DIY Livestock Watering System

In the spirit of re-purposing, recycling, and saving money, here is how we fill two troughs on either side of a fence with one hose.

Chris took two large storage tubs we had on hand and put them on either side of the fence separating the boys and girls.

He cut out half of each lid to make a large opening.  This keeps the water cleaner and cooler.  It also makes a safe place to tuck a water heating element in the winter.

We have a boy who likes to step inside the troughs so Chris set them on top of  overturned tubs to make them higher.     

Chris used PVC plumbing pipe to create a divided water spout, attached it to the fence with hay bale twine, and ran our hose through the top securing  it with a large clamp.  

This cuts down on a lot of bucket filling and fits our budget for the moment.  It also makes me feel good about using what we have instead of always buying more.

I'm sure you can take this basic idea and adjust it to fit your needs.  It doesn't look fancy, but it'll work until you get plumbing out to the barn or pastures.  

Oh, and you'll want to secure the lids or this can happen! 

Cooling Down Alpacas

It is super hot here today.  The heat index  makes it feel like 110 degrees this afternoon.  YIKES.  We are keeping the water buckets fresh, fans are blowing, and wetting down underbellies every few hours.  Here is a video of Jolene and Missy enjoying the summer water ritual.

Shearing Day Pictures 2011

I grabbed one last picture of my FLUFFY alpacas.

We got an early start at 7 a.m. and it was boys first!  

Peruvian Mystery was a squealer!

He has the best fleece on the farm and will be 

standing stud this month for us.

Teddy has been through this before.  

He acted like it was a day at the spa! :)

Our llama, Ringo, is another story.  

Here are the guys remembering him from last year.

Yes, spit happens!

The neighbor's calves wondered WHAT all the fuss was about!

Humpf!  He was only mad for a minute.

The shearing team was absolutely excellent.  They took care of fighting teeth, 

toenails, and making sure everyone looked their best.  

In under an hour we had bags of fleece and bare naked alpacas in the pastures.

I love this picture of the boys checking out Missy.

My Lovebug (14) took the shearing photos.  I found this one mixed in.

Wordless Wednesday - When Mower Part is Backordered

              

A Cow Says Mooove, a 'Paca Says Squeak

I woke up early for the second time this morning to a loud ruckus in the pasture.  I made it to the fence with my camera just in time to catch the big one on the hill bellowing and my fellas scampering away at the noise!  (Ha!  That shows you where my priorities are... Catch the shot for my friends first THEN address the situation)

I don't think they've seen our neighbor's cows before.  He usually keeps them in another part of his property.

It did make me laugh, but I'll have to check the direction of runoff and any potential viral problems this might cause.  I might have to move the boys to another pasture for a little while.

You might have picked up on my first sentence.  That the cows were the second morning wake-up call.  The first one was when Little Missy came diving under the covers, having a fit because a mouse was in her room and sounded very loud and really big!  THAT ended up being the 'paca boys neck wrestling in the wee hours.  I guess their squealing might sound like a squeak to sleepy little ears.

Between moos and "squeaks" I am one tired girl.  I'm feeling a need for a nap, but I have my priorities straight...share my goofy life with my friends first, THEN catch some zzzzzzzzs!

Overseeding From Missy's Point of View

Dear Friend,

Boy, do I have a tale to tell.  I was enjoying my afternoon in the front pasture when all of the sudden Mr. C  came  toward us with some odd looking contraption.  It moved FAST.  A lot faster than when he walks on his feet coming at us with those long white herding poles.

We had to move quickly to get out of the way.

I don't know what the heck that thing was on the back, but it scratched up the dirt pretty good as it passed.

We decided it was best to just get on out of there!

The next thing we knew the whole family was out tossing seed everywhere.  Whew!  I thought they had a new herding technique.  Excuse me...  I think I found a little something green here.  

I sure hope the yummy spring grass comes up soon!  Drop me a line from your pasture!


Love,
Missy

A Feeding Time Story

I'll give you a hint.  This is how it ends.

I went out to feed the alpacas yesterday and took my camera along.  Alpacas and llamas mostly eat grass and hay, but we give them supplements in the form of grain to give them some additional nutrients.  

Smoke made it to the fence first.  He is the guard llama currently in charge of the girls' pasture.  He is curious about something.  See how alert he is?

It's Lucy.  She always follows me out and snags the tidbits that make it through the fence.  Smoke and Sabrina are making sure she stays on her side.

I have to tell you Smoke has a bit of a personal problem.  You can count on him to pass gas when he moves too quickly.  Of course this always gets a giggle from any bystanders. Out of the other end comes grassy, green spit.  Here he is about to tag one of the girls who is intruding on his feeding space.  I think he has given fair warning to get out of the way, don't you?

Due to recent storms it is very, very muddy here.  Our property is hilly, too, so it is a bit tricky getting around right now.  (Aha!  You can see where this is going can't you?)  With shearing time coming soon we moved the boys to higher ground hoping to keep them drier and cleaner.

After navigating a sea of squishy sludge I made it to the far side.  Ringo is standing tall and proud today in spite of his dirty self.  He does not have the same gas problem as his brother but he is the class clown.  Remember the nose-to-nose picture I captured when Missy was born and when he took my sun hat right off my head?  I don't know if all llamas are like this, but Ringo and Smoke are big goofs!

 

Everyone was wet and sloppy so no cute fuzzy pics today....but here's Teddy fussing over his space, too.

