Critters in the Backyard

When I went out to do chores this evening, this is what I saw:
There's a goat to one side, a couple of llamas, a Maremma LGD in-between, and a rooster. But wait! Look closer! What's on that male llama's back?

Well, look at that, one of the Buff Orpington hens is resting her feet in llama wool.

As a matter of fact, the rooster was on Samson's back too when I first went out, but by the time I grabbed my camera, he'd gone off to see if I was putting out any feed.

Maybe sitting on a sheep or llama's back is like having warm, fuzzy slippers on your feet. Since it was a cool, rainy day, that probably felt good.

I just never know what those critters are going to be up to when I go outside!

Kids at Play

Our little goat kids spend most of their time playing, with an occasional nap or time out for a snack.

They like to run all over the fields, jumping around like they have little springs in their feet. But even more, they like to climb on things. Anything!

They climb on the lawnmower and tractor.

They climb on bales of hay.

They climb on tree stumps.

They climb on rocks.

They climb into the feed troughs.

They climb on top of overturned buckets.

They climb on wagons and carts.

After they climb in, on top of, and/or over something, the next most fun thing is to jump off it.

Those little kids will climb on anything they can find, and they don't limit themselves to inanimate objects either. Oh no, they climb on top of their mom. They climb on top of sheep that are trying to rest and peacefully chew their cud. Nothing is exempt!

Their latest and most favorite jungle gym is our male llama, Samson.
They jump on and off his back when he's kushed down, and even try to climb up his neck. He's wonderfully patient, but draws the line at kids trying to climb to the top of his head, and will twist his neck around and nudge them off his back.

This morning I got a short video of them hopping on and off Samson. Short, because as soon as they saw me, they figured it was time to go out, and went running towards the gate.

It's a good thing Samson is so laid back, or we might have squished kids!

Llama Lingo

To kush or not to kush, that is the question. Well, actually, more to the point, the question I'm hearing a lot lately is, "What does kush mean?" Like all terms specific to a hobby, occupation, breed... whatever! ... when you use it all the time, sometimes you forget not everyone knows what you're talking about. And why should they? So here's a brief intro into Llama Lingo.

Kush refers to a specific body position. Llamas are part of the camel family. If you've watched many movies that take place in the desert, you've no doubt seen a camel cush down so someone can climb on their back to ride. They bend their front legs, drop to their knees, and then fold up their hind legs. Some people call it a kneeling position, others say the animal is sitting.

At any rate, this is what a llama looks like when it "kushes" down. They often rest like this during the day. It is also a submissive posture for them, much like a dog rolling over to show its' belly. When males fight, the loser ends up in a kush position. They also breed in this position.

One thing to note, the term can be spelled either way, kush or cush. I've noticed that for whatever reason, it's more often spelled with a "c" when talking about camels, and with a "k" when talking about llamas.

For a llama to kush is NOT the same thing as lying down. Then they lay on their side, and often do a "dead llama" imitation that will have you running out in the field checking to see if they're still breathing.
Our llama lady loves to pretend she doesn't hear me calling her name, and holds really still until I get up close. I think she does it on purpose, just to see how fast I can make it out there.

It's nice to know I provide such great entertainment for the animals!

Round 'Em Up!!!

Today was "Vaccinate & Worm the Sheep, Goats & Llamas Day." It didn't start off well. I thought I had everything in one place, but turns out I was missing a vital piece of equipment needed to make wethers out of the two little boy goats. This needs done while they are small, and who knows when we’ll have good weather on a Saturday again. I needed to find the band castrator tool TODAY.

While I searched The Farmer tried to come up with alternatives, like using a pair of needle-nosed pliers to stretch open the bands. He decided to test it out, and the first band he stretched open popped off the pliers and flew off into unknown regions. Some day when I'm running the sweeper I'll probably find a little green rubber ring where I least expect it.

It was obvious from the test trials that pliers just weren't going to do the job. The bands need to be stretched completely open, not just from two sides. I searched and searched some more, and finally found the missing bander. (Maybe those ornery little boy goats snuck in the house and hid it, hoping to avoid their eunuch-thized fate!)

I finally had all the necessary paraphernalia gathered up so we went outside to round ‘em up! We did the sheep first. They haven't been sheared yet and are easy to get hold of. They got their vaccinations and Ivomec sheep drench, and were good to go.

Miss Keira kept poking her nose over the fence, so we slipped a halter on her, clipped on a lead, and said, "Okay, you can be next!" She's not overly fond of shots, and always kushs down.

