It all started with a power failure. Our electric fence charger went down and yes, believe it or not, cows listen for the clicking sound which is the telltale sound of a fence which they can simply walk through with impunity. It's happened before and we've usually found our big gals within a half mile from the property, munching on foliage like there's no tomorrow… as if there is none on our property to be had.

This time we couldn't find them. We set out in all directions simultaneously, helpful when you have a lot of kids. Our ATV and our car went off looking further out than the usual distance, but still nothing. After hours of searching up and down roads, two tracks and dry creek beds, we were starting to despair of finding our gals. Eventually, we knew that we'd have to call the authorities, as there is a railroad track one mile from our farm where trains go through there at 60mph and we could just imagine what a train would do to a cow who foolishly stood on the tracks. We finally called Animal Control and notified them that if anyone called in about some sightseeing bovines, we were the ones who had misplaced them.

Within a few hours, we got a call from a neighbor far, far to the west of us. He had found our cows batting their eyelashes at his bull, having been in his enclosure for some time. He separated them and put our heifers into a separate pasture. He'd called Animal Control and they'd given him our number. Happy ending, right?

When we pulled up onto his property, he greeting us with a big grin and said that he had no idea how long they had been secluded with his bull, but that his bull was very capable of impregnating an entire herd in short order.

I have twin sons whose job it was to walk them home. They had halters on and so with a bit of pulling, had them on their way. The shortest distance for the cows to get over to that area was a straight line through field and stream, but for my sons it would mean a less direct route. They walked a half mile to the railroad tracks on our friend's road, then three miles to our road along the train tracks, then another mile home down our road.  (see map)