Cattle jailbreak into the hayfield

Yesterday the cattle made a jailbreak into the hayfield.  They have plenty of good green grass in the south pasture, but being cattle, they want more.

Yesterday around 6 pm, as I walked out of the house to go do some more work, I looked over towards the cattle.  Some didn't look right.  They looked to be on the hayfield side of the south pasture fence.  Yup.  They were.

The cattle must have just broken through the gate as less than half of the cows and calves were in the hayfield and weren't too far from the gate.  I went out, moved the leaning gate to be now open, and started herding the cattle back to the pasture.  I also had to deal with the rest of the cattle in the south pasture who saw our activity and came running over to join in.   I got all but one cow and two calves back into the south pasture.   The cow ran past the gate and not through.  The two calves split going in each direction away from the gate.  More effort and I got one calf back into the south pasture.

The cow was now down near the NE pasture gate.  I went down but she ran onwards.  Then past the middle pasture gate.  She headed towards the north pasture and hayfield gate.  That gate was open.   But then so were the gates to the NE pasture and the corral gates into the yard.  I didn't want this cow to go into the north pasture.  I got the cow to head back.  At the middle pasture gate, after a few turn arounds I got the cow into the middle pasture.

Now the final calf.  He didn't want to be herded and we ended up all the way to the south, south pasture and hayfield gate.  Before I could open the gate he ran back north.  I finally got him through the middle pasture gate after a few turn arounds where he went past the gate.

The cow and calf - someone else's calf - were fine in the middle pasture. Of course the rest of the cattle saw these two in the middle pasture and they ran to the middle pasture fence and the gate to the middle from south pasture.  They stood and mooed and watched the cow and calf.  Knock it off. Be quiet.

Now time for me to fix the leaning south pasture gate.

The gate on the left side was the problem.

I have the lag bolts - top down and bottom up - so the cattle can't lift the gate off the lag bolts.  The bottom part of the gate is fixed and the top has an adjustable hinge so that a person can have lag bolts be up and down.  Somehow the hinge slipped down enough so with pressure on the gate the gate would pop out of the lag bolt.  I got a wrench and readjusted the hinge to move it up.   I also had some wire and wrapped it around the lag bot and hinge so I shouldn't have the hinge slip in the future years.

All this cattle herding and gate fixing used up time.  The work I planned on finishing yesterday didn't get finished even though I was doing the work up 11 pm until it was too dark to continue working.  Today I got it done finally.

What chased the cattle last week

I figured out what chased my cattle last Wednesday.  I talked with some neighbors to see if they saw anything.  Then a woman who lives north of me stopped me when I was bicycling and told me last week her son saw two dogs chasing the cows and then trapping one of them along the fence.   She said the one large was a large white dog, a Pyrenees dog.  The other was a medium sized dog.  She has seen them before in the area and said they are not her neighbors' dogs.  She thinks they may come from across the river and on the ridge.

I talked with a neighbor, Shane, to the south of me.  He has dogs, but not large or white.  He said several weeks ago he saw two dogs, one large white dog and a medium sized dog.   They were in the field south of my pasture, and west of his place, and they looked to be doing something.  He later went out and found what looked to be a deer carcass out there where the dogs had been.   He thought the large dog was a Newfoundland dog breed.  But Newfoundland dogs are dark, most black colored.  Shane also thought these dogs came from across the river and up on the ridge.

The river had frozen over along my middle pasture.  Earlier when I had looked for tracks I saw dog tracks on the snow covered ice.  Saturday it got warm and up to 40 degrees under a sunny sky.  So the ice melted in the center of the river.  No more ice bridge.  Until today.  Overnight the temperature dropped down to 10 above and the wind blew.  Still blowing. It is cold outside today.  The cattle are sheltering in the loafing shed and out of the wind.  I imagine the river iced over again.

