Seeing Green!

I am so excited that the 3.5+" of rain this past week have us seeing GREEN in our brown pastures!  I really hate the brown of drought!  Though there is a lot of mud and still a great deal of brown we are seeing some Green.  This, of course is very good for the alpacas, as they have been eating a lot of hay and they will get plenty of that once Winter sets in.  Lots of wet weather means more beans in the barn  but more grateful alpacas.  Chores took a bit longer this morning.


I have been noticing Frederica shaking her head often, so yesterday I used some Q-tips to explore what was going on inside her ears and discovered a lot of dust.  This morning I flushed her ears with warm water.  I hope that does the trick.  So far it looks good.


I am a bit worried about J Arbuckle, he seems so depressed.  He hates being away from Priscilla more than being separated from his dam, Bess.  If I can get him out of the nursing mode I can put them back together until spring. Weaning is such a slow process and I personally think a beautiful animal can have its fiber ruined if it is not handled right.  What is right for the dam is not always right for the cria.  Bess is doing better being separated  during the day.   Perhaps I should give some thought to separating Freja and Priscilla for part of the day.  


As I was feeding the big boys in the shed, because of the misty rain, I discovered Illapa would not go inside to eat the grain.  I need to be sure he has a dish of grain outside under the over hang.  I think this explains why he is always wet when there is water.  Oh, my this is like have the kids back at the house.

Tomorrow I am teaching spinning to a new student.  It is always exciting to open up the world of spinning to a new student.  I am so excited.  I wish you could all join us in the Fiber Cottage!


Alpaca Lady 

Rain!

I was so happy for the rain.  I loved hearing the rain hitting the roof when I awoke.  It was exciting to hear the rain giving  the farm a drink, however it meant I was going to have a wet trip to the barn.  I was shocked to find it was only 37 degrees, burrrr!  The wind was gusting to at least 15 mph.  So, I bundled up and headed to the barn.  For the most part the alpacas were dry and happy, but mostly hungry.  Of course there was a lot of poop in the barn.  I noticed the cria was going outside to use the poop pile.  That certainly explained why he was wet.  I always have a towel in the barn, so I dried him off and put his cria coat on.  I don't normally put a coat on a wet cria, but I felt I had dried him fairly well and I knew he would continue to run out in the rain to use the poop pile.  This afternoon I will throw his coat into the dryer and warm it up before the evening sets in.
I thought about not separating Bess and J. Arbuckle, but I looked at Bess and how skinny she has become and knew that even with a rainy day it was important to continue separating them.  Sometimes you just have to push yourself into do the right thing.
I am back in the house, nice and warm in front of the fireplace.  Ah . . . I did make it through the first really nasty morning.  

Observations

It was really chilly out this AM, but of course, in the dead of winter it would have seemed like a heat wave.  It is funny how things change our views.  The alpacas were more hungry than usual, I guess they felt the cold, as well.  Alexi is a fast little cria.  He knows how to hide among the other alpacas so I can't just grab him.  I hesitated to take off his coat, being so cold and all, but the low 40's really aren't that cold for an alpaca.  I know he will need that coat tonight when he will be out in his first freeze.  I put a little extra hay in the manger and began to mentally make a check list of things I need to do before winter.

• Put up wind shields around the corral areas.  It sure would have helped last year.
• Move as much of the poop pile to the garden area as we can.  This will help in two ways.  It will help the gardens and it will get the poop pile down so it can take the winter additions.  There is a lot of good soil under there.
• Now that it has rained, perhaps we can repair some fencing.  I think this is the least favorite job on most any farm.  It is heavy and and intense work.
• Arrange for some independent grain and hay in the boy's shed.
• Get out the heated water buckets.  I hate these buckets, they are so much harder to clean, but so nice for our animals.
• I need to try to insulate the cottage windows so I can use the cottage for more of the winter. 
• Make room in the garage for the car.
• caulk

I think that is enough list for now. I don't believe in too long of lists and this one is plenty long.

