A black cow and a brown cow got loose from their yard in rural Elgin Township and ended up in someone else’s backyard, according to a Kane County Sheriff’s report.

Deputies were initially called to the intersection of Pasec Place and Bittersweet Lane in Elgin Township about 3 p.m. Oct. 16 to answer a report of the runaway cows.

Later, the pair were found in a backyard in the elsewhere on Pasec Place, according to the report.

Neighbors helped as deputies tried to corral the cows, but they took off towards Taos Place, where they were eventually contained.

It took a couple of hours before deputies located the cows’ owner on Sunvale Drive, who has a farm of over six acres, also in Elgin Township.

Deputies issued the owner a citation for the cows running loose and he walked his animals home, according to the release.

“The cows appeared to be very skinny,” the deputy wrote in his report. “The neighbors also expressed concern about the cows mooing in distress at night.”

The deputy forwarded his report and 20 photos of the cows to Kane County Animal Control, writing that the cows “appeared to be malnourished and poorly cared for, notably having many ticks on them.”

Animal Control Administrator Brett Youngsteadt said after reviewing the cow photos, he could say they were “a little underweight.”

“Their body condition was 3-4 out of 9,” Youngsteadt said, using a health measurement system for cows. “Usually if it’s a dairy cow, they’re around a 4.”

Anything measured above a 4 for a dairy cow’s condition means the animal is just putting on weight instead of making milk, Youngsteadt said. If they’re too thin, there’s no milk. If they’re too fat, the farmer is wasting his money, he said.

Though the photos show jutting bones and ribs, there is a muscle layer on top, he said.

“They did have proper feed and conditions were not terrible at the farm,” Youngsteadt said.

But when investigators went to the farm to examine the cows, the owner had already given them away to someone who had more time to take care of them, Youngsteadt said. The owner did not say where he re-homed the cows, Youngsteadt said.

“He does not – legally – have to give us an address,” Youngsteadt said.

Youngsteadt said he expects the neighbors will keep watch and report any problems if the cows are returned to the farm.