Bovines Of Kootenai County A Tale Of Bellowing Lust To Be Told In Court
The sordid tale of Tara and Alphonso takes place in the pastures beneath the tranquil Cataldo Mission.
But that’s about the only element of this story that’s not in dispute.
Did Alphonso tear out a 250-foot fence in his mad desire to deflower the helpless Tara?
Or did Tara bat her long white eyelashes at Alphonso, seduce the harmless brute and willingly run off with him into the hinterlands?
Whichever the case, David Bradley can’t seem to find Tara, his 10-month-old Charolais heifer who used to come to a whistle, and is out a few hundred dollars for fencing materials.
He’s filed a suit in small claims court against the bull’s owners, asking for $2,818 in connection with the incident that occurred Aug. 14 at 8:30 a.m. that he labeled, in court documents, “heifer rape and abduction.”
“There is law west of the Pecos,” Bradley said Saturday. “They ain’t Wyatt Earp, and this ain’t Dodge City.”
Yes, but this is Idaho, and Idaho’s a rangeland state, answers one of Alphonso’s owners, Dave Daniel, director of Kootenai County’s building and planning department.
That means that it’s Bradley’s problem that his cow is missing, not his, Daniel said.
“It wasn’t my responsibility to repair the fence or be concerned with my bull running on open range,” he said Saturday from his mini-ranch up Latour Creek.
Bradley expected a neighborly offer to help repair the fence, recover his heifer or lunch and an apology. “I’d settle for a McDonald’s Happy Meal,” Bradley joked.
Daniel only offered to waive his fees for the breeding service of his 1,800-pound Limousin bull.
“If you don’t want livestock on your property, you have to build an adequate fence to keep them out,” he said.
Bradley lives with his wife Laura and two children on 21 acres off Dudley Road. Most of their income is from breeding Appaloosas and rent from a mobile home they own, he said.
He purchased four registered Charolais heifers six months ago at $1,500 a piece, planned to raise them until the age of 2 and then sell them to ranchers for breeding purposes, he said. He hadn’t intended for them to be bred until then.
Then, when the heifers were in heat two weeks ago, Alphonso came to visit. Alphonso was with his herd next door on Larry Stinson’s property. Stinson is Alphonso’s other owner.
Bradley describes the rust-red bull ripping out the fence and bearing down on Tara, a white fluffy heifer half his size.
Bradley tried to intervene, but said Alphonso charged him.
Then Alphonso ushered Tara over the mangled fence to his herd, the Bradleys said. The other cows, Curly Sue, Hillary and Lacey, bawled for two days.
“They’re babies,” said Laura Bradley, sitting on a hay bale in the barn as kittens frolicked at her feet. “They’re not ready to have babies.”
After getting a call from Dave Bradley that day, Daniel did drive down, capture and haul Alphonso back to his corrals.
“He’s now here, sulking,” Daniel said.
He suggested that Alphonso is a victim of unfounded allegations of sexual harassment, and demonstrated how docile his bull is by entering his pen and patting him on the rear.
Meanwhile, the Bradleys are worried about Tara and whether she’s been damaged, or will lose the calf. They have attempted to recapture her, but so far have been unsuccessful.
She now considers herself one of Alphonso’s herd, and no longer comes to a whistle.
As for the lawsuit, Bradley is curious to hear what the judgment is.
“I can look at law books for hours,” he said, rocking on his heels uphill from a jumble of torn-up fencing. “But I’m not the law.”
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