Cattle Drive

The Ranch has seen plenty of cattle in its time. Back in the days of the Herricks and the Childs in the late 19th Century, cattle was a way of life. For at least the last twenty years, however, the Ranch was used mostly as a preserve under prior ownership, and cattle was not welcome. There are plenty of cattle ranches nearby, and sometimes the cattle don’t pay much attention to property lines.

I saw them first back behind the pond — four steers staring sullenly at me while I was out for a morning walk. They chewed and stared. Took another bite. Stared some more.

Unless they swam across one of the creeks, they must have come from the ranch to our west. Walking back that way, I followed the hoof prints and the cow patties to the back fence, which was conveniently trampled down in the southeast corner. Time to call Cowboy Dan.

Cowboy Dan works the cattle on our western border. He showed up with an ATV and four dogs. Chased them back to the other side. Fixed the fence. Problem solved, right? Wrong.

There were six steers back the next morning. Now they were happily eating the grass in the central meadow. Carrie and I decided to drive them back towards the gated parcel just south of the barn. She drove up the meadow. I drove up the road. The cattle doubled back on us. We regrouped.

She drove up the road; I drove up the meadow in the side-by-side. About a quarter of the way up there, Señor broke out of the house and decided to join me. Riding shotgun, he barked happily at the cattle. They stared back.

We came up behind them. They tried to run back around me, but we cut them off and drove them up the hill towards the Lassen Cabin. Tired, they stopped and had a drink from Childs Ditch. Then, they hid in the blackberry patch.

We doubled back on foot and rousted them from the blackberries. They ran north to Battle Creek Meadow. The cattle drive was over. There is no way to chase them on that rocky meadow.

The next day, we walked the fence line. Making some minor repairs along the way, we spotted two of the culprits in the woods. I chased them on foot to the NE corner of the property where they hopped back over a downed section of fence. This was clearly the problem area. Four t bar later, the fence was fixed.

The next morning, Carrie and I went for a jog around the property. The six steer were waiting sullenly by the fence. But this time, they were on their side of the fence.

— KLM