I've been a nosey neighbor

Our neighbors have Longhorn cattle. They have been a novelty since they first entered the pasture next door. 

Being farm folks, Mike and I thought it was odd that the neighbors would buy such a creature. They were not really farm people and simply bought them for the novelty of how the cattle looked, I think. The first two who came to be our neighbors were Wanda and Willy. Wanda was a hefty, older looking cow who looked like she had not had a calf in years. Willy was a young yearling bull.  

Then, the neighbors added another and another Longhorn cow until they had an entire herd. Some of the new cows gave birth shortly after arriving next door and the herd continued to grow.

The neighbors wound up selling and moving away to another state but the herd stayed next door for the new homeowners. These new homeowners really seemed to have less knowledge about cattle than the original ones. For example, they didn't realize that they probably needed to get some hay to feed the cows when it snows and there is no grass readily available. So, they asked Mike for suggestions and he shared a little information.

After lunch one day this week, Mike mentioned that there was a truck and trailer backed up to the catch pen next door and some guys were loading up some of the Longhorns. Out of curiosity, I gravitated to the window to watch. I was curious about how many they would be able to load onto a trailer with those long horns. There were already a couple of the cattle loaded onto the trailer and the guys were working to get more on. One of them came dashing around the side of the trailer and had a rope dangling from his neck. The guys came dashing after him and the chase ensued.

The young bull went loping off down the pasture away from the barn. At one point one of the guys grabbed hold of the dangling rope and he began to dangle along as well. After a while, the guy turned loose and stood in a state of ponder for a bit. Then, he eased down the pasture and circled around the young bull and drove him back up toward the barn. This time, the young bull made short work of running around and getting by the men. Finally, both guys snagged hold of the end of the rope and held on, stopping the young bull.

It became a war of wills. Which would have the most determination? Would it be the guys or the bull? The guys were patient for a while. The other cattle came over to their friend and checked him out and then they wandered off munching on grass. After the young bull tired a bit, one of the guys ran back up the hill to the truck and pulled it down toward where the young bull was scotched and holding his ground.

I was amazed by the strength of this guy! Evidently, they didn't make much progress at coaxing the young bull onto the trailer. So, while the one guy held on, the other guy circled the trailer back around closer to the young bull, who was laying on the ground at that point. 

Being the nosey neighbor through all of this, I just took a seat near the window looking out onto the neighbor's pasture and watched all the action as I was making up an online grocery order. I was certainly amazed by the strength of the one guy! They were pretty tenacious about getting their job done and I found it interesting to see how they went about getting that bull loaded. I was also thankful that I didn't have any part of the work of it!

The two guys tugged and coaxed and finally got the bull loaded and went on their way with the load of Longhorn bulls. Obviously, this was not the guys' first rodeo!