Gwyn Jones' Farm Diary

Having sent them off the main grazing block in order to minimise damage to fencing and any other fixture that can be used to demonstrate strength and virility, they spend most of their time pawing the ground and making macho noises to one another. I was missing one the other day when I checked the field, but found him with his head stuck in an oak tree. This sizeable tree had a fork in the main trunk, which was a useful scratching tool. Unfortunately, ears bend back, but are not so good at bending forward!

The bull needed to lift his head high, before pulling back, which is against their natural instinct. With me attempting to lift his head, and the bull trying to kill me, we weren't getting on too well! I was perfectly safe, because the oak tree was boss here, and the bull felt very silly indeed. Eventually, I managed to get his head high enough for him to pull back, and release it, before wandering off feeling very sorry for himself. In the past, I have had to get a chainsaw to cut a tree in order to release a cow that had done the same thing between two ash trees. Now that is highly dangerous, I can tell you.

Gwyn Jones' Diary appears every week in the West Sussex Gazette. You can read the full version of this article in the WSG September 1