Good Fences

Good fences...
                            ... make good neighbors.

Especially when the neighbors have brought in 60 pair of bovine who just got off of Fremont Island and reportedly don't mind swimming rivers and trampling fence to get to the feed of their choice.

 Never mind that there really wasn't a decent fence between the property at all.

 Now, it is taking a hit with these big ladies and their thick necks reaching over, between and under to get what they want.

 Yes, you!  Look at that expression of "who me?" on this cow's face!

 The first day they brought the cows in, as they were unloading them actually, a cow had already escaped on to our property.  Boyd went down and found the owners, told them they already had problems and if they thought that pathetic excuse for a fence would hold in these cows they had no business running cattle.  The owner assured us they would fix the fence and it wouldn't be a problem.  Considering these are the same neighbors that burned down our pond last spring, we knew we were in trouble.

To their credit, they at least hired some local cowboys (actually some of our other neighbors) to ride the fence line and keep the cows on the north end of the grazing land.  They are out there twice a day pushing the cows back, but they can't be there all the time.  And, the cows do get out, both on to our property and in to the adjacent trucking company's property.

Here they are after they pushed some cows off our property and back over the fence.

 While we were chatting I asked why B was the only one lucky enough to ride of all the daughters, and she said she is the only one who wants to. 

So, I mentioned I would love to tag along one time and sure enough, I got to help the very next day.

I got to ride Goat, so named because she had a goat for a best friend.  She would lay down, the goat would crawl on and then she would stand and wander around with the goat balanced on her back.  Totally sounds like my kind of horse!

I don't know how many acres of land the cows are in, but it is wide open.

 I was pretty proud of myself for being able to take pictures and stay on the horse.  I only used my iPhone, didn't want to risk breaking my real camera. :)

 It was a beautiful night.

 I really enjoyed the experience.

 I was even able to walk and wasn't sore the next day even after being on the horse for a good hour and a half.

 But all that fun, doesn't change the reality.

These cows are making a mess of our land.

 It has rained the past few days and the road we use for exercise is one big mess of hoof prints.

 Even if they aren't out and on our side, just having them on the fence line makes me hesitate to bring my dogs on a walk because I know it will just be trouble.

 To compound all the issues, the neighbors planted new wheat in the field that borders our fence line.  That green grass just makes the cows want to be on our end of the field even more. Of course, the neighbors don't want the cows grazing it, nor trampling it, so they put up an electric fence.  You can see by the pictures that it isn't working at all. In fact, I watched one larger calf jump right over the fence and kick the box right off the corner post.

But the worst problem of all?   Besides the huge holes in the road from hooves smashing through mud, you have to watch out for cow pies.  And, now, dogs covered in crap.  

Yes, that lovely green sheen covering my dog is exactly what you think it is.  

And, that perfectly describes what I think of this whole situation!