selling

I needed help and was unafraid to admit it. I was at home and 6 hours away from Sweet Caroline. Taking the animal shelter’s advice, I called “Eye In The Sky Thermal Drone Pet Rescue”.

Philip answered on the second ring. I explained the situation, and the first words out of his mouth were, “I can go tonight.” I lost it. Fear, anxiety, exhaustion hit me all at once. I couldn’t speak for a good 30 seconds. Philip indicated that this is what he does. He asked that I send him a google pin with Sweet Caroline’s last location. He will contact the Sheriff’s department to let them know that a drone will be in the sky. I was flabbergasted but had hope.

I asked Philip is he thought he would find her. He responded, “I am 100% sure I will find her.”

“How can you be so confident?” I asked.

“It is a black cow! I am used to looking for much smaller animals. She will standout.” He was right.

That night, at approximately 8:30 PM, I received a text. I received a photo of Sweet Caroline standing in a corn field. I couldn’t believe it. I called Philip. He said he found her near the woods where she was last seen. She looked healthy and was eating. I couldn’t have been happier. I made plans to meet Philip the next day in Iowa in hopes of bringing Sweet Caroline home.

The plan was to meet with Philip, fly the drone, see Sweet Caroline and walk her to the trailer and then bring her home. That was the plan. Sweet Caroline had other ideas.

Truck and trailer in tow I was Iowa bound. Through my ever growing list of Iowa contacts, I learned the name of the farmer who’s pasture abutted the woods in which we believed Sweet Caroline had taken residence. I gave him a call while in route. He indicated that he did indeed own the pasture and confirmed that there were several head of cattle in it. The pasture was large, had several acres of woods and water. The farmer told me that there was a spring in the woods where Sweet Caroline was at so she had water. He was going to walk his pasture to see if he could see Sweet Caroline.

About 4 hours in to my trip, the farmer called to advise that he did indeed see Sweet Caroline. She literally walked right up to him! She was next to a fence that separated the 2 properties. She was about 10 yards away from a little gate. The farmer and his son tried to get her to go into the gate on this land, but Sweet Caroline was reluctant and wouldn’t go in. They were able to pet her. Not great news, but not the worst news either.

I met with Philip. Philip was going to put the drone up, and once Sweet Caroline was found, I was going to try to get her into the pasture with the other cattle. There were 2 gates. The little one the farmer mentioned and a main gate located along a road over a mile away.

The drone was up. Amazing things these drones. Flying over head and giving crystal clear images of the things below. Growing dark, Sweet Caroline emerged from the woods and went into the corn field. We were located about 1/2 a mile away and I began the walk towards her.

Sweet Caroline, was… well…Sweet Caroline. I walked towards her with a bucket of grain and she walked right up to me. She allowed me to pet her and I allowed her some grain. She looked healthy and good. I had brought a halter.

I have had more people ask why didn’t I just halter her? Piece of cake! First off, she had never had a halter on in her young life. Second off, she wasn’t about to start with a halter in that corn field in Iowa either. With that not going to work, I went with plan B.

We were about 300 yards to the small gate. The challenge with that was the small gate was located on a rather steep incline. To get to that gate, we had to walk through very thick brush and thickets. The fence was barbed wire. Sweet Caroline has never been around barbed wire. There was a large tree stump 3 feet in front of the gate. I walked between the stump and the barb wire fence. The other side of the stump was very thick briars and impassable. I immediately figured out the problem.

Sweet Caroline stopped at the stump. She would not go by the barbed wire. We were 3 feet away from the open gate. She eventually walked back to the corn field. I called her. She came back and stopped by the stump. And walked back to the corn field. We repeated that same sequence 3 times. She was wanting to follow. She wanted with the other cattle. She would not go past that stump.

I walked back to Philip. It was dark. I sent a text message to my Dexter cattle mentor and explained the situation. Through her contacts and Facebook followers, she was able to find someone in Illinois, close to Iowa, who might be able to help. She sent me the information.

I called. They would come the next day, Sunday, after church. Time to bring in the cowboys.

A little bit about the author. I own and operate a small farm called “Our Yellowstone LLC” in Illinois. I couldn’t do it alone, but will keep my wife’s name out of it to protect her innocence.

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