Alpacas in the Field: Hay, Sweet Hay!

We now have hay for the winter. About 300 bales of beautiful, green, dry fragrant squares of alpaca heaven. This makes me very happy! The best part is it didn't cost any money, just sweat. We found a local farmer who was willing to cut and round bale the first cutting for himself in exchange for cutting and square baling the second cutting for us.

We spent Friday afternoon putting up two wagon fulls of hay, about 200 bales. That was fun! Glad it is something only done annually. Each bale weights about between 40 and 50 pounds. I stacked it to the rafters and spilled into the aisle way to try and squeeze as much as possible inside the barn. Of course now the barn looks like a hay bomb exploded!

One partially unloaded wagon.

Half way through.

To the rafters and beyond!

We are keeping the last 100 bales covered on the wagon outside of the barn. The area to the left of the hay is where we will be constructing a new stall. This stall will accommodate either three weanlings in March or their mothers. We're hoping to get that done before the weather turns cold. I can't say that I'm thrilled about the hay "wagon" since it's not so attractive and I unfortunately got an oversized tarp which will allow a lot of billowing in the wind.

The big blue hay boat.

The chickens enjoyed the process, though they were of no help. They feasted on grasshoppers and now have a new jungle gym to play on.

Speaking of chickens, I now have three extra eggs a day! All three of the chicks are now truly hens. Though the size of the eggs has been surprising. Here these three tiny chicks have morphed into monster hens that dwarf Winnie and Dolores but their eggs are 1/2 the size. I'm hoping that that will change as they become more mature egg layers?