OJAI : Cow’s Wanderlust No Sometime Thing

A rancher has claimed a Black Angus that wandered into an Ojai pasture more than a week ago, but he’ll have to wait till the cow comes home.

The cow’s owner, Art Balchen of Ojai, said Monday that the cow’s name is Multa and she is 2 years old. Multa strayed from Balchen’s Chuhuichupa Ranch and wandered along San Antonio Creek to the Lion Mountain Ranch, about 3 1/2 miles east.

Carolie Jensen, who leases a pasture at Lion Mountain, looked after the cow and ran a “found” ad in a local newspaper all last week.

“Someone, I don’t know who, cut out the ‘found’ ad and left it on my kitchen table Friday,” Balchen said. He said he proved his ownership of the cow and is trying to entice her onto a trailer with her favorite food, alfalfa cubes. The process will probably take a couple of days, he said.

Balchen said it’s not the first time that Multa, which he described as a “squirrelly, impatient” beast, has strayed from home.

“My son and I have watched her from the window before and we’ve seen her jump over our fences, even a six-foot chain-link one. It’s hard to believe that such a big old cow can jump just like a deer.”

He said Multa, a breeding cow, has to get home soon because she has a date with a bull named Cadwaleder.