It’s Valentine’s Day – Here come the Cattle – Today I would have preferred Flowers......

Published on ezine Articles.com

We have always lived in the country.    Taking for granted that all rural homesteads had horses, we never considered, until after purchasing that we had arrived in the heart of cattle country.  Herds and herds and herds of cattle.  Until this time my closest understanding of cattle was when we met under totally different circumstances at the market.

In this neighborhood Valentine’s Day   is the annual cattle drive day.  In preparation for motherhood            the cattle are moved to the maternity pastures, closer to home.

Being a good neighbor of course I volunteered, hearing that once the drive is done Mrs. D’s buffet will be open and ready to enjoy.

Part of the drive involves crossing pasture lands, with the final leg taking the cattle down the Highway for some 10 km (6 miles).  Of course my complete lack of knowledge this morning expected to see several horses and riders come galloping up behind the herd; I guess I have to find a good western movie for that scene.  Instead I saw the cattle following, quite diligently, behind the tractor loaded with hay, coming up the crest of the pasture. 

 This morning, my job was to control any possible traffic coming down the Highway.  Of course, this day Murphy’s Law would be following me around every corner.  It was the morning that the local mills had decided to have 15 logging trucks running up and down the same 10 km section of the Highway.  I knew they were noisy, but I learned this morning that you can hear a logging truck descending down into the valley from 20 km away and you better be warning them at that distance to slow down.

Recognizing my inexperience, I listened without interruption on this morning that the cattle had been doing this drive for many years and they knew exactly the way to the pens and how well behaved they would be.  I heard that they would follow the tractor and come out of the gate and turn right onto the Highway.   With true conviction I heard that the entire drive would only take, maybe 30 minutes.

So in preparation of their arrival onto the Highway, I proceeded left in my truck, some 100 feet down the Highway and double parked with my emergency lights on and waited and waited. 

After half an hour, with no activity from either the pasture of the Highway, I have to admit, my curiosity got the best of me and I left the truck and walked back to the open gates of the pasture, hoping to see the arrival of tractor and the cattle.  Neither was there.  Another neighbor, with walking cane in hand, had also made his way to the gates.  I of course could not pass judgment on the lack of activity, being the new neighbor on the block, but his facial expression said it all.  Kicking a few stones off the road he paused and speaking to himself only said “enough” then started walking into the pasture.  His stride was steadfast, focused only on getting control of the cattle, who, were now visible and were enjoying outwitting two herders by running into the deep snow banks or the forest.  The tractor sat idle on the trail, still containing bales of hay, which were apparently having no attraction to the cattle.

 My attention was drawn to the Highway and the sounds of a diesel truck approaching with his right flasher on indicating that he was turning onto the same trail leading to the pasture that was alive with the “well behaved cattle”.   I quickly moved back onto the Highway waving my arms for him to stop.   He was very gracious and understanding and pulled over to the side.

This being a commercial service truck, I felt that some type of assurance was in order and explained to the driver that these were well behaved cattle and it would only take a few more minutes to have them out onto the Highway and moving. 

Turning my attention back to the pasture, I truly wished that I had a movie camera to document the comedy of errors occurring.  Cows were jumping out from trees and snow drifts, playing follow the leader.  The leaders name was Molly.  She stood tall and much larger than the rest of the herd. You were wise not to question her resolve and commitment to remain in charge of this chaos.  

Again my attention was drawn back to the Highway hearing only the sound of the logging truck gearing down on his approach into the valley.  It took another few minutes before the truck was visible coming towards me.   I again went to the center waved my arms, certainly more aggressive than the first time.  Finally I hear the gears, indicating that I had been noticed; they sounded so angry for this interruption. 

My explanation to a very angry driver was again that this was only going to take a few minutes and he would then be underway.   This of course did not please the driver sitting up so high in the cab.  I then, feeling somewhat frustrated myself, looked at him and suggested that perhaps he would like to go and offer some reason and rationale to a pasture  of 100 very pregnant, very aggravated, hormone enraged herd of cattle.   He very quickly understood that this was bigger than both of us and agreed that he would remain in his cab.

Finally, here comes the tractor and the cattle. 

Looking up and down the Highway the coast was clear, thinking that everything that had gone wrong was done and we were well on our way to a successful drive. 

Standing on the Highway, left of the gate I watched the tractor come out onto the Highway and as promised turned right;  and here comes Murphy’s Law,  the cattle came out and turned left and were all targeting me.  There was no longer an orderly file, these cattle were all over the Highway, high centering themselves in the snow packed ditches, and wait – Murphy’s Law – here comes three logging trucks, two from the west and one from the east.    With 100 head of cattle taking over the Highway, no arm waving was necessary this time, within seconds of entering the valley all you heard was the trucks gearing down.   Through this absolute madness the tractor continued in the opposite direction.  I did not see break lights just it descending down the valley Highway. 

Now as I said earlier, my forte are horses and not cows, but under these circumstances, the common denominator here was that they were all very large and lacking any logic at most times.

The situation certainly gained the attention of the four truck drivers and they were quick to cooperate lining their rigs up side by side across the Highway, blocking the access for the cattle. 

The cattle that were high centered in the ditch were being convinced by the neighbors walking cane to move along and quickly.

I returned to my truck, turning it around driving through the cattle looking for Molly.    I came across Molly and finally Murphy’s Law working in my favor, I found I had a bucket of oats in the truck.  I rolled down my window got Molly’s attention with the oats and within minutes she turned around and started following the truck.  With one quick command Molly called the rest of the herd and all were following in line.

Was this the behavior that I had been told about? 

Continuing down the remainder of the Highway Molly kept all in order and entered her designated pasture without any further disagreements.

With the drive finished I was turning around to return home, really I was too tired to enjoy Mrs. B’s buffet, when the logging truck pulled up beside me and called out his window to wish me Happy Valentines.