Missing Heifers

In order to understand todays story you will need a little background information. Back when Oregon was really wild and free there was a lot of acreage that was designated open range territory. Fencing was not common for the major part of farms and livestock could roam unencumbered by a lot of barriers. This roaming was encouraged much like parents would turn the kids out of the house in the morning and not expect for them to come back at dark. Cattle would roam the forests and the meadows sometimes for weeks at a time before their owner would go in search of them and aim them back toward home base.

As the human population grew, many areas on the west side of Oregon were closed from being open range territory and that required farmers to fence their critters into their own property or face the consequences of recompense for damage or nuisance complaints from neighbors. In order to close a territory the locals had to vote on the issue since areas were closed by school zones. Many areas in Eastern Oregon are still considered open range and signs are placed along highways and county roads alerting travelers that the animals have the right-away to roam wherever they want even if it blocks traffic.

Teeny, tiny, rural Timber Road had its own one room school house at one time, as far as I could determine it was just a mile up the road from the farm although no site can be found today. The school was scheduled to have a vote to close the area as open range territory when a fire swept through the building and the locals were incorporated into school zones of Timber and Vernonia instead of determining the status of the range. In the upheaval of what may have only affected two or three families, the vote was forgotten. Now 100 or so years later, the small plot of land that fits between the Washington County Border and Highway 26 was never officially closed to the open range status. As a farm, we are required to fence out the neighbors critters if we so chose but they do not have to fence theirs in if they do not want to. Fencing therefore is a big issue for us since both of us tend our own herds.

As our farm is situated, the hillside and forested property is edged to a vast commercially owned forest property that stretches out for seven miles into the Coast Range. Our fences on the top and backside of our forest has been neglected over the last couple of years and there are gaps that we have just not gotten around to repairing or replacing.

We had moved three heifers into the main herd in the fall, these are young females that are ready to breed when they come into heat. Since moving them across the river they have not forged any strong bonds with the main herd and prefer to hang out with only each other. Many times they graze away from the rest of the herd by moving up into the forest looking for fresh areas of grass, undergrowth and wild berry vines. The three of them sometimes are so busy on their own adventures that they miss a meal or two with the main herd but eventually make their way back on their own.

A couple of weeks ago, the three had taken off on their own adventure and Mike was sure they had gone over the backside of our forest and out one of the gaps to explore the commercially forested areas. I walked up the hill and scouted around. There were lots of tracks of both the big elk herd and heifers over the hill on the far side of our property and I could see where our trio had bedded down one judging by the poop piles, but lost the trail when they moved into the commercial ground.

Mike drove up the Sunset Highway and drove in the 10 miles of logging roads to where I had walked and eventually he spotted the and was able to began moving them back to our property. He had them grazing in the right direction just before dark but had to abandon his efforts in order to complete necessary chores back at the farm to finish the day.

The next morning I walked back up our hill and found the trio contentedly munching on grass growing around our cedar test plot and was able to talk them into heading down the hill to the rest of the herd by the outdoor feeders. When the three crested the hill and realized they had a clear downhill path to familiar ground, they ran ahead of me to the bottom in a frenzied frolic. It took me another 25 minutes to pick my way down the steep and slippery slope to safety at the bottom of the hill. The three were already with the herd and mingling comfortably.

Since moving equipment and fencing up the hill during the wintertime is impossible, we will not have the ability to fix the fencing until next summer and most likely not until after hay season. Mike’s solution was to move the three heifers into the nursery field with the three new mothers and their calves to keep them off the hillside and the temptation to roam beyond our land.

That was much easier said than done. The three now ensconced in the main herd wanted to stay with the herd. We went round and round the four outdoor feeders in a wild game of gottcha trying to coerce the heifers to go through the gate into the small barnyard and away from the main herd. In the end we were only able to get two of the three first moved to the barnyard then released out into the nursery field.

Hopefully, with her other two cohorts out of the picture, the last heifer will decide it is ok to stay embedded with the main herd rather than go galavanting around outside our property lines.