Patches, solo cow at Rock Ledge Ranch Historic Site for about 10 years, passes on
Rock Ledge Ranch foreman John Winters leads
Patches back from the pasture during the Rock Ledge Ranch Opening Day June 4,
2014. Looking on from the inside of the pen is Punkin, who had just come to the
ranch the day before after being bought from a Colorado dairy. With Patches
having passed on in May, the 9-year-old Punkin is now the ranch's only cow.
Westside Pioneer file photo
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She had been suffering from health problems in the past couple of years, including seizures, according to ranch manager Andy Morris.
In the spring of 2014, considering Patches' condition, ranch manager Morris considered “retiring” her to another ranch, but decided against it. “I felt she could potentially have difficulties adjusting to a new environment (no barn to get out of the weather, etc.) and could have issues if she had more of her seizures,” he explained then.
There was a little tension at first with a second cow (called Punkin, also “Pumpkin”) whom the ranch had purchased from a ranch in Boone, Colorado, before the 2014 Opening Day. But the two eventually became friends, according to Morris.
Notable public moments for Patches included walking in the 2009 parade which commemorated the 100th anniversary of the Garden of the Gods becoming a city park and “playing” in Rock Ledge's Labor Day baseball games (or at least grazing for an inning or two in short right field).
Rock Ledge Ranch is a 230-acre city-owned property, open to the public for a fee, located off Gateway Road and 30th Street. The summer ranch season (Wednesday to Saturday) will continue until Aug. 15.
Westside Pioneer article
(Posted 7/11/15;
Outdoors:
Rock Ledge Ranch)
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