I got stopped by one of our neighbours on the way back from yesterday afternoon’s dog walk. He had left a bucket full of apples, picked from his tree, on the lawn, and woke up in the morning to find them all gone, apart from a few chewed scraps. Despite the gathering dusk he showed me cloven hoof imprints, about 2” long, in his lawn, and what can only be described as a small cowpat to accompany them. The hoof print was distinctly deer like, but the poo was most definitely not.
Later, at about 10.30 last night, I took the dogs onto the front drive, as we do, for a final pre bedtime “comfort visit”. Lesia calmly set about the task in hand, but Tia gave a “WOOF” and promptly legged it down the road. Having grabbed Leisa’s collar to stop her following, I peered down the road, calling Tia (who, surprisingly, came straight back to me) and was surprised to see dazzling car headlights with the distinctive silhouette of a bullocks tummy, recognisable from what dangles beneath.
Having returned the dogs to the security of the back garden, I strolled down the lane, and was greeted by a voice from behind the headlights “Is this your cow?” The “cow” was a very young bull calf, standing in the road, which would explain the hoof prints in our neighbour’s garden; the calf was clearly a serial escapologist. The car had had to take avoiding action, and had turned round to investigate further. The calf was exceedingly friendly, and allowed me to approach and scratch his head.
We needed to get him off of the road, and so I returned home to fetch a dog lead, which I fashioned into a halter which the calf happily let me put around his neck, but he put his hoof down at being led. I walked down the lane to investigate a gateway which I knew led to a barn and yard, with an adjacent field that has cows in it. The gate was locked. I felt a nudge to my arm, and there was the calf, which had followed me down the lane, like a very large dog. I decided that the only option was to enclose the calf next to our house, behind the gate, even though we keep a lot of stuff there that could be knocked over. I walked back up the Lane, with the car in front, hazard light flashing, and I phoned Chantal to ask her meet me in the front garden with an enticing apple. The calf followed closely behind. However before we got to our house the calf suddenly turned right though a large gap in the hedge, and headed across a field planted with young cereal plants, and disappeared into the darkness. Chantal was a bit disappointed – she was at the font door, apple in one hand, and, naturally, camera in the other. All that was left to do was to block the gap in the hedge – the wooden frames with chicken wire, originally used to make a cat-run at Coalville have been remarkably useful over the years.
This morning I left a note on the gate to the barn, and the farmer phoned me at lunchtime. The calf had originally been part of his herd, but who lost its Mum shortly after birth. A young couple at Hilltop Farm, on the far side of the field opposite our house, now a family house rather than a farmhouse, had taken pity on the orphan calf. They keep it as a pet, living in their garden, which would explain why it followed me everywhere. It was clearly heading for home, after a tiring adventure, as it set off back across the field.
We will know where to send it next time.
Technically we live in Oaktree House, but sadly the tree had to go.
We now have a thriving Oakstump at the front of the house.
