These images show police officers resorting to using a digger to free cows that had become stuck in the mud in a dried-up pool of water.

The scenes, filmed in Wuqia County, Kizilsu Kirgiz Autonomous Prefecture, in China’s Xinjiang Province, show two of the three cows that were reportedly trapped in the mud pit.

Local media said that their herdsman failed to rescue them on his own and had to call the police for help.

The police reportedly worked with the herdsman for three hours before calling in a digger to help out.

The footage shows the digger winching one of the cows to safety after being helped by the police and given a good push.

The hardest to free was reportedly the oldest of the cows but the police officers managed it, sparing the herdsman from financial hardship if the cows had died.