SMFC Forum

Forum Navigation
You need to log in to create posts and topics.

Sunday 9th May

The First Cowboy Day of 2021 - Sunday 9th May

The weather was forecast to be a bit grim, but the day started with sunshine and blue sky so without having prepared properly yesterday, I went to the field.

As it happens I was the first one to arrive. The gate to the field was closed, which was a bit of a surprise! When I opened it I realised why! There were cattle lurking in the far right corner of the field! I quickly drove through and closed the gate again!

After I had parked my car I decided to wait until someone else arrived. I knew that herding cattle was not a one man job!

Gordon was the next to arrive. He was as glad to see the cattle as I was! He drove to the parking area and I closed the gate and started to walk back to the cars.

This seemed to spur the cattle in to action and they started to follow me. Hoping for the best, I changed tack and headed for the entrance to the field where we hoped to store them while we flew. They followed me as good as gold - that is until I had to cross the babbling brook between us and the  temporary cow field. I wasn't surprised as the 'babbling brook' was now a raging torrent after the heavy rain of the past few days. My short wellies had given up the fight as I crossed it.

Gordon arrived and did his best to persuade the cattle to cross the stream, but it wasn't until Mel arrived on the scene that the cattle were persuaded to start crossing. By this time I was in the field waiting to greet the cows, but they didn't seem to want to be greeted and they immediately turned right after crossing the stream and went in to the wrong field, from where they could invade the flying filed at any time. This wasn't good! So I came out of the right field and in to the wrong field in an attempt to round up the cattle and escort them to the correct field! There were a few moments of worry when one cow decided to take a short cut through the barbed wire fence and another tried to jump the gate, but eventually I got the cattle in to the correct field and shut the gate. Everyone breathed a sigh of relief, even Gordon and Mel who had also decided not to cross the raging torrent!

Then on to the flying!

I had resurrected a flying wing that Mel had given me some time ago - possibly three years, so this was to be my first flight. After some advice from Mel as to how to set up the wing, it flew pretty well! It seemed to cope well with the windy conditions that stayed with us the whole day! It flew so well that Mel wondered why he had given it to me in the first place!

Other than the wind, which was always a bit strong and gusty, it was a decent flying day.

Good flights, good chatter and half decent weather! What more could you ask for? (Possibly no cattle?)

Uploaded files:
  • 20210509_112607S.jpg

We had to deal with the cattle again this following Wednesday, however there were more people there to help and the cattle were a little more co-operative, I also brought my wellies so could cross the stream which was still quite high.

Thanks to all who helped out.

I am wondering if we might have the task of cow moving more often than last year.