That'll do, pig, that'll do

The OLMA Agriculture Festival had animal thrills by the dozens, you can bet!

This past week, I have been heading out each day to St. Gallen for their fall agriculture festival.  

The program headlined a different farm animal each day and it was totally delightful--it even contained a few jaw-dropping moments of incredible feats.

Let me tell you by day and by animal

Pig day
I missed pig day when I extended my stay in Basel for the supreme Raclette presentation, but I was thrilled to get to see a funny and adorable pig moment on the first day I attended.

When I arrived, there was a collection of animals walking around in the open air arena: Sheep, goats, cows, and a big sow (a mother pig with big teats hanging down).  Then two young workers wheeled a huge bin out into the arena and I thought they were going to do a little clean-up of the area, scoopable clean-up, if you get  my drift--lots of animals, lots of droppings....

To my surprise, they turned the bin on its end, pouring the contents out into the dirt!  Out rolled about a dozen little piglets.  Cute is an understatement.  The little pigs ran and clustered around their mommy, bouncing and leaping and wiggling their cute little pig butts with those cute little curly tails.  

There were brown ones, white ones, pink ones, and rust colored ones, just running as fast as their little pig legs would carry them. Hilarious!

Mostly they stayed clustered around momma.  Except this time when a couple of them lost their way.  They weren't paying attention when momma moved half way across the large arena. When they looked up to see she wasn't next to them any more, they were in a panic. They went charging off to find her.

They came up to the sheep and tried to fit in there, but the sheep said, "No, no no!  You are not one of us! Go away!" and nudged them piggies on. 

They came upon the goats and tried to join up, but the goats said Sayonara.  No matter where they went, no one would let the little oinkers hang out with them.  It was sad but really funny too.  The crowd was getting a big chuckle out of the predicament.   Finally, they kept running around until they managed to find momma. Rejoicing in the land commenced.

While you might think that was the best and most funny thing the pigs did, there was another situation that created great laughs. The piggies had poured out of the bin quite easily and hit the ground running, as they say.  Did you wonder how they were going to go back into the bin?  Did that question cross your mind? I'll give you something to think about for a moment.

The little piggies don't want to go back in the  bin.
 
A group of 4-5 workers came out into the arena and surrounded the group of piglets. Momma just walked off or stood around, extremely unconcerned.  The workers circled, standing arms' length and moved in closer. 

They did try to move the group of baby pigs, leaping and dancing around, a little closer to the wall so there wouldn't be anywhere they could run to.  Then, they swooped down and grabbed as many pigs as they could.  Nicely, of course.  

From the loud squeals and screams that commenced, you'd have thought it was slaughterhouse day.  It wasn't.  It was just gather up piggies and put them back in the bin day.  They ran.  They dashed.  They darted. When grabbed, they screamed a blood-curdling scream and began flailing around.  It was hilarious.  I am a little sad the piggies were terrorized, but the workers were being very kind. They just had to get them back in the bin to move out and make room for the next show (which didn't feature pigs).

The last two pigs to be gathered ran all the way across the arena. The workers tried not to look silly chasing them, but it was quite comical. Imagine being the worker when the silly little pig keeps evading your efforts to catch him--and a crowd of thousands is looking on and laughing.  It was all very good-natured fun. Since I saw the same pig show two different days, I thought you'd enjoy the rounding up of the little piggies one more time. 

Believe it or not, the pigs were just the opening act that day
Horse day  

The real stars were the horses. I made sure to take a ton of pictures because my mom LOVES horses. She was quite a horsewoman in her day, so forgive me for posting a ton of horse pictures.  They are for my mom.  You can enjoy them too, but they are for her.

The opening of the horse portion of the program began with some pretty horses being paraded around the arena. A beautiful carmel-colored colt and its mother walked serenely around, manes blowing in the breeze.  Then, the colt literally kicked up its heels and decided to jump and run around like a kid.  It was very cute and the colt decided it would not follow instructions anymore so it got to run around an be adorable.

 
The first part of the horse show was seeing various horses in various costumes and horses used for various purposes.  And, two local breweries had impressive horses pulling a giant wagon filled with kegs of their brew.  The Budweiser Clydesdales are very similar to what was here.

 

It was pretty to see the various horses.  One whole exhibit of them was a group of work horses that work high up in the alps and help move trees when they are chopped down. 
 
They demonstrated how the horse must remain still while a chainsaw is running, instead of becoming skittish.  They also showed how the work horse will drag the heavy tree up on a pivot piece of wood so the farmer could saw it into smaller pieces.  I found it really interesting to think that these methods have been used for centuries by the Swiss farmer (except the chainsaw part).

