The Donkeys Have Arrived!

The farm got a great Christmas present.......Dink and Donk have arrived. It's been in the works for weeks to bring the donkeys here, but those two critters had different ideas. Neither would get into the livestock trailer. Rather than strong-arming them, thus ruining their trailering prospects for life, their owner opted to let the donkeys work things out. So the local rancher let them borrow a small transport trailer and park it in their pasture. Over the course of several weeks, the donkeys checked out the ins and outs of the trailer. One finally climbed in, but the second took a bit longer to trust the metal monster. Once they were both loading, a few more days were spent showing them that it was ok to close the doors. 

I want to thank their owner for being so patient. When a person does something mean or scary to a donkey, they remember it for life. It can take an incredible time to win their trust again, if ever. So I'm so happy to have two smart, well behaved donkeys who are now not frightened to be trailered. Thank you! 

(Dink....very curious about the cellphone.)

Both Dink and Donk arrived calm and curious. Rather than immediately giving them access to the entire farm, I put them in our inner secure pasture. Though I doubted that they would try to break out and run off, I didn't want to chance it. I spent time with them as they checked things out. 

(Donk)

Once both were calm (they never did act nervous. I was impressed.) I let the sheep into the adjacent pasture. They came running up expecting a snack of alfalfa. Whoa! Put on da brakes! What the heck are those things! Oh, I wish I had video'd it. The sheep were in absolute awe. The ewes looked from a distance, but the ram came right up to the fence and literally eyed the donkeys up and down.

 I can't describe how funny it was, the ram swinging his head this way and that, eyes totally glued on the donkeys. Any time the donkeys moved, the ewes stamped a foot in unison. It was like some choreographed dance. Pretty funny. Eventually everybody got bored and proceeded to ignore one another. But it was grand to witness those first 10 minutes.