Sometimes the Cows get out.  They usually escape when I’m away on business going as far as 30 feet from where they should be (not far).  Last night a limb fell from a tree onto the fence and made an opening where they could simply walk over the fence.  We have a HUGE cottonwood that has been shedding limbs all spring.  Recently I fenced over a fallen limb hoping to clean it up when the weather cools.  That was a mistake.  Not a huge deal except, as usual, I was not home to discover their jailbreak.  My wife noticed it.  She got the one escaped cow back in with little difficulty.  This is unusual but not unexpected.

Unusual but not unexpected.

It happens.  Chicks die in the brooder.  Pigs get out.  Raccoons eat chickens.  Equipment fails on butcher day…just when you need it.  The baler throws a bad bale or the mower breaks a tooth.  All part of the thrill of farming.  With chicks, you buy more than you expect to sell, knowing something will go wrong in the brooder and some percentage will die.  With equipment, you try to keep parts around for the most common problems…extra teeth or shear bolts.  You also try to build extra time into your schedule for a trip to town to have a tire repaired.  If the cows escape their daily grazing area, you hope your perimeter fence is in condition to at least keep the cows on the farm.

On any given day a lot of unusual but not unexpected things can happen.  Don’t let it wear on you.  It’s just part of the job.