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Farm mystery [1]
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Date: 2023-01-13
Injured cow.
This diary is about a recent mystery that I hope has now been resolved with the help of several friends here in the community of Dot. Yes Dot is a real place name. Yes I’m a farmer (among other things) and I live in Dot — thus my handle.
The mystery began when one of our cows decided to stand out in the pond. Cattle often hang out in the pond in summer, but this was December. I asked her why she was standing in the pond. Typical of cows, she wouldn’t answer. She stayed in the pond for more than three days. When she finally came out she didn’t seem either sick or injured except for one of her ears. She soon recovered and rejoined the herd.
Then on a Sunday morning, I found our herd bull simply standing in the hallway of our stable. Our stable is on a separate parcel across the road from the rest of the farm. I asked bull why he was in the stable. He wouldn’t say, but he too had an injured ear.
When I found where he had ripped through the fence, I also found lots of blood stains. Indications seemed to be that he had been cornered by something and had broken through the fence to escape. But cornered by what?
A few more days passed. Then we got a phone call in the middle of the night. A neighbor living across the road from our north pasture had witnessed 2 pit bulls attacking one of our cows. He had scared them off with a pellet gun. That explained the two earlier injuries.
The following morning, I phoned a man who either owns or rents most of the local land. I asked him if he knew any local who owns pit bulls. He did. I asked him to talk to her for me. He did.
Later that day, the pit bull owner stopped here. She first indignantly asked why I hadn’t simply called her. Her house isn’t in sight of the road. I didn’t know she owned pit bulls. She then denied that her dogs would do such a thing, but agreed to stop letting them roam freely. There have been no further attacks. She is due to vacate her house by April 1.
The cow in my caption image was the final attack victim. She later died. That’s her calf in the foreground. I’m now bottle feeding that calf.
There have been cattle on this place since before I was born. These recent events mark the first time ever for losing a cow to an animal attack.
I’ll be gradually selling off the herd this year and will begin renting the farm in 2024. Although I’d love for this place to become a carbon sink, there are currently no funds for such things.
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