Cow gives swimming lesson

By various

accidents of geology and history, Park Farm, Kelson near Midsomer Norton has the river Avon running round

it (home of Bath Soft Cheese and Wyfe of Bath Cheese). This has been jolly useful this year as it gives the cows  somewhere

to cool off in hot weather.

1.  

   4 cows by river

 

But by other accidents of geology the river bank sometimes collapses.

Recently it happened  while a cow was grazing on top

of it. She found herself in deep water, and because the bank was steep

at that point found she could not get out. She struggled for a while

then rested with her head and forelegs in the in the reeds with her

“udder end” submerged.

The river Avon here is navigable and so quite deep and wide.

Several householders, who overlook the river, raised the alarm.

A

 fire engine arrived in the field. Screaming sirens announced the

arrival of another on the other side. School holidays had just begun, a

crowd began to assemble on the far bank.

Now,

the time honoured way of getting a cow out of the river is to offer her

some delicious cow cake in a bucket, then speak to her nicely and

encourage her to progress to shallow area where she can get out of her

own accord.

Offering her  a bucket of cow cake I too discovered how treacherous the bank can be. I  found myself swimming with her.

Bouyed partly by the sense of occasion, but mainly by the methane gas

which every cow holds in her rumen she turned and struck out for the far

shore.

Even

if she was going in the wrong direction, it was still quite remarkable

to see half a ton of bovine land animal with no previous experience of

swimming, going so strongly that she pushed out  bow wave on either

side.

On

reaching the far bank, which was also too deep for here to get out she

faced  some  stern  but benevolent redirection from the crowd of

onlookers, who quite sensibly could see the problems that would be

caused in a residential area by a wandering single cow with no home to

go to.

Eventally

she turned her head once more, and this time took a brave and

strong tack to arrive back on the home shore. But still it was too

deep for her to get out.

The

fire brigade launched their lifeboat. They have a procedure for dealing

with livestock in rivers. A strop is passed over the shoulders and the

two free ends then passed under the brisket out between the two front

legs. This way the animal can pulled or ,if necessary,  towed by the

boat to a favourable location for her to get out.

Seeing the boat and the strop, the cow did the intelligent thing and found her own way out.

Nobody died.

Except my mobile phone, which it seems does not like being submerged in river water, regardless of how hot it is.