Day 1

It all started out with arrogant posting of funny memes about other people's cows getting out.

Unbeknownst to me my little herd of demon hearted cows were making their escape while i was chilling out posting sarcastic videos. 

After the last escape we fixed the fence where we thought they escaped last time. I was still nervous because I hadn't had a chance to walk the entire fence. So we closed the gates so they couldn't escape into the back pasture. 

Somehow the gate was opened and the cows made their break. My bad feeling was correct we missed a cow sized hole in the fence where a tree came down. 

We discovered the escape on the evening of day 1. While hunting the cows on our little place we came across a skunk. A certain red dog decided he wasn't going to listen and stuck his nose right in the stinky part of the skunk. The red colored dog got a face full stink! We headed to the tank so he could get some water. 

While we were standing around the tank (Texan for pond)...we heard a big splash from the other side of the tank. We looked around and saw the bottle baby lamb desperately swimming towards us! A couple of times I was worried he wouldn't make it, but he finally kicked his way to me and velcroed himself to my side. He swam all the way across the tank. Apparently he really is part dog.

Just the beginning of weird happenings...started feeling like snow episode of that TV show Eureka! 

Day 2
We texted all the neighbors and headed out to hunt down the missing black hearted beasts. We checked the pasture to the north where I almost tipped the 4-wheeler into a hidden ravine...no cows.

Then we headed out to the 2k plus acre pasture to the east. We hopped on the road and drove around. After riding around for what seemed like forever and almost getting lost in a forest of mesquite trees we gave it up and headed home. 

Later that evening, while we were eating ribeyes that Duane Tinker made for us, we got a call from the neighbor. He said he saw our cows along the fenceline heading south. We finished dinner, loaded Zip and Copper up and headed out. 

When we arrived the little rascals were no where to be seen. We headed into the pasture from the backside this time. Certain the evil monsters couldn't have gotten that far away....we took off with confidence. 

We couldn’t have been more wrong. No cows anywhere. We split up and headed out. Duane finally found them close to the front of the pasture. Apparently they went feral on us. We couldn’t believe they got that far that fast through all that brush. They were booking it.

By the time I got back to Duane they had squirted off again and disappeared. Started thinking we were chasing ghosts. The sun was starting to set and I figured they disappeared into the mesquite trees and were hiding from us. We headed back towards the road. I was worried about hitting the fm road at dusk on our atvs. And we had a drone operator scheduled to come out and help us in a couple of days.

On our way out about 1/2 mile from the dirt road I looked right and saw our cows standing in a field about 1500 yards away in the setting sun. They had traveled at least 1/2 mile since Duane spotted them. 

I sent Copper and Zip after them and the cows took off running. Like lunatics... I have no idea how they got to where they did without crossing our paths and got that far away so quickly...it was really weird. They have short legs but they can move. 

We moved them around the fence heading towards the gate. Then just as we were getting to the gate they made another break for the forest of mesquite. I sent Copper who was really tired at this point. Zip went with him sometimes hindering his efforts. He finally got them stopped in the thicket and he headed them back. The terrain was really rough. 

The cows were fighting Copper the whole way. Tired as he was he never quit. Zip jumped in the fray and helped move them along. We got them out of the gate and headed down the road. 

We took them about a mile down the dirt road to the front trap of 350 acres where the working pens are located. Zip and Copper fell into a nice pace and the cows reluctantly moved away from their short lived freedom.

As we approached the gate to the trap we saw someone else's cow standing in the road. We pushed our cows in the trap gate. And since you don't leave cows out, Copper headed out about 300 feet and brought a strange grown single cow expertly to the gate. That impressed me the most really.

After running cows for miles and miles...he ran out and moved this old cow just perfectly into the gate. He knew where she belonged and put her up. He can read his livestock so well. The video in this post is the last few minutes of that effort. 

Check out this video of Copper penning a stray cow after a long day of work

We left the cows in the trap and headed home. It was too dark to finish the round up. So we are keeping the drone operator on standby just in case....hopefully the black hearted beasts will be where we left them ... in the morning. 

My stinky buddy is now laying on the floor snoring. He is such a good dog.  There is no way we could have gotten those cows up without the dogs. They are pretty incredible.

Day 3 of the Escapades of the Missing Mini Cows...

We left our demon hearted little turds in the large 350 acre trap last night at sunset. 

Copper slept like the dead. I actually poked him to make sure he was still alive once or twice. He woke up raring to go. 

We headed out at dawn hoping our cows were still where we left them. Sure enough they were in the trap huddled against the gate that led to their freedom! Ah no.

This time I brought my Harley girl to back Copper up. She rarely gets to work anymore due to an injury. So since the plan was this was going to be an easy catch, I let her join in on the fun. 

We headed my little herd along the fenceline. All was going well until the neighbors cows got all curious and joined in the fun. We tried to keep everyone separated but no one was cooperating and so we headed them all to the pens. 

Copper and Harley did a nice job moving non dog broke pairs calmly towards the working pens. I was so proud of them.

We made it to the corner and slowed everyone down. We were able to sort of my cows from the group along with a mama and her twin calves. We dropped the other cows and battled my little stinkers to the pens. 

We finally got them to the pens and I was able to sort off the mama and her twins into another pen. I love sorting cows! I used to be really bad at it and now I am pretty darn good and I really enjoy moving them around. I moved my cows into the chute and two trips later the monstrous little beasts are sulking in the arena.