Iāve been having a bit of a hay shortage latelyāJanuary was very cold and snowy so the animals ate a lot, plus I have an extra mouth to feed this year, and I hadnāt realised Poldine would eat so much in her first year! Next summer Iāll make sure to buy enough hay for 4 animals rather than 3 and a half.
In the meantime Iāve been offering various hay substitutes, such as brambles, or my Christmas tree. It was waiting on the pile of green waste I intend to burn in early spring, until I remembered seeing someoneās ad in the local paper that went āif you want to recycle your Christmas trees, give them to me, my goats will love them!ā I figured well, llamas are tall goats, maybe theyāll enjoy a bit of Christmas tree, and they did !
(Baby Poldine is always very circumspect about new foods, but she did end up tasting it.)
Pirlouit was also pleased with this unexpected breakfast. They all took turns nibbling at the tree until only the trunk was left :)
Still, I was trying to contact nearby farmers to ask if they have some hay to spare (itās not that Iāve run out, I just want to be prepared in case of another cold spell), and I also moved the animals to my other pasture down the road, as thereās still some dry grass there. Itās not well-fenced though, and I wasnāt very confident in this pastureās ability to contain Pampe, but I figuredāthereās no grass to be found in any nearby pasture, so why would she try to leave this one?
(Because Pampe.)
I left the llamas & donkey frolicking in this exciting new place (Poldine looked enchanted to explore a new pasture, she was bounding around like a baby goat!), and I went skiing today, as a (late) birthday gift to myself. The skiing station is just half an hour away and this has become a very anticipated birthday ritual since I moved here! This year I waited until I had found some way to keep the animals busy before taking a day off, so there would be no llama leaks in my absence.
So of course I got a text from a neighbour in the afternoon, telling me my llamas had been spotted on the road, going towards the village. (āPampe looked determined. She was going to the grocery shop to get muesli.ā) (Pampe is so famous, people even know her favourite snacks š)
Since I was literally on a ski slope I decided to turn my conscience off and pretend I hadnāt seen the text. I thought, if the llamas do end up in the village Iāll get more texts updating me on their position and Iāll be a responsible llama owner and go home (promise), but theyāll probably get off the road and into the woods somewhere between my house and the village and theyāll spend the afternoon eating communal shrubs and theyāll be fine.
When I went home a few hours later, I found my donkey alone in the pasture where Iād left him in the morningāwe both had to wrestle with a moral dilemma today, and Pirlouitās was ādo I loyally follow my friends and potentially starve to death, or do I stay by myself in this place with very adequate dry grass to munch on?ā He really hates being alone, yet he chose food over friendship.
I brought Pirou back to his normal pasture (he wouldnāt have liked to find himself alone after sunset) and went looking for the girls. Iād had a neighbour on the phone who had talked to someone whoād talked to someone who had seen the llamas and had āshooed them in the general direction of your house.ā That was some very helpful shooing, because I found them just a couple of kilometres away, and indeed going in the right direction.
Pampelune leading the way, determined to go home before night; PampƩrigouste last, internally grumbling that it was still early and they could have explored the world some more.
I usually jog with the llamas when I bring them home so we donāt spend too much time in the middle of the road, but there arenāt many cars when the road is icy and also after a day of skiing, you donāt really feel like jogging a few km at a brisk pace in heavy snow boots. So we went home in a slow and solemn procession.
I called the people who had told me about the llamasā whereabouts to thank them, and explained that this escape was the result of a failed attempt to move the animals to my poorly-fenced second pasture because I donāt have a lot of hay leftāand one of them told me he could spare a bale and heād bring it to me tomorrow!
āSo Iāve done everyone a favourā (is probably Pampeās conclusion.)
I gave them hay as I figured they hadnāt had time to graze much in the other pasture, but only Pampe was hungry. Well, Pirlouit is always hungry, but Pampe indignantly rebuffed him. āYou chose food over adventure. You donāt get to eat the food Iām getting as a reward for a successful adventure.ā
Pirlouit is completely resigned to the fundamental unfairness of a dutiful donkeyās life.
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