill from there. We got rid of or bossy cow, but I have learned, when one bossy cow is gone, another takes her place. One of our mama cows wanted grain, and wanted it badly. I am not usually one to be bullied by cows (thinking of a few days earlier when my husband expected me to prevent our 1800 pound cow from running past me), but holy schmokes. It was an intense battle. Me trying to keep a steady pace toward the fence where the baby calf was, all the while literaly beating back mama cow. She was doing circles around me trying to get her head in the bucket. I smacked her on the head, swiveled right, swiveled left. I would have made any football coach proud. The more she danced around me, the more she was getting the other cows wound up. Imagine this... one cute, sweet woman, standing in the middle of 6 cows/calves as they run around her bellering trying to get their noses in her bucket. It was a little terrifying. I finally smacked her in the head, threw the grain bucket and headed for safety. I told 14 year old daughter to run and get her cell phone N O W! She hightailed it to the house and back giving me her cell phone. I informed my husband that he could come home and get "his" own dang cow back in, and then my eyes caught movement. The black baby calf was running down the fence line to the busy road. Oh crap. I shoved the phone in my pocket and ran like the dickens to head him off, so he wouldn't run into the road (there is a hill so someone coming over the hill wouldn't see the calf until it was to late). I luckily made it in time to turn him down the road toward the open gate. Errr wait, the gate isn't open. I yell to 14 year old daugther to get the gate open N O W! Just as the calf zooms on by it. The mama cows were all right by the fence though and the calf, being so squirrely (reminding you it's an Angus) ran up to the fence and squeezed right under it. OH MY GOODNESS! I sat there huffing and puffing. Then I start to notice, all the neighbors on my street had come out to see the commotion. Yes, once again I presented a whole 30 minutes of entertainment for everyone in the neighborhood, free of charge.

That evening when my dear husband came home, he says... "Well, if they are MY cows, you won't mind if I get a bull?" Uhmmm let me tell you about bull I tell him.