Loose cattle

“Have ya seen cattle?” our neighboring farmer greets us at the end of the lane. We’re on our way to get groceries and he’s on a search for his cattle. He’s farmed these fields for over 50 years and, in any ordinary year, his adjoining field has fertile grass and water for his cows to rotate through and devour. This year’s drought threw it off balance and, much to this farmer’s consternation, his cows have taken up the nomadic life. We first met when he was repairing a fence line between the field and the creek. That week, his cows decided the grass was too dry and that the best course of action was to topple the barbed fence wire, cross the dry creek, and wander into the forest land across the lane. Quite enterprising of them (I say, from the comfortable distance of one who bore no responsibility for their actions). This time around I’d heard nearby cows in the early morning. They sounded louder than the two resident ones in the field on the other side of our property usually do. I…