Where in the World are We?

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Thursday, April 2, 2015

Four alpacas and a sheep

We ended our last day of the Kepler at a fantastic campground where the owner lets guests feed his animals.  Usually sheep are timid, but his hand raised sheep was quite friendly and demanding.  I think she envied the alpacas' long necks - she kept jumping on me to remind me to feed her, too.  I was also able to compare the wool of the sheep to the alpaca fiber (apparently only sheep fur can be called wool, all else is fiber).  Alpacas have softer fur and sheep's wool is covered with a thin oily layer which apparently makes it easier to sheer.  

The owner also had a few goats.  When asked, he said he believes goats are the smartest, then alpacas, and last sheep, which he feels are pretty dumb.  Alpacas are also quite social and protective of their flock, which includes the sheep.  For example, when the dogs round up the sheep, if they're overly aggressive, the alpacas will kick at the dogs to protect their sheep friends.  

And the goats are constantly escaping their enclosure.  After putting up an electrical fence, they still managed to escape after they figured out one could step on the lower wire with a dry hoof to ground it while the other could slide underneath the higher wire to escape. 





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