Today I called the county animal control department and talked with Paul.  He was the guy who was called when the neighbor's cattle from up on the ridge and to the south got out and came down to the field south of mine.  People initially thought they were my cattle.   So Paul knew where I was located.  He will check around up on the ridge for these dogs running around and will talk to the owners.  I hope this ends the terrorizing by these dogs.  I noticed today two cows have a slight limp in a back leg when walking in the corral.  Probably from jumping over a fence.

This isn't a photo of dog who chased my cattle.  But I included a photo in case you didn't know what a large Pyrenees dog looks like.   Not what you want chasing cattle.

Cattle through multiple fences

Yesterday was the last of a large hay bale.  The cattle usually finish the bale before noon.  Then near sunset I will take some hay from the heifer's large hay bale and put it in the wooden feeder in the main corral.  Then let the cows into the corral to eat this hay.  Then keep them in the corral overnight.  Then the next morning put a new large hay bale out in the north pasture.

Yesterday was busy inside the house most of all day.  Clean my woodstove.  Then talked on Skype with my friends in Germany.  I hadn't talked with them for a year so our talk was 3 hours long.  Then I had to talk with insurance agents to help my brother.  His house insurance company was canceling old insurance policies in that state that were in one of their "books" as they called it, and his was one of the insurance policies being canceled.

I finally got outside near sunset to give the cows some hay.  I discovered 2 cows and the bull were in the north pasture.  One cow in the middle pasture.  4 cows in the hayfield.  6 cows in the south pasture.  The cows in the hayfield and south pasture were all the way over near the far fence. 

To get to the other pastures the cows went through and/or over fences.  They went through the 5 strands of barb wire to go from the north to the middle pasture.   Then at the spot where the one cow had gone over the fence to the hayfield weeks ago, at least one did.  Then at the spot where the one cow had gone through the fence to the south pasture weeks ago, the 6 cows did it again breaking the 5 barb wire strands.   Near this spot in the middle pasture one or more of the four cows went over the fence into the hayfield.   I have another large hay bale in the middle pasture as a backup.  None of the cows went there.  They all headed south and to the other pastures.

What is going on?!

I got all the cows from the pastures and into the corral.   I also noticed that the top board in the corral fence between the north pasture and the corral with the heifers was broken.  The lower boards were fine.  The top boards are only there so the cattle don't get the idea of trying to jump over the remaining boards.  

This morning I put out a new large hay bale in the north pasture.  When I opened the corral gate to let the cows and bull out of the corral, they just stood there looking.  Always before they immediately started walking out to go to the hay bale.  I walked to lead them out.  They just stood there. I then got in the tractor and backed up towards the hay bale.  After a bit the cattle walked out and to the hay bale.

I then parked the tractor and got the tools to fix all the broken fence locations.  Shortly after I got to the first spot, the north/middle location, the cattle all walked back to stand outside the corral near the open gate and near the heifers.  Usually when I let the cows out of the corral the heifers will call out for them as the heifers want to join them.  The cows ignore the heifers.  I don't think they cows walked back today because the heifers were calling.   I let them be.  After a while the cows all walked back to the hay bale to eat.  A short time later all but one or two walked back to the corral.

What is going on?  There is nothing out there other than the hay bale.   After a while they all walked back to the hay bale.  This time they all remained there eating hay while I fixed all the rest of the broken or damaged fences.

When there is a large hay bale in the pastures I usually close the gate to the corral. When not eating the cattle will lay under the trees close to the hay bale.   This time I left the corral gate open.  This evening at sunset I checked on the cattle.  All the cows were in the corral.  Ok.  If it makes you feel safe, fine.

Something must have chased the cows that they would go through the fences, and the next day they were leery of going out there again.  Something overnight or during the day?  I didn't get a chance today to go and walk around looking for other tracks. Weeks ago when one cow would jump a fence I walked around the next day.  I did see a few dog or coyote tracks.  Or wolf tracks?  But not many tracks.  Donna says I should get a trail camera to try to see what is going on.   Maybe.   I'll see how the cattle are tomorrow.

