Highland Cow Adventures Angus the escape artist, part 1 By Terry Berry
I
’ve learned a valuable lesson in rural living – Don’t put off until tomorrow what you should have done yesterday… In anticipation of allowing our herd of Highlands access to an additional pasture, Lee – our neighbour to the east, and I got together to replace a section of line fence separating our two properties. We worked several Saturdays replacing 800+ feet of paten rail fencing that had long out lived its usefulness with new page wire. There was about 20 yards of paten rail fencing left to replace that would tie into the page wire previously done by Lee. The area left unfinished had a steep drop off on Lee’s side so his cows couldn’t climb it. On my side, it was heavily overgrown with prickly ash, sumac, and vines so I thought my cows wouldn’t find it. We agreed to leave it for another time – a decision I would regret. During the long weekend, I was working on some small projects around the house, when Lee came over to share some unwelcome news. Earlier that morning, it seemed Angus – our brindle bull, had decided the grass was greener on the other side of the fence and was found cavorting with his herd of Charolais. As Lee is telling me the story, Angus could be found mulling around in the background just close enough to hear our conversation. The highland breed being of docile nature made his return home uneventful. Lee led Angus back
to the spot in the fence he had traversed and coaxed him back to our side. Lee surmised that Angus had lifted a top rail from the remaining paten rail fence with his horns and stepped over the lower section to join the girls next door. Later that day I went up to the spot previously breached by our young explorer, fighting my way through groves of prickly ash, sumac, and vines. In the undergrowth were more prickly ash, sumac, and vines. Once reaching the presumed spot, I replaced the broken top rail with some beefed up rails and solidified everything using about five pounds of fence wire. The workmanship may not have met code, but I was sure it would deter any further escapes. If nothing else, it added five pounds of weight to the fence. The rest of the day was spent working on things found on the “honey do” list. All the while, I could hear Angus bellowing in the background to his new friends or anyone in the country that would listen. It wasn’t long before his calls were being answered. Thinking this to be normal bullish behaviour, I continued with my busy work, puttering until dark. As night fell and the chorus of cattle calls across fence lines continued, we settled in for the night. That evening our peace and quiet ended with the dreaded call – our boy Angus was next door again. I went out into the darkness, flashlight in one hand, grain pail in the other. I stumbled through
Angus, the escape artist. Photo by Terry Berry. the brush hoping to find our wayward ward and bring him back safe & sound. The white noise of courting cricket was splintered by my echoed calls to Angus, me tripping over branches, and the thud one makes when hitting the ground. In aptly named Stone Mills, there was no shortage of aggregate to help break my fall. In my not so quiet search, I was unaware of six followers breaking trail behind me. They seemed intent on
scoring some of the cob meant to coax Angus back home. Having my fourlegged posse on this search was going to be more hindrance than help. I walked them back to the field behind the house, and gave them the grain, hoping that would keep them occupied, and I could continue on my quest. To be continued in the next (December/ January) issue...
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THE SCOOP • October / November 2015