In video: The great cow escape

Published Friday, 17 June 2011

It is a case of two legs bad, four legs good at a South Armagh farm, where Daisy the cow has learned how to open the gate to her pen at night and escape into the green fields.

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The cunning cow was discovered undoing both bolts which keep Daisy and her bovine friends in the barn at nighttime on hidden camera.

Farmer Tom Grant was worried when he discovered his heifers helping themselves to grass in the morning when he knew he had closed them in the night before.

"Every night I would feed these heifers and put them into their respective pens, secured by a two-bar gate.

"I came out one morning and found the gate open and Daisy was out with her friends, and I thought maybe I didn't bar the gate right.

"I thought maybe there were boys about during the night trying to steal a heifer."

Mr Grant was udderly puzzled and the next evening he double-checked that the pen was bolted but Daisy and the other cows still appeared in the field in the morning.

He asked his brother, Vincent Grant, to set up a hidden camera to get to the bottom of the 'moo-stery' and discovered something very unusual.

"I discovered one of the animals was able to open the gate with her tongue," said Vincent.

"I was amazed, I never saw anything like it before and I thought here's a cow of unusual intelligence.

"People have the impression that a cow is a dumb animal, but as you can see from the footage, it's far from dumb, it's quite intelligent. Maybe her calf will take over and put us out."

The farmer said he was pleased to discover it was not thieves who were trying to pilfer his heifers and he would not have to beef up security, rather "Daisy just wanted to do her own thing".

Comments

10 Comments

Judith in BC Canada wrote (494 days ago):

Great stories about two Cows, Cows are not stupid they know how to survive they do it on the Prairies all of the time plus they are vegetarians

Lifeforce in Canada wrote (496 days ago):

News Release: A Very Merry Cow Story The Vancouver based ecology organization, Lifeforce, was told about the plight of an Angus cow on December 11th. We immediately contacted officials and organizations to instigate a rescue effort. In just only 10 days she was on her way to a sanctuary. In March 2011 she was on the freeway and the RCMP chased her. She ended up in a Surrey park bog and bush. This herd animal was now alone. For the next 9 months she endured coyotes, vicious dogs, harassment from humans and more threats that she only knows. This story about a very young cow who escaped the inhumane slaughter system and fought all odds by surviving for nine months in the wild near Vancouver, Canada must be told. Few others destined to be eaten have escaped and got a pass to freedom. This is cow is truly a case for kindness. A case for her freedom. She found some vegetation through to the Fall then concerned park walkers started feeding her so she would not starve to death. She was nicknamed Nellie by some and April by others. On December 19th a corral was setup and her food placed in it. As a “feral” cow who learnt how to defend herself she only let a few humans near her. During the first attempt to get her into a trailer she bolted and literally was airborne over a huge rock. So this Plan B was the next step. In the morning of the 21st the gates were closed while she was eating. She remained calm all day and did not try to knock down the temporary fencing. The CDART transport trailer came from Summerland, BC. By 5:30 she was in the trailer and on her way to a safe sanctuary for the rest of her life. Critteraid, that has a farm animal sanctuary in Summerland, BC, offered a home and their Canadian Disaster Animal Response Team provided the capture team and transport. Now settling in to her new luxury home, she spent the first night at Critteraid using the capture trailer as her home. Now called Lady Antebellum she now has a peaceful sanctuary.

David in London wrote (694 days ago):

You can bet your life that other cattle will be doing this all over the world in no time at all now. Some how or other, animals seem to have the ability to pass on knowledge and tricks as if telepathically. Ruper Sheldrake, the Cambridge pofessor, calls it morhpic resonance.

id in canada wrote (698 days ago):

The cow shown opening the gate is not the same cow they show in the field which they lead you to believe is Daisy. The cow opening the gate is a different colour and has a different texture of hair. I guess she was too shabby looking for television. Fun story. Dodgy journalism.

ALYS in STOKE wrote (699 days ago):

WHAT A LOVELY STORY, CONGRATULATIONS DAISY, YOU ARE CERTAINLY VERY CLEVER.

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