This morning, over breakfast (indoors, this time of year) we noticed that there was an extreme amount of head-butting going on and we couldn't think why. Then I remembered that I had thrown half a pumpkin over the fence yesterday. So Peter looked through the binoculars and sure enough, there was the evidence. Like most things, some of them like pumpkin and some don't. But if there are two who like it, you can bet there'll be some head-butting! Most of them like apples, especially the red ones and we have enough of those for everyone. They all like mint and carrot toppings but are indifferent about oregano.
Apart from apples, pumpkins and the leftovers from the herb garden, we have been giving them a lot of hay, which they love, and the neighbour is getting stale bread (and some not so stale) which is way too posh for sheep but... lucky them. They are still grazing on the field but there is not so much nutrition in the grass at this time of year. In Mangs Gård today we met three alpacas. They are so weird looking, like some Disney cartoon character (the push-me-pull-you?), with fluffy tufty ears, huge eyes and long eyelashes: everything about them seems to be a caricature of what would be considered normal in a four-legged mammal. One alpaca can produce 500€ worth of wool every year. The ones we saw had recently been shorn as their fur was quite short but incredibly thick. Apparently they can remain outside all winter provided they have some basic shelter.
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We have tons of windfalls now and the sheep go crazy for them. Their funny little teeth aren't made for crunching so I lovingly chop the apples before walking into the field with the bucket. Elisa is looking very elegant and beautiful. Here she was rather worried about the camera. I've noticed that when I am wearing a hat or sunglasses she doesn't recognise me either. It was a sunny weekend and I found them sitting in the shade of the polytunnel. While I was picking the pumpkins I could see them staring at me through the plastic! We have started feeding them the hay that we made in July - and they love it. We've modified the feeder so that the hay doesn't fall onto the ground so easily.
The nights are cooler, longer and darker so they sleep in the field where they seem to feel safer than in their shed. But there is a thick layer of straw in the shed now, which we collected from R's oat fields. |
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July 2020
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