As far as I’m corn-cerned. . .

Our male llama can be somewhat of a pig.

He loves to reach as far as his neck will allow over fences and chow down on the tender leaves of my trumpet vine and honeysuckle vines, not to mention my lilac bush and rose bushes.  And he also loves to munch up on my sedum plant in the rosebed.

This morning I threw out some corn husks and old ears of corn for the chickens.  So who did I see scarfing down a whole husk?

Yep, Mr. “I can eat anything” was determined to chow down on the entire corn husk all at once.

And he managed it too.  What a pig!

And our little goat decided to nibble on some of the corn husks. . .

At least she didn’t try to eat the whole thing at one go like Samson did!

Llama Fight

Our grazing animals have a lot of room these days since we cut way back on numbers.  Do you think that makes a difference when it comes time to find a resting spot or someplace to graze? 

No, it does not.

The grass is still greener on the other side of the fence, no matter that they can’t keep the grass on THIS side eaten down.  And wherever one of the other animals is resting, they want the same spot.

Yesterday I heard Toby barking like a frenzied madman (dog?).  I looked out the window expecting to see some of the stray dogs too close to our fence for Toby’s liking.  Instead, I saw the two llamas fighting, and Toby didn’t like it.  He wanted them to STOP.

So what was all the fuss about?  Well, it seems that Samson, the male llama, was resting in the place our cranky female llama wanted.  And Samson wasn’t giving up his spot.  It’s a nice cool patch of bare dirt, and they both like it.  But mind you, it’s not the ONLY patch of bare dirt out there!

See her watching him even while they’re fussing and complaining to me?  It reminded me of two little kids fighting over a toy, and looking to me to mediate the squabble.

Of course, kids don’t generally spit vile stuff on each other.  And these two were mad enough to do just that.

They were baring their teeth and bringing out (up) the big weapons… and if you’ve ever smelled the stuff llamas can hock up, you’ll know just what I mean.  Human vomit smells like a rare perfume in comparison to that vile fermented green goo.

Now under normal circumstances, our female llama, Keira is a real sweetheart.  When she is pregnant, however, it’s NOT normal circumstances and all bets are off.  She is CRANKY.

She was so upset she ripped a piece of bark off one of the trees, chewed it up and swallowed it.  No kidding.

And Samson?  He just kushed down and stayed put in HIS spot.

The fussed at each other a couple of more times that day, to the point I was beginning to think I was going to have separate them.  Fortunately, they didn’t actually hurt each other, except maybe their dignity.

But I knew every time they were fighting, because Toby just had fits.  And Neffie?

She just rolled her eyes and went back to sleep.

It’s just too hot to fuss guys!

Goat Loves Llama

Yes, our little goat is still sweet on our llama.  I guess she figures he fits in the tall, dark and handsome category, so why not?

She especially likes to bug him when he’s resting.  He’s easier to reach when he’s down I guess.

Most of the time Samson tolerates it.  Maybe he likes having a little buddy.  But sometimes he gets a little fed up.

Maybe she just likes to pester him.  She is kind of ornery, and always seems to be looking for ways to stir things up.

Yep, she’s an instigator!  No telling what she’ll decide to do next.

Funny Llamas

We have some funny llamas.  They’re almost as bad as the goats for getting into trouble.  In fact, I may have wrongly accused our little goat in “The Trouble With Goats” post.  It’s possible she chomped up on my flowers, but if she did, I have the evidence of my own two eyes that she isn’t the only one enjoying a sedum salad.

What a rotten rascal!  And here I was sure it was the goat doing it!

But funny llamas have other tricks.  For instance, they are very good at playing dead.

You can stand in the field screaming and hollering and they never twitch an ear until you get up close and they finally look up at you like, “Whattt????”

And funny llamas like to get in your face when you’re trying to take pictures.

And it’s not just our nosy Keira.  The boy llama, Samson, has his share of nosiness.

And he’s prone to look pretty funny when he’s thinking about courting…

(In case you’re wondering, llamas and some other animals do this after smelling another animal’s scent… in this case, the female llamas droppings.)

And sometimes, they wear funny ornaments. . .

They make funny faces and do funny things… oh yeah, they’re funny llamas all right!

Children on the Farm

In this particular instance, GRANDchild on the farm.

Ellie and her parents are headed back to Canada.  In fact, she and her Dad flew out of Nashville yesterday and made it home about 9pm last night.  Ellie’s mom is driving the car back, so it will be a while before she makes it all the way home, especially since she’s stopping in Minneapolis to see friends.

It’s been really great having them one non-stop flight away, and I took full advantage of it to go see them several times this spring.  But it had been well over a year since they had last visited the farm.  In fact, it was February 2009, and I have a post with pictures from then in “The Cutest Little Cowgirl.”

Ellie and her dad went out to help with chores one morning.  Not being around animals very much, Ellie isn’t too sure what to make of them.  She was willing to throw corn out to the chickens and watch them come hustling up, and maybe even liked the baby chickens.

And she was fascinated with the peacock strutting his stuff and rattling his feathers to make a racket.  Now when we ask her about what the peacock does, she shakes her head to imitate his ruffling his feathers, which is pretty funny.

But the llamas?  Well, gosh, they’re BIG!  Although Miss CrankyPants Keira is fascinated with little kids and was on her best behavior, Ellie still wasn’t too sure about this much-bigger-than-her critter.

It was okay if Daddy wanted to feed that furry monster, but just don’t get TOO close!

Even with lots of reassurances, Ellie wasn’t buying into the idea that wooly critter was safe.

Then when our nosy little goat joined in to check Ellie out, that was just too much for her!

Having animals trying to sniff her and nibble on her, and just getting up too close and personal was a little much for Miss Ellie.

She much preferred the company of  “Hey Ewe!” . . .

We sure enjoyed visiting, and it’s rather sad to have them so far away again. 

But Ellie did great with her surgery and subsequent therapy.  She’ll have more therapy this summer, then starts school in the fall.  Wow.

Grandchildren grow up much too quickly!