A Tale of Two Tails

Bessie

January, 2010

This is a tale of life in the country. One day last week we were leaving when we noticed this cow standing across the road outside the fence. We immediately thought she had somehow gotten outside accidentally, so we called our neighbor and told him one of his cows was out. He checked his herd and called back and said it wasn't his. We returned home and she was still there. So here's where the detective work begins.

We stopped by another neighbor's house and he said it wasn't his. Meanwhile, we return home and she is in our next door neighbor's yard just grazing away, but still no idea where she belongs. There are many huge farms in our area that raises Black Angus. I called Mr. C (our neighbor across the road with the herd) and he said he had contacted another neighbor, but no luck. As we come and go, she is in different places. She spends most of her time up against the fence near the other cows, however, she was at our other next door neighbor's mailbox (I guess checking the mail). So, as we come and go, she is in different places, but never too far.

Yesterday when I returned home from running some errands, Mr C. was in his truck trying to herd her into his property until we can find the owner so that she will be safe. He had his son helping him and things seem to be going well. He was keeping her against the fence and slowly moving her toward his front gate. I totally stopped the car and waited until he passed me and when I looked in my rear view mirror, I saw her bolt across the road and go into the woods. Here is what I saw 15 minutes later.

Bessie enjoying our front yard

So, we are still looking for her owner. I teased Mr. C (who graciously offered to care for her until her owner can be located) about wondering what the current penalty for cow rustling is. Does anyone know if it's still a hanging offense?????

Next, comes the tale of the deer. In the middle of looking for the owner of the cow, a young button buck got caught in our front gate. This was really a "what the .......?" John tried to lift his back legs, but he just bellowed. So he called animal control for some help.

The officer immediately offered to shoot the deer. I was horrified! Not on my watch!!! John immediately ran down to the workshop and got a hacksaw and started to work. He sawed through the iron in quick order. The animal control officer and John took the pole that animal control uses and lifted him to safety. He was extremely tired and had abrasions on both sides, but seemed okay otherwise. The officer said to give him space, so we backed up and just waited. After about 30 minutes, John went to check on him and he bolted up and ran into the woods.

Results of damage to our gate but

Happy Ending!!!