St. Lawrence County Fair - Part 1

It was a lovely Friday and I was in no mood to be doing chores, so I drove to the village of Gouverneur to see the St. Lawrence County Fair. It was a fifty mile drive to Gouverneur, where I turned down a pleasant neighborhood road and and continued on it until I saw the fairgrounds:

I paid my admission, parked my car and walked toward the action. When I saw the words, "Free Petting Zoo," however, I made it my first stop:

There were Ring-Tailed Lemurs and screeching parrots:

Camels, sheep and goats:

A kangaroo:

And spotted Llamas:

Zebu miniature cattle:

Miniature horses and these partial albino, miniature donkeys. Unsurprisingly, the donkeys were the friendliest of all the animals:

This is dairy country and I toured several barns filled with cattle of various breeds:

And, of course, lots of Holsteins:

I arrived early, before the big crowds arrived, so the barns were busy with people cleaning their animals and stalls:

This woman was washing her Holstein heifer. But I still had lots to see at the fair, and I'll post Part 2 tomorrow:

A Return To See The Miniature Donkeys

It had been nearly three years since I visited my neighbor's miniature donkeys (you can see the former posts here), so I paid him another visit. He welcomed me back and opened the gate for me to follow:

He told me that he only had two donkeys now but had added a Swedish goose. She was friendly and plump, mostly ignoring us as we walked past her:

When we got out to the field, I discovered that he'd added two pet goats to his two miniature donkeys. They all looked at me at nervously and from a distance at first:

But within moments they were trotting right toward me:

The donkeys were so friendly that they were pressing right up against me and I couldn't get a picture of them. So I quickly snapped a picture of the two goats before they also got too close for photos:

There was a male and a female goat, a wether (neutered male) and a doe (female), both them quite sociable:

The owner, a retired dairyman, generally brings them carrots when he walks out and they were disappointed that he had no treats this time. I decided to start buying carrots to feed to my cattle:

I used the opportunity to get some photos while they clustered around him:

But I was a novelty, a new person who, while he had no carrots, did lots of petting - and they were back to me in short order, once again cuddling in so close that it was nearly impossible to get photos. I kept backing away, but they could move faster than I could:

It was a beautiful day and a pleasure to be out in the sun, surrounded by friendly critters:

 Miniature donkeys are indeed tiny, shorter in stature than the goats. They are intelligent, affectionate animals:

But this was just a quick visit and we soon left the animals in their field. I passed the Swedish goose on my way out, taking one last photo:

My Family Visits A Donkey Family

My sister and niece had driven out to pay me a visit at the farm and we'd already hiked Azure Mountain, Quebec Brook and the St. Regis Canoe Carry. We stopped for lunch and then drove home to the farm apartment for a nap and to let old Winky and Wally outside. The following day was predicted to be rainy, so I determined to make the most of this day. I'd already made arrangements with my neighbor for a visit to his herd of miniature donkeys, so we drove about a mile down the road to see them. They were not out in the pasture when we arrived, but thronging the gate as if they'd been waiting for us:

The friendly farmer took us out into the field and introduced us to his little Sicilian friends:

And the donkeys were every bit as charming and lovable as I remembered them:

A small group watched from the other side of the field and I walked over to greet them:

My sister and niece were understandably cautious at first as rowdy, happy donkeys thronged them:

But moments later they'd relaxed and fallen completely in love with the sweet little critters:

We went back outside the gate and the farmer cut up carrots for us to feed the donkeys:

All the donkeys and his one steer clamored for carrots:

And we gave them carrots, lots of carrots:

My niece was concerned that we were ignoring the steer, so the farmer got her an ear of dried corn to feed him. He downed it in one gulp;

But it was soon time to say goodbye:

Yes, those donkeys were really smiling. How could anyone not fall in love with these gentle, sweet creatures?:

Hurray For Miniature Donkeys!

I arrived at the farm on Sunday afternoon, got the dogs comfortable and immediately made a first move to get to know my neighbors better. I drove to the home of the guy who cut my hay this year. He and two other neighbors were sitting at his kitchen table sipping beers and we all had a nice talk. I mentioned during the conversation that I'd recently discovered miniature donkeys and thought perhaps they'd be the animal for me - if only there were some nearby. I was quickly informed of a herd of registered miniature donkeys about a mile down the road from me on a former dairy farm. So, after I left the kitchen table conversation, I drove down the road and found the family out in their yard. I stopped and asked if it was true that there were miniature donkeys nearby and was promptly invited to shut off my car's motor and take a walk into the field. We were immediately greeted by several diminutive donkeys who seemed thrilled to have human company:

There were three or four of them, all friendly:

And then several more heard us and came to say "Howdy:"

And then a whole "chorus line" trotted over to see us:

They were very small, very cute and very friendly:

They were, predictably, thrilled to see their owner. And then they trotted over to greet me:

I found their personalities similar to a litter of puppies - excited, sweet, loving and a bit boisterous. I was told that not a single one had ever nipped or kicked anyone. Not once, not ever. And they never would because they absolutely adored people:

We walked back toward the house where I'd parked my car and a young boy, who was there visiting, climbed over the fence to see the donkeys:

They loved him also and were delighted to be getting all this attention:

And then so many began crowding over to see the boy that he became spooked and tried to climb back out. He was assured that the donkeys wouldn't hurt him, though, and returned only to be mobbed by this loving bunch of critters:

The owner showed me the donkey carts which his wife and a friend use to tour the local roads. I was told that one of these tiny equines could pull two adults without any trouble and, in fact, clamored for the chance to do so:

The boy was still petting (and being mobbed by) the donkeys as I said thank you and began to drive back home. Will I raise miniature donkeys some day? I don't know. Stay tuned: