About a Wily Llama and Lots of Mud
Anyone who owns a llama and reads this title is no doubt thinking, "This is NOT going to end well!" and they would be absolutely right! We are currently enjoying our second day of sunshine and blue sky in almost 4 weeks and after nearly 11 inches of rain (!). My llama needs shearing - badly - and now that he has dried out it's time to get the job done. True, it's already late in the year but we can only do what the weather will allow, in this situation.
Let me begin by saying that he did not get sheared last year, much as I wanted to, because he was absolutely determined not to be caught and pretty much succeeded in spite of our persistent efforts. Very disappointing! That meant that this year there were no and's or but's about it - it had to be done or the fleece wouldn't be fit for anything but tossing!
He generally spends the summer grazing with the horses on a 4 acre pasture rotation. Unfortunately that has all turned upside down because of all the water in the pastures that shouldn't be there so we have been dry feeding, waiting for the water to recede. This means he and the horses have free run of the barnyard. The operative word here, is run. Something he excels at and we don't. So my generous daughters mounted up on our two best horses and thought maybe they could squeeze walk him into a smaller pen where hopefully we could corner him. No dice! I even joined the effort and in no time at all was soaked to the waist and had lost - yes literally - lost my footwear in mud up to my knees closing gates. They were sucked right off my feet! The footprints in the mud closed behind me when I stepped so there was no hope whatsoever of recovering either one. They will remain forever under at least 2 feet of warm goo (remember, it's sunny now). In fact, that was about the only nice part of the entire fruitless and frustrating pursuit - the mud and water were warm so ending up "in it" wasn't a horrid frigid shock.
As we had reached the end of our wits, hubby happened to come home. He had been watching us as he drove along the highway and was breathless with laughter. "You're never going to catch him, you know." he said smugly, "He's the smartest animal on the farm. He knows what you're up to and you'll never get him now!" Yes, sometimes the truth really hurts! He did, however, offer to set up a trap, which, wouldn't you know it, worked!
It involved waiting for a day for his royal highness to calm down and forget our adventure (not!). Then hubby set up a trough in a corral near the barn and told my daughter to bring the horses in there about mid-morning and give them some oats. The llama, who believes he should get first dibs on everything, especially if it's for the horses, indeed, couldn't resist sneaking in, but only after he was sure after she had disappeared from sight. She snuck back and slammed the gate. He took off like a shot but it was too late! She laughed rather smugly herself (and who could blame her, after all the trouble we went through?) and led the horses out one by one, carefully opening the gate just enough to let out the one she was leading. The entire time that wily llama kept an eagle eye on that gate, hoping for a chance to run by her. So now he is penned up in a muddy pen, awaiting the next step - us trying to herd him into an even smaller adjoining pen where we should be able to put a halter on him.
Suffice to say we will not be attempting that without hubby. So my once dry-and-clean llama is anything but and I am not holding my breath on whether or not I'll be able to salvage fleece. My girls are ready to swap him for 10 sheep in a heartbeat and my husband hasn't laughed that hard in a long time. There was a time when I firmly believed spinning was calming and good for relaxation. That's because trying to gather the fiber to spin is so harrowing!! ROFL!! Cheers all! I'll let you know how it turns out!
Let me begin by saying that he did not get sheared last year, much as I wanted to, because he was absolutely determined not to be caught and pretty much succeeded in spite of our persistent efforts. Very disappointing! That meant that this year there were no and's or but's about it - it had to be done or the fleece wouldn't be fit for anything but tossing!
He generally spends the summer grazing with the horses on a 4 acre pasture rotation. Unfortunately that has all turned upside down because of all the water in the pastures that shouldn't be there so we have been dry feeding, waiting for the water to recede. This means he and the horses have free run of the barnyard. The operative word here, is run. Something he excels at and we don't. So my generous daughters mounted up on our two best horses and thought maybe they could squeeze walk him into a smaller pen where hopefully we could corner him. No dice! I even joined the effort and in no time at all was soaked to the waist and had lost - yes literally - lost my footwear in mud up to my knees closing gates. They were sucked right off my feet! The footprints in the mud closed behind me when I stepped so there was no hope whatsoever of recovering either one. They will remain forever under at least 2 feet of warm goo (remember, it's sunny now). In fact, that was about the only nice part of the entire fruitless and frustrating pursuit - the mud and water were warm so ending up "in it" wasn't a horrid frigid shock.
As we had reached the end of our wits, hubby happened to come home. He had been watching us as he drove along the highway and was breathless with laughter. "You're never going to catch him, you know." he said smugly, "He's the smartest animal on the farm. He knows what you're up to and you'll never get him now!" Yes, sometimes the truth really hurts! He did, however, offer to set up a trap, which, wouldn't you know it, worked!
It involved waiting for a day for his royal highness to calm down and forget our adventure (not!). Then hubby set up a trough in a corral near the barn and told my daughter to bring the horses in there about mid-morning and give them some oats. The llama, who believes he should get first dibs on everything, especially if it's for the horses, indeed, couldn't resist sneaking in, but only after he was sure after she had disappeared from sight. She snuck back and slammed the gate. He took off like a shot but it was too late! She laughed rather smugly herself (and who could blame her, after all the trouble we went through?) and led the horses out one by one, carefully opening the gate just enough to let out the one she was leading. The entire time that wily llama kept an eagle eye on that gate, hoping for a chance to run by her. So now he is penned up in a muddy pen, awaiting the next step - us trying to herd him into an even smaller adjoining pen where we should be able to put a halter on him.
Suffice to say we will not be attempting that without hubby. So my once dry-and-clean llama is anything but and I am not holding my breath on whether or not I'll be able to salvage fleece. My girls are ready to swap him for 10 sheep in a heartbeat and my husband hasn't laughed that hard in a long time. There was a time when I firmly believed spinning was calming and good for relaxation. That's because trying to gather the fiber to spin is so harrowing!! ROFL!! Cheers all! I'll let you know how it turns out!
Posted by Gloria Patre at 6/15/2010 3:20 PM 
Categories: Fiber, Musings
Tags: Llama chasing Llama shearing
Categories: Fiber, Musings
Tags: Llama chasing Llama shearing
ROFL!! Wile E. Coyote has nothing on wily llama. All that's missing in your post is the ACME label on the trick trough.
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I can hardly wait to see how this turns out! I just hope you turn out to be the winner!
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