Cow rescued from near death trapped in bottom of a well

“There is no handbook on how to get cows out of a well”

A group of ranchers and tradesmen were able to save the life of a fully grown cow last week. It was an unusual, memorable, and touching experience for those involved. The cow was, after all, stuck uncomfortably about nine feet down in a well.

On Wednesday, December 3, Randy Garcia, owner of Garcia Construction, sent one of his laborers to a home near Cement Creek to finish the drywall on a recent remodeling project. The home was above Allen Homesites, near a pasture owned by local rancher Curtis Allen.
The two-hour drywall repair was the final thing Garcia Construction needed to do at the property before Christmas. “It was just chance that I sent a worker up there,” Garcia says.
While making the drywall repair, the worker discovered the house had no running water. “He was looking around everywhere, but he couldn’t find anything wrong. He called me about five o’clock and said ‘Un vaca en el pozo.’ I said, ‘What do you mean there’s a cow in the well?’” Garcia says.
Like a scene out of a western movie, a posse needed to be rounded up to rescue the damsel in distress—in this case, a 1,000-pound heifer. Garcia says the cow had probably been trapped in the well for nearly a day.
Garcia called up Allen and his friend Mark Schwiesow, and enlisted the help of Mike Willingham’s backhoe. Even a few neighbors stopped by to check out the commotion and pitch in.
Then came the question of how to safely rescue the cow from the bottom of a well. “We decided we needed a game plan to do it,” Garcia says.
“This cow was about nine feet down there, curled up with one leg stuck in the air. But it was still alive,” Schwiesow says. The cow had fallen through a plywood covering on top of the well, and a second plywood covering a few feet down holding the well head.
“There is no handbook on how to get cows out of a well,” Schwiesow says.
Schwiesow says several people entered the well with the cow and were able to work a lariat around it. Schwiesow says it took some careful backhoe work, raising parts of the animal up and down so the rest of the sling could be wrapped around the cow so as not to injure it before lifting it entirely out of the well.
About three hours later, the cow was out of the well and back on the ground. But the cow could not walk after being cramped up in the well, and was removed from the site in a trailer. Garcia says the animal did not appear to have any serious injuries.
Allen says the cow is now back in good health. “She’s recovered, but it beat her up pretty good,” he says.
Allen says he appreciated all the help during the rescue. “It was a difficult job to get her out of there… I’ve never done anything like it before.”
The others involved were impressed with the good deed. “You look at a cow in a field and they all look the same. We’re just carnivores, but you have a different attitude when you’re saving a life,” Schwiesow says.
“I was touched by the whole thing,” Garcia says. “It’s pretty wild, but it feels pretty good. A lot of bad stuff could have happened.”
Of course, cow rescue is all in a day’s work for Garcia Construction. Earlier in the spring, Garcia was called to help round up a small herd of six strays that were caught in Democrat Basin. “Curtis and I go way back… This is the seventh cow of his I’ve saved this year.”