North / middle fence

Middle pasture and hayfield fence close to the north pasture fence.  When I was moving snow for the hay feeders I also moved some snow to the fence so the cows wouldn't try to jump over the fence after doing it weeks ago.  The snow didn't stop them.

Middle pasture and hayfield fence at the spot closer to the south fence.

South pasture fence

Corral fence.  The board is too high to try to jump over. What broke the board?

One of the cattle's earlier walks back to stand outside the corral.

Another cow through a fence

What is going on with my cows?   Several days ago no cows through or over a fence.  So I thought I was done with this behavior.  Today I found a cow in the south pasture.  A different cow than the previous one.  And a different pasture.

This was a bigger cow so it didn't make it over the fence.  And this fence doesn't have an additional wire fence.  So the top three barb wires were either broken or pushed down by the cow as it went over and through the fence, and one metal fence post pushed to lean.  I had partially straightened the fence and post when I took the photo.

The cow was standing near where it had gone through the fence.  I opened the south pasture gate so the cow could go and join the rest of the cows.  The rest of the cattle were in the NE part of the middle pasture by the gate to the north pasture.  They weren't near the hay bale I had placed in the middle pasture on Sunday.

Before dark I fixed the fence and tightened and reattached the barb wires to the fence posts.  By the time I was done it was too dark to go walking about to see if I could see other tracks in the snow.  Tracks other than one made by cows.  I'm starting to think something is chasing these cows through and over the fences.  A dog?  A coyote?  Something else.  Maybe even Bigfoot as Donna is fond of Bigfoot.

Cow on and over a fence again

What is up with this cow?  The end of December I posted about a cow that jumped on and over a fence into the hayfield.   Days later she did it again.  The second time she did it at the fence section next to the one she jumped over before.  Also that day another cow broke a fence wire and got into the north pasture.  By the time I went out there everyone was near one another in three fields.  I got them all into the corral and gave them some hay.  I fixed all the fences.

Today I found the one cow back in the hayfield.  She went over the fence section she last went over even though when I repaired the fence I made sure it was high.  A metal t-post was bent, two strands of barb wire were broken, and the rest of the fence was a little bent.  This time I let the cows in the middle pasture go first to the corral for more hay.  Then I opened the hayfield gate to let that cow join the other cows in the corral.  That cow just stayed in the hayfield and followed the other cows along the fence toward the corral.  I called and called for this cow.  Finally she came over to the gate where I was standing and holding it open.  As she started to step through the gate area her front foot slipped slightly in the snow and she quickly turned around and ran back into the hayfield.  What?  Knock it off and come through the gate.  She stood and stood and stood and watched me and the gate area.  Then looked over to the cows in the corral.

Okay.  I'm not wasting any more time.  I left the gate open and went off to dump my fireplace ash out in the pasture.  I then shoveled some snow to clear an area where I will put a new hay bale tomorrow for the cattle.  A few days ago we had about 5 inches of snow, and last night maybe another inch of snow.

Then I went back to the hayfield gate.  That cow was still standing out in the hayfield.  What is wrong with you? Go through the gate and join the other cows in the corral.  So I had to go out into the hayfield and through the snow and herd the cow to the open gate.   The first time she turned and ran away from the gate as she got close to it.  Again I went out, and after some herding around and around, the cow finally went through the gate and then to the corral.  By the time she got to the corral a lot of the hay had been eaten by the other cows who had been there a while by now.

Tomorrow I will have to repair the fence. I don't know why this cow is making such an effort to get over this fence.   The hayfield is covered in snow and there is nothing there for this cow to eat.

Cow on and over a fence

Yesterday it snowed.  In the afternoon while I was outside shoveling the snow I saw one cow in the hayfield.  In the hayfield?!  How?  The hayfield is fenced galore, and after building the fence I never had a cow in the hayfield.  And why now?  Everything is under snow.  No reason to go into the hayfield.

