Today, in-between Preschool and Dancing, we stopped by one of my co-workers farms to pick up a lamb roast for Thanksgiving. Karen was kind enough to show us around and introduce the kids to her animals. We saw a horse, a couple llamas, some chicken, a large herd of sheep and lambs, cows, and a bunny. Oh, and some cats and dogs too (it would not be a proper farm without those!)
They also had two huge white dogs with long thick coats whose job is to protect the sheep from coyotes. They also kept a llama in the sheep pasture with the dogs. The llama is much taller than the dogs, so can see farther. When it sees or senses something it perceives as dangerous, it calls out an alarm that sounds like a person laughing. This calls the dogs to attention and they will run to the perimeter to scout out what the danger is. While the dogs scout, the llama herds the sheep to a safer area in the pasture and stays with them while keeping them together. The dogs will deal with any coyote and the llama will keep the sheep as calm as possible. I thought it was amazing that two totally different types of animals could work together so seamlessly, and could communicate with each other to achieve the common goal of protecting another type of animal. It was interesting.
They raise 4 or 5 different breeds of sheep. Some were light brown with black faces and hooves. I think their breed was called Suffolk... Others were dark brown over the entire front half of their bodies and white at the back half. It almost looked like they were wearing long sleeved shirts and pants! Some were all chocolate brown, others had patches of black brown and white, still others were white all over. I had never seen so many breeds at once. It was fun to watch them.
The chickens had seen better days. They were a rather elderly flock and many were going bald on their rumps. Karen said they would only be good for canning the meat because they were so old. I had not realized that chickens could go bald! They looked a bit like baboons with their bright red rumps sticking out and flashing everyone!
Today, in-between Preschool and Dancing, we stopped by one of my co-workers farms to pick up a lamb roast for Thanksgiving. Karen was kind enough to show us around and introduce the kids to her animals. We saw a horse, a couple llamas, some chicken, a large herd of sheep and lambs, cows, and a bunny. Oh, and some cats and dogs too (it would not be a proper farm without those!)
They also had two huge white dogs with long thick coats whose job is to protect the sheep from coyotes. They also kept a llama in the sheep pasture with the dogs. The llama is much taller than the dogs, so can see farther. When it sees or senses something it perceives as dangerous, it calls out an alarm that sounds like a person laughing. This calls the dogs to attention and they will run to the perimeter to scout out what the danger is. While the dogs scout, the llama herds the sheep to a safer area in the pasture and stays with them while keeping them together. The dogs will deal with any coyote and the llama will keep the sheep as calm as possible. I thought it was amazing that two totally different types of animals could work together so seamlessly, and could communicate with each other to achieve the common goal of protecting another type of animal. It was interesting.
They raise 4 or 5 different breeds of sheep. Some were light brown with black faces and hooves. I think their breed was called Suffolk... Others were dark brown over the entire front half of their bodies and white at the back half. It almost looked like they were wearing long sleeved shirts and pants! Some were all chocolate brown, others had patches of black brown and white, still others were white all over. I had never seen so many breeds at once. It was fun to watch them.
The chickens had seen better days. They were a rather elderly flock and many were going bald on their rumps. Karen said they would only be good for canning the meat because they were so old. I had not realized that chickens could go bald! They looked a bit like baboons with their bright red rumps sticking out and flashing everyone!
2 comments:
Enjoy your roast! I love Lamb. I'm gonna show Casey the pix of the animals. He'll love that.
My goodness!! YOU are on a BLOGGER ROLL!! :D
My kids LOVED the pics! and the story of Ethan taking out the garbage!
I'm glad you found something to do between preschool and dance. how did ethan do? Did he get a nap?
Quite the farm- they have everything!
Post a Comment