Thursday 30 October 2008

Rounding up the cattle - wild West Devon style

I was wearing wellies, not cowboy boots, and a fleece hat rather than a stetson, but there I was, blocking the entrance to one of the potentially distracting offshoots that the herd might prefer to their route home. Wasn't sitting on a hos either, but the stampede was wild west enough for me.
All round about here, cattle are being taken indoors for the winter, and those summered out on the farm and the one adjoining were being collected to cavort the few miles home through the Devon lanes. We were primed and ready in place, and could hear the quads motoring across soggy fields. And the engines continued to roar and still no sign of beasts. 45 minutes later a cloud of steam heralded hot-blooded action. They had eluded the cowboys for a good while and were overheated and overexcited and full of beans. Their great feet clattered on the road and as soon as they saw me screeched to a standstill. I stepped back and they nosed forward, gathered pace and were off again. It was all I could do to restrain myself from yelling Yeehaaa!

4 comments:

Tami Weingartner said...

How many cattle do you keep in the barn in the winter. Is it a free stall shed?

menopausaloldbag (MOB) said...

I hope you have central heating for those big bummeed animals - it is a bit cold this year and just when the flippin fuel costs are sky high!

Lindsay said...

Would have loved to have been there. Supatrike would have held and lead the herd. The cows behind our house can reach their winter barns through a series of about five fields so no stampeding round here - would liven up the place.

mountainear said...

I was instructed to stand in a very similar 'gap'. From my standpoint I could see and hear the animals coming - overheated and overexcited describes them well. (The jumpers had already gone over hedges on route.) I felt a very small and unprepared person in a very wide gap. Mine was a 'Yessss' of relief as 50 or so Belgian Blues thundered through the right gate.