Or just wanting to play?
There's nothing better than a baby donkey on the farm—except two baby donkeys! We're having so much fun with our new boys. The older one, who we're pretty sure will be named Gus (thanks for all your name suggestions!), was born on July 27th and has been growing—and fluffing up—like crazy. (You can get to know him better here and here and here.)
He's already halter trained (training him to actually lead while wearing the halter is next), and he's by far the most affectionate donkey of the seven (!) we've had born here on the farm during the past three years. He tries to play with anybody and everybody: people, dogs, other donkeys, whatever. He would love nothing better than for me to stand out there and scratch his head for hours.
This morning when I went out to the field they're in—which I've temporarily renamed Donkeyland—Gus raced right over to see me and did a happy little leap and kick thing that cracked me up. And then he did it again. Later as I tried to snap some pictures of the other donkeys, he stood behind me quietly nibbling on my shirt (which is not something we will allow him to keep doing, but at the time it was really cute).
Our other baby donkey was born last Friday to first time young mother, Esmeralda. (Meet him and mama here and here.) As you can see from the pictures above, which were taken on Sunday, this itty bitty guy is getting around just fine. We started calling him Gnat as a joke (all the babies born on the farm get 'G' names this year), but he actually perks up his ears every time we say it—unlike Gus, who hasn't decided if he'll accept that name or not yet.
I like the sound of Gnat, but I told Joe it might not be very nice to name our donkey after an insect that everybody hates. He's still pretty skittish around us, but I have managed a few quick pets, and oh my gosh is this guy soft. Joe reminded him yesterday that if he's going to stay, he has to be friendly. The closest he came to me today was when I had the halter on Gus and was holding the lead rope, maybe because he realized that Gus—who is quite a bit bigger than Gnat—couldn't lay chase to him while tethered. Meanwhile Gus pulled the lead right out of my hand as he playfully launched himself at Lucky Buddy Bear—who, just as a good stock dog should, completely ignored him.
Yesterday Gus was trying to get Daisy, our Great Pyrenees livestock guardian, to play with him, and while I was turned away from the action, out of the corner of my eye I saw Daisy do some sort of a fast actopm sumersault—with a big goofy grin on her face—as Gus was dancing around her.
© FarmgirlFare.com, the high kickin' foodie farm blog where one of the things people ask us most often (both online and around town) is why we have so many donkeys and what—if anything—we do with them, or they do for us. The honest answer: they're fun, loving, enormously entertaining, relatively cheap to keep creatures we enjoy having around, and are so smart (donkeys are said to be smarter than horses) that they're the only animals who get to live on the farm without having to actually do any work.
We are in love with the boys! My husband and I just cannot believe how cute they are! What a character Gus is already! Little Gnat is just a doll. Sigh...just love them.
ReplyDeleteWe have those same green buckets.
ReplyDeleteNot that this is important, except for the fact that I can never FIND our buckets when I need them, and so I saw the bucket in the picture and was all, "Hey! Green bucket! There's one!"
I think I need to go to bed now . . .
They work HARD at playing! Wonderful picture of the two boys at play - one of my favorites ever. I was going to sell off a few of our doelings who hadn't been friendly - they must have heard it through the grapevine and are suddenly my best buddies! Thanks for sharing t hose donkeys - we don't have the room or strength (now) to handle more animals - but your donkey crowd is surely fun!
ReplyDeleteThose are the cutest little guys. I think we may need to add donkeys to our farm. Wait till I tell Ted. He is gonna bust. LOL
ReplyDeleteThey're both adorable, how could anyone resist baby donkeys. Is there a proper name for baby donkeys by the way? It would be wonderful if you could post a video of them playing together.
ReplyDeleteFuzzy baby donkeys!!!
ReplyDeleteSqueeeeeeeeeeeee !
Little Gnat looks to already have one person on his side. Now he needs to follow Gus example and suck up to you as well.
ReplyDeleteJust adorable!!! Gnat does have a negative connotation. Guy? My cat is named Guy. :) The workplace convo yesterday was about the uses of donkeys. We couldn't come up with any. And now you've answered the question of why you have them. Too funny! LOL at Daisy and her hijinks!
ReplyDeleteThose two babies are super cute. Do the donkey's help keep coyotes at bay?
ReplyDeleteLove the boys! I love reading your blog and seeing your photos. I check everyday to see what is new in your world and envy you. I wish I lived in the county, but it's the city life for a while. I would visit a farm every weekend if I could, I'm a kid and huge animal lover at heart.
ReplyDeleteAwww - adorable!
ReplyDeleteI just came across your blog and love it! Thanks for sharing so much wonderful info. I will be back soon, lots to do today.
ReplyDeleteThe more you do now with Gus and Gnat, the easier it will be.
ReplyDeleteOur little Palomino was leading the day after we picked him up from momma.
Just use a rope around the rump. One can pull the butt as one pulls the head.
Hello - love your blog. We are getting ready to move out of the St Louis area and venture out onto farmland. Should be fun for our neighbors to watch us learn how to farm. :-) My youngest (daughter) would LOVE, LOVE a donkey but my husband says, "if it doesn't work, it can't live here..." So I wonder if we could come visit sometime - he's a total soft touch. (I hear him talking sweet to the pet guinea pigs all the time at night. LOL)
ReplyDeleteHappy Farming,
Sheri George