February 2009
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Skating Rink Paddock
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Date: Monday February 09, 2009
I did get some sleep last night. Thanks to a gloriously bright full moon I was able to get a good look at the skating rinks forming in my paddocks during my frequent trips to the window. No injuries yet. I went out this morning and threw down some rocksalt, mixed with wood ash, and wood shavings. Wood ash is an old trick I heard about years ago. Many folks in the country would spread ash from their fireplaces and stoves onto their drives to prevent slipping and to help promote the melt. Yes, it is a messy proposition, but I would prefer to do what I could to minimize broken legs, hip displaysia or something worse. My hope is the dark color of the wood ash will attract the heat, along with the salt to melt the top layers of ice. Then the wood shavings will get stuck in the surface providing a little more grip power.
Watching the girls slip and slide makes my heart skip a beat each time. This afternoon I will go get some more diesel for the tractor and head out there and try to break it up. Once the wood ash and salt has had a chance to do its job. Its only 17 deg. Farenheit out there. But we have clear skies.
I also moved the feeding station so the girls would be less likely to walk all over the icy spots. Then I added extra ash and wood shavings around their water bucket. The boys paddock is less of a mess and are doing okay.
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February Thaw
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Date: Sunday February 08, 2009
Wow! It was warm today. Incredibly, unseasonably warm. After yesterdays topknot and toenail day, we decided to take advantage of the nice weather and take down the frozen poop piles. Although we do our best to keep atop the poop in our paddocks and clean up after the alpacas regularly, during the winter, things just freeze so quickly that we always end up with several inches of frozen poo. Yeah, sometimes we go out with a pick axe and chip away at it, which can be quite exhausting and not nearly fulfilling enough. So, when a thaw arrives we do our best to get out there and remove any of the stuff that has piled up.
Fortunately we successfully cleaned the paddocks. These thaws come as a mixed blessings. Yes, we get to clean our paddocks, but the super melt of snow means we end up with standing water because of all the melting snow and the frozen ground.
Unfortunately tonight we are expecting temperatures to drop well below freezing again. This means all those puddles we had today, will be sheer ice overnight. Posing potential dangers to our herd. I went back out a few moments ago to throw sawdust down and some salt on those slightly frozen puddles in the hopes it wouldn't be a skating rink.
I don't think I will sleep very well tonight. I will likely get up out of bed every few hours to make sure one of the girls have not slipped and fallen on the ice.
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Topknots and Toenails
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Date: Saturday February 07, 2009
Today, Saturday, was topknots and toenails day. This is a fairly infrequent occurrence on the farm. We really only have to perform this task a couple of times a year. The top knot is the big pile of fiber on the alpacas heads. Our herd was last shorn in April 2008 and haven't had haircuts since that time. We try to keep them from becoming wool blind by trimming their top knots before the fleece begins to cover their eyes. Then there is the toe nail trimming. This too only has to happen a few times a year.
This kind of day is a full hands on day. We take the time to handle each animal, body scoring, checking eyes, getting hands from ears to tails and down their legs. Just looking for anything abnormal. The whole herd took about an hour and half to trim up. The girls, most of them being pregnant were the most challenging. Unfortunately we started our task with the boys. There are fewer of them, and for the most part are somewhat more docile and better behaved.
Steve usually holds them while I do the trimming. Giles, our largest male at 235 pounds, is surprisingly the most gentle. All I have to do is ask him to lift and he will raise his leg and not try to pull it away when I grab to trim the nails. The younger boys are a little more squirmy. They aren't used to it yet and haven't really figured out we aren't there to harm them. Then there is Sigwanain (Sig). He is our fiber boy. Ever since the day he was born he has been vocal. More vocal than any of our other cria. Granted, Sig had a really tough start to his life and fought for survival a few months. That is a story for another day. The whole time we are trimming toenails and topknots, Sig is groaning and screaming. It is actually quite humorous and pitiful at the same time.
Once we had finished with the boys, we moved on to the girls. That is where we struggle the most. Many of them are pregnant. And no matter how loving and gentle they can be, when it comes time gently restrain them or try to pick up their feet, forget about it. The key to trimming toenails is to lift their feet underneath them. You must resist the urge to pull the foot away from their body. That puts them off balance and simply makes the experience worse. As I am bent over, holding the foot under the animal in one hand, they inevitably end up leaning on you. Remember, these girls are pregnant. So here I am squatting, holding up a slightly struggling pregnant alpaca, Steve is trying to avoid the spit and then I have to trim the moving toenails. My quadriceps are a bit sore today from the squats.
Although the toenails are physically demanding, it is the trimming of the topknot I find to be the most mentally challenging. I hate having those pointy scissors next to their eyes. No telling when they are going to get tired of sitting still. Then there is the fact that I am trying to do a decent trim while dodging spit bombs. Only a few of our girls spit, we know who they are. Their necks may be long. One would think we would have time to respond to the act of spitting, but once they get a mouthful started sometimes it is like machine gun fire.
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Hay Feeders
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Date: Thursday February 05, 2009
I have to admit Farmer Steve is a fairly talented builder and woodworker. But I come up with some pretty neat ideas too. Together we can make wonderful things happen. When we first brought our alpacas home we needed to solve some basic problems. How/Where do we put the hay? At first we used two old clawfoot tubs. Unfortunately this design did not allow for a way to keep the elements off the hay. Also, alpacas seem to love to rub their heads in their hay, often resulting in hay being spread all around the feeder and not in the feeder. Not to mention their topknots being completely inundated with timothy seeds and knotted up with sticks of hay. So we had to come up with another plan.
