Escaping Cows

It never fails, every year as the grass in the pasture peters out, the cows start poking holes in the fence and wandering the country side.  Luckily the only neighbour this year is Mom, since the farm down the road is still sitting vacant.  In previous years it was a daily battle to keep them out of the fresh cut horse hay.

This year, the worst they do is walk over to Mom's and trim her grass, which she really doesn't mind except for the fertilizer deposits they leave.

As the days shorten and the rains come more steadily, the solar electric fence charger weakens to the point that the electric fence is really just a suggestion, not a rule.  After several years of use the built in battery just doesn't have the oomph to hold a charge after a couple of rainy days.

Yesterday morning I discovered the mangels have been decimated.  There's been a wayward cow in the garden. 

Luckily the mangels are just critter feed anyway, and the human food is ok.  A couple of bean plants were trampled, and a couple of romaines.  A few turnip tops had been sampled, but obviously didn't taste as good as the mangels.

Today I am off to buy a new fence charger and try to get the beasts back under control.