Katie Van Slyke Finds Possum in the Pregnant Cows’ Pasture — Then Discovers How the Mischievous Bull Calf Escaped

Katie Van Slyke thought she knew exactly where Possum was supposed to be.

Possum apparently had a different plan.

In a funny but slightly complicated farm update, Katie discovered the young bull calf standing in a pasture that was very definitely not his pasture.

Instead of staying with the other young cattle, Possum had somehow made his way into the area reserved for cows that are expected to calve in the coming weeks.

Katie’s reaction summed up the situation almost immediately.

“Possum, what are you doing in here?”

It was a fair question.

Possum wasn’t supposed to be mingling with a pasture full of mature cows, and Katie couldn’t immediately understand how the chunky youngster had managed to escape in the first place.

That mystery sent her on a fence-line investigation — and eventually she found an opening that explained everything.

But before solving the escape, Katie couldn’t help stopping to admire the little troublemaker she had bred.

Because as frustrating as Possum was being, Katie made one thing very clear:

She is incredibly proud of him. 0803.txtTXT

Possum Turns Up in the Wrong Pasture

The pasture Possum had entered wasn’t just any random field.

Katie explained that it was specifically being used for the mamas that are due to calve soon.

Possum, meanwhile, had been assigned to a separate lot with other young cattle.

So when Katie spotted him among the adult females, there was no question that something had gone wrong.

Her first challenge was figuring out exactly how.

The boundary between the areas included a line of livestock panels rather than traditional fencing.

Looking at Possum’s build, Katie had trouble imagining him fitting through any of them.

She jokingly pointed out that Possum isn’t exactly the most agile-looking animal.

He’s a sturdy, chunky young bull.

That made his escape even more impressive — or frustrating, depending on perspective.

Katie Can’t Stay Mad at Possum for Long

Even while preparing to scold him, Katie paused to admire what Possum has become.

She described him as an extremely nice, quality bull calf and said she was proud to have bred an animal with both his build and his distinctive coloring.

Possum clearly has a special place in Katie’s herd.

That meant her reaction was essentially a combination of two emotions.

On one hand:

What are you doing in here?

On the other:

Look how good you look.

Katie openly admitted she was going to brag on him a little before returning to the matter of his unauthorized pasture adventure.

And Possum seemed perfectly content with his new surroundings.

Possum Was Surprisingly Polite With the Ladies

Katie watched Possum for several minutes after arriving.

Despite being somewhere he wasn’t supposed to be, he wasn’t initially causing complete chaos.

Katie described him as approaching the cows rather politely.

The adult females, however, were not always equally interested in his attention.

Katie joked that the ladies were declining his advances somewhat less politely.

Possum didn’t appear intimidated.

In fact, Katie repeatedly commented on how confident he was.

The young bull seemed to have absolutely no fear about wandering around a group of cows considerably larger and older than he was.

At one point, he approached Luna, and Katie reminded him that she was older than him.

Possum apparently didn’t care.

Why Did Possum Want Into This Pasture?

His escape created another question.

Why would Possum go through the effort of getting into this particular field?

Katie said the cows there should all be pregnant.

If that were the case, she wouldn’t necessarily expect the type of scent or behavior that might attract a young bull’s attention.

That led Katie to start watching the cows more closely.

She then noticed something that made her wonder whether there might be an explanation.

Katie saw one cow mount another female.

She also noticed that the cow in question didn’t appear especially large.

That prompted Katie to wonder aloud whether the cow might have lost her pregnancy and subsequently started coming back into heat.

If that had happened, Katie speculated that Possum might be detecting the change and showing interest in her.

But Katie did not confirm that the cow had lost a calf.

She was thinking through possible explanations based on what she was observing in the pasture.