Spring Time on the Farm

It has been the strangest spring with record breaking highs and a lot of rain.  We are happy to have spring here, but wonder what this weather will do for us in future.  Putting those thoughts aside we are enjoying the beautiful days.  We have limed, fertilized, aerated, and seeded three pastures and now we have two more to go, but they will have to wait until we can move the alpacas off them.  We are now seeing the green . . . yes, the beautiful tender green!  The alpacas are going to be so happy when we can move them onto these beautiful, rich pastures.
We have shearing coming up on April 6.  We are working getting ready for the event.  For some reason the herd has found all the leaves, sticks and general junk they can roll in.  I guess they don't understand how much time it takes me to clean their fleeces.
Halter training is in full swing.  Dancing Paws was led up on the deck and visited with Annie our indoor cat.  There is not a lot of leading done in the winter, so spring is a great time to get everyone back into walking with us.  Alexi, the cria, is doing exceptional in this area.  He is a delight.  The two weanlings are a bit more hesitant, but two are doing pretty well on the lead.

Alexi seemed to have discovered the joy of loping yesterday after the chute was opened after being closed for several weeks.  I truly think loping is a dance of joy.

Eddie looking out.

Maverick caught in the bucket.

Males Jumping Fences

Wow, nothing gets the adrenaline pumping harder than seeing the wrong alpaca in the young male pasture.  It seems Fionn and Maverick jumped the fence to the front pasture.  Maverick was interested in the greener grass and Fionn wanted to put the youngest male in his place.  This is  done by chasing, neck wrestling and mounting the youngster.  Fionn is a very big male and he does know that.  Rich and I quickly got the two larger ones back where  they belonged only to find Maverick was back over and the rest of the mature males were scanning the fence line to find a weak point where they too could cross.  Rich repaired the fence and we are set for another day.  We know we need to replace some fencing . . . soon.  We are just pleased that we do not have any fencing that is common for the males and females.  That can give a very different ending to the story!

I took Illapa on a walk.  He hasn't been haltered for a while, so it was nice to see he handle so well.  I like to take them out of the pastures and out among the gardens and pines for their walks.  Delilah and Alexi seem to have a stronger bond and she has become a very attentive mother.  I think she knows she feels better when he nurses.

A Dreary Day on the Alpaca Farm

There is Something about days and days without sunshine, it gets you down.  It just isn't any fun.  Somehow, a trip down to the Alpaca barn does in fact brighten up my day.  Alpacas have beautiful eyes, expressive eyes and I can see that they have been waiting for me and are expecting me to brighten their day.  It all seems to work as planned, as I am brighter from being with them and they are brighter  after spending time with me.  I attempted to walk Pippilotta, but she really did not want to accomodate me.  At first Pippi had on a poorly fitting halter.  That in itself can really ruin a halter training session.  I changed her to another halter, this time, a properly fitting one.  Pippi, however, has never been much for halter training and she was done for the day.  It was then Delilah's turn to be on lead.  She was a bit better, though not at all a willing participate.  I am very happy  to be working back in the barn.  The days between now and the MOPACA show are going to be filled with a lot of training. 
I took the break in the rain to work in the corall cleaning up a deep POOP  PILE.  It was deep from so many days when the beans were frozen.  actually at this point much of the poop was really broken down.  I filled six 5 gallon buckets.  It felt good to  clean up.
Off I was on my daily walk to the creek.  There were several raindrops, but my mood was so good at this point I really did not care.  The gentle sounds of the running water in the stream were beautiful.  They were wonderful melodic notes.    I am tired now, but at least, I am smiling!