MEETING LIVE STOCK.

Putaruru Press, Volume VII, Issue 319, 19 December 1929, Page 7

MEETING LIVE STOCK.

WHAT A MOTORIST SHOULD DO. In country driving very frequently one comes across droves of cattle or other stock, I have heard the opinion expressed by an irascible town driver (writes a contributor to the Auto-car) that farmers should not be allowed to move stock on the road in the daytime. I can only suggest that cattle are worse to meet at night. Besides, they have as much right to the road as anyone else. The habitual country driver soon becomes used to making his way through a drove on the road; one or two tips on the subject may be of assistance in smoothing the, path of town motorists who find this problem annoying.

•In the first place, on meeting a flock, drove or herd, much the best plan is to stop at the roadside and allow the drover to urge his charges past your car. If you attempt "to drive through an oncoming bunch of animals, it is ten chances to one that some of them will break back the way they have come, causing endless trouble to the drover, and holding up one’s car still longer.

Overtaking is a different matter, The first obvious move is to drop into a low gear, for several stops may be necessary. The next process is to insinuate the car past the rearmost animals on one side of the road, which side to take does not usually matter much, for the whole road is naturally blocked to other traffic. By a series of discreet and wellmodulated hoots, toots, or other warning noises, it is necessary to apprise the persons in charge of your approach, and to make the most of each opening that presents itself. Do not, however, fall into the error of getting into the middle of the animals, or trouble is liable to ensue. A little patience will very soon establish a mass movement toward the side of the road away from you, and an opportunity to slip through will be offered.

Cattle are usually quite easy to pass; horses require special care; while sheep ar.d pigs can, of course,

never be depended upon to do anything rationally. Pigs, the reverse of sheep, are naturally averse to anything in the nature of mass movements, being distinctly individualistic. Luckily, “ porkers ” are, perhaps, the rarest class of stock one meets.