I found part of the fence was no longer straight upright.  Two metal t-posts were bent and one t-post was leaning a lot as it appeared to have been broken at ground level.  The fence was holding that t-post partially upright.  It appears the cow - for whatever reason - tried to jump over the fence.  It must have landed on the fence and bent it and the t-posts before getting over the fence.  The other cows decided not to follow what this cow did and they stayed in the middle pasture.

I opened a gate and got the cow back into the middle pasture to be with the other cows.  I bent the leaning t-posts to stand upright.  Today I pounded another metal t-post next to the broken t-post.  I reattached the fencing and fixed several broken strands of barb wire.  I think the fence is back to being good and should keep the cattle out of the hayfield.

The photo is after I straightened the bent t-posts and before I put another t-post next to the broken t-post, which is the middle t-post.

Cattle across the river last week

Last week I found most of the cattle had crossed the river over to the peninsula and small island.  They had broken through a section of the fence I built this year to stop them from doing so.  Due to how the grass looked over there they apparently had been over there a number of times the previous week.  That was when I was busy cutting and baling my hay.  I saw the cattle in the pastures back then, but when I wasn't looking they snuck across the river.  What alerted me finally was one cow was doing a lot of mooing so I took time and went to look at why.  Her calf was across the river and the cow's udder was full.

Most cattle came back on their own when they saw that I saw them over there.   I had to encourage the last of them.  Then I went to look and found one calf, the smallest, on the island.  So I had to herd him back.  Since he didn't have the cows to follow over the area where the river was lower he turned right and not left.  He ended up swimming as that direction it got deeper for a bit.  But he made it on shore.   On a spot where he had to go back and forth before he found a way through the fence.

I added more wire to the fence where the cattle broke through.  So far it has held.

You can see how sleek his fur looks after swimming across the river.

Here is the cow that mooed before she was reunited with her calf.

Cattle jailbreak extended corral

Late this afternoon, as I got back from my bicycle ride and approached the ranch, I heard Haynes mooing.  I looked over and saw the cows were starting to go into the north pasture.  They had got a metal t-post out of the ground and broke the twine holding it to the corral panel.  And they had broken the two pieces of twine holding the end of the corral panel to a railroad tie.  They pushed two pieces of corral panels out until they were able to get out of the extended corral.

I couldn't easily get them back into the extended corral so I called Donna for help.  She and Edward came and helped me herd the cows and calves back into the corral.  It wasn't too hard to do except for two calves.  They went left and not right.  I had to re-herd them.  One calf was fairly easy to herd into the corral.  The second calf, who now needed to turn left and not right, kept turning right.  Over and over I went to herd the calf.  Edward and Donna watched that the cows and calves did not come back out of the corral as they wanted to.  Finally I got the calf to turn left and go into the corral.

I fixed the extended corral breakout area.  I added another metal t-post and more twine.  It needs to hold for a week as next weekend they will be let out to the grass.   Donna wanted me to let them out on the grass now.  But Haynes was not happy the cows were out on the grass and he wanted to join them, and I don't want him with the cows until June 1.  And the start of being-on-the-grass is to eat my yard grass down first, and I'm not ready for that yet.

Back into the extended corral.  They are standing near where they had broken out before.  They are trying to figure out how to do it again.

Corral board and one calf breakout

Today I saw the cattle had pushed off again the one corral fence board they like to push off.

I re-nailed the board back to the railroad tie.  I added a couple more nails.   The railroad tie should be solid, but not as much anymore due to the nails going in and out of it.  I may have to find a big screw to fasten the board, or a bolt that goes all way through the railroad tie.  Another item for my 'to-do' list.

Later in the afternoon I heard another cow mooing.  Yup.  Another calf slid under the extended corral fence and was in the north pasture.  Little Buelah's calf this time.  A few back-and-forths and then the calf went through the gate and back to his mother.

Two calf breakout

This morning I heard a cow mooing when I went out to check for any new babies.  No new babies.  But I found the reason for the mooing was that two calves were outside the extended corral.  I think the calves had laid down by the extended corral panels, and when they got back up they rolled and came up outside the corral.  The corral panels are low enough cattle can't go under them, but calves can if they lay down a certain way.

