Lynette Brock had resolved to move the mob. What followed was a search, an injury resulting in a trip to hospital, and a rescue operation requiring the jaws of life, two chainsaws, and the remains of the children's little lunch.
Ms Brock, who runs and breeds Angus cattle on the family farm she inherited from her father, had agisted 45 head at a friend's property at Louth Park near Greenhills in the Hunter for the winter.
Recent rain made the ground boggy, and she had thought to push the cattle onto some fresh grazing on the 120-acre block.
Most went easily enough, but there was a problem. One of the heifers was missing.
A search revealed the stray standing idle by a tree in the paddock, across a swollen and swampy creek. Ms Brock and her farming friend waded in to reach her, and found that the animal had become trapped.
Somehow - and Ms Brock says it is still unclear how exactly she managed it - the heifer carrying a calf had wedged her head through a hollow in the trunk and was unable to get free again.
It was similarly unclear how long she had been there. Ms Brock estimated at the weekend that it would have been at least two days. The heifer was distressed, dehydrated, hungry and exhausted.
The men at hand had only small tools - a screwdriver and a hammer - and quickly found that attempts to break off the gnarled trunk to open enough space to free the animal proved fruitless.
In the confusion, the heifer lashed out and planted a crushing kick to one of her would-be rescuer's upper leg. A neighbour arriving with a chainsaw proved similarly unsuccessful. Finally, it was determined that expert help was needed.
Calls to emergency services, including paramedics who arrived to assess the injured man, brought a crew from Volunteer Rescue Association, while the property owners' children donated their lunchboxes to calm the heifer with bananas while the situation was assessed.
"We had three police cars, two ambulances and a couple of the rescue vehicles," Ms Brock said.
The operation took more than an hour, but eventually the heifer was freed to rejoin the herd.
Ms Brock heaped thanks and praise on the crew who helped cut the cow to freedom, using a pair of industrial separators to open the trunk far enough for her to get loose.
"She was in a bad spot that they had to get to," she said. "She was lucky. She couldn't lie down to sleep, or eat or drink. She was just distressed. I didn't want her to lose a calf, but she is back with the others now."
The rescuers managed to free her uninjured, Ms Brock said, adding that she would be watched closely to ensure that she did not stumble into another misadventure.
Ms Brock's offsider, who bore the brunt of the frightened animal's discomfort, was taken to hospital for a precautionary X-ray but was later discharged, battered and bruised but otherwise uninjured.
"He's feeling it today," Ms Brock said. "A bit stiff and sore, but nothing broken."
Ms Brock inherited the family property at Lorn after her father died about 1996, she said. It has been passed down for nearly 60 years.
The heifer did not have a specific name, like a few of the others, but wore one of her late father's green ear tags.
"I'm sentimental," she said. "I've kept the tags in her ear and we know her by her number. I'll be watching her from now on."
