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Friday, March 28, 2008
A Fowl Predicament
When I went out to feed last night, I saw a strange sight in the sheep shed. Ever see a chicken hanging by a toe? No, this was not a chicken trapeze artist. More like a trapped-by-a-toe chicken. The chickens like to roost on the 2x4 at the top of the chain link fencing separating the front and back of the shed. Evidently she caught a toe when she tried to hop down.
A fowl predicament indeed!
I grabbed a pair of work gloves to wear in case she got frantic when I tried to free her. Those claws are great for scratching the ground looking for bugs and seeds, but they also make nasty scratches on bare skin.
She was dragging her leg when I first let her loose. I didn't know if she'd broken it or the leg was just numb from holding her entire weight for so long. I looked for her this morning, but couldn't see any chicken that was limping around, so I'm hoping she is okay now.
Otherwise, we might have to make chicken fence fries.
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!
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!
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!
Now whether the weather stays spring like is another matter! It started out cold this morning, with frosty fleeced sheep:
The sun burned the frost off rather quickly, sparkling in the dew on leaves and grass. The woods is coming alive with more plants every day.
New arrivals! Ferns are starting to peep up through the leaf litter.
Unfortunately, the warmer weather not only makes the plants grow, but the bugs are starting to come out, too. Spiders are scurrying around in the leaves, gnats flitting around, and all too soon there will also be the nasties - ticks and mosquitoes for instance.
Coming back towards the back yard I noticed another bright spot on the spring landscape in the catalpa tree by the sheep shed:
I love bluebirds, they're so bright and beautiful!
It's the first day of spring, plants and birds and bugs are appearing, and I'm eager to see more and more signs of spring!
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!
After a couple of rainy days, we had some sunshine this morning so I went looking to see if there were any wildflowers out in the woods. I figured it was about time for the trillium to show their faces.
Sure enough, I saw several peeking through last year's leaves for the first time this year. There were other wildflowers in evidence also... And when I got back in our yard, I noticed even the lilac bush is starting to leaf out... I do believe spring may decide to show up after all this year.
Mainstream moves to Organic, while Organic moves to Mainstream…
Back in my younger years, and NO, contrary to what my kids may think, that was NOT in the Stone Age… I was a bit of hippie. Fast food, chemical farming and an urban lifestyle were much more popular than the counterculture of organic farming and alternative energy that interested me. I read magazines like “Mother Earth News” and “Organic Gardening & Farming” and anything else I could find about leading a healthier, sustainable lifestyle back before it became somewhat of a fad.
And I bought all kinds of books put out by Rodale Press, such as: * The Rodale Herb Book * Organic Plant Protection * Stocking Up * The Rodale Cookbook * The Good Goodies * Naturally Delicious Desserts and Snacks … and many others.
At that time, Rodale was the leader in organic farming. I knew what to expect when I bought a book from them. No chemicals. Whole foods.
Then came the years where we moved from place to place, and I had nowhere to garden, and eventually slipped into a more mainstream type of eating, with convenience foods and other highly processed psuedo-food.
After being back on a farm for 10 years, and gradually getting back into that healthier lifestyle, I renewed my interest in books on a sustainable, healthier way of life.
Since I collect cookbooks, I naturally wanted some with recipes for the kind of meals I’m trying to fix these days. Health problems dictated an even more stringent approach, and I’ve discovered that good diabetic cookbooks and those for the G.I. diet have a lot of what I’m looking for. Imagine how excited I was when I got a flyer in the mail from my long lost supplier of great books – Rodale Press – advertising a new book on G.I. Cooking! “Aha!” says I, “Here’s where I’ll get a really great cookbook with recipes using fresh-from-the-farm ingredients like grass-fed beef, fresh cheeses, local produce and other goodies!”
When it finally came in the mail, I eagerly tore open the package and started reading through the introductory stuff and checking out the recipes. To say it wasn’t what I expected is a gross understatement. I thought maybe I was missing something, so I went through it a couple more times, paying closer attention to recipe ingredients.
Here’s a sample of what I found: * a suggested snack of 1 oz. potato chips and 4 ounces juice, * suggested use of reduced-fat margarine spread, * commercial frozen dinners included in the suggested diet plans, and * frequent use of brown sugar and white sugar.
The point is, it didn’t look any different from a cookbook I could pick up anywhere. That was most definitely NOT what I wanted or expected.
What happened?
