Runaway cow - Or the hazards of country living

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So the other night about 1am, I was lying on the couch watching House on Netflix. My oldest daughter had gone to Marathon to get cigarettes. On her way back as she turned onto our street she saw a big black cow in the yard of the people on the corner. She ran in the den and told us about it. It was me, my younger daugheter and my son's girlfriend. We immediately got up and went to see. It was there. I went back to the house to call the cops so they could catch it and take it home while the girls went over to it to pet it. (Yes, pet it )

While I was home calling the cops, the cow spied the girls and took off running. She ran across the street and headed up toward the old people apartments where my mother lived. Dispatch said thank you for letting us know, I'm sending the boys right now. A little later she called back telling me they couldn't find it and so I went over it again with her where she went. She had missed the part about going toward the old people apartments. She did not call back and the next morning we didn't see the cow out and about, but we did see her in the fence with the other cows across the street, and a repaired place on the fence.

There have been horses on our street, wild cats, a fox, and occasionally a chicken, but this was a first for loose cattle.

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Yep, that's the countryside for ya. Once a friend of ours was called out of the shower at 5 a.m. because their cows were talking a walk down the street. It was the middle of winter so all of her hair was frozen completely solid by the end of it all.

We have a collie named Chipper who loves chasing cars. Once a few years ago I was sitting at the kitchen table after school eating a bagel when my mom called over to me saying that Chipper was chasing a horse. My first reaction was of course " What the heck are you talking about?!" But then I glanced out the window to see our dog chasing our neighbor's galloping horse through our yard. And of course all our neighbor's other horses had also gotten out so it took a while to round them back up again. Boy can those things move fast!

Large animals like cows and horses can be death-traps if they escape onto the road. Someone near us got severely injured one night when he drove at around 60 MPH into a horse that was taking a late night stroll on a bend in the road. He didn't see it until too late. Apparently it was a real mess with bits of car and bits of horse all over the place.

The police can be total imbeciles at times. One time back at my father's farm in England a drunk driver lost control of his vehicle and ploughed straight through the hedge into a field full of cattle. We knew nothing about it until we saw our cows taking a stroll up the road! Lucky nobody was killed as the road there is full of blind bends and drivers treat the road like a rally course driving at silly speeds. Apparently the police had been at the scene of the accident and had taken away the drunk driver but didn't think to notify us that there was a gaping hole in the hedge where the cows could simply walk through onto the road! Idiots.

Cows are nice

I'm glad there was a happy ending to this caper.

The relevant bit of the video is from 2:05 to 8:00, cows and police officers

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2ggrqRT6j-8[/youtube]

Cows get on the road here all the time.One nearly jumped on our car,yes ,jumped on.There was a high embankment on the side of the road and the cow just plopped off it right in front of us.We were in an old VW bug so it would have squished us.
The neighbors Lippizaner horses got out and showed up in our field,when my daughter got off the school bus she was so excited,thought she had a yard of horses.She was so sad when she learned they all had to go back home.
Once a buffalo got loose and headed down the county road towards the swimming hole.Another time there was an Emu in the road.If you go through one valley the elk get in the road all the time.
Every week the sheriffs report is full of loose animals.
The State Trooper here tried to get a horse of the road and it got him down and stomped him pretty good.I wonder if it got charged with resisting arrest.

But it was a nightmare for the state trooper.

Loose livestock can be a problem where I am as well, although it's never quite as serious as cows (once was late for school - bus was delayed because there were sheep loose on the road).
People often underestimate cows. I enjoy walking the fields near my village (usually sticking to the footpath) and have been chased by herds of cows before (usually in calving season). It's f***ing terrifying!

I always heard that a cow was the most dangerous animal on a farm.If a horse gets spooked they will run around you,not a cow,they will just knock you out of the way and keep going.
I heard a commotion in the yard once and stepped outside just in time to see a cow comming around the house full speed with two men chasing it,if I hadn't flattened against the side of the house it would have tilled me under.
We had one get in the young corn once,it's hard to drive them out and they stomp everything.
Got chased by a herd of Brahmans once,we were crossing the field to go fishing and they saw the buckets and thought it was feed and here they came.Im glad we were close to the fence.
They say when cows are all laying down it's going to rain.They get up rear first,it looks funny.

Cows and horses are easy to halter* (and owned farm animals know how it goes); if they run away, just leave them be unless there's a danger for traffic (they often find their way home or the owner will come and get them; if you know the owner, call them).

*A belt will do, for example. Just throw it over the top of their head and hold the loose bits under their chin and you can lead them on; done it a few times (you then can tie them up)

Bulls are the only ones you have to watch out for when on foot. Most are friendly enough due to proper raising nowadays, but they can still spook easy [and might charge]. Stallions are usually fine, as they're used to being handled.

another hazard of country living is getting lost in a cornfield

I had a bunny rabbit hop through my backyard the other day.

Does that count ???