Lama Pals

The new boys 

I know I’ve been remiss in my blogging, but I’ve been very busy with the new lamas on the farm. Denny, the alpaca and Gryffindor the llama have come to live here and I’ve spent most of my free time getting acquainted. Things have been progressing pretty well. Stage one was just getting halters on and going for a short walk. Then I took them out to the pasture and let them graze while I worked on the fence. That turned into a lot more exercise that I really wanted….one trip to walk the old blind dog, Rueben and his sister Sarah. Then back to walk Den and Gryf out without dogs. Then get the two working dogs to help me bring sheep and goats out. The goats would just follow me, but no guarantee they’d waltz into the pen when I wanted. But the sheep charge off on their own flight of fantasy if I don’t have dogs to keep them in line. And on one of these trips I was hauling water out for everyone. After a couple of hours I was reversing the process and coming in to collapse on the bed in front of the fan….
I had an epiphany one day and realized I was carrying water, then leading two pack animals out. How ’bout they carry their OWN water! So I’ve been trying to devise some pack system where Gryf could carry a couple of jugs of water. He’s been very patient with my fumbling around and sometimes looks just like a packing llama! I’m close to getting the jury-rigged system together. I just need a larger piece of felt for a pad and a way to fasten the cinch. I’ll explain all this in a later post.
Today’s drama – I decided to attempt trimming Gryf’s toenails. I watched some episodes of youtube and it didn’t look too bad. Gryf has been handled a lot so figured I’d at least try the front feet. As soon as I went into the catch pen where the boys have their supper Denny got an attitude. Now he has always been very meek and easy to handle. I have NO idea what set him off, unless he saw the nail trimmers in my hand and thought I was coming for him. His feet had been done recently, so I wasn’t even looking at him. Or he thought I was going to keep him from the little bit of hay I had thrown over the fence for them. But whatever the reason, he was annoyed! I’ve been going in almost every evening and brushing them so I didn’t expect his temper. But then he SPIT at me! Granted, it was just a mouth spit, mostly air and a little wet hay, but I did what the books said to do and spit back at him. He didn’t seem very impressed but he didn’t do it again. Gryf hopped around but I managed to more or less trim his front feet. Decided to quit while I was ahead….Next time, Denny is going to be ushered out of the catch pen!