These days I can go to Publix, a major chain grocery store, and buy a huge variety of fresh, canned, boxed and frozen organic foods. I won’t debate the misuse of the word “organic” here, but the point is that the mainstream is moving towards healthier foods.
And what used to be the counterculture, back-to-the-earth, good foods and farming people – well some of them seem to be moving towards the mainstream. I don’t know if they’re trying to reach a broader audience and increase sales or what the idea is, but I miss being able to order a book from someplace like Rodale Press, and know it won’t look like every other book out there, but stick to that sustainable type of lifestyle J.I. Rodale promoted.
Maybe this was a fluke, but I’ll be a little leery of buying from that source again.
So what did I do with this not-what-I-was-looking-for cookbook? I did something I very rarely do, considering how much I love books of all kinds, and being a collector of cookbooks in particular, because I can usually find some merit in a book and figure it’s worth keeping, especially considering you have to pay postage to return a book. Well, this one was NOT worth it.
Yes, you know you're a redneck, if you open the paper and read this about yourself, or your wife... I have to wonder what she wears to Wal-Mart? Or for that matter, what is the proper casual attire to wear to the Dollar Store?
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!"
I have pictures of our new llama, but have been unable to upload any pictures to Blogger for a couple of days. Hopefully, they will resolve the matter SOON. Maybe I need a new venue...
Goat kids are like people kids - if we're talking about super-charged, high-energy, and probably ADHD affected sort of kids.
Yesterday they crawled under the gate to the chicken pen, and found something to jump on and have a great time playing.
The penhens couldn't figure out what those strange new chickens were!
And the biggest trouble with their new playpen is that they couldn't remember how they got IN there, and couldn't figure out how to get back out. Their Mama was walking around and around the chicken pen and aviary bawling for them, and what did they do?
I thought I had slugs figured out. They crawl on the ground, munch on my hostas and other flowers, and make slimy trails across the sidewalks and front porch.
As far as I knew, they never got far off the ground - no further than crawling up on the plants they munch on.
Well, I know this is going to be a shock to some, but it turns out I was wrong.
It's like this... yesterday we got over an inch of rain so I went out in the woods between showers. I figured I wouldn't see anything new, but I still needed the exercise.
Wrong again! I definitely saw something new! By the time I made it to the big tree in the above picture, it had started sprinkling again. Still, I felt like getting up close and personal and communing with that particular tree, which is when I found a surprise -- several surprises of the same type in fact!
Okay, there's probably lots of you out there that knew this happens, but imagine the shock to my "slugs creep on the ground" beliefs when I looked way up in that tree and saw a bunch of slugs crawling down. And I do mean a BUNCH. There were a couple dozen in various stages of progress slowly slithering down that tree. And that's just the ones I could actually see.
Slugs are not supposed to be crawling way up in a TALL tree. They are supposed to be making their slimy way across the grass or other vegetation close to the ground.
That's when I got to wondering... I know slugs are supposed to like beer, and it makes good bait for a trap, so do you suppose they had a kegger the night before, and drank too much beer? I can just see these little redneck slugs partying, and one says, "Hey, what 'cha suppose is at the top of that tree?" And the other inebriated slugs holler, "Yeah, let's find out!"
Then there they are the next morning, hungover, blinking and waving their optic tentacles around, and screaming in terror because they are WAY UP IN A TREE!!!! Now what???
And that's when they all started making their way ever so slowly down from the heights.
All right, all right. So maybe they didn't really do all that. I did a little research and discovered there are actually slugs that crawl around on trees, especially in damp weather, and they are called.... yep, tree slugs (Lehmannia marginata).
I don't know if that's what this particular variety is, or they belong to some other slug group I haven't discovered yet.
I just know there were slugs in a very tall tree, and man, was I surprised!!!
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!
It's Saturday Night Live around here every day. We have chickens tap dancing across the lawn, roosters who think they're Irish, goat kids who try Russian folk dances around the fields, and occasionally I do a little break dance (aka falling on my... behind).
Today we feature the Romeo of the Roost, our handsome Prince of Peafowl, Sir Peacock of Prance, waltzing around the aviary.
During the day he periodically prances about, trying to entice one of his harem with his lovely fan of feathers. He sashays around the aviary, looking for love. Finally, he tires and has to let his feathers fall.
This frenetic activity will continue for some time yet, as he dances his courtship during the day, and gives raucous cries at night, telling the world he's looking for love.
It's Desperate Housewives meets Dancing With the Stars.
