Sunday 3rd March - 15 seen - Steer 35 has cut his rear right foot

Steers 20, 30, 33, 219 and 228 plus cows 72 and 940 were lying down, relaxing and chewing their cud in the area around ///loans.roofs.head at 14.30 this afternoon.  Youngster 219 was doing his best to hide in the heather, but poked his head up to say hello.  All seven cows were looking really well.

Youngsters 217, 220, 222, 230 and yearlings 270 and 271 were all lying down, resting and chewing their cud around ///ropes.scout.hears at 14:55.  Older steer 21 was munching on gorse nearby.  Oddly, there was no sign of older steer 35, so I started to search the surrounding area for him.  About twenty minutes later, the steers started to get up and soon joined steer 21 in grazing.

At 15:25, I spotted steer 35 in the distance.  He was having a good scratch against the tree at ///fuzz.arise.braked.  Initially he was rubbing his head, but soon moved onto his sides and then his rear end.  Sadly he had an injury, having cut the inside of his rear right foot.  He also had some red cuts and scratches just above his ankle. Additionally, he had some sores on his left-hand side, close to his rear left leg.  I promptly informed Lottie at HIWWT, who advised they would check on Buzz (steer 35) first thing in the morning.

Buzz continued to scratch himself for a good ten minutes before stopping to rest.  He then headed northeast to the area around ///strange.expel.crops, getting further away from the others.  He seemed to be walking okay.  Buzz had a drink of water from a deep puddle and then just stood and rested.  I saw in the distance that his herd mates were heading southwest towards Horse Pond.  Really concerned that he was going to be left on his own, I persuaded him to follow me in the same direction.  He would walk for about 50 metres and then rest, frequently licking his sore foot.   

By 16:20, we reached ///ruin.pack.regress, where Buzz could see his friends grazing in the thicket to the southeast.  It appeared he wasn't going to walk any further, so I called out to the others a few times.  After some loud mooing, they started to head in our direction.  When he saw they were coming, Buzz let out a couple of moos and started to eat some heather.  Steer 21 was the first to arrive, and the pair were joyfully reunited at 16:40.  The other six were close by.  I stayed for another twenty minutes, and Buzz continued to graze alongside steer 21.

I didn't have time to look for the other seven cows today. 

Here's hoping that Buzz is okay and makes a speedy recovery.