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Nine cows and a bull are now home on the range at the Point Roberts Marina.

On October 14 the herd arrived by barge, due to agricultural restrictions that prevented marina owner Steve MacKay from bringing them from Sedro-Woolley directly by truck.

I’m delighted to have them here,” said MacKay. “The difficulty of getting them here made it even more fun.”

The bull, Rhett Butler, and two of the cows are Scottish Highland cattle. “The queen of England has 200 head at Balmoral. Very fancy beef. Very hard to come by,” said Jean Bates of Hemlock Highland Cattle.

The remaining seven cows are Black Angus, two of them calves, and more are on the way. “Everybody’s got a baby in her except for the youngest Highland and the bull will be taking care of that,” Bates said.

The cattle are behind an electric fence adjacent to the nature trail that runs from the intersection of APA Road and Tyee Drive to Lighthouse park. Marina representative Paulette Ladner said that while they hope the community will enjoy taking a look, they are asking that visitors keep their distance. “There’s an electric fence and if they touch it they’ll get zapped,” she said. “There’s also a bull, and that bull is huge. We’ve got signage up but we really want people to be careful.”

Community members curious about the marina’s ranching adventure can come to a November 10 field trip, where they can even touch a cow. “Our wrangler will be available to answer all questions,” Ladner said. The marina is also running a contest to name the two Black Angus calves. For more information call 945-2255.