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?

I never considered Winnie and Dolores as small until I compared them to the "monster chicks!"

The large brown egg is Dolores'.  The eggs surrounding it belong to the "monster chicks."

Felicity and Daisy chilling in the morning.

The pregnant girls are hanging in there.  We're getting prepared with emergency supplies.  I'm praying the girls won't need them.

Happy Labor Day Weekend!

End Of Summer?

Trying to keep cool!

I just realized I haven't posted since the beginning of summer and now sadly we are approaching too quickly the end of summer.  Even though it was unusually hot and humid for July and the beginning of August, I am not, repeat not, ready for fall.  After fall comes snow (that dirty four letter word) and I am definitely not ready for that.

Babies, crias, that is, are due 9/24, 9/30 and 10/3.  I am nervous and excited.  I'm reading up on all the ways an alpaca birth can go horribly wrong and it makes me a tad worried.  I did, however, make some new alpaca farmer friends that have a 65 alpacas and 13 years experience.  They are only the next town over.  I find that comforting as they assured me I could call at the first hint of trouble.  They even gave me their phone number!

The three mama's to be, Twizzler, Birdie and Felicity are getting big.  Poor Felicity is struggling with the heat.  She is a mature momma of 17 and I have assured her this will be her last cria.  She just rolls her eyes at me and grunts.  "Isn't helping now!"

The chickens are silly to watch and somewhat annoying.  The three chickie doos are a challenge to corral in the evenings and contain in the coop.  I've spent exasperating minutes chasing one chicken from the girls side of the pasture to the boys.

Winnifred is still faithfully producing a daily egg.  The chickie doos should start laying in September.  I've rewarded Winnie with a new nesting box.  All the chickens think the nesting boxes are the roosting boxes.  

This is how the chickens usually sleep at night, crowding in two nesting boxes.

I've come out several mornings to a crushed Winnie egg in a nesting box.  The new nesting box should put a stop to that.

Winnie testing the new nesting box while Dolores looks on.

So I came home the other day to box from the Suri Network Fleece Show sitting on the kitchen table.  I knew that meant The Suri Network had mailed back my fleeces along with the results.

Rafael and Twizzler took out the competition with a one, two punch.

Woo Hoo!!

The Beginning of Summer

There has been a lot of work going on around the farm since May.  Hence, I've found it difficult finding spare time to keep up with my blog.  Today, however, I've found a few minutes to post pictures and do a farm update.

The pasture grass is green and abundant.

The garden is planted.

The net for tomatoes, cukes and runner beans is in place.

Rafael's fleece is in the process of being skirted and the bags contain small samples of fleece to be entered in a spin off.

I'm entering Rafael, Daisy Mae, and Twizzler's fleece in the National Suri Fleece Spin Off in August.  It requires two ounces of each of their fleece.  It had to be entered by June 6th so I rushed to get that in the mail.  The fleece is hand spun and then the yarn is "evaluated for its durability, versatility and overall desirability, and finally for handle and visual appeal."  Since the fleece is an important end product of raising alpacas a favorable score by the judge reflects on the quality and desirability of your animal's fleece for those seeking yarns or rovings from alpacas.  At the end of the show you receive your small hand spun hank of yarn, which is a great way to demonstrate how your alpaca's fleece will look as yarn.

I am also entering Rafael's whole fleece (seen above) and Daisy Mae's in the Fleece Show. In this class the whole fleece is evaluated and given points in the following categories:

Uniformity-micron, length, and color
Style - lock, structure and density
Luster
Absence of Guard Hair (large coarse hairs)
Absence of Impurities
Fleece Weight

Last year in the white older suri female class Twizzler received a 2nd place.  I was thrilled, since this was a national show and the white classes are the most common.  I'm very interested to see how Daisy Mae stacks up to the competition.  Once I get Rafael's and Daisy's fleeces skirted I have six other fleeces to do so that they can be taken to the fiber mill in the fall.  Speaking of, all the fleece dropped off last fall is now spun into yarns and roving and awaiting pick up at the mill.  Now I just need to find a day to go.

I've also been working on my flower beds and recently invested a couple of days edging and putting down another top coat of mulch.

The before east side bed.

The side bed after.

The front bed.

I'm quite fond of these Coral Bells I planted last year and the wonderful red begonia on my planter.

The vet was out twice last week.  All the alpacas got their vaccination and worm shots.  He evaluated Felicity, Twizzler and Birdie and declared the first two were pregnant.  After he felt Birdie's side he announced he was fairly confident she was also.  She is taller and longer so her pregnant belly isn't as obvious.  Aparently pregnancy testing is difficult to determine in alpacas.  Gees you would think there would be a simple inexpensive blood test like there is in the cattle industry.

Felicity sheepishly showing off her belly.

Daisy, wondering, "What about me?  I can show off too!"

The second trip the vet made was to inject a microchip in Daisy and to treat a fungus that Bo has been harboring.

Linus has a love/hate relationship with the chickens.  He wants to "play" with them.  They don't want to.  They run after him.  He runs away.  Sounds like a cat game to me.

Chicken encounters of the cat kind.

Linus supervising as only he knows how to.

Linus is my barn buddy.  He usually follows me out every morning to help feed.  He's often reluctant to leave the barn when I do.  He's a wanna be barn cat with an indoor cat sensibility. He doesn't appreciate high wind, wet grass, cold snow or loud neighbor kids.  :-)

Happy June!

