Chummy Cow Heads Back To Hills After Refusing Bullets Runaway Hangs Around Farm, Dog But Feed Cost Nearly Made Her A Wrap

Not even three bullets could kill Missy Cow Cow, a free-roaming beast with no home and no owner.

The half-ton range cow ran away from the Alpine Boys Ranch more than seven years ago and has wandered the upper Chumstick Valley in north-central Washington ever since.

She has hung around the 20 acres of Judy and Ron Magnusson, who gave her the name. The Magnussons live on an old dairy farm, but they don’t own livestock.

At first they only caught glimpses of the red cow with a white star on its forehead. But Missy Cow Cow began following their dog Keeta near the house.

“One day I came out, and she was giving Keeta a tongue bath, and Keeta just stood there and took it. It was kind of a different relationship,” said Judy Magnusson.

The cow wanders the hills, but comes to the Magnussons’ house to be scratched or given treats.

The Magnussons started feeding her in the winters three years ago.

This past winter, Missy Cow Cow became trapped by the deep snow around the house and spent the entire winter near a space they cleared by the front door. The Magnussons spent about $1,000 on hay and feed.

After the snow melted, they hauled her manure piles up to their garden. But there was nothing they could do to relieve the stench of the urine-soaked yard.

The Magnussons realized they couldn’t afford to feed Missy Cow Cow another winter, but they couldn’t bear the thought of her starving either.

The cow has been at large so long that no one officially owns her anymore. Missy Cow Cow is too old and barren to ever calve and become a milk cow.

“And nobody is willing to feed this 1,400-pound cow as a pet. They say it’s like feeding a dead horse,” Judy said.

Ron summoned professionals in April to kill and butcher Missy Cow Cow. The Alpine Boys Ranch agreed to take the meat and pay for Missy Cow Cow to be cut and wrapped.

But when the butchers fired three .22-caliber hollow point bullets at the cow, the bullets just bounced off.

“They shot her once, and it didn’t do anything, didn’t even draw blood, so they shot her two more times,” Judy said. “The third bullet hit her dead center on the side where her brand is, and it just bounced off her.

“Maybe it was the sting, but by that time she’d had enough and just trotted off into the mountains,” Judy said.

Missy Cow Cow was not wounded.

The Magnussons are now seeking another solution, but haven’t found one yet.