Pregnant cattle don’t handle chaos well. Affects everything from milk production to calf birth weights. Each of those heers represented $15,000 on four legs. And Karen was terrorizing them for sport. But the real sabotage started when she began leaving my gate wide open. I’d find it swinging in the morning breeze like a drunk man’s handshake.
My prize cattle wandering onto County Road 1247 looking for adventure they couldn’t afford. In Texas, loose livestock means liable rancher. One heer meeting a pickup truck at 60 mph would bankrupt me faster than a casino addiction. The morning ritual became a nightmare symphony. The acrid smell of diesel exhaust mixing with my own fear sweat as I’d chased scattered Angus back through the gate Karen had deliberately sabotaged.
The woman was trying to destroy me, one opened gate at a time. Then came the insurance ambush. My cattle insurance adjuster showed up after receiving anonymous reports about unsafe road conditions. Philillips was a nervous little man who looked like he’d never seen anything bigger than a poodle, sweating through his city clothes like ice cream on hot asphalt.
“Mr. Riverside were facing significant liability exposure if this road remains semi-public. He wheezed, mopping his forehead with a handkerchief that was losing the war against Texas heat. Additional coverage for public access liability will cost 800 monthly. $800, nearly 10 grand a year. My profit margins were tighter than bark on a tree. And Karen knew it.
She was pricing me out of my own property through insurance terrorism. I filed criminal trespassing charges, but Deputy Martinez just shrugged like a man who’d seen too many neighbor feuds. Jake, unless there’s proven property damage, this stays civil court. Keep documenting, but we need more than driving violations for criminal charges.
