I recently overheard someone talking about how our area is part of the flyway for Sandhill Cranes. And then, 2 days ago while Joel and I were out in the barn, I heard several large flocks of birds coming toward our farm from the South. Luckily, I already had my camera with me and this is what I captured in my lens.
Pretty cool, huh? There were at least 6 flocks of birds that flew right over our heads that morning. Joel kept telling me they were Canadian geese, but the "honking" didn't sound quite right to me. So, I ran inside the house and grabbed the binoculars and when he looked up at the sky he was shocked to see that they were not geese after all, but were actually Sandhill Cranes.
Their wingspan is enormous. And they were right over our heads, flying nice and low so I could get a good look at them! How pretty.
And then, just like that, they were all gone.....heading north to another destination. Meanwhile, Joel and I got back to work in the barn.
Look at these two cuties......taking a little siesta in the alpaca hay bin. We often find the cats in the hay bins, sometimes 3 of them are snuggled together and taking a nap. The alpaca don't seem to care. They just eat around them. And the cats show no fear of the alpaca, often running in between their legs to get to the other side of the barn.
This gal was having a bad hair day......but I don't think she cared one little bit that she had hay stuck in her hair over her eyes. She was more interested in my camera than anything else.
All the other girls stayed a safe distance away from the camera......I guess they had forgotten to put on their makeup and were a bit camera shy. But they sure did keep a watchful eye on me. They may be aloof, but they are curious creatures and like to know exactly what you're doing.
I've been doing some reading on pasture management lately, and one family farm explained that they put out hay on the ground for their animals to eat. It enticed the animals to leave the barn, poop out in the pasture, which re-deposits seed heads from the hay. That, in turn, helps to reseed the pasture. Hmmmm, well, I figured it was worth a try. So, I spread out a couple rows of hay in both the boys and the girls pasture.
Just for fun, I picked up a clump of hay to hand feed to the girls. It's one way to get them to come closer to me and shows them they can trust me. Building a relationship with these animals takes time and a lot of patience.
But I do love them so! Who could resist such fluffiness? I can hardly wait to have them all sheared in a couple of months so I get to play with their fleece on my spinning wheel.
I know you wanna feed them, too? Don't ya? Come one, I can see it in your eyes. Well, if you come to visit our farm we'll give you a pair of boots for your feet and you can step into the pasture with them and feed them, too.
Having. Too. Much. Fun.
Happy Farm Chick,
Debbie
