Meet Dexter and Baxter, our latest arrivals: belted galloway steers. This is Baxter heading off into the wilderness of the lower paddock - exactly NOT where he was supposed to go. They arrived on Saturday morning before we had actually constructed about 400 metres of fencing that needed to be done to keep them out of the bottom paddock. I thought they would have been happy to have just grazed the nicely slashed big paddock for a few days before venturing down there. How wrong was I.
No sooner had they been off loaded than they headed straight through the gap in the fence, and then proceeded to wade through Julia's Little Creek (which I had assumed would act as a barrier - like a water moat at a zoo keeping lions in) and off into the scrub, with Trevor, the fellow who sold them to us and I in fast pursuit. Off we scrambled through forests of stinging nettle and wild tobacco, trying to cut them off, which we did. But then they decided to plunge into Leycester Creek which we just thought would never have happened, and were in danger of being washed away in the still-strong current. So I did something very uncharacteristic. I plunged in after them, managed to swim across the creek and headed them off before they could climb up the opposite bank. A few tense moments followed when I thought they or me or all of us would be swept downstream, before we got them back up the bank and herded them right up the paddock into the house paddock.
Where I thought we could keep them for a few days while we built the fence. Here is Baxter looking very innocent before the pair of them decided that the cattle grid at our entrance gate was no barrier to their movement and away they went out on to McGuinness Road, where they had the unusually good foresight to head right and now left. With the help of Dave and Cathie (see below) we managed to round them up and eventually they were installed in the holding pen behind the chookery, where they are learning to behave like good belted galloways.
So, Dexter is on the left and Baxter on the right. Welcome to Larnook, beasts!
Meet Dexter and Baxter, our latest arrivals: belted galloway steers. This is Baxter heading off into the wilderness of the lower paddock - exactly NOT where he was supposed to go. They arrived on Saturday morning before we had actually constructed about 400 metres of fencing that needed to be done to keep them out of the bottom paddock. I thought they would have been happy to have just grazed the nicely slashed big paddock for a few days before venturing down there. How wrong was I.
No sooner had they been off loaded than they headed straight through the gap in the fence, and then proceeded to wade through Julia's Little Creek (which I had assumed would act as a barrier - like a water moat at a zoo keeping lions in) and off into the scrub, with Trevor, the fellow who sold them to us and I in fast pursuit. Off we scrambled through forests of stinging nettle and wild tobacco, trying to cut them off, which we did. But then they decided to plunge into Leycester Creek which we just thought would never have happened, and were in danger of being washed away in the still-strong current. So I did something very uncharacteristic. I plunged in after them, managed to swim across the creek and headed them off before they could climb up the opposite bank. A few tense moments followed when I thought they or me or all of us would be swept downstream, before we got them back up the bank and herded them right up the paddock into the house paddock.
Where I thought we could keep them for a few days while we built the fence. Here is Baxter looking very innocent before the pair of them decided that the cattle grid at our entrance gate was no barrier to their movement and away they went out on to McGuinness Road, where they had the unusually good foresight to head right and now left. With the help of Dave and Cathie (see below) we managed to round them up and eventually they were installed in the holding pen behind the chookery, where they are learning to behave like good belted galloways.
So, Dexter is on the left and Baxter on the right. Welcome to Larnook, beasts!
3 comments:
Wow!! What an awesome and adventurous tale! I've got to admit I smiled right through the exciting story... Sounds like you've got a pair of regular Houdinis on your hands after all. Good on you for braving the creek, Kevin: what a hero you are! It would have been awful to lose them.
Gorgeous looking pair they are. Despite their jailbreaking antics, do they seem gentle?
They're fantastic looking beasts. And yes, always build the fence first before putting the cattle in the yard. Us country chicks could have told you that!
How many fences have they broken through yet? How many plants eaten they were not supposed to touch? How many lamps broken? How many gates ran straight through?
Oh, I forgot - they are not in Hukatere....;-p~~~
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