Kiowa Co. Crews Rescue Herd Of Cows From Drowning

Quick thinking in Kiowa County saved a small herd of cows from drowning this past Monday. Don Godfrey's 1,500-acre farm is seven miles north of Granite. The very swollen North Fork branch of the Red River Monday nearly did Godfrey's cattle in. High water had pressed those cows up against a barb wire fence a few hundred yards from the river bank. 

Godfrey said those cows had never seen water before, because he said that North Fork Red River branch has been dry for most of the past five years.

Godfrey said those nine cows surely would have died, had local authorities not stepped up. 

Kiowa County Sheriff Bill Lancaster, Kiowa County's Emergency Manager, and some Hobart firefighters came up with a plan. They grabbed a small boat that's normally used to treat an area sewage lagoon, and they headed out onto those floodwaters that were threatening those cows. Those firefighters were able to literally herd those cows by boat to higher ground. 

A Kiowa County Sheriff's deputy recorded it all on her cellphone. 

Sheriff Lancaster said a little thinking outside the box never hurts from time to time. “It's just something out of the ordinary to get it done,” he said. 

Don Godfrey was so happy, he donated $500 each to the Kiowa County Sheriff's Office, and the Hobart Fire Department. “I mean I really appreciate it,” he said Thursday. “I mean they did a terrific job.”