I had a job herding the two calves back into the extended corral.  I have one panel that has a gate one can open.  Some back and forth with the calves while watching that no cows came out of the open gate. Then I got the calves to go through the gate and back to their mothers.  The calf with the mooing mother immediately went to drink from her mother.

Calf jailbreak, and more fence repairs

I woke up to mooing Tuesday morning.  And then I noticed a few calves in the yard along with the cows.  Four calves in fact.  Some mothers, or Haynes, pushed a rail away from one fence post, and the gate out, and some calves figured out how to crawl through the fence.  Big calves, and the littlest calf.

I partially moved the rail and gate close to the post before I took the photo.

I had planned on herding the cattle out of the yard in the afternoon as much of the grass was eaten down.  But in the morning I herded (enticed them using apples) the cows and Haynes and several calves out of the yard and into the NE pasture.  That way I could open the gate to the road so Donna could come and help me sort the calves.  Before then I was able to herd two calves back into the corral.  With Donna's help we quickly got the last two calves back into the corral.  All four calves had to start weaning all over again.

 After the cows and Haynes were out of the yard I took most of the protection back down.  I see the cattle messed with the fencing protecting the caragana trees.  I let it be for now.  I'll fix it later.

I let the calves out of the south corral so they can also eat hay in addition to the grass.

The cows and calves are still mooing.  But they take breaks now and then to rest between the times they moo constantly.

We had some rain this afternoon.  Afterwards I fixed this fence between the hayfield and the middle pasture.  Monday I saw it this way.  The fence is barb wired. Years ago after I had seen Maria the cow stick her head through the barb wires to eat from the hayfield, I added wire fencing to the barb wires so the cattle couldn't get their head through the fence.  Sunday I had seen Haynes stick his head through the fence.  His head went between the top barb wire and the top of the wire fence so he could reach the hayfield.  Well... here is the result.  The post was rotting at ground level only and he broke it off.  Some metal posts are leaning and the fencing is lower.  Haynes didn't get through the fence thankfully.  You can see the hayfield grass is lower where Haynes could reach.

So I kept the cattle out of the middle pasture until I could fix the fence.  I put in a new wooden post.  I straighten the metal posts upright. I also redid the barb wires and wire fence from here to the tree.  On the remaining posts Haynes had pushed the wires down a bit.  Now the wires go up high.  I added small wires connecting the top of the wire fencing to the top barb wire in spots between the posts so the cattle can't slip their heads through that area.  Maybe this will stop this from happening again.

My irrigation guy has a piece of equipment that could lift me high so I could trim my tallest box elder tree that has dead branches near the top.  He was going to come over after work Tuesday.  But a last minute request came in as a friend needed the equipment to unload and move logs for a log house he is building.  That will take a few days.

Fixing the Divas handywork from yesterday

This morning I fixed the cattle 'handywork' from yesterday.

I picked up the spilled apples.

I repaired the broken fence.

This is a cherry tree where the cattle tipped over and removed the fence protection covering the tree.  Then the cattle ate the leaves.

This is the English Walnut tree trying to come back to life.   The cattle pulled off some of the lower leaves.  The lower branches were also pulled downwards.  I removed them.

Not all of the tree has come back to life.  When trimming the lower new branches, I also trimmed some of the older bare (dead?) branches.  For now I am leaving the remaining upper bare branches in case they come back to life.  It appears the tree is still trying to active some of the bare branches.  It is going slowly.  My favorite tree is fighting to come back to normal.

The cattle hung outside the corral all morning.  I decided to let them in the main part of the corral to eat the weeds.  Soon I plan to replace the earlier broken fence boards and replace the wooden gate.  Less vegetation will make it easier to work.

