40 | YOU Magazine
Take the bull by the horns
There’s a lot of commuting involved in farm life. I’m always driving somewhere and it’s always miles away. But as an Aucklander that’s easy and something I have oodles of experience with. At least out here there is less gridlock, but more chance of running into a mob of some sort of animals making their way from one paddock to the next – or to the “big gardens” as my toddler calls them. So recently when I came across Farmer Pete (his real name) moving some cows on his own, I thought I’d use my car to help herd them over the bridge. A good rural deed! One at the back naturally decamped in a southerly direction, while all the rest trotted north. So the two of us attempted to get it back to the others. It bolted ... down a side road. He yelled out the window he had to go and sort the others out, so it was Donna-Marie vs cow, round one. It wasn’t that big – I’d definitely seen bigger, so the chase was on. I had to abandon the car and tried to use my arms to wave it into the right direction (this move I’ve seen
FARMY PRINCESS with DONNA-MARIE LEVER
lots of farmers do and it looks absolutely ridiculous). I briefly thought, maybe this cow is a whole lot brighter than the others and I should respect its bid for freedom – or even help it to escape. But Farmer Pete, I suspect, would not agree. Finally, my own farmer arrived on the scene – he also did the arm thing and while it came to within a few inches of me, we did manage to get
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the naughty cow into a nearby pen until Farmer Pete could come and get it. Definitely a successful farming day for me. I returned home triumphant and promptly made a cup of tea to celebrate. Farmer Pete’s wife then messaged me to say thanks for helping with the … bulls. I momentarily froze with shock, recalling how close I’d got to the runaway beast. Bulls?! How could I have not known the difference? To me, bulls have big horns. End of story. This thing had no horns ... or did it? I’m definitely now way more farmy than I was yesterday, albeit accidently. I also think there should be a certificate handed out for successfully surviving this sort of encounter for the first time. I may just work on introducing that.
I’m coming for you Donna-Marie
TV reporter, journalist, mum and born and bred Aucklander Donna-Marie Lever talks about life after marrying a farmer and moving to rural Mid Canterbury
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