Thursday, March 26, 2009

We All Get Along







One of the best things about living on our farm is seeing how various species interact. Besides having dogs and cats living together, my husband believes in multiple-species grazing. I've had well meaning neighbors warn me that the larger animals will harm the smaller ones but they don't. My mother, who spent her early years on a cotton farm, has told me that "the animals just know who belongs." When we got our chickens, our black lab Ginny spied them in the barn and immediately went after one of the chicks, as was her nature as a bird dog. However, it took just one scolding to let her know that the chickens were part of the family. Recently, a male turkey decided to check out our hen house. Ginny took one look at him, realized he didn't belong, and chased him off. Last weekend, my hubby, looking out over one of our pastures, commented that he had now seen everything: the horse was using the billy goat's horns to scratch himself! And the goat didn't seem to mind!

3 comments:

Joey Wahoo said...

I just want to let you know that I have already written a post about this, that will be on blog later this week. I mentioned the turkey episode and the neighbor's warning (although I'd forgotten the horn-scratching thing) I promise I am not copying you! (Once again, we're on the same wavelength)

Cherie said...

How funny! I know yours will be much better written.

mamasong said...

That is too funny! Thanks for sharing a little glimpse into White Flint Farm life!