Later the cattle mooed at me.  They now wanted either more apples, or to be let back into the yard.  They got neither.  I went for a bicycle ride.  When I got back the cattle were in the south pasture.  But I found this corral fence board now broken.  *sigh*   Those divas.  A repair for another day.

Here you can see the weeds are now eaten down.

My cattle are Divas

My cattle... my cattle... my cattle.    My, my.

This afternoon I up righted the cattle's salt feeder in the north pasture.  Even the metal posts couldn't keep the feeder upright.  It must have taken some effort to flip the feeder.  Haynes most likely.

The cattle watched me.  I then thought I would let them go into the NE pasture as they were standing by the gate.  Let them have a treat.

They behaved.   Several hours later I checked for fallen apples from the fruit tree area's apple tree.   The cattle came and stood at the fence and begged for apples.  I gave the apples to them.  I had thought of mowing the grass under the apple tree so I could find the apples easier.  But since the cattle were behaving I decided to let them into the fruit tree area to eat the grass down so I wouldn't have to mow it.

The cattle mostly behaved.  Some got obsessed with the pear tree and the apple tree.   Most of the pear tree's branches and pears are behind a tall fence.  But some branches hung over the fence.  Initially I tried to get these cattle back to eating grass.  But these cattle were obsessed.  Finally I let them be.  The pear tree has lots and lots of pears.  What's a loss of a dozen or so to the cattle?  Especially since Haynes the bull joined the group going for the pears.

You can see in the background some of the cows were trying to go for the apples on that tree.

The calves were behaving.  This is the youngest calf.

After a bit all the cattle settled down to chew their cud.   I went off on a bicycle ride.  When I came back home everything was fine.  I went and picked up apples to fill a bag from the neighbor's tree. When I returned a few of the cattle were in the fruit tree area and I gave them some of the apples.  I gave the rest to some of the cattle in the NE pasture.  The rest of the cattle had gone to the north pasture.

Since everyone was behaving I went out to the middle pasture to fix that salt feeder.  While out there, after a while, I heard the cattle mooing back in the NE pasture and fruit tree area.   When I got back home I found over half the cattle in the yard.  The cattle had broken part of the fence between the fruit tree area and the yard. A large section of the fence is down.  It was getting dark so I didn't get a good look at the downed fence.

Haynes and one cow were eating apples on my porch.  The other cattle were around the yard.  The mooing cattle were at the NE pasture gate watching the cattle in the yard.  They hadn't seen how these cattle got into the yard.

I closed the gate between the NE pasture and north pasture so I didn't have to deal with those cattle for now.  I opened the gate to the corral to herd the yard cattle there.  Initially Haynes didn't want to leave the apples so I let him be and herded the cattle from the front yard. When those cattle ran by Haynes he then ran and joined them.  I got all into the corral.

For now I don't want the cattle to be in the corral; but they wanted to stay there and eat all the tall weeds growing there.  With some effort I got them all out of the corral and into the north pasture.  I then herded the cattle from the NE pasture to the north pasture.   They all can stay there tonight.   Today I let the cattle have a little treat and they took advantage of it.  Now I have more work to do tomorrow.

Haynes' work.

Cattle jailbreak? Yes and no.

This evening when I was moving irrigation pipes the county animal control officer came to tell me cattle were in my neighbor Wyatt's field in an area closer to the road.  Nine cows.  I could see my cattle in the south pasture, but not all of them.

I walked over to Wyatt's field.  As I walked through the south pasture the cattle came towards me.  I counted 21 cattle.  The bull and most cows were there.  I saw a calf near the river. That makes 22.  Maybe the officer was wrong in his count.  Eight and not nine.  Or maybe my other cattle were at the river drinking.

As I approached I could see a woman on foot, a guy on an ATV, and the animal control officer herding the cattle my way.  When I got to the cattle I saw there weren't my cattle.  Nine beautiful black cattle.  They all had ear tags that were off-white and pre-printed with a number.

