[Bionic]

As some of you will know I bought home my first two weaners yesterday.

Understandable they were very frightened and skittish and didn't want to come near.

I started to make some grunting noises and the result was instantaneous. They came over and let me scratch them, touch their faces etc. Any noise would send them rushing off again though. So I grunted again and they came straight back.

I don't know what they think I was saying to them but whatever it was they liked it. 

Do any of you have similiar animal experiences?
Sally

[Lesley Silvester]

Wonder what your neighbours think, Sally.   

When I lived in somerset, I had a friend who would look after my goat for me when we were away.  He son has Aspergers Syndrome and doesn't relate to people but he would stand in the doorway and bleat at my goat, who would reply.  Apparently he spent a lot of time doing this and looked forward to us going away.

[Bionic]

My nephew has aspergers. As you know they find it difficult to make friends so when he was 11 my sister bought him a dog. It made a world of difference and was probably the first thing he could really relate to.

Sally

[HappyHippy]

Kaitlin (my second daughter) also has Asperger's (and ADHD) and she gets so much from spending time with the animals, especially our Tamworth sow - could be the ginger connection  But I definately think animals help ALL children cope when growing up - it's an ear that never judges or criticises and is always happy to listen 

I talk to my pigs too Sally  AND they talk back   
Given time, you'll be able to tell what all their grunts mean - there are different noises for happy and unsure and 'leave me alone' 
Karen 

[Fowgill Farm]

I talk to my pigs too, the little ones respond very well to grunts and snorts, but i swear to God Clover understands full blown human speak and we often have mammy and clover chats whereby i tell her all my woes and ask advice and she grunts and snorts back!   
You don't have to be animal mad to live here but it helps!
Mandy 

[robert waddell]

one year at the highland we had mangalitzas on demo  just weaners  they were the most skittish pigs we have ever seen     a wee Glasgow wifie (well dressed) came on the stand and started to talk to them extending her hand at the same time  and within an hour they were eating out her hand and standing up on the gate to get sow rolls    she had a certain way with her  but from then on these two pigs would great anybody leaning over the pen to feed them sow rolls    such a transformation in such a short time

[in the hills]

Yeah, I talk to all the critters.

I shout hello to the ewes and they shout back and Friesian Fowl though they are completely crazy, seem to have a certain intelligence and can hold a really good conversation.   

You cant tell that Im rather isolated up in these hills can you?

[Lesley Silvester]

Oh and when I draw the bedroom curtains back (bedroom overlooks garden) my goats look up at me and I give them a wave. If the window is open and I call out, "Hello, gorgeous." the reply.

So does the neighbour.

[little blue]

I talk to them all, in all kinds of language!!

I've spent the last half hour quacking at the ducklings ... I'm not very good at it and so they are learning to whistle too

Oh, and I always wave to whoever may be looking, and call "give us a kiss!" to the goats! (and they do!)

[jaykay]

Yes, I talk to all of mine - of course 

Most things I just chat to, but small scared things (ducklings at the moment), I try to sound like their 'mum' would - it makes a big difference 

I thought I was just soppy, til I was talking to the big farmer next door. He was telling of a farm hand who just used to upset his cattle by existing and I said my ex was the same with all our animals - wrong sort of energy we agreed. The farmer then said 'you've got to talk to them (cattle) too and tell then what's going on and where you are - they're not stupid', so I felt much better about me chatting away to my sheep and goats 

[Rosemary]

Funnily enough, I was brushing Breeze yesterday (one of our in-calf Shetland heifers) - she's due 25th May and is starting to get a bit of an udder  ) and was chatting to her, as you do, and I thought I'd talk to the calf too.

If, like human babies, they can hear in the uterus, I thought if it got to know my voice now and kind of "knew" its mum was nice and relaxed (actually almost asleep with her nose on the ground) around me, that life would be less stressful after it was born.  Mad? Not at all.

[Lesley Silvester]

Sounds very sensible to me, Rosemary.

[little blue]

I do that too Rosemary ... and especially to the eggs we have in the incubator.
When the turner goes off, I whistle & cheep as well...
 
that'll be why the daft ducklings will walk into  my hands for a tickle, they know exactly who their "mum" is!!

[NormandyMary]

We talk to our pets all day every day. Tabitha our tabby cat talks back to us, its actually like we are having a conversation, and Fred will answer if we call his name with a little mew. (He's a bit of a wuss and his mew is very high pitched. I think I had his bits cut off too early!) Every time I go outside, I call the boys, say hello and wave, and on hearing my voice (and OH's too) he jumps up on to the roof of the henhouse and starts to cockle.
If the animals didnt talk, it would be very quiet indeed around here!

[little blue]

so true Mary, so true...