Brutal

We lost our steer yesterday. First we just lost it, and then WE really lost it, and finally we REALLY lost it.

Explain:

Syrup, the steer of the Funny Farm, decided to role play the cow jumping over the moon. He lept the fence and galloped around the empty yard a bit. Funny, and BIL & I tried to round him back up into the yard. Syrup didn't agree and plowed through our neighbor's fence. Through their RV gate and out into the street. That's when we lost him.

Ran around the neighborhood a bit, tracking him down. Thankfully, SIL a few streets away had spotted Syrup and was able to direct us. 115*, BTW. 2PM. No clouds.

I jumped in SIL's truck (SIL #2 of 3 that were in the neighborhood) and we drove after him. At the end of the road, expecting to turn left to where he was last spotted, I happened to look straight ahead and saw a brownish/ black mass, bounding through the acres and acres of alfalfa.

After about a mile and a half, part running/ part driving, we (with the help of a farm Jose who was working the field) managed to run him down and have him 'cornered' in a triangle of the 3 of us. Just me, SIL, and Jose.....still 115*......2:45ish...

We all got a chance to play rodeo clown, getting tossed and plowed and mowed. Finally, we got a rope around him and waited for our friend to bring his trailer.

3:15ish....in the trailer, on the way back home. BIL managed to back SIL's van into the irrigation ditch, where it was high-centered and stayed there until later....

Syrup was home, and we turned him into the pen. He walked around in a circle, layed down with a couple desperate 'moooooo's.....and died!

Today, I feel like I was hit by a car. Maybe a truck. I'm pretty beat up, and so is poor SIL, who took a couple plows (and was drug as she hung onto the rope)....Mostly, I am TO'd that we now have to pay $250 to have the carcass removed, after loosing all that beef. ($500 inital investment, plus feed since we've had him....). At this point, though, I am just glad we are all ok, and that when I really needed help, I had oodles of family nearby and a friend who dropped everything at a moment's notice to take part in the excitement. ;)

In the end, as I was whining about my injuries, DH pointed out, 'Well, you won!' (vs. the steer). Yeah, we sure showed him. Dang fly-covered lump in the pen......The cow's gone Home.