When I told them they weren't my cattle the woman then thought they could be the rich guy's cattle who has a place up on the ridge across the river.  She called and the person she talked to - the rich guy? - wasn't sure if they were his cattle.  She drove up to his place.  Yup, he was missing cattle.  Apparently they have broken out of their fenced pasture a few times lately.

By now Wyatt showed up on his ATV.  He said he had seen the cattle come from the south and then crossed the road to his property.  Another person showed up with his ATV.  No one from the rich guy's place showed up.  How to get the cattle to the rich guy's place?   Have them go up the road to cross the river and then go up to the ridge top?  I wasn't sure about the traffic on the road.  The animal control officer said he would stop traffic.  So we decided to herd them that way.

Everyone seemed excited to herd the cattle. Something exciting for them to do.  Several people offered me rides but I preferred to be on foot. Most people never herded cattle before and they can get carried away.  I know cattle and on foot I can move somewhere where the cattle may go if no one was there.

And they were off.  I turned the cattle then followed as the ATVs and the pickup then took off after the cattle.   Things slowed when the cattle got to the road and I caught up.  Once we got the cattle to a point where there was only one potential side turn to a driveway, I accepted a ride in a ATV.  

One of the houses we passed and a pickup came out onto the road right after the cattle.  Couldn't they wait?   No, because they also wanted to help herd the cattle.  Then a kid on a motorcycle came.  He also wanted to help herd the cattle.  We had quite a procession going to herd the cattle up to the top of the ridge.  More people than what was needed.

At the top of the ridge the officer had stopped traffic.  The cattle got confused.  We wanted them to turn left and go down a driveway to a corral area and the cattle were thinking about turning right since the officer was blocking the path forward.  I got out, and a pickup guy got out, and we convinced the cattle to turn left.  Then the ATVs and pickups followed and herded the cattle down the driveway then across a field.  I left them be.  There were more people than needed and they didn't need me.  I started walking the mile and a half or so home.  Just before I reached the point where I was going to leave the road and cross Wyatt's field - as I still needed to move more irrigation pipe - the ATV driver who gave me a ride stopped and then gave me a ride home to my hayfield. The cattle were now in a corralled area.  He had enjoyed herding the cattle.  Then the animal control guy - who knows me from past cattle escapes - stopped as I hadn't crossed into my hayfield yet and thanked me for my help.

My cattle were all fine and behaved.

Cattle jailbreak by cow 60

This evening as it was getting dark I noticed cow 60 was in the NE pasture.  Apparently she had pushed the large chain-link fence up and out and got under it. Cow 10 and both calves were still in the fruit tree area.

It was an effort to get cow 60 back into the fruit tree area and to be with her calf.  Cow 60 didn't want to go back.  Afterwards, as a temporary fix, I pounded a few extra metal fence posts and wired the chain-link fence to the posts.

Calf 14 - Day 3

Day 3, calf missing again.   This morning I checked on the two cows and calves and couldn't find cow 10's calf.  I walked around and around the fruit tree area.  No calf.  Cow 10 seemed fine and not missing her calf.  Where is the calf?

I checked the NE pasture where I found the calf yesterday.  No calf.  I walked along the NE pasture and the fruit tree area fence to the road.  No calf.  I checked the road's ditch and found the calf in the ditch under the branches of the buffaloberry tree that sits in the corner of the fruit tree area.

I opened the gate to the NE pasture and when I approached the calf, he ran inside the NE pasture.  Then along the fence to the area where yesterday he slipped under the corral panel.  He desperately tried to go through the corral panel.  I moved the corral panel end and he ran inside to his mother and started to drink from her.

Why doesn't he stay in the fruit tree area with his mother?   At least for the rest of today, he did.

See the calf in the first photo?   Second photo... there he is.

Also this morning, one of the panels protecting the rhubarb plants was moved so the cows could get to the rhubarb plants.  The cows had unhooked the wires holding the panels in place.  Fortunately they weren't able to get to most of the rhubarb plants. That is because rhubarb leaves can be harmful to eat.

And I found this calf laying in the rhubarb area.