The Weakest Link

I have found myself dealing with cows a lot this week. We raise our own beef, but we're not a full blown farm. We only have 9 cows with 2 calves due next month. We mostly have angus and herefords, but we do have 3 holstein steers also.
Anyway, we fenced in an area w/ temporary fencing (electric) so the 4 steers can have grass while the summer pasture gets a few more days of growing. That fence has been a challenge. First of all, Susanna ran into it, Jonah almost hit it with his dirtbike, 2 horses ran into it and it's in my way. It cuts b/w the house & the garden.
Twice, we've had to fix it as the electric went out & we didn't know why. Somehow it also got a knot in it & some of the wire had to be replaced. Really, this kind of fence is not suitable for cows. It works much better with the horses-as long as they know where it is, that is.

So, the other day, I dropped the 2 older kids at a friend's house to play and when I got home, one of the cows was in the driveway with the other 3 standing there thinking about joining him. I called my dh, who was at work, who called 2 neighbors and they met me in the driveway. The baby was asleep in the carseat with Susanna (4) "watching" her. My vehicle was blocking the driveway so the cow didn't run into the road.

One guy held the wire down (it was off, which is how the cow got out-the electric was grounded again) while the other guy stood on one side of the cow & I stood on the other. He wasn't concerned at all-he was eating grass & he's used to us.

But, he didn't want to step over the wire. He kept trying to bolt and he must have realized I was the weakest link in the human fence. I wonder why. LOL But, I did keep up with him for awhile. I matched each of his jumps with a leap of my own-crouched down & arms stretched out, dancing from side to side. In the background, I could hear Susanna yelling to me asking if she could get out of the car. Unfortunately since I didn't plan on playing cow horse w/ this cow, I wasn't wearing appropriate shoes. I had on slip-on sandles. And, I did slip-twice in the driveway & got rocks in my knees & hands.

Worse than the scrapes was the embarrassment of falling in front of these 2 dairy farmers-and letting the cow get past me. Mason ran after him & herded him back & I helped, too.
They are both good friends and didn't tease me too much, though.

Here's the cow that I faced off with-the one on the right. Darn cow. LOL


The one on the left is an angus bull. He's going to be the father for all next year's calves-our little herd & the neighbor's larger herd. He's one of the guys that helped me get the steer in.

It's quite something else to be the weak link between an 800 lb cow and his freedom.