Amuck

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I thought it was about time to post a farm story, so here’s one on cattle and what can happen if they get out:

Animals on pasture warrant good fences and well-closed gates. Most livestock fencing for pastures have four main parts which are fence posts, corner braces, wire and gates.

Maintaining a fence is a constant job. Fences are forever heaving with the freezing and thawing cycles, being harassed by domestic and wild animals or being crushed by falling trees.

There are a lot of different kinds of fencing equipment to choose from and of course the type of fence you put up will depend of what kind of animal you’re trying to keep in. One could be working with chicken wire, pig wire, woven wire, electric wire, cattle panels, pig panels or barbed wire. Posts are usually metal or wood and corner braces mark the corners of the pasture and provide a way for fencing to turn a corner.

Gates are perhaps one of the most important parts of a fence and are oftentimes overlooked. An overlooked gate can spell disaster as it did on our farm last fall.

My parents have been raising beef on pasture for about 23 years; they live about three miles from my farm. Every year they bring over some of their stock to take advantage of the pastures here that I don’t use. Last year they brought over seven head of young cattle.

This group lived all summer on the pastures in the back 40 of my farm. A fair piece of the fencing in that pasture runs along State Highway 64. The road is a two lane that is reasonably busy. Also along that particular fence line runs a pretty major power line. The power line and my fence share the ditch along this stretch of 64.

Also along this stretch is located a gate. Periodically, the power company comes and does maintenance on the power line…sometimes they use that gate to access the line….last October they forgot to close it.

It took the cattle a day or two but they did finally notice that the gate was open. Intrigued, six of the seven left their pasture and went on an adventure that lasted 10 days.

While it may not seem like a huge deal that the cows got out….it really was. Anyone with animals is in charge of those animals whether they escape or not. Owners can be fined for animals at large and are held personally responsible for what their livestock do while running amuck.

What can a small herd of cattle do? Well a bunch of things actually. They can damage other folks’ property by eating their corn, tearing up a yard or garden or eating small trees. They also may break down fences to get to other peoples’ animals…unwanted breeding could occur.

The absolute worst case scenario would be if the animals were to cause a traffic accident. Cattle will happily run down a road (I’ve seen this) frolicking and kicking up their heels. Motorists don’t expect to see this. Imagine a car that crashes into a wayward cow who weights between 1500 and 2000 pounds. Not pretty.
Once a livestock owner learns that they’ve got animals running at large, a sort of panic ensues. You need to get those animals back….fast.

After checking all the fence lines, we confirmed that six of dad’s cattle were indeed out at about 6 p.m. on a Wednesday night. We found where the power company had cut a limb out of a tree and had crushed the fence. At first we thought this was where the cows had made there escape.

Dad called the power company. He was told that they did not leave a limb across the fence. The power company called back and said that one of their workers remembered that he had forgotten to shut a gate. Later we would learn that a neighbor had seen the gate open and had gone and shut it. Unfortunately this happened after the cows got out.

We made numerous calls to all the neighbors and the neighbors’ neighbors. We were able to ascertain the general direction that the herd went in.

It gets dark pretty early in October, so my parents and my family and I spent the rest of that night driving up and down the back roads shining spotlights into the nearby fields and woods. We called the search off at midnight with no sightings.

The next day dad called the power company again and they agreed to send out a crew to help with the search. Dad spent the day searching with three power company workers with no luck.

It’s easy to get discouraged when you have animals out and you’re having problems getting them back. There was some speculation that we would not be able to get them back and that we may need to go on a cow hunting expedition. Dad’s cows are not really tame. They live out on pasture and don’t really have much contact with humans. So it was not like we could just call them and they would come back.

The herd had everything they needed while out at large. There was plenty of corn to eat which was like exotic food to them since they are grass fed. There were places to drink water and hang out to chew cud and nap. It was like an all inclusive vacation of sorts for them.

Luckily, the following day a neighbor called to report that the herd was in his corn field, gleefully eating everything in sight. The corn was about eight feet tall at that time and provided excellent camouflage for the amuck bovines.

The neighbor’s corn field is adjacent to one of his pastures where some cattle and horses live. Dad decided he would try to entice his cattle into that pasture with some ground feed, the equivalent of delicious junk food for dad’s cattle

Two of the cows were lured into the neighbor’s pasture and loaded up in a trailer and brought home. Four others were not convinced and chose to continue their adventure. Several days passed with them not falling for the luring trick.

We assembled a crew which included about 10 people, two vehicles, three four wheelers, several cell phones and some rattles. Rattles are plastic sticks with a paddle on the end. The paddle has beads in it that rattle; it drives cattle crazy and sometimes makes them do what you want them to.

So we headed out to collect the final four. My mom stationed herself on the highway with her flashers on, ready to alert passing traffic of road running cattle. Dad and my uncle were in my dad’s truck at the far end of the corn field. The rest of us walked through the rows of corn in an effort to drive the cows out towards the neighbor’s pasture.

Ever walked through a corn field in October? I had before, but not in pursuit of cattle. The corn plants are tall and dry by then. The leaves rustle and you can’t see anywhere except for a few feet right in front of you. If makes you feel really isolated even if there are other people walking on either side of you only 30 feet away. I felt very Children of the Corn-ish.

We did not run across them on our drive of the corn field. It turned out that the renegade herd was up on a ridge along an old logging trail.

Riding four wheelers and armed with cell phones, several folks headed up to find them. Their plan was to flush them down the logging road along the neighbor’s pasture fence all the while using cell phones for communication. Several heated discussions took place on mobile phones that day.

I was to stand at the end of the logging road, which came out to the highway and direct the cattle through a gate into the neighbor’s pasture. So I stood there at the end of the logging road waiting. I heard the whine of a four wheeler in the distance and sure enough here came one of the cows running at full speed down a hill. With a four wheeler right beside her (cows can run up to 30 mph, by the way).

I tried to make myself look big by spreading my arms out with my trusty rattle clenched in a fist. I though I was making a pretty good human gate. She ran right up to me which I expected…but holy cow she got close. I was wowed by her Herford glory as she threw her head to the side (brushing my nose with her ear). Her fur shined in the sun, her eyes spoke of adventure and her neck blubber jiggled.

I though she was going to step on my foot! So I hollered and smacked her in the face with the rattle. She made a graceful turn and dived into the ditch, which was the exact opposite way we wanted her to go. She ran alongside the highway with my mom driving beside her, fretting.

Plenty of swearing and team planning happened as she disappeared back into the corn. The rest of the day was spent attempting to run the other three down the fence and into the pasture, with no luck. At one point one of the cattle decided that he had had enough. He ran back to his home pasture and crashed through the fence apparently happy to be home, his adventure done.

The other three would remain as campers out in the wilderness for a few more days until they decided, what the heck…lets go eat some feed. It took 10 days and 100 man hours to get them back where they were supposed to be. Mom and dad submitted a bill for the time to the power company and they paid it. We went ahead and installed a padlock on the gate.