New Hay Stacked in the Barn

We moved 60 bales of hay from the drive down the hill to the barn.  It was cold and a lot of work.  Our son helped us which really reduced the amount of time it took.  Thanks, Isaac, for all the help!  The alpacas are happy for the beautiful fresh hay!

What a beautiful day on the farm.  A nice breeze and a day in the 70's, what more can one ask for.  I just want to soak in the warmth and the sunshine.  Rich picked up a van full of straw so we placed bails where we have some major erosion problems in the pastures.  Erosion is such a problem for small farmers.  We use the straw to slow down the run-off.  Once we get a gully washer we are really going to have a problem if we do not have a plan in action.  The alpacas love to kush next to the hay, in fact the cats love to lay right nest to the hay.

As you can see, Alexi and J Arbuckle have been playing.  Alexi has now learned to lope.  They are so much fun to watch.

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 

Another Beautiful Day on the Farm

It is another beautiful day.  So nice to have the sunshine and temps I can work in.  Rich is doing the grocery shopping and I am checking on straw prices.  I am anxious to get out to the Fiber Cottage for some spinning and weaving.  It sure would be nice to get my shawl off the loom.
The alpacas love this weather  . . . they are grazing, playing and rolling in the dust.  They look happy and that puts a smile on my face.  I separated J. Arbuckle and Priscilla for the first time.  I want little Alexi to have time with another cria.  Since J. Arbuckle insists on making life miserable for Alexi I separated him into a pasture with older animals.  I wish I could make him understand that with a behavior change the three crias could be frolicking together.  Geez, I sound like I am talking about human kids. 
I need to price all of the things I have to sell and get them down to Good Nature.  Good Nature sells my things on consignment.  I just need some motivation . . . today I am turning over that new leaf and becoming more productive.

Cool and really crisp this evening.  Alpacas love this weather, me too.  Downside, my annuals have bit the dust.    

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 . . .

The Hay is done!

Richard got the rest of the hay into the barn.  Our grand kids were here so I spent a lot of time with them while he stacked the last of the hay.  The barn sure smells good.

It sure does not look like much in this picture.  This is about 2/3 of the hay we put up.

Our granddaughter helped with the barn chores.  It is nice to have her down at the barn with us.  After the chores were finished they had a good time playing out on the rock pile.  The shadows were long and they had a lot of fun playing with their shadows.