 

Shearing Day 2016

Thursday of last week the alpacas got their haircuts.  Thanks to the help of our kids, Jeremy and Hannah and the awesome crew of Biosecure Shearing it all went without a hitch.

Before: Rafael, "Mom I can't see why I need a haircut?"

After:  Me, "Because it makes you look so youthful!"

Before: "Are you sure?"

After:  "Yes, I'm sure!"

Comanche before.

Comanche after.

Comanche was a little unsteady on his feet afterward but he quickly recovered.

First Up: Rafael.  He was such a good boy.  That's Jeremy and Hannah observing.

Our shearing crew ended up being a four man crew.  They did all the hard stuff.  Each alpaca was guided or carried to a red mat.  The crew had set up two mats.  Then ropes with padding were attached to each alpacas front and back feet and they were gently stretched out.  This prevents the alpacas from moving, protecting both them and the shearer.  Then Micah the head shearer went to work.  He started just below the neck and clipped in one continuous cut across the alpaca to the rump.  Then back up to below the neck to repeat the process.  This is called the blanket or prime cut.  The finest fleece is found here.  If you send a fleece to a fleece show this is what you would send.  This also makes the finest yarns.  The prime is laid out on a plastic sheet (cheap tablecloth) and then rolled up inside to preserve the integrity of the "blanket".

The next cuts were the neck, and upper legs.  This comprises the 2nd cuts.  These cuts are good for socks and rug yarns.

The last cuts were the 3rds, which includes the lower legs, the face, and a general cleanup of anything that was missed.  This fleece is good for batting, fleece balls, and anything not requiring a fine fleece.  Each alpacas' fleece is bagged separately, except for the 3rds which all went into one bag.

I will send out Daisy Mae's and Rafael's fleece to the Suri Fleece show in August to see how it stacks up against the competition.  Last year in the senior white fleece category Twizzler received a 2nd place!

All of the fleeces will need to be skirted which is a tedious hand process performed by yours truly to remove as much of the large vegetable matter such as hay, straw, burrs, etc. along with any other foreign objects from the fleece.  Once that is completed and I have the fleeces back from the show in August I will take them to the processing mill to be made into roving and yarn.  I am just getting back last years fleece now!  It takes so long because of the lack of fiber mills.  They are overwhelmed.

Still working on shearing across Rafael's back for the "blanket" fleece.

Rafael getting a face and forelock trim.

This is Andraya looking a little worried.  She kept up a running commentary informing us about how unhappy she was with the whole process.

Andraya getting her legs trimmed.

The finished look!  My how nice it is to see your eyes Andraya!

Bo's new look.

Twizzler looking a tad grumpy.

Each alpaca's toenails were trimmed and if needed their teeth were filed.  Sometimes an alpaca's teeth get too long.  In their native habitat the teeth would be worn down along with the toenails naturally.

I have to say I was anxious about our first shearing but the shearing crew did an outstanding job not only shearing and handling the alpacas but in answering all of my questions with patience and grace and guiding us newbies through the process.  Hannah and Jeremy were essential in handling the shorn fleece while Jeff weighed each fleece and recorded all the details.  Thank you to all of you!

Parting shot!

The chicks looking very hen like.  Next week they will be eight weeks old.  Big enough to join Dolores and Winifred outside their rapidly shrinking pen.  They got to spend today outside in the chicken run, which they were quite excited about.  When I put them in for the evening they quickly huddled together for a much needed rest.

Oh and the chicks have names now.  Nikki, Ava and Phoebe thanks to my granddaughters!  Not that I can distinguish Nikki and Ava from each other.  Maybe by next week they will develop some distinguishing characteristics.  Phoebe stands out because she still has a few downy white feathers on her head.  

Chicks, New Digs - Unite!

Who forgot to let Mother Nature know it's April?

Weather notwithstanding, I had an opportunity yesterday to create a new improved, larger chick pen.  I had a roll of hardware wire so I put it to use.

The hardware wire is 1" x 1" the perfect size to contain little chicks.

I deemed the perfect size to be 4' long x 2' wide.

I bent it 90 degrees at 2' and then again at 4', times two, to create a rectangle.

The last 2' section I added 2 extra inches, cut out the one row of vertical wires and used the horizontal wires as my wires to bend around the next side to connect the ends together.

Viola! Easy and cheap chick container.

I'm hoping this pen will hold the three chicks for the next six weeks as they continue to grow.  I'm amazed at how quickly they are getting their feathers and starting to resemble ugly, gangely baby birds.  The cute baby chick phase is short lived.  Soon, however, like the ugly duckling they will blossom into beautiful hens.

 At the end of week two they have wing and tail feathers.

I still can't tell them apart, other than the baby in the back left corner, who appears to be slightly younger than the other two.  Her feathers aren't as far as along.

The girls and friends.

The above photo was from Tuesday, when we had no snow and the weather was more spring like.  Both the alpacas and the deer were enjoying the tender greens poking up from the winter brown grasses.  The alpacas are within the fencing, the deer are not.

As we move closer to May, I have a laundry list of spring chores.  Included amongst the list is having the veterinarian out to microchip Daisy, help set up a vaccination schedule, pregnancy checks for the three girls, Twizzler, Felicity and Birdie and to look at a possible case of mange with Bo.

Also I should be finding out in the next couple of weeks when the shearers are scheduled to come.  Any volunteers for shearing day are welcome!