I was visiting Ed and Carol Gulley this afternoon, talking with Carol at the kitchen table, when she looked up suddenly and said. “the cows are out!”, something no farmer every wants to hear.
It was hot and humid and muddy and raining, Carol went tearing out the door and asked me to sit with Ed. Neighbors showed up, and Jesse, one of her sons. A contractor in a truck pulled over, and a neighbor who was bringing food.
The big cows had pushed open a gate and were wandering across the road. It took about a half hour for them all to get rounded up, the cows do not grasp how big and powerful they are, a human waving his or her arms can usually get them to stop.
One or two rebels broke away and ran up the road. When all of these sweating and exhausted people showed up after the cows were all in, I said I was never happier to be a writer than when I was visiting a farm.
I remember when my neighbors’beef cattle would push open the gate and come over to my place to graze in the long grass. It was quite a chore to round them up-my neighbor cracked up laughing at my gentle encouragement for the cows to go home-she just whacked them hard on the rump and told them to move along! I have lots of escaped cow stories from my days in WV.