The Bovine Bugle

Breakout on the farm

Karen and I were just about to turn in last night when we had an unexpected surprise. I went out on the porch to cover the grill when I spotted a young heifer walking in the road in front of the barn. We quickly jumped into our boots, grabbed a flashlight, and headed outside to find out what had happened. The heifer was one of the eight young animals we had turned out about 10 days ago. We coaxed her back the pasture beside the house and immediately saw where she had gotten out. The eight youngsters had destroyed the fence corner right by the road. They broke a couple of posts and a pole brace as well. The funny thing is we never heard a thing.

We flashed the light out into the pasture and saw that the other seven animals were there. We drove the heifer escapee through the gap in the fence and I kept them in while Karen drove the pickup over to use as a floodlight while we repaired the damage. Karen took over on guard duty while I brought tools and fence posts to repair the fence corner. It took us about an hour to get things toggled up. The heifers and steers didn't help our progress by continually sticking their noses into what we were doing. We don't know what spooked them and got them running so crazily that they crashed into the fence hard enough to break through it. By the time we turned off the truck lights they were calmed down and they made it through the night without incident.

I was just glad I happened to go out on the porch at just the right time to see that heifer in front of the barn. Otherwise, who knows where those heifers and steers might have been in the morning.

--Jonathan, Howmars Farm
Franklin, Vermont