cow catching
Feb. 5th, 2006 12:34 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
hnpccSo yesterday I spent part of the day chasing a cow.
The cow was on Dean's parents 'farm'. It's not a real farm, of course, more a couple of paddocks, but it is quite rural. Normally the total sum of animals is one: The Pony. The Pony is semi-feral (what you get for living by yourself in a paddock I guess), and will only come to Dean's father. On the way back from Canberra, in the dusk, we noticed that there appeared to be a second horse with her in the paddock. We were wrong. It was a cow.
The council won't come and pick up wandered stock larger than sheep, and this cow is considerably larger than a sheep. So the idea was to move the cow into the smaller paddock and then work out how to get her to the council. Obviously we couldn't just turn her loose as the dangers of stock wandering the roads are obvious. Dean's next suggestion was vetoed on the grounds that we don't have a large enough freezer.
So out myself, Dean and Ross went to herd a cow.
When we got to the paddocks, we couldn't see either the pony or the cow. Both had of course hidden in the shadows of the trees, and were furtively waiting for us to bugger off again. Only the flick of tails against flies gave them away.
"Right", said Ross. "Dean, head over towards the trees and try and get her to move to the fence line".
Off Dean headed, into the long grass.
"Um, try not to step on anything" I called.
"Yeah - you know first aid, right Alison?"
"I can do snake bite, yeah, but just don't step on anything. And if you do, try and identify the snake."
"Oh that's OK" said Ross, "they can work out which snake it was from the venom on the skin."
"It's still quicker if you just identify the snake first, really. Better yet, just don't, OK?"
Meanwhile the cow had started getting nervous, what with Dean advancing towards her waving his arms, and began to move first slowly and then at a trot away from him towards the fence.
"Great! Dean, you go down and try and get her to move towards the corner, I'll keep her going in that direction."
The cow was slowly moved towards the corner. The Pony, having decided it was none of her business and that we weren't interested in her, stayed in the shelter of the trees making occasional humphing noises just to let us know she was still there.
"OK. Dean, come in at her along the fence. Alison, when she runs at you just wave your arms and get her into the small paddock. I'll stop her heading back to the trees."
Yeah that's what I want. Several hundred kilos of slightly panicked cow running at me. I moved back from the gate about ten metres and watched as the cow ran along the fence line, noticed me and did a quick U-turn into the only open escape route of the small paddock.
I moved quickly in to close the gate, spending several minutes fiddling with the somewhat tricky catch. Dean and Ross headed along the fence.
"Uh, Ross, don't let her get to the back."
"Huh?"
"The railings are broken on one side..." Dean said, as the cow simultaneously noticed and dived through the broken railings into the next paddock and trotted up the hill to freedom.
"Damn. Hm, any ideas?"
"Fix the railings?" said Dean
We stood in the long grass for a couple of minutes.
"Well at least we know she's not particularly docile" said Ross. "Try it again next week?"
"Just bring the rifle" said Dean, "we're going to a barbeque tonight anyway."
"Maybe we can get her down to the creek and on to next door's. Pity he's got such good fencing. I'll think about it."
We headed back to the car and home.
The cow was on Dean's parents 'farm'. It's not a real farm, of course, more a couple of paddocks, but it is quite rural. Normally the total sum of animals is one: The Pony. The Pony is semi-feral (what you get for living by yourself in a paddock I guess), and will only come to Dean's father. On the way back from Canberra, in the dusk, we noticed that there appeared to be a second horse with her in the paddock. We were wrong. It was a cow.
The council won't come and pick up wandered stock larger than sheep, and this cow is considerably larger than a sheep. So the idea was to move the cow into the smaller paddock and then work out how to get her to the council. Obviously we couldn't just turn her loose as the dangers of stock wandering the roads are obvious. Dean's next suggestion was vetoed on the grounds that we don't have a large enough freezer.
So out myself, Dean and Ross went to herd a cow.
When we got to the paddocks, we couldn't see either the pony or the cow. Both had of course hidden in the shadows of the trees, and were furtively waiting for us to bugger off again. Only the flick of tails against flies gave them away.
"Right", said Ross. "Dean, head over towards the trees and try and get her to move to the fence line".
Off Dean headed, into the long grass.
"Um, try not to step on anything" I called.
"Yeah - you know first aid, right Alison?"
"I can do snake bite, yeah, but just don't step on anything. And if you do, try and identify the snake."
"Oh that's OK" said Ross, "they can work out which snake it was from the venom on the skin."
"It's still quicker if you just identify the snake first, really. Better yet, just don't, OK?"
Meanwhile the cow had started getting nervous, what with Dean advancing towards her waving his arms, and began to move first slowly and then at a trot away from him towards the fence.
"Great! Dean, you go down and try and get her to move towards the corner, I'll keep her going in that direction."
The cow was slowly moved towards the corner. The Pony, having decided it was none of her business and that we weren't interested in her, stayed in the shelter of the trees making occasional humphing noises just to let us know she was still there.
"OK. Dean, come in at her along the fence. Alison, when she runs at you just wave your arms and get her into the small paddock. I'll stop her heading back to the trees."
Yeah that's what I want. Several hundred kilos of slightly panicked cow running at me. I moved back from the gate about ten metres and watched as the cow ran along the fence line, noticed me and did a quick U-turn into the only open escape route of the small paddock.
I moved quickly in to close the gate, spending several minutes fiddling with the somewhat tricky catch. Dean and Ross headed along the fence.
"Uh, Ross, don't let her get to the back."
"Huh?"
"The railings are broken on one side..." Dean said, as the cow simultaneously noticed and dived through the broken railings into the next paddock and trotted up the hill to freedom.
"Damn. Hm, any ideas?"
"Fix the railings?" said Dean
We stood in the long grass for a couple of minutes.
"Well at least we know she's not particularly docile" said Ross. "Try it again next week?"
"Just bring the rifle" said Dean, "we're going to a barbeque tonight anyway."
"Maybe we can get her down to the creek and on to next door's. Pity he's got such good fencing. I'll think about it."
We headed back to the car and home.
