Washouts from the Rain

Here's the old farmer himself. Who just said he doesn't want a pic of him on here, but alas it is in the name of good journalism so I will prevail. He was retrieving a wayward water trough that got washed away when the brook flooded the cow pasture.


This is May's Brook. Our Friend or Foe depending on the season. She waters livestock during times of drought, and frequently washes away our road at her fancy.

Got some good rain last night. Actually it started yesterday morning, continued all day and of course intensified around the time we needed to milk the cows. Zoie and I decided we better lock Happy and Henrietta in the calving stall because on our property we have not 1 but 2 brooks that converge right at a low point of our driveway and usually flood with heavy rain. You wouldn't believe how much that water rises and flash floods. It's dangerous. Anyway, last year we had a scary situation where it flash flooded and left the milk cows on one side, bellowing, and their calves on the other side, bawling. There was nothing we could do, and the calves kept wading out into the fast moving water. That's how fast the water rose. Obviously I wasn't feeling up to a repeat of that performance.

Last night, it was raining horizontal and the cows were freaking out a little, somehow Happy left the field and Henrietta got separated and then Ellie and Chia panicked and chased her headlong down the field over the rising brook. GREAT! We had to rescue her, get her back to the gate, by this time Happy had turned around and was like a steam roller charging through the rain, then Chia went crazy and again tried to chase Henrietta away! I made a grab for Henny's collar and the safety released, leaving me sitting in you know what with a little collar in my hand. Luckily Zoie was onto this game and gave Chia a good " escort " away from the area, Happy reclaimed Henny and away we went. These pics do not show the flood stage at all, and for the record we've had MUCH more severe flooding. This was pretty insignificant, but made it a little interesting anyway.