A new way to herd cattle in Montana

And with “Raw Hide” in the soundtrack. It’s funny.

- end of initial entry -

November 2

Buck O. writes:

That was funny.

Twelve years ago I rented a house on twenty acres. Ten acres was fenced for grazing cows from a nearby dairy. The landlord didn’t keep up with the deteriorating fence, so the cows regularly got out to the sweet tall grass outside the fence and along the one lane road. They went no further. I had no responsiblity for these cows, but when they got out passersby would pull into the driveway and knock on the door. “Sir, your cows are out.” I could see them all around the house and on both sides of the street.

Then, someone explained to me how to herd them if I was so inclined. One day a friend was over. The cows got out again. This friend had never been near a cow. I hadn’t either, but I told him what we were going to do, as if I knew, and convinced him to help. It was hysterical. “Just walk slowly in the direction that you want them to move and gently wave your extended arms like your making a snow angel, and don’t look them in the eye.” We’re both big guys, but cows are huge. We had no idea what they would do. They acted like we had come to play. We busted out laughing and as it turned into a game of “goof on the city slickers.” They just danced away from us, moving a few feet in any direction except toward the gate. It was clear to us that they “knew” what we wanted and it was clear to them that we had no idea what we were doing. They didn’t take us serious one bit, and were going to continue eating that sweet grass until the boss came. We soon realized just how goofy and silly we were being and gave up. It was a hoot. Not one cow went back through the opened gate.

We just went back into the house and got back to work on our project. Guys from the dairy soon showed up and herded them back in. I never saw how they did it.

Posted by Lawrence Auster at November 01, 2011 08:20 PM | Send