Back to observations, I really like to take the time to watch the herd and all the interactions they have.  Eddie is the only light colored animal on the girl's side besides the new cria.  One thing about the herd, they all basically get along , but they do segregate themselves by color when they are grazing and kushing.  Alexi often gravitates toward Eddie and Eddie tries to shed himself of the tiny Alexi. (They are both very light colors.)  I think Eddie is afraid Alexi will try to nurse off him.  Eddie is such a big gelding and Alexi is such a little wisp of a cria.

    Lady's girls try to stay on the same side of the fence with her.  Frederika even tries to nurse when she has been separated from her dam.  Frederika is almost 3!!!  Pippi hums to be on the same side of the fence with Lady.  Bess is anxious to be separated from her large cria, J. Arbuckle.  She has gotten so run down from the nursing demand he puts on her.  She is happy to be put in with him at night.

Our kitty, Cricket, is at the vet being spayed.  It is really silly, but I miss seeing her playing on the deck.  I will be happy when she returns and is chasing  anything that moves.

I better get back to work, thanks for stopping by the blog . . .

Cold and Damp but All is Well on the Farm . . .

It is a grey day.  It is damp and chilly and my muscles ache.  Ugh!   But the barnyard doesn't seem to mind the weather as much as I do.  I say that, knowing full well that the rain kept them close to the barn last night . . . because the barnyard was full of poop.   Good news is that it all looks great and who ever was having mushy poop is now back to normal.  I hardly know what to do with moist ground and chilly temps, but I know I will figure it out.  Here are some pictures to share.

Alexi in his night time coat.

Al 

Cloudy

Cloudy

Pippilotta Long Stockings

Alexi is always in motion.

Another Snowy Day

The snow is falling and it very pretty, but I am tiring of winter.  I must admit snow beats just gray, dreary days, but I am longing to find the bulbs blooming and warm sunshine for my alpacas to sun bath in. 
My son, home from school because of the bad roads, helped me out in the barn.  I had expected mile high piles of beans, but instead just found a couple of small piles.  A blessing on a snowy day.  Perhaps the alpacas will realize the snow is just fluffy and will meander out of the barn so tonight will be a repeat of this morning.  I am not holding my breath on that one!
     Taking  a good look at the herd, I noticed we have some very long nails.  As soon as the weather improves and Richard is home to help me I will be trimming nails.  If you have never trimmed nails, you really don't realize how some alpacas are very compliant, but there a a few alpacas that are a real challenge.  Trimming nails has to be done to keep the herd healthy.
     The middle of winter is a great time to start making serious lists, so when better weather arrieves you have a game plan.  We planned our vegtable gardens a couple years ago.  Last night Richard and I planned for our new blueberries and rasberries.  This will be exciting to get some more fresh berries on the farm.  We have strawberries and wild blackberries already growing on Sycamore Creek Farm.  My daughter, for Christmas,  gave me some seeds from Thomas Jefferson's home.  so we will be planting nutmeg, artichokes, alpine strawberries  for the first time this year.
Time to get to work,
Alpaca Lady

Ahhh Fresh Pastures

I love Spring,but there are some challenges . . . fresh pastures. The alpacas love to get out on the new grass. I am happy for them, don't get me wrong, but there are new issues for me in the poop piles. A new breeder can get very upset heading to morning chores and finding poop piles that look like the alpaca poop piles have turned into cow pattie dumping grounds.

So this is what I have found this week. I gathered some fecal samples and dropped them at the vet school to make sure it was only green pastures I was dealing with. The fecals are nearly perfect and I am back to waiting out the effects of spring pastures.

A sunny morning is now turning into a grey rainy day. Actually we can use a few showers, but I would like to work outside in the warm sunshine. Last weekend I was in North Carolina at the Alpaca Fiber Symposium, there the redbud, azaelas and dogwood were in full bloom. I wanted to come home and find the sme in bloom, but of course we are a few weeks behind.