June 6, 2007

now loathe "Daisy" and if we catch her she will become the range cow she wants to be or hamburger. If we cannot catch her with ropes, she will be shot by a good marksman so we can get "Blossom" her week old heifer calf back. Something spooked her out of the front pasture and we  spent 4 hours last night chasing her around the countryside until we lost her when it got dark. The rain was much more tolerable than the horrid black swarms of mosquitoes. It is not like it is pastures she is loose on, it is wilderness and it is possible no one will ever see her again. The last we saw her, she was in a several hundred acre clearcut block with willows and swamps and then she was gone with her calf. We are hoping she was where there was a weird break in a fence and she went into a ranch and mixed up with their cattle and if so, the woman will bring her gentle cattle in and "Daisy" will probably drift with them and then be into their handling corrals so we can get her. If we get "Blossom" back, she will never again be with "Daisy". I was waiting until one of the other cows calved out to feed her, but I will use "Crystal" the goat for a surrogate mom for her. I do not need another cow who is wilder than a March Hare and that is how "Blossom" will end up if she stays with her mother. I am afraid we may never see "Blossom" or "Daisy" again though, as they are in a high traffic bear area.

We have a posse of many foot people and horse back riders. We also have people from neighboring ranches who have cutting horses who know their jobs. Keep your fingers crossed we can find them.

4:52am Update:

It poured rain all night. Poured. I will probably have to cancel any 'rescue' party as all traces of the cow and calf have been erased. With all our clay, I do not want anyone or anyone's horses to get hurt. All I can hope is that "Daisy" and "Blossom" get caught up in someone's herd of cattle and we get her that way, even if it is in the Fall roundups.

8:02 am Update:

The boys talked me into just going on foot in the rain to see and show me where they saw "Daisy" last night and check out the break in the fence. At least if we can pinpoint her, then we can plan from there. I wish I had put a cow bell on her. Unless you have been in bush, you wouldn't know. The brush is thick for miles and miles and miles... if a bear was 6 feet from you, you might not see it. It is probably worse looking for "Daisy" than looking for a needle in a haystack.

4:30 pm Update:

I was wrong. It is worse than 1,000 haystacks. It was some pretty rough country we went through today, including off-roading on one of the neighboring properties in a Subaru 4x4 wagon (including over a log) and I think he said he had 800 acres. We contacted about 9-10 of the surrounding ranches for about a 15-20 mile square mile area to inform them she may catch up to their bunches. A couple people think she may be in heat and looking for a bull.

We will go out on horses tomorrow and see what we can find for where fences are open and any sign of her or the calf. But after tomorrow, we will A.) Never see her again or B.) Someone may find her in their herds during the Fall roundups.