Cattle can't stop exploring

They are at it again. This afternoon John, my far northern neighbor, called to tell me my cattle were out of Jim's pasture and across the river and "disappearing fast".



So much for a relaxing Sunday afternoon out of the heat. With all the grass in Jim's pasture you'd think the cattle would be satisfied to just eat and relax. But, no..... they have to check out their boundaries.

Off I went, carrying my old shoes I use to walk across the gravel river bottom.

When I reached the river the cattle were returning from their exploration. They were lined up at the end of the two-strand fence. To get around the fence they had to drop down into the river mud then back up. The remaining cattle didn't want to do that. A few found that going away from the fence on a trail through the tall grass would lead to an easy and less muddy - though still muddy - route back up the bank into Jim's pasture. Most didn't see the connection. Odd, as I bet that is how they originally got around the fence. I bet they were down for a drink at the river - even though I am keeping the water trough at the other end of the pasture full of water - and thought, "Hmmm... wonder where I could go if I crossed the mud over to that tall green grass?"

A couple cattle slipped through the fence. Most others braved the mud and would suddenly pop up on the river bank. Then I was left with eight cattle. These were the "dainty" cattle who didn't want to get dirty. A few in the back were satisfied just eating the tall grass and eventually the herd start to move away from the end of the fence. I had to cross the fence and herd them back to the end and through the mud. One of the cattle jumped the fence, but the rest 'grinned and bared it' and crossed the mud. This morning two of my steers, 115 and 145, came over while I filled the water trough and had me scratch their heads. Now 115 didn't want me near - he knew he was where he wasn't suppose to be and was in trouble.

I counted 27 cattle. The grass down here is taller than the cattle so it was hard to count and easy to miss them.

I followed their trail through the tall grass to the river bank near the corner of Jim and John's property. Due to a bushy tree eroding into the river, and the deeper part of the river along John's property, the cattle didn't cross to there. But the river channel here was shallow and not even knee deep. I put my old shoes on and rolled my pants legs over my knees and crossed the river to where I could see the cattle had crossed earlier.

The other side of the river is a mixture of tall grass and bushy trees. More trees than grass. Still there were trails here and there where the cattle made trails in their exploration. I followed keeping an eye out for extra cattle. I didn't find any cattle. A fence is outside the tree zone and that kept the cattle from going any further. Eventually they gave up their exploration and returned "home". Hopefully they got exploring this area out of their system.

A quiz: what do you get with an old shoe with a hole in the bottom and a tree branch with thorns? Yup, you guessed it, a thorn in the bottom of my foot. Great, just as my right foot is healing from last weekend's hike, my left foot is injured. Even though the tree branch is dead, this type of thorn tree keeps the wood - and thorn - hard. I believe I was able to pull the entire thorn from my foot.

The cattle were back at the east end of the pasture and closer to the water trough and the small shed Lyle's two horses had used as shelter. The shed is too small to hold all my cattle but a half dozen or so can go inside into the shade. I counted and all 30 cattle were here. One bit of good news.

I had just taken a shower before the cattle's adventure.. Keeping clean doesn't last too long for me.