The Great Escape, or maybe not...

This morning as I sat at the computer checking the weather, my e-mails and such; I heard a very close 'moo'.  I turned my head to look out the window to see if one of the two steers in the barn lot was next to the window.  I did not see anything but the tall, pasture grass swaying in the early morning breeze.

I heard a few more 'moos' in very close proximity.  Strange, I thought; knowing that the main herd was in a distant pasture.  Wrong...

I stepped out of the office, looked around the corner, out the living room windows and saw a bunch of backs.  Cattle backs to be exact.  Oh my gosh...the herd is in the pasture by the house, not where they are supposed to be, and the main pasture gate is open.  As I ran from the house, I called frantically up to Glenn, who was still sleeping, 'Cattle are out!'

I ran across the yard as fast as I could, which is not very fast, to the open gate.  I was expecting to find half the herd in my yard snacking on my precious perennials and fruit trees.  I was so lucky.  There were two cows and one calf, standing on their side of the open gate, with similar gazes across their faces as if they were thinking, 'Should we or shouldn't we?'  I quickly chained the gate closed while they still deliberated, saving my plantings from mass munching and trampling - whew!  I am so fortunate that I am an early riser.

Glenn finally came out to survey the situation.  He went out to the pasture where the cows should have been and discovered a very dead, very decayed tree had fallen over the fence, in the wooded corner, creating the perfect escape route.  Cattle are masters at finding openings in fences.  And for some reason, they always want to be on the opposite side.  So, fixing the fence was the priority of the morning.

The situation would have been a whole lot worse if the herd had wandered out through the main pasture gate; through the yard making a stop in the vegetable garden to partake of a snack, especially one as tempting as the sweet corn; continue on down the driveway passing through the woods; and 7/10ths of a mile later reaching the second busiest highway, Route 11, in the county.  That is how my mind works - worst case scenario- go figure.

In reality, the cows escaped into a field that did not have water access, they got thirsty, Glenn opened the gate to the upper stock tank, the cows went to drink and the herd is now back where they belong - simple.


Note:  It is difficult to take a picture, at least for me, of a fence in the woods - if you look hard at the left photo, you can see the fence in the foreground and the fallen tree in the background.