Not even posed, I just happened to see him smooching his llama and caught it on film :) I think I've found my 'interaction' picture for Camera Club!
Here are some other pictures I really liked...
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My favorite picture from todays 4H meeting
Not even posed, I just happened to see him smooching his llama and caught it on film :) I think I've found my 'interaction' picture for Camera Club!
Here are some other pictures I really liked...
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Kids, Llamas, Alpacas, and Dogs
I had a fun day today, with a 4H meeting first thing in the morning. We had it at one of our 4H family's farms, where they have alpacas. Because they recently got in a group of young alpacas they were trying to place in good 4H homes, we got to see kids working with a variety of young animals that were new to all this, which of course made for an interesting morning!
Some were resistant to this 'jumping over stuff' idea...
Some did not like the idea of walking on strange surfaces...
And some of them just plain didn't want to cooperate - even though this llama in particular had years of experience!
Some kids were having much better luck with the obstacles.
Practice and persistence pays off! These kids have a show coming up, so hopefully this little refresher got their animals in the mood to cooperate next weekend!
I took my new camera to the 4H meeting, along with my longest zoom lens (200mm) because that gave me a lot of reach. I was wandering around the field where we were working, and if I saw anything interesting about to happen, I was always close enough to zoom in and get it. Another thing I like about this camera is it takes multiple pictures in quick succession without having to go into a special mode. That definitely helped me get the shot I was looking for more than once.
At home I put one of my shorter lenses (the 28-80) on for taking pictures in the yard with the dogs, because they were seldom more than an arms-length away.
I love this shot of Barclay, but because I was zoomed in, the depth of field is shallow - the result being his nose is in focus, but his eyes are soft! I'd rather have it the other way around! The best solution would have been less zoom, and move closer - but he moves around so much I had to snap it when I could - oh well! So close...
A little bone-chewing action - with the green grass and blue sky.
Then Navi took the bone. I love the way they chew on bones, they're so concentrated like nothing else exists.
I was so glad I got this shot of Navi! She is such a goofball, but sometimes she'll hear something and just STOP with this rediculously serious look on her face! She looks so concerned!
Jack
I tried to finish off with a nice portrait of Barclay and Navi sitting in the dandelions, but before I could hit the shutter Navi had to sproing away to go do something else! Well, actually, that pretty much captures their personality perfectly!
By the time I was done I'd shot about 150 pictures today. Thank God for digital cameras! This explains why I couldn't get into photography as a kid when all we had was film!
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4H meeting at my house
Martha and our guest speaker worked with the kids to help them address showing/handling issues with their llamas.
We had a 4H Llama meeting at our house today. I really enjoy hosting the meetings, because it's fun to see everybody, and I don't even have to leave the house! The dogs usually get to play with some kids, and it's always exciting to see what happens. Today we had some unexpected excitement!
To start with, last night a couple families dropped off their animals early, and one of the families discovered their llama had inflamed feet - turned out they had foot rot going on because of all the mud on their farm. So I hung out with them and helped them get the llama treated until it was nearly dark, then kept her in our dry paddock all night.
This morning the 4H group started showing up, and we had a couple visiting experts, so they had a look at the foot rot problem and gave her advice on what to do. They got busy treating their llama's feet, and the other llamas they had brought, and we got the other kids busy working on learning to show for fair. Our visiting experts helped them out one-on-one, which was great for the kids.
At the same time, a couple families had said that on the drive in they saw a very shaggy llama running down the street about a mile from our house. I pretty much know who lives where, and I thought I knew where that animal belonged. By the second time someone mentioned it, one of the families jumped in their truck (with horse trailer) and headed off to look for it. After a short chase they cornered it and caught it, wrestled it into the trailer, and brought it back to my place. I gave them a halter for it and they walked it out (noticing along the way that it was an intact male) and as soon as Martha, the other leader saw it - she recognized it as an animal she had given away a year or two before!
Turns out this animal which should have been gelded, had instead been passed around intact, never sheared apparently, and was now a big mess, and running loose! So I hopped in my van, along with the mom who had caught the beast, and we drove to where I thought the critter belonged. I got it right on the first try! She went up to the farm house, and the people said 'yeah, he got out again' - and they weren't even out looking for him! So they took the llama back to it's home, and the 4H mom told the people if they ever wanted to get rid of it to let her know. Instead of saying yes right there, while the animal was haltered and in the trailer, they waited a couple hours and then called and told her to come get it! jerks! So now folks are networking to figure out how to rescue this animal, get it the old snip-snip, and find a home for it.
After the 4H meeting was over I went along with two of the other families to the family's farm with the foot rot problem, and we all worked until it was getting dark, treating all their animals and rearranging their barn to make a safe dry area for the llamas to recover in. Since this is the family that ended up with my llamas, I got to visit with Scoops and Patrone again, and Scoops was as sweet as he ever was - proving to me that it's not me, these alpacas I am fostering really are just jerks! Heck, even Patrone was nicer to me than the foster alpacas!
So it turned out to be a very long day. I barely sat down between 10am and 7pm, helping haul straw, lift, pull, drag, dig, lead, and do anything else helpful I could (without getting kicked by a llama). Glad I could help out our friends, and I hope their animals recover quickly. I know this snuck up on them and they felt terrible about it, and I could have easily seen that happening to myself.
I stopped and picked up a pizza on the way home, and now I'm crashing on the couch - what a LONG day! But you know, it made me feel good too, because my friends (like me) all have learned along the way, through trial and error sometimes, to take care of their animals, and help each other out, and if I decide to get a horse someday, I know they'll be there to help me too.
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'Packys
Trent, Jamie, and Sharon helping the alpacas settle in to their new digs.
Well, the alpacas have arrived. They are actually very nice. They need some time to rest and recover. They badly need to be sheared but that can't happen until spring, so they'll just have to tough it out. Right now they have shelter, hay, fresh water, and we'll get them started on some food to put the pounds back on. They were easy to catch and handle, and allowed quite a bit of body handling. I'm certain these guys will find themselves in good 4H homes before too long.
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