Two cow canal rescue

10:59am Friday 2nd May 2008

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FIREFIGHTERS rescued two pregnant cows from a Herefordshire canal yesterday (May 1).

Crews from Ledbury and Hereford rescued the cows, which were both in calf, despite the difficulties of negotiating a 40 foot drop.

Keith Wilding, watch manager at Ledbury fire station, said: "There were two cows in the bottom of the old Hereford and Gloucester canal about 40 foot down.

"It was a quite a sheer drop to the base of the canal and because both animals were in calf we had to be as gentle as we could be.

"It was one of those jobs that made you scratch your head and think about how you are going to do it."

The rescue of the two milkers took place at Moorend Farm, Hayward Lane, in Ashperton and farm equipment was used to lift the animals.

"It was one of those difficult jobs that we get from time to time. We were very lucky to have a mechanical tractor winch to assist otherwise we might still be there now.

"We were very well assisted by the farmers and we were guided by them because of their expertise with animals."

The firefighters were called at 1.45am and the job took around three hours to complete.