Jail-Break!

You know what I like to do when I get home from work? Usually relax a few minutes, have a snack, maybe play around on the internet. You know what I DON'T like to do when I get home from work? Wrangle livestock. But, that's exactly what happened this afternoon. 

Farmer John and I were on our way back to the farm, and right as we got around the bend in the road we could see we had some cattle outside of the fence. When we pulled onto the bridge we realized we had A LOT of cattle out of the fence. There was one cow in the yard, one in the barn (the people part of the barn),  several out in the hayfield and two standing at the end of the bridge!

I did not get photos of the cows near the bridge, or in the yard, or running through the garden, or ducking under the unhinged gate. But, I did get these photos of Farmer John herding some of them. These three were out in the hayfield. 

Two of the three just snuck their way back through the fence. But Clyde, it's always Clyde, was a bit more difficult. He had to be herded around all the gardens, around the barn, past the house, and through the brush above the upper building. It didn't take long to do all the herding, it just wasn't what we were expecting when we came home. 

After the bovine herding, we puttered around the house for a few minutes. Then Farmer John went outside to get started on chores. He was back inside in just a minute. At which point he said "#$%@! farm animals!" The chicks had escaped from their brooder. 

See all the chicks on the floor? They came out of that open door from the middle of the brooder. Farmer John and I spent the next 20 minutes chasing chicks around the shop. Fortunately, it wasn't quite as hard as we'd originally expected. Again, this is not what we were expecting to do this afternoon. 

I'm pretty sure this is the leader of the jail-break.