I was impressed with the fact that all the animals I was seeing were actual working farm animals.  The people demonstrating were actual families and people who live and work on farms in the area.  
They clearly love their animals and have spent many hours with them teaching them tricks or skills.  And, they were very proud to come share their animals with the crowds at the agriculture festival.



What could there possibly be to top that?
 

The final group to perform was definitely the headliner act.  There was a group of young girls that accompanied this family group and my guess is that they are part of a gymnastic club and they are learning various athletic jumps and leaps and tumbling moves.  

They specialized in jumping over the various animals or turning a somersault across this one or that one.  It was very entertaining.

But the animals were even more spectacular. There was one blond gal and she could ride anything.  She also trained other animals to ride with her.  It wasn't enough for her to gallop around the ring, she had to bring two cute brown goats up with her to ride the horses too.  

Check it out Sarah and Shawn Todd!

Next, there was a dog that came up and rode a galloping horse around the ring.  Then blondie rode a cow.  Yep, a cow.  And the cow was happily running around the ring carrying this girl.

After that, they got the horse in position for the tumbling girls to leap over it.  
 

A man got a horse to lay down on its side. That was cool. But there was a second part to that act.

While the horse was laying on its side, the girls all came and somersaulted over it. Then the another horse and some goats came and leaped over. Then the dog leaped over. 

Then the COW leaped over the horse.  Yes, you heard me right.The big, giant COW leaped over the horse--and the horse remained calmly laying on its side.  COOL.

At the end of the show the announcer invited all the children to come and have a ride around the arena on their cart.  HUNDREDS of kids jumped off the wall surrounding the arena and ran to form a line and get their ride.  That was so cute.
 



It was a fabulous day and I could not wait to return for more animal presentations.

I leave you with one final picture of the patient and calm horse.  It is from the backside and it is a horse's bottom (a _ _).  Picture the face of the person of your choice at this time and have a chuckle courtesy of me from CH.

   
Hee-haw and woof woof rein supreme (no that is not a typo)
Donkey and Herd Dog Day 

After a great day of pig hijinks and horse heroics, how could anything top that?  I'll tell you. Donkey Day and Herd Dog Day. Two different groups performing on the next day.


The first thing that appeared were several different types of donkeys.  They just wandered around the area which had been set up with various items that were going to be used during the demonstration.  Then a lady appeared and she was the announcer (speaking only in Swiss German--but a nice gal about aged 24-ish sat next to me and told me a few things she was saying).

The announcer told us that the donkeys were owned by various people, not one certain farm and that some of the people had adopted them and were working to train them to do certain activities.  

But, she continued, donkeys being donkeys, if the donkey doesn't want to do the skill at that moment, the owners could not make them.  Stubborn as a mule.  Not just a casual phrase.  We got to see that firsthand.  Every now and then, a donkey would stop and that was the end of what it would do.

The cutest thing the donkeys did was just a natural occurrence.  As they were randomly wandering at the first, a donkey just flopped down on its back and started wiggling around, joyously squirming in the dirt of the arena.  It was really cute to see.  I tried to catch it on film for you, but they randomly did this and I didn't get my camera open and ready in time.

The one thing that the announcer told us, that I had no idea about before,  was that 90% of all donkeys have this certain marking on their backs.  Along the ridge of the back is a dark stripe of hair (I'd always seen that) but the other interesting marking occurs about shoulder level in the front.  

It is a stripe that crosses the back line, making a "cross" of dark fur. I had never noticed that cross stripe.  That was very cool to learn that.

I enjoyed the donkey show immensely.  It was fascinating to see each different type of donkey and each different owner interact with their pet.  Loved it.
 
If you have kids, you have to come to this show--it is a must see event

The second performing group was the herd dogs.  Reminds me of an ancient joke my sister Bari used to tell:  "Do you know what I heard?"  And she'd answer: "Sheep."  That joke was literally running through my mind most of the day during the show.  Thanks, Bari!  lol

Once again, I have to remind you that all the animals on display are WORKING animals.  It was evident that the dogs were excited to do their job:  Herd.  They were serious about it, focused on it, and their tails wagged the whole time they happily herded the animal of the moment into whatever area the master wanted the animal to go into.   

Check out this dog as it herds these geese up this stair bridge thing.  It was amazing.

And they herded everything:  Sheep, pigs, goats, llamas (they were actually alpaca sheep--I discovered later), white geese, and a brown geese grouping.

