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Syndrome: a. A complex of symptoms indicating the existence of an undesireable condition or quality. b. A distinctive or characteristic pattern of behavior
Noah's Ark: A large boat built by a biblical character to house animals of every species during epic natural disaster in hopes of preserving the species and thus mankind.
Together: Noah's Ark Syndrome is the complex behavior of collecting critters of various species but all with purpose.
The undesireable part is basically Farmer Steve not wanting a menagerie of animals here. He is not likely to win this case, although I am carefully calculating every move I make when it comes bringing them home. I would NEVER bring a critter home that he did not in some way agree to.
Let's talk about chickens. He said, yes, we should have chickens. After all, they eat the bugs out of our paddocks, cut back on ticks, and even provide us with food. So, I brought home chickens. He just didn't say how many I could get. So I carefully planned out my attack and brought a few home at a time so as to not overwhelm him. We ended up with 13 chickens last summer. All different colors and varieties.
The dogs. Well, when we first bought the farm I had to have a dog. SO, we adopted a greyhound. What purpose does he have? Heck we haven't figured that out yet...but he is now part of the family. Then we talked about a herding dog. Knowing that some point in our future, due to the layout of our farm, that a herd dog might be useful. Well, Katie came along much sooner than we needed her, neither of us could pass up that offer. She has helped move those alpacas and our pigs on more than one occassion.
I have been working for some time to convince Farmer Steve that we need a barn cat. Although I think he is finally turning that corner ever since he ran into the brown rat in our garage last week. I should have two happy barn cats by spring...don't tell Farmer Steve that is the timeline, or that there will be two...we have to ease him into it. I play a very fragile game here.
The latest crusade is a donkey. Yes, a donkey. I want a donkey for herd protection. Sure, I could get a livestock guard dog, but do I really want to hear that barking all night long? Do I want to have to worry about visitors getting bit? Heck no. A guard llama seems logical, but I already have a slew of long-necked 4-leggers here, I want something different. Then I learned about donkeys. Apparently they can make fantastic herd protectors. Ever since our dog incident last fall, Steve and I know we have a vulnerability and would never want to go through something like that again. I have begun researching dokeys and ran across the Mini-donk. OH MY LORD, they are super cute! I am told they are fantastic herd protectors in little packages. Check out these cute little things.
Those faces, those eyes, those long ears!
I haven't settled on what type of Donkey yet, as the idea of a big ole ass on my farm also pleases me. I can see myself hitching my ass to a wagon and having it take me on long rides...I simply like being able to use the word Ass in a social setting and having it not be so wrong.
I don't know if I can convince Farmer Steve. We eventually compromise (which typically means that he compromises beacuase he sees the brilliance of my plan.) If anyone out there has had experience with Donkeys on their farms as guardians I would love to hear from you. This is a long term plan, not something I can just jump right into so I am still gathering as much information as possible and would love any tidbits y'all can send my way.
Please keep Farmer Steve in your thoughts. He needs much strength to keep saying no to me.
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