Well! That brought on an unexpected complication. Samson was in the same pen, and wanted to make amorous advances, figuring he at last had her where he wanted her! ARGH! Not NOW! The Farmer stood on one side of Keira fending off her suitor, while I got on the other side and gave her a vaccination and shot of wormer. She was off like a jet plane the minute we let her loose. (Sorry Samson, another day!)

Since Samson hasn't been handled much, we figured he was likely to be a handful and decided to save him for last. We rounded up the goats, gave them all their meds, then picked up each twin and did the dastardly deed of slipping a band on to switch them from buck to wether, and poking a baby aspirin down their throat. They screamed and complained more about the aspirin than the band, and were off playing the minute we let them go, so it obviously doesn't bother them much.

That left our new big boy, Samson. I tried to entice him with some feed, but he knew we were up to something and wasn't having any. The Farmer decided he was going to have to rope him. Oh fun!

I said, "If you're going to play cowboy, let me go get my camera first."

As The Farmer first approached, Samson went running off to the other side of the pen.

The first couple of throws were unsuccessful, but The Farmer was determined!

I was surprised when after a few tries, Samson just seemed to accept the inevitable and stood still while The Farmer walked up to him and put the rope around his neck.

Not only did he allow me to put a measuring tape around his middle to check his weight, he let me give him both shots without fuss. He didn't kush, and he didn't give any indication he wanted to spit at us either. I was much impressed!!!

Our handsome boy is turning out to be quite a gentleman!

So it ended up he wasn't much trouble at all, and we were done with our round-up in record time!

Llamas, Together at Last (Sort of)

It all started last night when The Farmer and I went out of do chores. We have a routine, and things get done just fine as long as we stay with the routine. When it gets interrupted... no guarantees what happens!

Part of that routine involves me putting out feed for our new llama guy, Samson, plus the sheep and goats, while The Farmer feeds our lady llama, Keira. She is in the same night pen as the goats, and if someone doesn't stand guard, they'd come and eat her food, then go eat theirs.

Samson learned to go in his pen when he sees me with the feed bucket the second day he was here. What a smart guy! Then Farmer opens the gate, and Keira and the older goats come running into their adjoining pen lickety-split. They know it's dinner time! The two little kids aren't always as prompt. They're still playing somewhere and not interested in what the adults are doing.

We have much more fun off playing by ourselves than always following after Mama!

When the older goats ran in last night, only one little kid followed, but we could hear the other one bawling loudly somewhere. When we finally located him, we saw he'd gotten himself into a real predicament.

He'd obviously been playing on The Farmer's lawnmower. Little goat kids LOVE to climb and play on anything they can find. The only trouble is when he jumped down, he managed to catch his foot and was stuck fast.

I must say, it took real talent, because as you can see in the picture to the right, he had to jump down at just the right angle for his foot to go in there. The only trouble is that once he was down, his leg was at the wrong angle and he couldn't get it back out.

But then, neither could we!

The Farmer finally had to get a pair of pliers and pull back the metal far enough to get the little rascal's foot loose.

Needless to say, our usual routine got lost in the rescue operations. That's probably why when I went out to do chores this morning, this is what I saw:

Uh-oh! Two llamas in ONE pen!

Well, surprise, surprise! I guess I forgot to walk over and shut the gate to Samson's pen last night after putting his feed bucket in place. Instead, I was homing in on the distress call from the little goat kid, and my routine came unglued.

The good news is they don't seem to be fighting. The bad news is I don't know if they've gotten romantic either, and I feel a little guilty not being there to keep check on them the first time they were both in the same pen.

If I were a betting woman, I'd guess Samson is still looking for love, cause Keira keeps her distance. Whenever he gets within a few feet of her, she skitters off in another direction. She's still not sure what to make of this new furball who thinks he wants to get up close and personal!

It's still a game of hide and seek - Keira hides, and Samson keeps seeking!

Lovelorn Llama

It's soap opera time on the farm with a tale of unrequited love, raging hormones and cold-hearted indifference.

Flash back to last Thursday night, when a new llama arrived on the farm. We've been thinking about getting some company for our single llama lady for a long time, and happened to see an ad for this guy. Isn't he handsome?
However, I guess we should have placed an ad with eHarmony.com, because we seem to have a compatibility problem here. After a brief bout of curiousity, and touching of noses, Keira has since refused to acknowledge there is another llama on the farm.

Yes, it would seem the lady rejects her would-be sweetheart. In fact, she refuses to admit his existence most of the time. It's the cold shoulder treatment for poor Samson, with Keira turning her back to him and ignoring his presence in the pasture next door.