This is when I decided to head back to the house...turned... and slippity-slurp... down into the mud I went!  Yep..this is me....sitting on my fanny in the muck.  As you can tell, I rescued the camera. 

Smoke thinks I'M the big goof!

Wordless Wednesday - Muddy and Wet

 

The "S" Word

All the white "stuff" melted yesterday and today, like many other places across the United States, we have another round of the "S" word. On the window sills you can see the little chess pieces Handsome Hubby and Little Man are making out of clay.  At least we've been able to come up with some fun things to do to combat cabin fever.

During the evening feed duty I thought I'd snap some pictures with the alpacas.  I can always count on our guard llama, Ringo, to get in them.   He IS technically doing his job by getting in between the alpacas and anything else that comes along, but I think he just wants to stick his nose in the feed bucket I'm carrying.  He gets pretty pushy with that nose!

 

Now getting the picture was going to be a little tricky.  I could hear the boys drinking the warm water I just brought out.  When it got quiet I knew they had raised their head...

Bingo!  There is our pretty Jr. Herdsire,  Peruvian Mystery, but I  left someone out of the shot!

I'll have to try when someone else can hold the camera AND I can't promise it will be before Spring.    Ha!  Another "S" word.  :)

Peeping Toms

The alpacas are pretty close to the house.  I can see them from the kitchen window and from other areas that look out toward one of the pastures.  We catch their attention sometimes and they'll stand and watch us...like little Peeping Toms.  They also like to watch T.V. !   I think the bright color and movement puts them on alert.  Here Jolene and Missy are watching the Superbowl Pregame Show! 

They were pulling for the "alPACKERS" of course!

More Treasure!

Like much of the country, we've been inundated with snow.  The alpacas are quietly keeping warm in the run-ins.  Much of our days are spent inside so it has given me time to knit more pouches. Treasure pouches, rosary pouches, what-not holders, coins....  I'm writing out the pattern so I can list it in my shop.

First they look like this:

Then they becomes this:

As you know from my previous post, I've also been working on cross-promoting other talented people from all over the world.  I communicated with someone from Latvia yesterday!

Thursdays are when a new challenge is presented to create a treasury around a certain item.  Here is my entry this week.  There are lots of beautiful things to discover! 

We have our yearly meeting for the Kentucky Alpaca Association coming up this weekend. I'll get to mingle with fellow farmers, share ideas, and start preparing for the Kentucky Classic. Everyone is supposed to bring their best "winter woe" story. I don't have one! Which I guess is a good thing. I am truly blessed.  Oh, wait!  Does kids being home for a gazillion snow days count?  I am about to eat my young!

P.S. I haven't forgotten about the Cranberry Swirl Coffee Cake I promised to share. I have to make it to the store to get nuts and getting out of our long, hilly, icy driveway might take a few more days.

Neck Wrestling

I hope you had a wonderful holiday season.  Our Christmas has been joyous and peaceful, and I'm really enjoying the start of the new year.  I joined a spinning group. Yay! Making new friends!

It was severely cold for a few weeks and our boys found a way to keep warm!  Peruvian Mystery is two now and has decided to show his dominance. He even takes on Ringo, our llama, who is three times his size!  

When the machos face off they neck wrestle, 

chase each other around the pasture at breakneck speeds, try and bite each other in "private areas", 

and squeal loudly.  

When it gets really heated this happens! 

Males grow fighting teeth that can seriously injure another animal so those have to be filed down when they come in. So far our boys don't have their fighting teeth, but we'll have to keep an eye out for them.

I can only imagine what Mataeus might be saying now that things have calmed down.... "Do you think the girls were watching?"

The weather has returned to normal temperatures for January and it is time to return to quiet winter days.  Ahhhh!  Oh, and I have a new favorite cake!  I will post the recipe for you soon.  I want to make it again and take pictures.  It is a Cranberry Swirl Coffee Cake and heads to the top of my list for easy and scrumptious! 

Round 'em up!

A few days ago I took a short break from spinning and knitting in order to get my hands on the actual animals!  We needed to manage some herd health issues so it was time to round 'em up!  See what the drought has done to our once-lovely pastures?

Teddy enjoying a beautiful fall day.

Missy still isn't too sure about this.  See how she has her ears back?  She's a yearling now! She has gorgeous, dense fleece.  We'll be breeding her in the spring to our new junior herdsire Accoyo Mystery.

Here is our Mystery man now!  Stunning fleece!  Son of Accoyo America Sinbad, the high-selling alpaca of the prestigous 2006 Parade of Champions Auction. Sinbad sold for a well-deserved $205,000!!!  Here is a link to Seldom Scene Farm's Herdsire page with info on Mystery's sire and his incredible genetics.  Seldom Scene Farm  We are thrilled to have Mystery!  He recently settled his first two dams.  I need to spend some time updating our website to add him to the herd.

Ahhhh...and here is MY man.  Handsome Hubby helping 

Mataeus with his medicine.

What a difference a day makes. Today there is a downpour.  It is too late to help the grass grow but the fire ban has been lifted!  All our pastures have rivers running through them and the critters are a muddy mess.  Everyone is hunkered down so it is a good time for me to get back to playing with fleece!

Working on a bunch of these....

...and these!

Bangles and soaps seem to be my hot items this time of year.  I encourage you to support independent artists whether locally or globally.  You can find lots of neat things on Etsy!