other animals at the donkey court

Besides the donkeys, we have a lot of other companions at the donkey court: sheep, geese, chickens, and cats. Since we are both vegetarians, it is obvious that none of the animals are meant to be eaten or sold. We just enjoy their company and they are part of the family!

sheep and goats

We have the company of six sheep: five moorland sheep (Drentse heideschapen) and one black sheep (literally and figuratively!). The black sheep is called Cotdor (if you know something about Belgian chocolate, you can figure out how she got that name). Cotdor is probably a mixture of a Texel and a Zwartbles sheep.

The Drenth Moorland sheep is the oldest sheep breed in Western continental Europe. They go back 6000 years. These sheep can survive on arid soil and as such they played an important role in the fertalization of poor grounds. With the development of chemical manure, the breed lost its economical function and nearly became extinct (only a couple of dozen left just after WW II).

October 2004


four of our moorland sheep	Fleur

The two goats, Venus & Serena, have joined us in 2002. They became pretty old, although not too old to provoke the donkeys and to boss the sheep around. Although they could be quite a handful, we loved them dearly and miss them. We let the vet come over to give them a shot in spring of 2008.	Serena comes to take a closer look (May 2005)

Venus, Serena & Gras (goose) summer 2004

The donkeys and the sheep
February 2005

the sheep meet Babette (donkey)
September 2004

cats

At this point, we enjoy the company of three cats: Fondant, Petoeter and Luka.

Fondant (°2001) is a real sweety, although she doesn't like strangers, other cats or other animals in general.
She hates music, chattering on television and prefers a quiet nap in front of the woodstove.
She can get ecstatic when being brushed and hates being harassed by Petoeter.
She would probably prefer being the only cat of the family...

Petoet (°2002) is a real rascal and always wants to play. It seems she got stuck in puberty.
She can startle Fondant (the black cat) by jumping on her when she's nicely asleep.
She's really a common-or-garden cat and doesn't stroll too far away.

She can sit nicely on the donkeys' back and enjoy the ride, while biting their ears or neck. When a donkey comes to have a closer sniff to get acquainted, they can expect a sharp swipe or bite from Petoet.

Petoet

Luka

Luka joined us in December 2005. Exploring the surroundings and finding everything very interesting!
Although she is the smallest of the three, she can be quite bossy!

Previously, we have had the company of five other cats: Filou, Mercuur, Pastis, Cadache and Basiel.

Cadache, June 2005

Cadache (2000-2005)
my darling, so gentle, so sweet
On a quiet Sunday in November, Cadache went out for her morning stroll in the surrounding fields. Then came the hunters, with lots of guns, dogs and noise. Shooting, cursing, laughing.

Cadache didn't come home. We can only imagine what happened to her, but have no proof...
We miss her so much.

You can see more photos of our cats on the Dutch pages of the donkey court: poezen.

geese & chickens

The geese Foie & Gras have joined us in 2001. Although geese are said to be good 'guard dogs', Foie and Gras are pretty silent and tend to pedal away when someone enters the premises. Geese can reach the age of 20 to 40 years (according to different sources), so hopefully Foie and Gras are going to be with us for a long time.
	Foie & Gras

	Obviously, we condemn the horrible process of producing "foie gras", the fatted liver of geese or ducks, which is considered a delicacy by some.
our geese Foie and Gras	the chickens (May 2005)