Since last fall, the Dennis Meeks family, or more appropriately the livestock on the Meeks farm, has hosted an unlikely “guest.” A young deer somehow appeared in one of their fenced in fields last fall and has been in no hurry to leave.
The farm is south of Belle Plaine. The family first noticed the deer last fall. They don’t know how it got into the enclosure or why it seems in no hurry to leave. Kaeleen Meeks has been taking photos of the deer over the past few days. She reports that the cattle chase it around sometimes, but the Tennessee walking horses seem to view it as more of a curiosity than an intruder. Her daughter, Kayla, was able to get to within about 20 feet of the deer to shoot one picture.
The family reports that the deer does not appear to be sick and they think it has been eating silage with the feeder cattle since it arrived.

The horses seem more curious than spooked by their strange visitor.