Sunday 13 February 2022

Cattle Drives

February always reminds me of one of the most incredible scenes I’ve ever witnessed. Back between 2003 and 2005, I was pastor at St. Elizabeth of Hungary in John Day in Central Oregon. Many ranchers had hundreds of cows pasturing in various fields. Once a year, when most of the cows are pregnant, over 900 cows are moved from one pasture to another, a distance of 8 miles, and as cowboys on their horses lead the way, 900 cows stampede through the town, as you can see from these two photos. 

The start of the cattle drive passing by my church.

The odd thing is that people were telling me to speed up my Mass that day. I thought that’s because they want to watch the cattle drive, but their real reason is so that they can get home before the cows arrive, as they would otherwise have to wait until the bovine parade passes through. And while I was expecting to see hundreds of people watching the parade, cheering the cows and taking pictures, guess what? I was the only one doing so....

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