Mystery: Where did the cows go?

Sunday, January 27, 2013

10:00 AM  

A phone call: Neighbor-"Your cows are gone.  Your gate is torn apart...?"

Us: "Did anyone see them leave? Which way are they headed?"

Neighbor: "West, I think, West?"

Where did the cows go?

A broken gate.

No cows in sight...

Tracks lead West, but how many?

What caused such a ruckus?  Two high tinsel lines broken in two, a wire gate snapped in half.  Signs of a struggle or terrible scare.  

We headed West. Following the tracks in the fresh, but melting, snow. We hope they headed home--a familiar route for them, just five miles away.  

Hoof print after hoof print led us closer to home.  There in the distance stood a tight bunch of black Angus cattle, must be ours, but some tracks did not turn North towards home but continued West...

Did they ever turn around or did they keep West towards the major road and BLM?

We trekked onward.  

The trail ended 1.5 miles further West.  But no cows in sight.  Prints showed they had turned around and headed back East.  We could only imagine they met back up with the herd, hopefully.

Saddle up the horse and ride out.  Are those our cows out there in the adjacent pasture?

 30 minutes later...

 

 Brands all checked.  55 head, but 77 are still missing? 

Where could the rest be? 

Neighbor: "Oh, I think I saw a batch of yours huddled in the south end of your section. Must have been that mountain lion we've heard about?"

The End.

Indeed the other 77 head were lurking in the southern end of the pasture, just out of eye sight for most.  But there they stood, high headed and spooked.  Could it have been a mountain lion? No cows are missing, no carcass left in the field. What would a mountain lion want with a cow, it would have to be desperate to be in the middle of the valley.  

Luckily, it wasn't a mountain lion (don't worry Mother!), but rather a couple dogs we believe.  Dog prints and scat (fresh) were found in the pasture.  What a Sunday it turned out to be.  Now we are trying to adjust the herd back to our dogs who always help us move them...the ladies aren't too pleased.  

We'll move the 77 head back to the home ranch tomorrow to join the 55 that found their way home, a few days earlier than planed.