The wild red cow

At the beginning of July, I rode amongst my cows at the North Ranch and there seemed to be a red cow that actively avoided me.  Her head was up, and she was watching us ride around.  If we came near, she trotted over to the far side of the herd.  I saw that 1) she had NO tags, neither on her brisket, nor in her ears; 2) she appeared to be unbranded; 3) she appeared to be with out a calf.

The next time we went checking cows at the North Ranch, I noticed the red cow again because of her skittish behaviour and I took out my phone and slowly rode around so I could get a few pictures of her.  I intended to show these to the Brand Inspector to see if he could help identify her.    

When I encountered the Brand Inspector, John, a short while later, I described in detail the “wild red cow” who looked to be a maverick, albeit an older one.  Before I completed my description John’s face lit up and he said, “That cow belongs to your neighbour!” 

Consternation crossed my face, as I wondered which of my neighbours might have such a wild red cow.  “Which neighbour?” 

Now it was John’s turn to look perplexed, he could see in his mind’s eye the cow’s owner, but he could not come up with a name.  He said, “The little, short one just up the road from you.” 

A light bulb went on in my head, and I asked “Maggie?” 

“Yes,  she lost that cow out of her corral this spring!” 

“Her corral at home???” 

“Yep, she jumped the fence, and Maggie never saw her again.”  He further explained that the cow had escaped on Maggie last year as well.

A few days later I met Maggie.  “I hear you’re missing a red cow.”

“Well, yes I am!”

“I think I’ve got her.”

Maggie explained that the cow would not go into the trailer when Maggie was hauling the rest of her cows to her pasture that is just up the road from Winning Ways.  Eventually the wild red cow decided that she would go, on her own, to find the rest of the herd and jumped over a gate at Maggie’s yard.  Someone saw her the next day and then she vanished.

Maggie agreed that because the cow was so wild, I would just leave her with the herd and since we bring the herd home in a Cattle Drive, the cow would get back to our Home Ranch in the fall.  I then promised I would get the cow loaded and haul her to the Stockyards so Maggie would not need to load her again.

The wild red cow actually became accustomed to the sight of riders going around the herd, and although she watched us, she did not run off as she had done in July.  We did not put her in the pen when we were sorting calves from cows when we weaned, so we did not traumatize her then.  When we fed the cows hay, before we brought them back to the Home Ranch, the less wild, red cow would stay away from us, but did not run to the trees.  This may all seem a bit bizarre, unless you know that Winning Ways’ cows must be forced to move out of the way when we work with them.

The day of the Cattle Drive, I recall checking that the wild red cow was in the herd initially, but I don’t think I ever saw her again.  She was finally blending into the herd.  

The day of the Pregnancy Check we separated the wild red cow into a pen with fairly high fences.  I did see her eyeing up different spots where the fence was a bit lower. Eventually, when there were a group of cows in the pen with her, she was still watchful but relatively calm. 

Sorting for the sale was interesting, but again we managed to get the wild red cow into the pen behind the chute without her leaving over a fence.  I had put one of our cows into the chute first, as a decoy to get her down the alley.  The wild red cow ran up to the Winning Ways’ cow and then jumped on her, attempting to crawl out of the chute!   While the WILD red cow was aboard the WW cow, my very dexterous helper managed to reach in and place an RFID tag into her ear!  When released from the chute the WILD red cow made laps around the other cows that where also headed to the Stockyards.

Now to fulfill my promise to Maggie I had to get this WILD red cow to the stockyard and that involved getting her into the trailer.  My crew, this fall, does not have much experience with cattle.  (Not that it would have made a great deal of difference with this cow,  most people in my circle of friends do not have that much experience with WILD cattle) I generally position myself at the back of the trailer to close the door once animals have entered the trailer.  That leaves my crew to bring the animals into the loading alley and up to the trailer.

The crew got the WW cows moving toward the gate to the alley, more than once, only to be derailed from this movement by a fleeing WILD red cow.  At one point the WW cows moved into the alley and loaded into the trailer.  However, the WILD red cow had attempted to launch herself over the south fence but had been unsuccessful.  Apparently, she fell in a heap with the wind knocked out of her and my crew thought that she was fatally injured.  I returned the WW cows to the pen and this time when the WILD red cow picked herself up off the ground, she was a bit more subdued and willing to go with the others.  When they got to the alley, she flew down it like a hockey puck into a net.  I pushed the door closed while she made a few laps around the inside of the trailer.  The WW cows really had to be forced to enter the trailer with the WILD red cow.  I imagine the energy she was giving off was terribly frenetic and unpleasant to the other cattle.

I unloaded the cows at the Stockyards and warned John that she was WILD and that no one should try to stop her, she wouldn’t even see them.  I had fulfilled my promise to Maggie and got her cow to the Stockyards.  THAT should have been the end of the story …. but it wasn’t!

The weekend after the Cattle Sale I was visiting with another neighbour who mentioned something about Maggie’s cow had a calf …. at the Stockyard!  Now, I was in disbelief!!  There is no way that I would have even suspected that Maggie’s cow was pregnant, let alone ready to calve.  I do recall that after she had gotten to the water bowl, I commented that she looked fuller.  I thought she had not been used to licking snow as my cows do, and was possibly a bit dehydrated when she came from the North Ranch.  I do not think that any of the staff or John would have said that cow was about to calve.

Apparently, the Stockyard bought the cow and calf, and I really hope that they found a safe place for the WILD red cow AND HER CALF!