These dogs were focused.  It did not matter that there were thousands of people watching or that they clapped or laughed or cheered at certain points.  It did not matter to the dogs that there were dozens of children from the audience sitting within the arena participating in the interactive show. No. The dogs ONLY saw the animal they were supposed to herd and they heard ONLY the commands from their master.  It was beyond cool.  It was fantastic!

Did you catch what I said about this being an interactive show?  The announcer was a member of the farm group and he invited all the children who wanted to be involved to come down into the arena.  Scores of kids--all ages and sizes--jumped into the performing area. They became a part of the show.

The children would stand in a circle and the dogs would herd the animals around the circle. They would stand in a ring on the outside edge of the arena and they dogs would herd the animals to jump over bars spaced around the outside edge of the arena, fenced off by the kids.  Then, the announcer had the kids sit on benches that were a diameter in the circle, and he told them to pull their feet up and sit on their feet.  Then the dogs herded geese under the kids.  It was hilarious.  The kids loved it and you can bet mommy and daddy were snapping pictures the whole time.

Notice the geese being herded under the bar in the middle of the kids.

At one point, the announcer had all the children line up right behind each other with no space in between. Then he had them open their legs as wide as they could.  The dogs herded pigs through the line of kids' legs.  It was terribly cute and wildly funny.  

Some of the smaller leg spans weren't big enough for the pigs to get through (or the kid just freaked out and pulled back), but it caused a break in the line and pigs were squeezing past the line and wandering around outside.  The herd dogs got right on that.  They immediately came around to turn the pigs back to the line, but it was sort of a moot point by that time.  Hilarity ensued and the pigline was mostly a thing of the past.

 
To thank all the kids for their participation, the announcer told them to go over to another crew member who was holding a huge box of treats for them.  They were so excited to get these treats!  

Wanna know what the treat was?  A carrot!  After every kid got one, they announced there were some extras and dozens of kids ran back to get more!  One cute little girl had a handful and was so excited.  The joy on her face as she returned to her family (sitting close to where I was) was exquisite to see.  Each and every child was thrilled to have a carrot.  I'm not kidding.  

I cannot imagine such a genuinely joyful reaction to a carrot prize happening in the US.  And they all started immediately munching on their carrots. That was as cute as anything in the show.

One final word on the herd dogs. There were some animals that tried to challenge them and face off with them.  In every instance, the herd dogs were able to get the animal to comply, even grumpily or reluctantly.  It didn't hurt that the human masters were there to help when some animal really got cranky about being told what to do.

I know there's an award for me somewhere

With my Swiss Pass, I have traveled back and forth across CH for thousands of miles.  I think I have one of the highest accumulation of miles on train travel.

I have figured out how to use my time while I'm on the trains for extended rides of a couple of hours.  I take my iPad and write the story in an email to myself.  Then I can have that much of the blog completed when I am home and ready to put the pictures with it for a posting.

Travel team on the train with me.  Mate found a friend ready for Halloween (TY Sarah).

Today, however, I had an extra long day on the train.  Two hours first thing in the morning got me to Chur where I joined The Glacier Express as it traveled 5 hours across CH in a panoramic coach.  I wanted to see how the leaves had changed so I rode the special route again, even though I had ridden it six weeks previously.  It did not disappoint.  But where it ends, Zermatt, gives me another 4 hour train ride to get home.  So it had been a long day of trains and sitting on my butt.

As I was riding home, I was frankly tired of looking out of the train at the view.  It is stunning. It is beautiful.  It is unmatched.  I saw enough for today so I took out my iPhone and was playing Mahjong.  I did feel guilty for not looking out the window.  I told myself that it was 6 p.m. and that is the time wildlife might come out and eat so I should look out on the hills and see if there was anything to see instead of playing a dumb game on a phone.

No sooner did I look out the window than I spotted a wild ram of some kind grazing on the side of a steep mountainside right above me. It raised its head just as I looked and gave me the perfect Kodak moment.  I called out to the other passengers in the train and pointed, but if they didn't speak English, they did not have any idea what I was showing them.  He was stately and huge.  A real specimen.  And I saw him the moment I looked up.  It was highly random that I would even have seen a wild animal eating at just that place at just that instant. I found out later it was an ibex.

This is not the ibex I saw.  Mine was bigger and the mountainside was steeper and rockier.

It made me start to think.  Sometimes we can fritter away our attention on insignificant games of Mahjong and miss a prize buck that is a one-time only spectacle.  A one-time only opportunity.

Just one of those little a-ha moments.