“There is a stubbornness about me that never can bear to be frightened at the will of others. My courage always rises at every attempt to intimidate me.”
~ Jane Austen, Pride and Prejudice
I was hoping to be the bearer of good news this morning.
I was planning to tell you that Snubby-Nose, the bossy bully cow I wrote about a few days ago, is now happily ensconced in a new home on someone else’s farm. There was no way we could let her stay here after the rest of the herd rejected her and began ganging up on her to stop her bullying ways.
Yesterday all we needed to do was push her up the hill from the river flats and into the cattle yards. This usually involves us walking the paddock with the cattle (or animal) and pushing them (we don’t actually ‘push’, that’s just a cattlework term – we use our body proximity to motivate the cattle to walk forward by standing slightly behind or to the flank of them) in the direction we need them to go, using a dog if they need a little encouragement to move in a particular direction. I knew it was too much ground for Ben and Harry-dog and I to cover if the cow picked up speed, so Ben called up a mate with trained dogs and a good horse. We’ve worked together before and always had good results.
It should have been a simple operation to get Snubby-Nose up to the yards and onto a truck.
I should have remembered that things that appear simple rarely are…
Snubby-Nose didn’t want to co-operate. She charged off into bushes and down ravines where the men and horse couldn’t follow.
She outwitted the dogs, and hurled them around like soft toys. (No-one was hurt, but it did get a bit dramatic.)
Finally she retreated to the deepest part of the river, forcing the horse and dogs to swim around her until everyone was exhausted.
Here she looks more like a cranky crocodile (and truly she was channeling that kind of evil vibe!) The dark stain in the water is the mud she is churning up as she swims. There was a deep hole there into which she was trying to lure the horse.
We gave up.
She won.
At last glance Snubby-Nose was back on the river flats, munching contentedly. This cow has no immediate plans for being moved on. Stubborn, stubborn, stubborn girl.
We’ll give ourselves a rest and have a rethink.Then it will be on for Round Two.
I’m thinking more horses, motorbikes, a cunning vet with a tranquiliser gun and a helicopter to airlift Queen Snubby-Nose to anywhere else.
Farm life. Ah, the tranquility!
I’d be tempted to move her right into the freezer. 🙁 Not really, just that kind of stubbornness is draining. Good luck with it all. Time will tell which direction she will go.
She sounds bloody stubborn but this did make me laugh, I knew you wouldn’t be actually pushing her but still the vision of you actually pushing her make me laugh though, better luck next time around
If I could have pushed her I would have! Glad you got a laugh though. 🙂
Don’t know if others have felt this too, but after your first post on her I felt a deep compassion for Stubby-Nose and sent her lots of love. Perhaps her bullying is coming from ‘cow trauma’ somewhere in her life??
Anyway, my heart went out to her at the thought of the whole herd chasing and knocking her down, then ‘attacking’ her when she was down. I can imagine how very lonely and isolated she must feel to be ostracized and forced to leave her family. Her behavior reminds me of kids who act out negatively from deep inner pain as a protective mechanism.
I wonder if she has learned her lesson? If the herd (and her people) could forgive her? If she could be given a second chance? Sending love for the highest good for Snubby-Nose and all concerned.
Thank you! I feel so bad for her too, as crazy as she is making us. But her bullying of others has been as bad, or worse, than what was dished out to her by the herd. Let’s hope that everyone calms down and that she either makes peace with the herd or is gracious enough to allow us to find her a better home.
am i allowed to laugh?
Yeah, go on… 🙂
Do you communicate with animals? She definitely has an agenda.
She’s a girl with insecurity issues, like most bullies. We’re now trying love and molasses bribes.