BATON ROUGE, La. (AP) – The 4-H Livestock Show did not go as planned for Kelsi Atkinson, a 17-year-old soccer-playing senior at Zachary High School.

On the morning of Jan. 22, Kelsi and her dad, Kelly Atkinson, loaded up two cows to show – one dairy cow, Ellie, and one beef cow, Wendy.

Once at the show, Kelsi guided Ellie out of the trailer with no problems. When Kelsi went back in the trailer for Wendy, she sensed the heifer might be agitated from the 17-mile ride from their farm in Baker to LSU’s Parker Coliseum.

“You see, she’s crazy. That’s the only way I can put it,” Kelsi said. “Show cows are supposed to have a calm demeanor – and Wendy doesn’t have a show-cow demeanor.”

The drive in the trailer combined with Wendy’s non-show cow demeanor worked together to start the most interesting and exhausting day of young Kelsi’s life.

“Wendy got spooked. I’m not sure what spooked her,” Kelsi said. “When I untied her and went to take her out into the barn, I don’t know if it was all the action, but something scared her and she ran – which never happens. Show cows don’t do that.”

Except Wendy did. She ran and ran and ran. When Wendy first took off, Kelsi tried to hold onto the rope.

“I kept after her and kept up for a little while, but she just kept running,” Kelsi said. “I was thinking, ‘Please don’t let her get hit by a car,’ and `Please don’t let me get hit by a car.’”

Kelsi said she yelled at Wendy and felt like the whole world could hear her yelling. The folly of the situation was not lost on Kelsi, who plans to attend LSU in the fall as a freshman. She said as she was running across campus, dodging traffic and trying to catch her cow, beyond the concerns for everyone’s safety, she also realized how funny the situation was even as it was happening.

Ultimately, Wendy made her way from Parker Coliseum to the LSU Golf Course.

“I was like, ‘This can’t be happening.’ It was awful,” Kelsi said. “She took off down the road and didn’t stop running. I ran seven miles trying to catch her. I was lost half the time. Running around in circles trying to catch her – she crossed Nicholson.”

The chase for Wendy lasted the bulk of the day and pulled in at least five other people. Wendy eventually ran into a patch of woods, where she stayed for three hours. Family friend, Kyle Knight, was finally able to lasso Wendy at the golf course.

Kelsi said that she had to take Ellie out of the trailer to put Wendy in.

“Once Wendy saw Ellie, Wendy calmed down a little bit. We were able to get them both in the trailer,” Kelsi said. “I was so exhausted.”

Wendy’s escape has had its repercussions. Until Sunday, the Atkinsons had four cows. Now they have three.

Despite Kelsi’s concern for Wendy’s safety throughout her cross-campus jaunt, the heifer is, shall we say, headed for greener pastures. The Atkinsons shipped Wendy back to Texas.