Hay Bales and Hijinks

Barack was a wee bit excited to see a new hay bale.  He was NOT happy about it going through his stall, though. 

"Escaping works up one's appetite." Barack O'Llama

The lambs have never seen a round bale, but they were determined to try it out anyway.

"Oooh, is that a big roll of yummy plastic?" Cashew.

Did I mention that the tractor was running when both of these pictures were taken?  Perhaps the animals are getting too bold.

"Give me a peanut or I will gnaw off your nose!" Peanut

The chickens certainly are.  They aren't afraid of anything: not llamas, not dogs, not cows.  They aren't shy about what they want, either.  (In other words, they are annoying.)

"Feed me!" The Chickens

Hazel is even looking a bit bold these days....Well, perhaps not.

Hazel: she acts like a sheep.

Barack O'Llama's Escape

When Barack O'Llama saw the tractor today, we thought he was thinking, "Oh boy!  A fresh hay bale!"  We were wrong.  He was thinking, "Perhaps I can run down and check out that other llama when they open the gate."

 Of course, he needed to stop and sniff the sheep on the way there.

After the sheep were thoroughly sniffed, he galloped towards Snowball.  Note that Snowball is exhibiting pretty much all the "I'm not happy about this" llama body language.

They sniffed and clicked. 

 Barack O'Llama submitted to haltering...

...and returned to his sheep.

He was happy to be back, even when the sheep began staring at his halter (they don't have much room to talk, as they are wearing coats).  Then he heard the tractor coming once again....

More adventures with hay bales coming tomorrow.

While We Were Gone

We just returned from our first overnight trip since we've had sheep.

All the animals missed us...or at least they missed their treats.

"Did you bring back anything for us?"

 While we were gone, the chickens were kind enough to fill in the hole in which I fell.

If I step in it now, it will cluck.

Gunpowder's horns grew a lot.  And he's starting to act as if he's looking forward to going in with the ewes.  It's good for us but annoying for his pasture pals.

"His horns might be impressive, but he's being rude!"

And, of course, Henrietta still is tiny.

Henrietta, sporting a lamb-size sheep coat.

More Drama

The box of new sheep coats arrived yesterday, so last night, we finished coating the sheep.

Acorn's fleece has been hand cleaned on a daily basis.

The girls were pretty relaxed about it.  Calico and Henrietta even kept their feud going the entire time. In the picture below, they are getting into position to ram their heads together.  Elsie is getting between them.

You can dress them up but you can't take them out.

In the other pasture, it was a different story.  Gunpowder went crazy as soon as Pecan's coat went on.  To be completely fair, they all went crazy.  

First, Pecan tried to get away from his coat.

"What have you done to me?!?"

 Then Gunpowder and Almond tried to run away from him.

"Get that thing away from us!"

For awhile, Almond followed Gunpowder around, as if saying, "Why don't you want to be my friend anymore?"  Then Almond gave up, and Gunpowder started following Pecan and Almond, trying to discreetly sniff them.

"What are they?"

All of the excitement made Snowball a bit nervous as well.  Fortunately, everything seems back to normal today.

Just because she's cute: Pistachio

Crankypants

There are a lot of cranky animals around here these days.

The llamas are still clicking and snorting at each other.  Not as much, but they are still far from being buddies.  Why don't they believe me when I tell them there's enough llama food to go around?

Me?  Cranky? Never.

Our elderly black australorp won out over a bunch of the younger ladies yesterday.  It was hilarious, because not only is she old, but also she's on the small side and molting.  She'd give them a look and they would scurry off--even the giant white chickens who weigh nearly as much as our cat and don't fear llamas or sheep with horns.  (But I must give the chickens some credit: they rarely ever fight and when they do, it's over food--and not just any food but only chicken delicacies like grapes.)

What does a big strapping girl like this need to be afraid of?

 The ewes have been scrappy recently.  Today, Henrietta and Calico fought their way out of the barn and continued to fight for about twenty minutes.  Elvira was very interested in the proceedings.  She went to "talk" to Sandy, then returned and thwacked Calico in the side.  The fighting ended at that point, and I suspect it has something to do with the verdict from the matriarch (Sandy).  I have a feeling we have more scuffles in store. The days are getting shorter, and the ewes' hormones are starting to awaken...and they are starting to act like teenage girls.

Henrietta fueling up for the big fight.

 No pictures of the sheep battle, but if you've ever seen a video of wild rams fighting, it looks pretty much the same, with less horns and no rocky cliffs.

Meanwhile in the ram and wether pasture: Peace. And lots of naps.

Almond wonders why the boys get the bad rap.

Chicken Subtraction

Three chickens...

 minus one chicken...

equals two chickens.

(Florida, the flying chicken, did come back.  As you might have guessed, there's no fence that can keep her in.  That's why, more often than not, she's standing in the middle of the road, pecking on asphalt.)

Elsie's Transformation

Something happened to Elsie when we put on her sheep coat.

Elsie, a fluffy gal,...

She has become less shy.

...modeling a size 31 sheep coat, with some positive ease.

Not only is she approaching for pictures and treats, but she also is one of the first in the barn instead of one of the last (sometimes).

Elsie and the gang

I have no idea what bit of sheep psychology is behind this change.  Our other (somewhat) wild sheep have stayed (somewhat) wild, and some of the tamer lambs seem a little worried as to what we might do to them next.

Elsie still recognizes her Pistachio.

Poor Elvira

Poor Elvira.  She can't find her baby.

"Where's my wee little lamb?"

 The really sad part is that her baby is following her around, baaing, and looking like this:

"So...what's this all about?"

We didn't wash the coats since the last time they were used.  It seemed sort of pointless.  The last time this coat was worn, it was worn for about a week.  But apparently Elvira thinks that Peanut is Henrietta (the coat's former owner) and that she is chasing her.   All of the other ewe/lamb pairs have figured out the mystery of who belongs to whom.

We took the coat off Peanut and brought it inside to wash.  Elvira still is a bit confused.

(Interestingly, this particular coat--which was too big for Henrietta when she was pregnant and in full fleece--is a little on the snug side for Peanut.)

Elsie has figured out what this all means: everyone is getting coated.

"Please, don't let it be true!"

She's right.  We've coated the ones we could and measured the rest.  They'll be getting their snazzy new coats sometime soon.

And Firetrucks

Who would have guessed that Acorn also would chew on fire trucks?  (It's probably not a great idea to fix toys in the sheep pasture, but one does what one must.)

Yum, yum.

Barack O'Llama was getting into the action today, too--chewing on my drawstring, the key to the fence (good thing he didn't eat that!)...  No pictures as we were outside for (someone else's) farm animal emergency.  He was a little bit clingy as well.  Perhaps he's been hanging out too much with the lambs and learning their bad habits?

(Most of) the lambs sticking to their llama like glue.

Beware the Crazy Sheep

They look sweet and gentle like...well, lambs.  

Peanut.

But...watch out or they will eat your shorts. (Or shoes.  Or post-its.  Or gloves.  It's really disturbing when they chew on wool socks.)*

Cashew and Pistachio devouring my shorts.

And sometimes they even look scary.

Looking elegant is tricky when you are sticking your snout through a fence.

Poor Cashew.  She's really quite a lovely girl. Both of Calico's girls are lovely.

Acorn and Cashew

*The only things on this list that they've actually eaten (not just chewed on) are the glove and the post-it.  And I do think they'll grow out of it--none of the big girls chew on anything other than pasture, hay, and the occasional snack.