Well, our second batch of cows needed to be sorted off so they could go to butcher. The plan was for me to sort them out Tuesday after work so they could be picked up first thing Wednesday morning. I was busy at work and did not get back to the house until 1600, still plenty of time to get the calves in and sorted before it got dark. As an added bonus all seven cows were in the pasture directly above the house. I just went up and shut the gate and locked them into the pasture. I then went and opened up the gate in the middle of the fence by the creek so they could run through the creek into the next pasture and then I could just push them around to the corral, simple.
Having chased the cows around on the upper hillside before with Mr Rainman I decided I needed to bring the border collie, Chance with me so I did not have to walk up and down the hill. Within 30 minutes I had no voice, I was screaming, not relaxed, tired and pissed off at the psychotic cows who kept running past the open gate. Annmarie was supposed to go to a Shrove Tuesday (Fat Tuesday) celebration but instead had to come out and help me with the cows. After hollering at the wife, apologizing and going to open the gate I had calmed down enough. The next plan was to allow the cows to go out the gate they wanted and then push them into the orchard field. By this time it is starting to get dark. The cows knew this is what we wanted to so they ran all the way down to the schoolhouse and then proceeded to keep running in circles from the bottom of the field to the top, over and over again! We only had one headlamp and all of the gates going down into the creek were shut so after running around in circles for a while Annmarie had me go check on the “open” gate. It was wired shut. I opened it and then we had the dog chase the cows down into the creek. We could hear them but not see them. So we walked up each side of the creek and sent the dog ahead to push the cows into the corral. On the way to the corral Annmarie asked me if we had all of the cows. Of course we did, even though we could not see them. By the time I got them locked up in the corral and counted them there were only three cows! It was dark and already 1900 so Annmarie went and got chicken strips for dinner while I finished with the cows in the corral.
We ate dinner, we were cold and tired and Annmarie wanted me to call the butcher and tell them there were two cows in the corral. I finished dinner and then proceeded to get the tractor and drive down to the schoolhouse. I was done chasing the cows around on foot. I did find the four cows, all the way down by the schoolhouse, three went the correct way and four went the wrong way in the dark and we could not see them.
I proceeded to spend an hour chasing them with the tractor until they went into the corral. Once in the corral I sorted them by headlamp. It was slow but I was making good progress until three decided to just run around the pen and not go down the chute. I went into the corner as they had “trapped” themselves into the corner and I had to push them out. The pretty dark brown calf from last year jumped sideways and caught me just above the knee in the leg. I spotted a 2×4 in the corner from the last time we sorted cows and I used it to persuade the calf to go into the chute. I was not brutal but I was limping as I persuaded the calf to go in the correct direction. I ended up with the four for slaughter in the corral and the three 8 month olds in the side pen. I was done chasing them. I let them out into the barn lot with the horse and tossed out hay for them in multiple places so the horse could not guard them all. I was done chasing cows.
I did warn the people coming the next day to be careful and vigilant as they did not want any of those cows getting away from them or they would not be able to catch them. We will be keeping the three young calves in the barn lot this year! I am done with crazy and wild cows. They are now hanging in an industrial fridge aging.
Stewart Creek Somethings 