Yep, big day yesterday. It was cool out so I decided it was time for some long-overdue llama haircuts. Hubby caught "Susie Q" a tiny Bolivian girl, and I went to work on her. Llamas don't like haircuts, and even though she behaved pretty well and didn't spit once, we were both hot, tired and angry when the job was finished so the other two got a reprieve for a few days. I didn't get a "before" picture, but here's an "after" one.
She looks happy to see me, doesn't she? I think she likes her new haircut. Here's a better picture of her:
Behind her is "Cassie", a big 9 year-old girl who had meningeal worm (a parasite that enters the spinal cord) when she was 8 months old. She recovered but is still pretty crooked and walks funny, but I think she's beautiful.
After the llama haircut was finished we got in the truck and went to Spencer to pick up the new flock of Shetlands. Loading them was uneventful thanks to Gail's organizational skills and we were soon home with our new "babies". Now, I have spent pretty much my whole life around livestock and I KNOW to segregate new animals in a secure pen for awhile before they are turned out with the rest. But did we do that? No. The ewes went right into the main pasture with the "big sheep". It did occur to me to wonder if they were trained to an electric fence but oh well, too late now. The rams were unloaded and, as per Gail's instructions, were tied to the fence with the ram that was already here and all three were wet down with the hose. I fed them some hay and left them there. This is supposed to cut down on fighting to establish dominance. The theory is they smell alike after they dry and don't see each other as intruders. So after about 2 hours I put some grain in the feeder and turned them loose. As soon as the grain was eaten the fight was on!!! I watched in horror as all three rams started bashing the daylights out of each other! Thankfully it only lasted a few minutes and no damage was done, but it seemed like hours. I had barely recovered from this when Hubby came running up and said 5 of the new sheep were loose and had crossed the road into the neighbors' yard. We live on 5 acres surrounded by cropland, mostly corn and beans. This is Indiana. It's July. The corn is oh, somewhere in the neighborhood of SEVEN FEET tall. Shetland sheep are about 24 inches tall at the shoulder. Think about this for a minute and feel my terror. I grabbed a bucket of grain and headed across the road, all the while trying to think of a way to tell Gail I had lost her sheep after having them for two hours. "Um, well, they aren't really LOST, we know which cornfield they are living in, and people catch glimpses of them from time to time." I had this mental image of "phantom sheep" roaming the neighborhood eluding capture. But thankfully they had gone into a beanfield instead, and we could barely see their little heads above the plants. As Hubby got behind them and walked slowly toward them, they turned and walked single-file out of the field, followed the bucket of grain across the road and into the pen like perfect ladies! Whew! THAT was close! I think they'll live with the rams for awhile.
I'm going to go spin.
She was very fearful at first as she has had very little if any positive human contact in her life. She also moves like greased lightening! For the first 2 weeks I kept a leash attached to her collar because the only way to catch her was to grab the leash as she ran past. Once caught she settled down and would sleep in my lap for as long as I wanted to sit down. She is gradually overcoming her fears and now loves to be picked up and held.
