Dairy Cows Make Run For Freedom In Minnesota

A small herd of dairy cows made a break for freedom this week in Minnesota, but they did not get far before they lost motivation and just started wandering aimlessly around the highway, police say.

According to the Star Tribune, police in Red Wing, Minn., said they received a call late Wednesday night by alarmed motorists who said there were cows wandering the streets. Police arrived to find six black and white Holstein cows just ambling about on Highway 61.

"The cows just kind of stood around on Highway 61," said Red Wing Police Chief Roger Pohlman.

Not sure what else to do, the police drove their cars into an impromptu corral and managed to trap the cows and move them into a parking lot. While they were wondering what to do next, a farmer called to ask if anyone had seen some missing cows. Near as anyone can tell, the farmer was driving through Red Wing with some cows when his truck must have come unlatched, and some cows wandered out. The farmer did not notice the missing cows until he was in Wisconsin.

Police Chief Pohlman said it was lucky the cows were dairy cows, because milk cows are easy to handle.

"If this had been beef cattle," he said, "they could have been everywhere."