Page 28 - North Haven Magazine Issue 27 Winter 2023

The New Year’s Day by Sally Brockett

he Montowese section of North Haven, and the northern suburbs of East Haven are gen-
Terally quiet communities where residents can depend on normal routines and typical
experiences from day to day. When things occur that are out of ordinary expectations, it can
be exciting and sometimes confusing! One New Year’s Day in the early 1970s was a day that
many will recall as out of the ordinary and very confusing!

Arrowdale Farm was located on Arrowdale in a moment or so, the pasture was empty,
Road in Montowese back then and operated and all the spooked heifers were wildly run-
as a family dairy farm. Holstein cows (the ning through the field, headed south. Walt
black and white ones) were raised for milk exclaimed “Holy cow!” (very appropriate for
and the milking herd numbered about two the situation), “They are acting crazy!” Cows are social animals and like to be together.
hundred. Some of these were heifers, which
are the young cows, usually under one year Grabbing his coat and pulling on boots, he As the farmers ran about the neighborhood,
old, and too immature to breed and to pro- ran out to sound the alarm that “The cows they did wonder what the homeowners
duce milk. The heifers are pasture-raised are out!” but this time it was all of them thought as they woke up after celebrating
where they can eat fresh grass, supplemented and they were actually stampeding down New Year’s Eve into the wee hours of the
with hay. morning. Imagine peering out onto your
lawn and seeing a herd of black and white
Farmers who have animals make a concerted heifers racing through! Some probably went
effort to keep their animals safely contained right back to bed, or maybe thought they
so they do not wander into places where they were still dreaming!
may get hurt or cause damage. Cows are cu-
rious animals, and sometimes one, or a few Eventually, the heifers tired and become
animals will find a way out of their pastures calmer and slower. The farmers were finally
or barns to amble about the area. The farmers able to herd them together and head them
quickly catch them and return them to safe- back up the road to their farm. Once back
ty. Fences might have to be repaired or barn home, the fence had to be repaired to avoid a
doors fixed to keep the animals from escap- Cows usually graze and relax in the grassy fields repeat event. By noon, things were back un-
ing again. the road. Family members and farm work- der control and the exhausted farmers spent
ers came running from the barn and their the rest of New Year’s Day either watching
One of the cries that all farmers hate to hear homes to assist in catching the crazed heifers. football or failing asleep while they tried to
is “The cows are out!” This is a call to im- watch the game!
mediate action with all available hands so the The goal is to get ahead of the running an-
cows can quickly be corralled and returned imals so they can be turned back to their To this day, the farmers still wonder what
to their pasture or barn. Typically, this does pasture. However, at this point the animals caused the New Year’s Day stampede. The
not take long, and work returns to normal. were tearing down the middle of Thompson heifers had never behaved that way in the
Street, headed into East Haven. The road is past, and thankfully, never acted that way
narrow, and it was not possible, even on foot, again. But the story of the stampede has often
to get ahead of the heifers as they stampeded been shared again and again among family
down the road. members and neighbors.

As the heifers encountered some of the sharp
curves in the road, they continued running
straight ahead, which took them into the
woods and through the swampy areas. Noth-
ing they encountered deterred them. They
just ran and ran. The farmers had never seen
The Stampede! the heifers act this way before. Some were
bucking and kicking as they ran, clearly hav-
Photograph: Remko de Waal/EPA. TheGuardian.com ing a great time and feeling very frisky!
But as the New Year dawned on this partic-
ular morning, that was not to be the case. It was not long before the racing heifers
Our home is located facing the Arrowdale reached the neighborhood of Cortina Road
Farm’s heifer pasture, which contained about in East Haven. Now the area was more open,
twenty heifers. As Walt Brockett was having with less woods and beautiful open lawns.
his morning coffee and looking out the front The heifers spread out more and continued
window, he saw the first of the heifers break frolicking through the neighborhood, while
through the barbed wire fence and begin the exhausted farmers continued their efforts
running across the adjacent field. Surprising- to get them under control.
ly, more heifers followed the few leaders, and Cows are curious animals.

North Haven Magazine - Winter Issue 2023
28