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Saturday, July 16

Cow Incident!




Yesterday I was driving out of the village when I came across some fine cows in the middle of the road. We have a traffic diversion at the moment due to some building work, so the traffic was busier than usual. The cows were making their way into a luscious arable field - where they were NOT suppose to be! However, due to a broken gate they could easily have come out of, back onto the main road. I was in the pick-up which is quite an intimidating size to a cow so thinking quickly, I pulled as near to the gate as possible and put on my hazard lights. I then phoned Jon - he worked on a farm as a boy - he'd know something!
In my mirror I saw a landrover approaching and recognised it to be a local farmer - he waved as he passed so I flashed my lights and he turned round. He knew whose cows they were so he made his way to tell the farmer involved.
Left alone, me, the pickup and the cows I became slightly concerned when they made their way back to the nearside of the vehicle! Fortunately at this moment Jon turned up, jumps out his van and "shoos" the cows back into the luscious field. I told him Mick had gone to the farm re the cows so all was OK. "If the cows come back just make yourself look big!" was his advice. A mean trick I thought, considering I am about 5'1" tall and there were about fifteen strapping cows! The cows seemed pre-occupied with eating the crops of the unfortunate arable farmer and I remained in the pick-up.
A few minutes passed and the tractor in the distance told me help was on its way in the form of John, the cows owner's son and my neighbour, Emma, his future sister in law. Off they went into the field, John doing a wonderful "one man and his cow" interpretation and with a series of whistles, swearing and mad antics, managed to persuade the cows to head for the road. Meanwhile as motorists were approaching the potentially dangerous situation (some at speed) I indicated for them to slow down so as not to freak the cows As the cows were brought up to the front of the pickup I  stopped the  traffic (no problem for a teacher) and ensuring the cows didn't go in the wrong direction waited whilst  John and Emma  brought the cows up, along the road, across the field and onwards to their own pastures! I must get the names of the cows involved - would you believe the same farmer showed one of his special cows at the Yorkshire Show last week! Her name - Denise!!!
Village life is never dull!

23 comments:

  1. I am fond of cows but I don't like them getting too close to me.

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  2. Understand CherryPie - the pickup was a good vehicle to be in at the time - I felt quite "high up!"

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  3. Make yourself look big huh just like a bear hahah

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  4. see, exciting stuff like that never happens in Albany. maybe the random bear...

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  5. Well done for being so public spirited. And forknowing what to do and who to call.

    I love the thought of you stopping the traffic in your 'teacher-mode'
    Now children, if you don't slow down, I will make you stay in at playtime and write out 'I will drive carefully near cows' 50 times!

    we teachers-of-small-stature can be pretty intimidating sometimes. But it probably works better with kids than cows.

    blessings x

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  6. Takes more than traffic to stop a teacher!
    And a cow named Denise just tops it all.
    What a great story. I can well imagine it happening to me, but I don't have a teacher's instinct for taking control of the situation. "Retired newspaper compositor" doesn't have any authority at all.

    —Kay, Alberta, Canada

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  7. I always get a bit nervous around cows when walking the dog. You have to admit, they can be scary, especially Cows with Guns!

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  8. Lovely story, Denise. Tell me, how big did you manage to be when you drew yourself up to your full height ...grins. I once had a herd of cows try to ruin a driving lesson, but we were on parkland so there was no danger... except to me, that is.

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  9. I never trust cows, they huddle together and plot insurrection. When we take walks in England I always carry an umbrella, not because of the weather but to open and make myself looker bigger to cows, I'm 5 ft.tall.

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  10. Well, I'm 5'7" and I still wouldn't have had the guts to do all you did! Good on ya! :D

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  11. Those cows obviously recognised a teacher when they saw one Denise!

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  12. I love cows ! and your photo of one of the wayward cows is beautiful.

    Think they are smart, except the busy road part, see gate open, go for the yummy field.

    I remember one trip to England driving through some lovely rolling hills and farm land. We drove into a small village and we pulled to a sudden stop along with several other cars. Everyone waited as some cows crossed the street. No one was herding them, so I think they were making a break for it, although a slow one.
    A few stayed to munch the plants along the road and square.
    After they wandered off everyone started up again and drove off. I thought it must happen often as no one seemed to care.
    I wish I cold remember where the village was, I can see it in my mind but the notes I took on that trip were lost in the fire.

    cheers, parsnip

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  13. Was Denise one of the escapees? :-)

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  14. Now that I call a landlife adventure ! I used to be a city girl until we moved to Waterloo and one morning with my mug of coffee in my hand I entered the living room and found myself nose to nose with a cow which looked through the French windows. our garden had no fence yet. Useless to say that I dropped my mug, and didn't know what to do ! We had just moved in.

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  15. What a great story :-) I'm impressed that you knew just what to do ... I would have been freaking out and probably going on Facebook and posting, "I'm surrounded by cows ... help!" or something. ;)

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  16. That made such a change from my usual city life.Really enjoyed reading about it
    Maggie X

    Nuts in May

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  17. Cute story! Denise, huh? Too funny. Glad everything turned out okay.

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  18. A neighbour's cattle came on to our land. 8-10...all young bulls.We tried to get them back home.Chris herded them towards me..."Stop them when they get to you" he shouted.
    I replied "What to you want me to do, lay down and trip them up?"
    They were big beasties!
    Jane x

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  19. What a great story! Denise saves the day!!

    I agree, make yourself look big (when it's a cow, it's easy enough to do: you just raise your arms over your head!) and holler. They soon back off. I had the dubious privilege of helping an extremely nervous young policeman get some bullocks back into a field once. He was most impressed with my arm-waving, hollering skills!

    So were the bullocks, BTW. :P

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  20. I hope that I shall remember what to do the next time the farmer's cows get out.

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  21. Aww, I think cows are just curious most of the time, but they are quite scarily big up close!

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  22. A lovely tale :) I miss seeing cows being herded along roads. In a nearby village I can remember them having to cross the road for milking.

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  23. I never knew cows could be so cheeky!

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Thank you for your comments, always nice to know somebody has taken the time to let me know what they think.