The saga of the wild cow. (part 1)

This story goes back a few years before we moved here.  According to lore our neighbour, when loading cattle to ship to market, had 6 of them break loose.  They were able to corral 4 of them but a bull and cow headed for the swamp and out of site.  This swamp is extremely thick and encompasses a very large expanse of land.  A year later they (the farmers in the area) shot the bull after he broke into a dairy farm and bred a couple of those cows.

We came here 3 yrs ago and that winter I found rather large bovine tracks outside the barn where we kept our 2 cows.  I inquired of the neighbour whether he had been missing a cow and that's when I learned the story of the wild cow.  Farmers had hunted her since her escape to no avail.

That first summer, we fenced off 15 acres and our herd grew.  We never saw the wild one that summer or winter even though we already had a bull. That next spring saw Charlotte's web farm with 3 yearling bulls and our herd bull Dreamland Samson.

One morning Gerard woke me just before dawn because he was sure he saw some cattle in the yard.  I quickly dressed and ran out to the barn yard where I found all my cows but NONE of the bulls!  Finding tracks that led from our house yard to a side pasture the horses used, It was foggy and dawn was just breaking when I spotted them in a huddle in the middle of the pasture.  I had fetched a bucket of grain and shook it and called them.  Something huge was in the middle and she lifted her head and bolted-4 bulls in tow-3 yearling's of which had already been sold but not yet delivered.  Since I was too injured at the time to give chase, Gerard lit after them through the fence, into a corn field and up the hill towards the ridge and yup, into her lair-that big mennacing swamp.

Arriving back at the house we both lamented about the money we had just lost and the futility of pursuit.  Gerard had to go to work so I got in the truck to see if the owner of the wild cow could help do something.  His son shrugged and said; "O-she's back is she?"  No help there.  Not knowing what else to do but sit and wait, I made the cows stay yarded up.  They seemed a bit perturbed about the loss of their bulls and bawled most of the morning.  Around 10 am I could hear one of the yearling's bawling in our house yard and ran out to get him in.  He seemed tired of his ordeal and I was quickly able to get him stalled up.  Scanning the horizon though yielded not a trace of the others.

My sister decided to come out at this point to see if we could get up to the ridge and spot them.  When she arrived just after noon, lo and behold there were the other 3 walking the fence on the North side of the property.  We quickly walked down and lifted the fence to let them back in.  Our herd bull bellowed a lot but ran promptly back to where his own cows were yarded.  Nobody was any worse for wear and that cow never showed up at our property again to my knowledge.

Last fall we walked over the ridge and into the swamp to see if she was still around.  She certainly was with tracks and fresh manure everywhere under cover of those cedars.  We even saw her running deep into the swamp, always keeping swamp-side to us.

Gerard tried to hunt her all fall, salivating at the thought of all that corn/grass fed Angus beef.  Alas, I don't think he would like me blogging at his being out-smarted by a cow!