A Runaway Cow Sparks Legal Battle In MA Over 17th Century Livestock Law

UPTON, MA — Last summer, residents on the west side of Upton were buzzing about a cow that was seen looming in several backyards.

The fluffy, 7-month-old Angus was small but quick. She had escaped from a farm just across the Blackstone River in Northbridge. Her owner told the town's board of health that it was "impossible to run faster" than the juvenile cow as she fled his property. She was seen multiple times after, but no one was able to catch her.

After more than a month on the run — an escape that sparked an alert from Northbridge police — the then-heifer found a new home.

One morning in September, Town Line Dairy owner Crystal Maloney went out to count her herd of 57 cows and calves. That morning, she counted 58.

"I was like, wait a second, who is that? Not my cow," she recalled this week.

That was the start of a nine-month tussle over Bessy, who has been living and eating happily at Town Line Dairy in Upton since busting through a fence to join Maloney's herd in September.

Maloney and Bessy's previous owner, Mustafa Harrati, met in Milford District Court last week for a trial over the cow. Harrati had previously won a $750 judgement — Bessy's apparent market value — but Maloney fought back with a Massachusetts law that dates to 1698.

Stray beast

Maloney came to Town Line Dairy more than a decade ago after working as an accountant. The property along Williams Street previously belonged to her grandparents, but was inactive as a farm when she and her partner took it over. She now operates a farm stand along Williams Street selling beef, chicken, pork and turkey when the large birds are in season, plus vegetables and goods like honey, milk and maple syrup.

Maloney believes Bessy entered the fenced pasture at a weak spot in the forested part of the property, where scant barbed wire and one strand of electric wire keeps animals penned.

After noticing Bessy had joined the herd, Maloney called Northbridge police expecting Bessy's owner to quickly pick up the heifer. At the same time, Maloney was alarmed at the cow's weight. Today, Bessy is about 450 pounds, which is one-third the weight of an Angus cow her age. It's possible her month on the lam stunted her growth, but Maloney also thinks she was underfed at her previous pasture.

"For this cow to come as far as it did, it needed to get away. It had to cross a river or a road to get to me," she said, referring to the Blackstone River and Route 140, which separate Northbridge and Upton.

Harrati and Maloney texted for several weeks, discussing arrangements for him to pick up Bessy. In one exchange, Harrti says he was told Maloney wanted $100 per day for boarding. That led to a dispute not only over picking up the cow, but over how much she was worth.

"If you like my cow so bad then please make me a reasonable offer and I'll sell her to you. We're both farmers, let's not hurt your fellow farmers," Harrti texted on Sept. 21.

"I'm running a business here. At this point I owe you nothing but you owe me. I can deduct from your bill what I think she's worth and you still owe me or I will keep her and you owe nothing," Maloney responded via text the next day.

Maloney said the fees for boarding Bessy are about $3 per day. The pair did arrange a pickup on Oct. 7, but Harrati didn't have a trailer, she said.

Harrati did not respond to questions about Bessy after several phone calls and a text exchange with a reporter.

Under the Massachusetts "stray beast" law, anyone who takes care of erstwhile livestock has to pay the temporary caretaker, according to Holliston attorney Christopher Perry, who represented Maloney.

"It is important for all Massachusetts farmers to know that when a wandering cow comes upon their property they have a right ... to recover all reasonable expenses incurred by them in caring for and boarding the wandering cow. Cows are herding animals who will seek to join other herds when they are on the run," he said.

Livestock jailbreak

Harrati's dairy farm at 1316 Hill St. doesn't have a farm stand like Town Line Dairy, but local officials know it well.

According to minutes from an October Northbridge Board of Health meeting, town officials in September revoked Harrati's permit to keep livestock for failing to keep the animals from escaping his property. Harrati also lost a goat around the same time Bessy escaped. In 2016, sheep and chickens were escaping so frequently, local police responded to the farm, according to town records.

Harrati's farm has three layers of fencing, he told the health board, but Bessy escaped through an open gate.

"Mr. Harrati stated that he was not working on the property in this area and the gate was open, which is how the cow got out," the meeting minutes say. "He was by himself and could not control the cow. [Board member Chris Cella] questioned how he didn't notice a large cow sneaking up on him."

Harrati called police when Bessy escaped, and said he responded whenever there was a Bessy sighting — although she was always gone by the time he arrived.

The Board of Health inspected Harrati's operation on Sept. 28, and decided to revoke his barn permit due to escaping animals and other issues. At his farm, Harrati offers animals for sale, and allows customers to slaughter them on site.

Harrati appeared before the Board of Health multiple times in 2022 and 2023 to get his barn permit back. The board repeatedly turned him down, mostly recently in March. The board also discussed two claims of dogs being abused at the farm from 2018 and 2022, although Harrati disputed the claims, according to meeting minutes. Northbridge Animal Control Officer Daniel Chauvin told the board he "had been much less busy on Hill Street" since Harrati's barn permit was revoked.

During the barn permit process, Harrati took Maloney to court in Milford seeking a $950 payment for Bessy. Maloney said Harrati accused her of luring the cow onto her property in a bid to steal it. A magistrate judge awarded him $750, according to court records, but Maloney fought back.

$313 cow

In response to Harrati's suit, Perry and Maloney asked a Milford District Court magistrate to overturn the $750 judgement citing the stray beast statute. Perry also argued that Harrati didn't have the right to sue at all — and in fact, Maloney could sell Bessy at auction to recover the costs of boarding the beast.

"There is simply no right in the statute to simply sue for the putative fair market value of the cow. The cow owner must either pay the reasonable expenses the keeper incurred or, if he refused to do so as plaintiff did here, then he must take the net proceeds of the auction sale perpetuated by the keeper of the cow after the deduction of her reasonable expenses," Perry said in a court filing.

But in a ruling this week, a Milford magistrate recalled the parable of King Solomon and the infant claimed by two women, giving Maloney and Harrati the chance to spare Bessy equitably.

The magistrate ruled that Harrati needed to pay Maloney $687 in boarding costs by Saturday if he intended to retrieve the cow. But if Harrati did not intend to take Bessy back, Maloney must pay him $313 to keep Bessy.

There's a wrinkle. Since arriving at Town Line Dairy, Bessy got pregnant. Maloney allow her bulls to run with the cows as part of her breeding operation. She feared Harratti would slaughter the cow and the unborn calf.

Plus, Maloney and her family have grown quite fond of their undersized cow.

"I'd love to keep her, and just keep her safe," Maloney said.

Around 7 p.m. on Saturday, Maloney delivered a check to Harrati at his home in Mendon, fulfilling the legal terms of the magistrate's judgement.

Bessy is at home in Upton and done wandering, for now.