Our animals were agitated yesterday, with ice all over the ground, no grazing, and cold weather with snow and ice rain. If they can’t see grass, they get very unhappy.

Maria wondered if she could do anything to comfort them; they were braying, bashing, and complaining all day. Maria was sure she had done something wrong. She hadn’t. I always tell the donkeys  I’m not Mother Nature. They don’t care.

Nothing makes grazing animals more agitated than having nowhere to graze. They often turn to eat the barn when there is no grazing; we have chicken wire all over the place.

I first encountered this at the first farm in Hebron; I figured out a great way to trick them.

We have some very old hay we haven’t used for feeding. I suggested to Maria that we grab a bale and scatter it all around the pasture and the feeders.

If we spread it far enough, the animals would walk on it, push it into the ground, and think they were grazing.

It worked. Donkey and sheep heads were down all days. I went out to check at dusk and got a beautiful sunset minutes before the sun sank below the hills.

All was bliss. It is nice that I am wiser than them, at least once in a while. After all, I had border collies to show me the way. Lulu was suspicious, she kept staring at me, but eventually, she took the bait.

The animals had their regular feeding and spent the rest of the day calmly and peacefully grazing. After all, grazing is grazing. It’s not often you get to fool a donkey. I was proud of myself.