Lust driven jailbreak

Today eleven of my heifers swam the river and got over to the neighbor's bull. I suspect the heifer that was so in heat the previous night led the other ten heifers.

In the afternoon nine of my heifers came back to the salt blocks and their favorite siesta place. Only nine... hmmmm. I checked the pasture and no other cattle. With my binoculars I spotted two of my heifers with the neighbor's herd and bull on the side of the ridge across the river.

Oh no!

No wonder the bull stopped his calling to my heifers.

I called the neighbor to let him know. He said there is no way to get my cattle back until he runs his cattle from this field back to his corral in a couple weeks. There is no corral or sorting area in this field. And with the trees and ridge line it would make separating and herding the cattle very very difficult. Even if I had three people on horses it would be hard to sort the cattle.

The cattle are on the young side to be bred as most people would wait till next year to breed them. Last year a smaller heifer got to the bull and this Spring produced a beautiful calf. Apparently this Maine Anjou breed of bull throws low birth weight calves.

And the cattle will most likely be bred. I no longer hear the bull calling to the cattle but that doesn't mean the bull is quiet. Far from it. The neighbor said he thought the bull had finished breeding his cattle already. Great. He can turn his attention to taking advantage of my young and naive heifers.

From signs of flattened grass on top of the river bank and disturbed dirt from hooves clawing the river bank side, I think I know where the cattle crossed the river. This area of the river is deep and the bank on the other side is about a yard above the water level and is almost sheer. The neighbor hadn't fenced this section of the river because the river is deep and the bank vertical. I am amazed the cattle made it, especially as the river level is relatively high and there is a still a good current. Other years the cattle would quit half way across when the river got deep as they didn't want to swim.

I plan to go and check that all eleven heifers made it safely across the river. I think they did as the river gets shallower past this bend. If the cattle didn't make it onto the river bank they would float to a shallower section. Or at least I hope so.

Amazing what cattle will do when in heat and a bull is calling them.