Holy cow! Escaped bovines back home after 3 days on the run in NJ

Mandi Craig and her husband Ian own and operate Little Rascals Farm in Egg Harbor Township. But it was some rather big rascals that caused drama last week.

Newly acquired cows were just arriving at the farm when all hell broke loose. Within minutes of arriving, 3-year-old Maggie charged and went right through an electric fence and 9-month-old Darla followed her out. They escaped.

And they remained on the run for days.

This must have made for some curious double takes among the public who hadn’t followed the drama on local news or social media.

For three days, Mandi Craig tracked the cows’ movements with the help of family, friends, and community members. It was basically a case of everyone they knew being deputized into a search party. The volunteer group ended up using a drone, which spotted two thermal images on Thursday night in the woods near Ballamor Golf Club.

By the next day, the younger cow wandered back on its own to a farm next door to the one it belonged to. She was brought back safely.

The very spirited Maggie, however, was a different story.

Thanks to those drones, they staked out that golf course and spotted her the same day her partner in crime, Darla, gave herself up. Maggie wasn’t going quietly.

It came down to a showdown near the entrance to the golf course.

As Craig put it, “Maggie had to be wrangled, quite literally, rodeo style and loaded onto a trailer from the golf course’s main driveway. A few people literally got a cow roping show driving in and out.”

Just another day in Jersey.