Tales From The Tomerosa-Animal Edition

A Look At Our Farm Animal Behavior

Today I went ice skating with a dozen human adolescents. This got me to thinking about animals. We've had animals on the farm since it's inception in 2003. We had dogs, cats, and horses before that time, but we added two goats that year. It's been a fur-stival ever since.

Something that is just normal for us is the behavior of our animals. They all seem to be having a contest as to who can be the closest to the humans. If the horses or the cows get out, they don't run away. Nope, our animals are escape artists in that they want to be near to us not far away. Many times I have awoken in the middle of the night by a snort, only to look out my bedroom window and into the eyes of a horse or a bovine. It's really kind of comforting and a touch creepy to be watched over by livestock while you sleep.

The turkeys I have covered in previous posts, they are kind of house adornments at this point, and one year a peacock wandered onto the farm and stayed a couple of weeks. He was pretty cool. When our house was being constructed the builders called it "The Kennel." I'm pretty sure this was due to the fact that two dogs were constantly trying to roll a basketball under their feet for a good fetching kick. There were also the eight guinea fowl perched on the barn roof screeching their heads off in protest at the presence of invaders. I'm sure there are paw prints and feathers in my foundation.

Goats are simultaneously the cutest and most annoying creatures to ever exist. They could have twenty acres of lush pasture and will go out of their way to eat your freshly planted ornamental plants. I've had many goats in the house over the years. One of them, Lucky Two Tone, as my daughter so ceremoniously named him, was a blistering ten ounces when he was born. He was so weak that I had to intubate him, and then he lived in the house in a plastic tote for the first two weeks of his life. He might have also had a diaper on at some point. I didn't have to buy my kids a lot of dolls.

We aren't just limited to domestic animal life. There are no shortage of wild critters that cross through here as well. We have our winter moose that haunt the farm. One year a cougar felt the need to reduce our goat herd by one young doeling, and our neighbor's chickens have kept the coyotes enraptured for years. My favorite moment was when a moose yearling played in the sprinkler, strumming it like a water harp with his front leg. I'm pretty sure that I saw it smile!

You could walk out to my hay shed right now, and standing there as if they were having a conversation would be my palomino Quarter Horse gelding, a couple of turkeys, a spotted Rex rabbit, and a few cats. All of them would run up to you for a pet or two. I'm just used to their behavior at this point, and my husband seems to think that they all behave the way they do so because they are content and know they are and will be cared for. I'm going to try to remember that warm and fuzzy sentiment the next time a forty pound bird sinks it's talons into my shoulder for a ride around the farm.

All of these photos were taken by me, over the years, on one of two iPhones.

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