The Bovine Bugle

Animal Rescue down at the farm

This morning we were getting towards the end of milking and I went out into the holding area to make sure all the cows had come up from the grazing paddock. I counted a few times and decided that we were one short. I told Dad, and then I took the four-wheeler down to the paddock to check it out. I found the cow just where I was afraid she would be, stuck in the main waterway running through the pastures. There is no "bottom" to the waterway due to the type of soil making up this bottomland on the farm. When a cow or heifer happens to end up in the water, they just can't get out without help.

Usually once a summer we have to pull an animal out of the waterway. Usually it is a heifer that we have put in with the cows to acclimate her to the herd and the barn before calving, and the heifer ignores the fence, goes into the water, and gets stuck. Today it was a 5-year-old cow, Janice, and I can't tell if she was just trying to get to the water for a drink or if several cows were fooling around and she got bumped in.

In about ten minutes we had the loader tractor down there, the heavy tow rope tied around her head like a halter, and in 5 seconds we had her out of the muck and on dry ground. Cows are such amazing animals. In a few seconds, Janice was standing up and immediately started eating grass.

While Dad drove the tractor back to the barn, I followed along behind Janice bringing her back to the barn and putting her in a pen to warm up and dry off. After being milked at the afternoon milking, she was turned back out with her herdmates and was doing fine.

--Jonathan, Howmars Farm
Franklin, Vermont