A real-life cowboy on horseback chased down and lassoed a runaway cow - sprinting down a busy highway.

Dashcam video shows the animal running onto the highway, leading wranglers on a chase across three lanes of traffic.

The Michigan state troopers responded to a call requesting they be on standby on the I-75 highway after a cow escaped from a pasture.

A team of cattle wranglers had already been deployed near Belford Road in Holly Township to rescue the animal from a gravel pit.

But the cow escaped and ran onto the highway at around 3:00pm, leading the wranglers on a chase.

State troopers shut down the north and southbound lanes to avoid collisions until one of the wranglers successfully lassoed the cow and subdued it.

The highway was reopened after about an hour with no major incident.

The Michigan State Police said: "We haven't use the wranglers in the past and the reason we responded to that area was actually for the safety of the motorists and horses on the freeway."

"It took a couple of hours to get him in the trailer. The freeway itself was closed for about an hour"