It's always been a problem keeping the goats away from young vegetation. They love to munch up on my honeysuckle vines -
"Alabama Crimson Tide Honeysuckle"... and about any other young growth, even on trees. I can't tell you how many trees they stripped of leaves, and worse, girdled the bark and made the tree die. It's very, very BAD for goats to get into the orchard!
One of their other favorite treats are the leaves on my rose bushes. You'd think the thorns might be a bit of a deterrent, but you'd be wrong.
This I expect. What I did NOT expect was to look out one day and see our male llama, Samson, had snuck into the back yard and was munching up on my newly leafed-out rosebushes!
He seemed to think they were quite tasty.
He liked them so much, in fact, that in order to get to them, he squirmed through what is a rather small opening for him, considering his size.
I thought perhaps it was a one time thing, but now every morning when I let them out of their night pens, he makes a beeline for the rose garden. To prevent total defoliation, I've had to start shutting the gate to keep him out.
"You got a problem?"As a matter of fact, yes, I've got a problem. I like my rose bushes with leaves on them, thank you very much!
{ 4 comments… read them below or add one }
Don’t you know…..that sweet boy is just trying to help you keep away the black spot, aphids and rust that normally plague rose bushes! Give the guy some credit!
Gosh, I’ll bet your right Danni. He’s just be helpful and I won’t have to worry about any diseases or bugs on my rosebushes… cause they won’t have any leaves and croak!
Bad, llama, bad!
You tell him! He’s sure not listening to ME. (Not that anything actually does around the place anyway.)