Dozens of cattle went on quite the field trip Wednesday, moseying down Causeway Street in Holden, Massachusetts.
And the 70-80 animals certainly left behind a mark.
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"I just heard the mooing, like really loud, so I looked out the window and I saw them all going up the street," resident LeaAnne Kelley said.
Caryn Latour said, "They're mooing and they're pooing and they're peeing, and it was actually -- it was pretty entertaining."
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But for Constance and George Hamilton, the bovine brood got a little too close for comfort.
"I was having breakfast and I sensed some movement," said Constance, "and I looked out the window and couldn't believe but there were about 50 cows standing on my front yard."
One even ended up hoofing its way onto their backyard pool, tearing through the pool cover.
"One of them wanted to swim -- is there a cow stroke? Maybe. Anyway, hoof marks everywhere," George said.
That moment was when the cows' owner, Ryan MacKay with Lilac Hedge Farm, showed up.
"We were able to kind of guide it over toward the stairs and she got out, no problem," he said.
MacKay said the roughly six dozen cows, calves and one bull who'd escaped traveled about a mile from the field they were in at Lilac Hedge Farm -- behind this enclosed gate.
The gate is secured with something like carabiners, MacKay said.
"Both of them were unscrewed and taken off the gate, which is rather unfortunate because they were 100% on last evening," he said.
Since hooves clearly can't unscrew carabiners, MacKay said they'll be installing some more cameras and putting in locks for the future.
"We'll continue to kind of add additional security measures as we can," he said.
Luckily no cows -- or humans -- were injured, MacKay said, and they've already contacted their insurance company to take care of the damage.
