KINGSBURY, Ind. – About 75 calves escaped from an Indiana dairy farm and took to the roads along two major highways before rustled up.

Fortunately, no motor vehicles collided with any of the 10-month-old heifers, thanks to the efforts of La Porte County Police Capt. Derek Allen.

Allen was off-duty on Feb. 6 when he saw the unexpected sight of a herd of cows  coming toward him on his side of the four lane highway. The Holstein calves were southbound in the northbound lanes of U.S 35 at Kingsbury. “They were in the roadway coming right at me. They were at a full gallop,” he said.

In response, Allen said he quickly did a U-turn and drove ahead of the herd in the opposite lanes of the highway. He then cut back across the highway to get in front of the animals running at about 15 miles per hour.

With his overhead lights flashing, Allen – now leading the procession – kept traveling with the cows in his rear view mirror to warn oncoming motorists about the stampede even after the animals started eastbound on U.S. 6. in the northwest part of the state.

He said motorists safely pulled over and whipped out cell phones to record what looked like an old fashioned cattle drive without cowboys. “I activated my emergency lights to make the oncoming motorists aware there was an emergency on the roadway,” Allen said. “The oncoming motorists were very gracious and stopped along the roadway once they saw what was traveling directly behind me.”

One of the videotaping drivers was Drew Renz, who was making the eight mile drive home to Kingsford Heights from La Porte.

At first, Renz thought his eyes were playing tricks while approaching the cows as they were making the turn from 500 South to U.S 35.

He hit the record button on his cell phone while slowly driving past the cows from behind in the opposite lanes. “I was in disbelief seeing the enormous herd freely running down the highway,” he said.

The video he posted on Facebook racked up more than 60,000 views in less than 24 hours. “I knew I needed evidence of what I’d seen or my wife wouldn’t believe me,” he said.

Allen said he was still ahead of the moving cows when he alerted the owner who had no idea the animals escaped. Police, with help from farmers, volunteer firefighters and other individuals, managed to round up over a dozen members of the herd inside a fenced area near U.S. 6 and 700 South. The remaining calves galloped for another mile until corralled in a field in the area of 800 South and Range Road. The cows were hauled back home about one hour later.

Pat Grieger said it was nice to see many local farmers carrying on the long tradition of helping other producers in times of need. The animal control officer made the 10 mile trip from his home in the small agricultural community of Hanna to see if he could lend a hand as soon as he learned about cows.

He blocked a gate to a chain link fence with his truck to make sure one group of cows trapped inside didn’t get out. “The dairy family. They’re pretty small anymore,” Grieger said. “There’s not a lot of family farms left and they were all there helping.”

He said the farmers also brought enough trailers to haul the cows back home all at once. “They do that without wanting or needing any recognition. I’ve been seeing that since I was as a kid,” he said.

Allen said the cows seemed pretty exhausted from their long sprint. “You could tell they started to wear down after a bit,” he said. “They ran over three miles.”

The calves belong to Rick Welsh, who speculated kids in the neighborhood opened a gate on his farm as a prank.