After I crossed the river I found nine of my heifers away from the neighbor's herd and in a group somewhat close to the gate. The rest of the herd was at the north end of the field. With binoculars I could see two of my heifers with the herd and bull.
I opened the gate and walked out to get my heifers' attention. Still eating they worked their way over to me. I retreated through the gate and they followed me. Once they moved on from the gate I closed it.
Hurray!
The cattle were on the "peninsula". Not the right side of the river but on the right side of the fence.I decided not to herd the heifers but let them eat and explore and find the river crossing. The peninsula is only so big. Besides it is pain to herd cattle through a heavily treed area.
While waiting on my cattle my neighbor drove up on his ATV. He said he came to do a little fishing and to check his cattle. In conversation he said he had checked his cattle after 8 am this morning. He also said he often came to this spot to do fishing. He left after less than ten minutes of fishing. He said he would check his cattle then come back.
My heifers hung around the fence and slowly made their way south. Instead of turning left to where they could go to cross the river they continued south. I went around to head them off but with the trees it was a hassle so I let them pass. Besides I wanted to see if my fence work (from last year after the heifer made her jailbreak) was still good or whether the deer had broken it. The fence was still good.
The cattle made their way to the fence and stopped. After eating and milling around they decided to take a siesta. No....! So I herded them on. They didn't want to go and used every opportunity to stop and stand there. The middle section was still wet and swampy so I herded them to the north side.
When I then herded them to the east they took the hard way through the trees instead of the easy path. When cattle don't want to be herded they do this. The equivalent of kids dragging their feet.
Eventually I got them to the SE corner. In past years cattle have either crossed from here to the small island then to my pasture, else across the river. Usually the 'across the river' route is done when the river is lower and the gravel bar appears in the middle.
I figured the cattle would cross over to the small island as they have already visited it. And the channel crossing to the island only has about six inches of water in this spot. And the river bank is not all that high or steep. Instead the cattle stayed in the corner. Any attempt to pressure them to the river resulted in the right or left side trying to escape. Cattle don't like to be pressured into going into the water.
So I stood there thinking they would eventually get the idea on how to cross. I even told them how to do it. When I pointed where to cross one heifer turned and looked where I was pointing. But they didn't want to cross. Instead they laid down and took their siesta in the hot sun. A couple heifers even curled up and went to sleep. When they sleep they breath harder.
A few times one or two heifers stood up and tried to sneak past but laid back down when they saw I wasn't going to let them pass.
Okay. This will be a waiting game. I can wait too. I stood there. After a while I sat down too. I figured they eventually would want to get a drink of water and go into the river. Especially being in the hot sun. But they never did. Or maybe my neighbor would come back and I could get him to help me. But he never came back.
As I had crossed the river I was wearing shorts. The sunburn on my legs from Saturday's long hike made my legs sensitive to the grass and tree branches. A few mosquitoes braved the hot sun but mainly the pests were flies. At one point the tall grass rustled nearby me and whatever caused the movement was heading towards me. I waited and watched but it turned and went elsewhere. I don't know what it was. The rustling seemed to be too large to be from a mouse.
The grass on the peninsula was lush. The cattle had 'cattle breath' from the green grass.
A lot of time passed. Without a watch don't know how long but I wouldn't be surprised it was several hours.
I think the cattle used some sort of mind control on me when they stared at me as I "blinked" first. I came to the decision that since they didn't know how to cross directly they wouldn't do it. If I got them to the small island I still had to get them to the island's SE corner to cross the river. Besides the fence would keep them safely on my side until they could figure out how to cross. I decided to get up and cross the river to the island. Maybe they would follow me.
Nope. Once I got into the river the cattle immediately got up and headed away from the river and started eating again.
*sigh*
I waited. The cattle made their way back to the fence. I went to check on them and found the neighbor's herd had come back down from the ridge and were in eyesight. A couple of my heifers mooed at them to get their attention but the herd paid no attention. Since I was giving them a disapproving look the cattle moved on away from the fence.
I waited around for some time but the cattle were content to graze on the peninsula. A few times several cattle came to the river bank to look at me standing in the river but wouldn't come in to join me. Eventually I gave up and came home. Walking home I noticed how different my dry pasture was to the lush green grass on the peninsula. I need rain!
It was after 9 pm by the time I got home. I hate to say I wasted my day as I did get nine heifers back. But for the time I spent I could have painted or sprayed weeds or checked gopher traps or fixed fences, etc.
I needed my rancher girl. With a second person I could have gotten the cattle into the river and across.
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