2012 cattle corral jailbreak

So much for my new 8 ft corral gates.  This afternoon, after we returned from returning more unneeded bathroom remodel stuff, I spotted the cattle in the NE pasture.  Not where they are supposed to be!

I jumped out of my pickup and yelled for Tammy to come help.

Fortunately the cattle were still clustered near the open gates.  I was able to get several cattle back into the corral by the time Tammy arrived.  With Tammy blocking an escape path the rest of the cattle reluctantly were herded back into the corral.

This was a similar jailbreak to when Tammy first visited me a few years ago.  This time Tammy knew more of what to do and the herding was easier.

How did the cattle get past the gates?

Shh!!    Don't tell the heifer checking the bar out but... notice where the bar ends on the left side.  There is not much space left of the bracket.  The same is on the right side of the bar.   The cattle pressed against the gate in an effort to reach more and more green grass.  The bowing of the gate was enough that the bar slipped out of the bracket and with a little wiggling the bar tipped and slid down enough to be in only one bracket and the gate opened.

Here the cattle after they were herded back into the corral.  Once I left the gate area they sneaked back over to the gate in an effort to do another jailbreak.  This effort failed as I moved the end brackets in to eliminate the slippage from the brackets when the gates bow out from the cattle's pressure.