See Samson in the background?
And there's Keira, as usual, giving him the cold shoulder treatment.

Every morning when I let the critters out, Samson rushes to the fence to see where Keira went. He hums and groans, sounding very much like he's trying to start his engine, desperately trying to get her attention.

It doesn't work. She continues to thoroughly ignore him.

Will Samson ever get the attention of his would-be lover? Will Keira ever accept him as a suitor? Stay tuned for the continuing soap opera of "The Lovelorn Llamas!"

Llama vs. Goats

My little llama girl likes to hang out with the goats. She usually ignores the sheep, and sometimes just does her own thing, but mostly, she's with the goats. It will be interesting to see what happens when Samson, our soon-to-be-delivered male llama arrives.

However, at present, it's Kiera and the goats. As much as she likes the goats, she has one pet peeve. She does NOT want to share any feed with them.

I've told you and told you, leave MY feed alone!!!

If they persist in trying to eat her food, she finally lets them know in no uncertain llama terms, "That's it!"

I spit in your general direction!

Ahhh, llamas, they know how to get their point across!

Friday on the farm...

It was beautiful out there when I went to do chores this morning. The weather has warmed up again, and I wore a light jacket instead of my heavy winter coat. Even at that, I pulled off the jacket before I was half way finished with the chores. Though the sun was shining, it’s pretty dreary. What colored leaves we had have either turned brown, fallen to the ground, or both. Still, there’s a little color peeking through here and there, like this lovely little violet.Toby was in rare form this morning, galloping all over the place, carrying around a big piece of lumber he found somewhere. He’s got to have a piece of wood in his mouth, whether it’s so tiny you can barely see the end of it sticking out of his mouth, or so large it’s twice his size and he’s dragging it along behind him.

He’s the farm jester, always finding ways to make me laugh, no matter how grumpy I might be. He loves to play in the water. In the original game, he jumped up and bit the water, but later it evolved to him wanting sprayed while he ran around with his lumber stogie in his mouth.

The other animals generally ignore his lunacy, unless he gets too close. Then they’ll scoot out of his way while casting a wary eye in his direction.

Eventually, they’ll go back to munching their hay or grass or whatever they were doing.

It’s another beautiful Friday on the farm.

Cool Llama

This morning when I went out to fill water buckets, there was Miss Keira. In this hot weather she comes ambling up every time she sees me with a water hose. She doesn't like her back to be sprayed, but rather pokes her face and neck into a falling stream of water.


She ends up a bit drippy, with a wet face and neck, but when you have black fuzzy hair, that no doubt feels pretty good in this heat!

Southern Heat

I don’t know about global warming, but I know it’s plenty warm here in the south. I’m not too thrilled when you pass a bank thermometer and it has THREE digits!

Even though it’s in the shade, our thermometer has been reading 98 degrees F. for the last three days. (For those of you using the Celsius scale, that would be almost 37C.) That’s just TOO hot.

Everything here on the farm is trying to cope with the hot weather, from “A” to “Z”. (Okay, so the closest I have to the front of the alphabet is cat, with sheep at the tail end.) All the critters look for shade, but have different habitats and various ways of beating the heat.

Spot, the Cat, likes to lounge around in the shade under our truck, and keep his thirst quenched with Birdie Broth, otherwise known as water out of the bird bath – just a “faint flavor of birdie essence”. I'm not sure if I put fresh water in there for the birds or the cat.


A dust bath is the method of choice for a quick cool down for the Chickens... … while the Dogs like to hang out under the back porch or in the shade of the big walnut trees in the back yard.

Neffie takes a rest (above), while Toby enjoys chewing on a hunk of wood while lazing in the shade (below).

Even our Garden needs help with the heat, especially considering we are also under drought conditions. I’ve had to water the peppers and tomato plants almost every day. (Thank goodness for well water!)

Of course the Goats like to hang out under the shade trees in the back yard with Neffie.

Keira the Llama often joins them, but she also cools down by “burying” herself in a sea of green plants in the bog area of the bottom pasture, though it’s not much of a bog right now!

In the aviary, the Peafowl go for a combination of bathing in the dust or pool.


Last, but not least, the Sheep also opt for spots under the shade trees. Our flock matron has a special spot under a pile of lumber and gets double shade from that and the overhanging tree branches.
One way or another, everyone is looking for shade and the coolest spot possible. I’m thrilled to be able to enjoy the air conditioning inside the house. Yep, I admit it, when it comes to extreme heat, I’m a Wuss.

Beating the heat from "C" to "W" -
Just keep that air conditioning on for the "W" please!