05/06/2026
I was in the yard working with a horse. He saw the cattle walking the fence line, high on a hill, silhouetted against the horizon. The view was making it hard for him to concentrate. As the small bunch made their way across I stopped to watch too. Would they stay on their side or would they be in the pasture soon?
As they disappeared from sight we were both able to get back to work. Nothing had crawled through the fence. My horse was doing great, focusing hard on what I asked.
Until he was suddenly, completely distracted again. I turned to see what he was staring at so hard. Even if there’s nothing there, it’s good manners to acknowledge and check out whatever is worrying your horse.
The cattle were much closer this time. In the rows of cornstalks not quite dry enough to combine yet, and trying to get into the corrals. As soon as they were out of my sight earlier they had crawled through a different section of fence.
Our session abruptly ended as I rushed my horse back to his pasture. Grabbing the nearest 4wheeler I went to run cattle out of the corn. Yelling loudly to be heard over the roar of the engine I called the owner of the land. Flustered and helpless they finally directed me to the man who was leasing the land from them. The owner of the cattle.
That’s where the story of good neighbors begins.
We have one neighbor who calls us and yells when his cattle break through the fence into our pastures. They are yearlings, notorious for the difficulty of keeping in. It should be expected. He could easily apologize, we could laugh about those dang yearlings and work together to get them out. Instead he whines like a spoiled toddler and blames everyone else, every time.
Unlike that person, this neighbor immediately answered my message. Promised to be over as soon as he could get here and gave us permission to push the entire herd to the far side of the pasture in hopes of them staying out, without us sitting there watching them the whole time, until he could get there.
My husband had come in, out of the combine by then and we pushed them over the hills and to the other side of the property. The owner got there shortly and ran electric fence over the bad spot. We spent the next couple of days getting electric fence up around the remaining rows of corn. It would have happened once the corn was harvested anyway, but we got it up early to help keep cows out should they come back.
Efforts were made by both sides to prevent further issues. We didn’t scream about the corn. Things happen. It could easily be our cattle next time. We realized the cattle were out before they could destroy the entire crop, or kill themselves over-eating. We put them back, he built fence, we built fence. We all put in the time and effort, accepting our own responsibility to help get the job done and prevent further issues.
That is neighboring. It’s a verb. Actions done by both parties. The cows may have gotten out but we developed a true neighbor. That was well worth it.