We had seen and considered purchasing commercially built hay feeders, but being yankees, we could not see spending the money on something when we knew we could come up with a fairly decent replica. Steve is a bit of a packrat. I get on him sometimes about it, but so far, most of the items he collects and brings home have come in quite handy.
As usual we had a surplus of discarded lumber. Within a few hours a couple of 2X4's and some plywood became the frame for this hay feeder. When desigining it we wanted to be sure the alpacas couldn't get their heads over the top of the feeder, but we also had to be sure that I, at only 5'4" tall could get flakes of hay or an entire bale into the top. Another design element was the roof height, it needed to be high enough to allow the alpacas to get under it, but not so high that it neglected to prevent weather from getting to the hay. Lastly, what would we use to line the hay bin so the alpacas could get their muzzles in to grab the hay and pull it out to eat it.
We had seen a few ideas, some folks use wire mesh, 4"X4" squares that would be stapled or nailed along the inside. That is a great idea. But I did not want to buy the wire mesh panels. We had just finished wiring our garage and had about 20 feet of metal conduit left over. This stuff is really quite cheap and easy to handle. I cut the conduit to length using pipe cutters, then we used a hammer to flatten one edge, that we then attached to a 2X4 bar along the top. Along the bottom we drilled holes into another 2X4 through which we threaded each conduit pipe. These pieces of pipe are set about 3-inches apart and run along each side of the hay feeder.
The base of the hay feeder has a tray made of plywood with a 2X4 apron to catch any hay that is pulled out while they are feeding. The whole structure is about 6 feet in height and 36 inches in length. It has worked very well for us and we plan on making a few more when the new barn is complete. I believe the whole thing, because we used mostly scrap lumber cost us around $15.00.
We used this same method for hanging wall feeders. We again used conduit pipe and the same basic structure of the hay feeder, simply mounted to a wall. These feeders have a flat back then an angled bin, big enough for a single flake of hay, lined with the conduit pipe. Conduit is easily shaped and is a fairly inexpensive durable material.
If you would like actual dimensions and a parts list, please email us. Steve would be a much better person to talk with as he he could actually tell you how much wood you needed to purchase, how many hours it took and the pros and cons of our design. Also, once I figure out how to add more than one picture to this blog, I will be sure to include better pictures of the design. Email me at Karrie@abenaquialpacas.com if you would like more information.
Aside: When my younger sister had renovated her bathroom they designed a rounded soffit to go around their tub and shower combo. She had a heck of a time finding a rod to hang a shower curtain. Yep, I suggested conduit! She was able to spray paint it to match the wall color after shaping it to match the curved soffit. You woudln't know the difference.
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Introducing Mamattegwa
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Date: Tuesday February 03, 2009
Isn't she cunning?
This is the official coming out of Mamattegwa. She was born to Ambiance this past September, but today I finally filed her registration paperwork with ARI (The Alpaca Registry), so she is now an 'official' member of the alpaca community.
She was an exciting criation for us (Yes I misspelled it on purpose...) as prior to this pairing Ambiance had only been bred to StudMaster male ElToro. Granted we loved the results of those breedings and were blessed with two beautiful femals, Peboona and Nebisownhansoo, but unfortunately ElToro had fallen quite ill so we reluctantly found another mate for Ambiance.
Ambiance was not too keen on her new lover though. Although we thought NWA Ltd. Focus was handsome and had all the right stuff, it took a number of dates before Ambiance was willing to be receptive to him. All of that was worth the wait.
Mattie, as we like to call her here is a fantastic creature. Once again Ambiance has not let us down. Mattie was born all legs as you can see from her profile pictures and with a dense blanket of fleece. Both her parents are extremely dense, so we knew that wouldn't be a problem.
And, like her sisters, she was born with a fantastic apricot-colored fleece as shown in her ears. She is so adorable and much liked here on the farm. We shall see how she progresses. Of course they are all cute when they are young. Mattie's personality is mischevious. She likes to sneak up on you and then as soon as she is found out, she turns quick and bucks herself away. Chasing chickens is her next favorite passtime. It is funny to see a flock of chicken come running and flapping out of the barn with this ball of apricot-fleeced legs barrelling out behind them.
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Ground Hog Day
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Date: Monday February 02, 2009
I propose we change Ground Hog day to Alpaca Day. I mean really, right now a bunch of people in suits and hats stand around a hole, with cameras rolling, waiting for an unwilling rodent to show its face. Once the rodent pops up a big celebration ensues and we find out the forecast for when spring (or in our case Mud Season) will arrive. What does Puxatawny Phil have that the alpacas don't? - apparently a fantastic PR firm.
Make it Alpaca day, it could all work the same. If my alpacas see their shadow or don't see their shadow then we too can make predictions about the number of days til spring. We would be able to better plan for shearing day. Identify if early spring cria will arrive on time or a little late. If we have more weeks of winter ahead, we can sell sweaters, hats, and mittens at major discounts.
Alpacas are much more cute and snuggly than Puxatawny Phil. Who wants to walk up to a giant furry rat and hug and pat it? Not many people as far as I know. Puxatawny Phil and his kin already have a job, eating up golf greens and raiding local gardens. As far as the economy is concerned, I would think that Phil and his gang of root eating tunnel digging bullies actually cost our economy a little bit of money in property losses. Put my alpacas to work selling fleece and watching for spring...now thats a better deal.
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Wawiobwan
He is being offered in 2009 at an introductory breeding fee of $500 ...
more info
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