The Bull got out.
The bull that is not ours.
The bull that we are leasing.
The bull that weighs about 2000 pounds.
He got out.
There will be no pictures of the actual event because when your bull is out you are not allowed to take pictures.
Let’s start at the beginning….
DH owns his own business. It is a pawnshop. His customers depend on him being there when they need help. He must be open on time. He must close on time. If the hours on the door say he’s open – he’s open. You can always count on him to be there every day he is scheduled to be there. He must be available. He must be there for the community.
DH NEVER closes his store.
Unless there has been a blizzard, ice storm and snow all in the same 5 hours, then he will close once in 5 years.
He NEVER closes his store.
Yesterday, we got a call from our next door neighbor (frantically) letting us know that our bull was dismantling the fence. He was removing the woven wire fencing from the posts. He was going under it and was half way out.
WHAT!!!
DH left the pawnshop immediately and headed home to deal with Mr. Beefy.
He called our oldest daughter (who was home) and told her to go up to the cow field and make sure the bull doesn’t get out. She threw on her boots and coat and ran up to the field just in time to watch Mr. Beefy go under the fence and leave the perimeter.
Holy Mama!
It’s not our bull.
He’s huge.
He’s out.
We live on a highway.
If Mr. Beefy made it to the road (which was 40 feet away) he could cause some serious road problems.
If a car happened to run into a 2000 pound bull, I don’t know if anyone would survive.
I was not home – I was at the Pawnshop working with DH. I am usually home on Wednesdays, but the day the bull decided to take a walk I was not home. Go figure.
We had to do what we had to do. The bull must be wrangled, put back into his field & kept there.
DH closed the Pawnshop. The same DH who NEVER closes his Pawnshop, closed his shop.
We left a sign on the door that said,
“CLOSED. The cow got out. Sorry for the inconvenience.”
Before I get to our customer’s reaction to the sudden closing for a bovine emergency, let me tell you what happened with Mr. Beefy.
Apparently, the grass is indeed greener on the other side of the fence, and he needed to get his mouth on it. So, that is just what he did. He tore down 100 feet of fencing, walked out of his pasture and ate the grass on the other side.
When my daughter saw him escape she did a bee line for some sweet-feed. Smart girl. A cow will follow you anywhere if you are carrying a bucket of sweet-feed. Of course he followed my daughter the bucket back into the field.
She had the bull back in the field and a small audience made up of our neighbors by this point. DH was just making it home. I stayed behind to close up the Pawnshop for the day and was heading home after.
The bull may have been back in the field, but we still had the problem of 100 feet of field with no fence, courtesy of Beefy.
DH and I spent the next 3 hours re-stretching, re-attaching and re-assembling the fence that Mr. Beefy dismantled. Then we put up several hundred feet of electric fencing in front of the woven wire.
We gave Beefy a ginormous helping of alphafa hay to keep him occupied so he would stop coveting the grass on the other side of the fence-line.
WHEW!
Back to the Pawnshop.
Can you imagine what our customers had to say when they “Came back” today because yesterday (when they came by) we were, “CLOSED. because the cow got out.”
Big, big, big laughs. The UPS guy thought it was hysterical.
The Fed Ex guy didn’t even talk – he just walked in laughing and laughed until he left.
A dozen people walked in and asked, “Did you get the cow back in?”
We had one customer walk in, look at DH and say, “Some people probably think that it’s Bull-s*** that you had to close because the cow got out. It’s not.”
He was right. When your cow is out it’s a big deal. If someone hits your cow with their car and gets hurt – it’s your fault.
You don’t want free-range cows.
By the way, sorry for saying “bull-s***.” I thought about changing the word – but then it wouldn’t be a quote. Sometimes there’re just no substitutes.
🙂
The cow is back in and very happy with his huge bale of hay.
He was lounging in the field this afternoon with his ladies contentedly.
Mr. Beefy goes back to his home (the one we leased him from) in 6 days. We hope his work here is done.
He seems to think so.
To get old fashioned advice, farm stories and tips be sure to subscribe via email (here).
XO,
Candi
