A group of cows wandered from their farm on to a motorway in Yorkshire, holding up traffic for a short time, before being swiftly herded back to safety.

Vehicles were stopped on the M62 between junctions 24 and 25 at 11am on Sunday as six cows kicked their way through a boundary fence and took to the hard shoulder.

A spokesperson from National Highways told the PA news agency: “We’re not sure why they were so intent on getting through the fence but they were obviously very keen to be hoofing it along the motorway.”

The cows were soon spotted by a gritter driver, who notified the control room.

They were returned within 15 minutes after some teamwork.

“The incident was dealt with very quickly within 15 minutes,” the spokesperson added.

“They were returned to their field thanks to a great multi-agency response from National Highways Traffic Officers, the farmer, West Yorkshire Police, and a passing ambulance crew who stopped to assist with the herding.

“Traffic was held up for a short time for the safety of road users but was soon back on the move.”

Twitter users enjoyed the use of cow-related puns from the team at National Highways Yorkshire.

“We’ve currently got the traffic stopped whilst we work with (West Yorkshire Police) to Mooooove some loose cows from the road,” one of their tweets read.

“No, we don’t have any udder puns & we won’t try milking it with the ones we can think of.

“Thanks for your patience. #DadJokes #Safety First”.