A little “poddy rustling”
We had a new neighbour on the southern boundary.
He kept a different breed of cattle than ours. We loved the Herefords; red brown with white faces very pretty animals. Our neighbours cattle were a mixed breed of Brahman cattle with long faces, a hump and quite aggressive.
It happened that one of his heifers went through the fence into our property. Peter saw her when he was checking if all the animals were OK. He did not like riding a horse so made his rounds usually on the small motorbike belonging to the girls. He tried to maneuver her towards the fence where he had opened a space to let her through. Yet the furious heifer turned around and charged him full speed on his bike.
She did some damage to the bike, fortunately not to Peter. She did not want to leave so Peter left her in our property and closed the fence.
Later when he saw the neighbour he asked him if he missed a little brown heifer. The neighbour said yes and asked where she was. Peter said that he tried to drive her back to his property but that in the process she did some damage to his motorbike. Then the neighbour changed his tune and didn’t want to acknowledge the heifer.
So the little heifer, she was a pretty girl, stayed with us.
A year later this neighbour said to Peter, I think I saw one of my heifers at your place. Didn’t you say that you saw one of my little heifers on your place? Peter said, oh no, that was a year ago and your heifer went back to your place, so I don’t know what you are talking about. And that was the end of it. Peter was not giving him back this little beauty which he had fed for the last year. The neighbour had never paid for the damaged motorbike. So we were more or less quits.
Cattle rustling was going on all the time on more remote properties.
10 comments:
Interesting life on a farm. I can just picture Peter trying to muster the heifer through an opening in the fence. Maybe a cattle dog would have been helpful. I love reading your blogs about your life in northern NSW.
Lucky Peter wasn't hurt. An interesting story about farm life. Did the heifer have any calves when she grew up?
Wilbo thank you for your comment and interest. We had a cattle dog but he liked to chase the birds not the cattle!
Hi Diane, thank you for your visit. Yes she did have calves.
I didn't know there were cows called Brahman cows. That is the name of a caste in India.
Wonderful to get a little "foudling" like that, she sounds like a perfect "thing" (well, animals are not really things, of course...) to have. Please give her a pat from me.
A real nice story, simple, effective,
getting the point accross. What a trip,
human nature...That is why I prefer
horticulture..
We're happy the little cow grew up healthy and went on to have calves. Bet that neighbor learned his lesson.
Crazy. Farm life has its challenges and adventures, that's for sure.
Hello Titania,
Merry Christmas! This year, we are celebrating at our new house in the US, but have decided that next Christmas will be an Aussie one. Can't wait...! May you find happiness the coming year. Liisa.
Wow, your life is so very different to my life here in the middle of the UK - a tiny, crowded island!
Thank you for finding (and following) me! I've just had a fascinating time reading all your blogs and I love this one with your descriptions of your life :)
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