Baby Bunny Update

It has been a very warm and calm winter here so tending to the alpacas has been relatively routine. Most of our excitement has been around the baby bunnies. They are five weeks old now and getting so big!  One has blue eyes!

The ears are starting to flop.  

I think Dad must have been fuzzy!

Quite a change in such a short time, right?!  

More Bunnies

We had a beautiful holiday season and an especially blessed Christmas.  I hope you did, too.  One of our joys was the chance to rescue a rabbit from a difficult hoarding/puppy mill situation.  There were over 200 animals of which 54 were bunnies.  I was only in a position to take one with our pet load a bit high.  However, volunteers who helped at the rescue site mixed boy bunnies with girl bunnies.  You know what that means!

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! 

Ringtones Gone Wild

A Gray Treefrog was hiding under a feeder yesterday.  This is the first one I've seen, so I went online to identify it.

Did you know you can download nature ringtones?  The Kentucky Department of Fish and Wildlife have a site for that called Ringtones Gone Wild.  You can get everything from an angry bear to a bluebird, and they have the Gray Treefrog, too.

Now I have a little surprise for you.  Here is an alpaca ringtone I made.  It is Mystery humming!

Listen to the Alpaca Hum Ringtone
(might take a few seconds to load)



Free for your personal use.

mp3 - DOWNLOAD

iPod or iPhone - DOWNLOAD

Please link back to this site or give credit
if you use these files on your own site.  Thanks! :)

Here is a great website to upload the ringtone from your computer and send it to your phone.  It will also let you convert the mp3 to another format compatible with your phone.   Make Your Own Ringtone

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.

Bad Dog

Lucy is not supposed to be in the pastures.

She can't get back out.  Can you hear her deep Basset howl?  

Woaw-woaw-woaw.

Goofy dog.  How long should I leave her there?

What is it?

 Handsome Hubby found this little guy in the catch pen when we 

were giving the alpacas their monthly shots. 

I think it is a salamander.  I've never seen one before.  Have you?

Thanks to Little Man for taking the pictures.

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

Donkey Otie

This is as close as I could get today to show you Otie, the donkey that lives across the street.  I don't really know what his name is but I call him Donkey Otie.  Get it?  Say it fast.  (Don Quixote)  He is the spotted one.

There are four donkeys in the pasture.   They are so cute!  I've heard some people use them as guard animals for other livestock because donkeys really dislike dogs and coyotes and will run them out of the area for you.  Here is a fun story about one person's experience  in Grit Magazine.  "Sweet Pet Gives a Mean Kick"

There are many things to consider before choosing a donkey and I'm not convinced guarding alpacas is a good mix but some people have had success.  A friend of mine has one and he wanted all of my attention for himself when I visited recently.  If my eyes and hands wandered to another animal, he would nibble and grab my clothes with his teeth until I came back around to only having eyes for him!  What a hoot!

I'd love to read stories about anyone that has donkeys or different types of guard animals.  I hear geese are good alarm systems!

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 Benefits of Green Tea (and Alpacas)

It is very common for people to say how peaceful they feel being around alpacas.  Combine that with a cup of tea and you might have a recipe for bliss!

Dr. Weil lists great reasons to drink green tea in this article on his blog today.

5 Reasons to Drink Green Tea

He says besides the anti-oxidants and boosting immunity, green tea can:

1. Lower cholesterol levels and rates of heart disease
2. Help protect against bacterial infections
3. Promote joint health and stronger bones
4. Reduce inflammation
5. Enhance the effects of antibiotics, even against drug-resistant bacteria and “superbugs”

Some of this you may know, but reducing inflammation is new info for me.  Inflammation is a big cause of the pain you might feel from many diseases, as well as injuries.

I'm trying to add green tea into my routine these days.  With the weather being nicer, it is a great little daily escape to have a cup of tea with the alpacas before calling it a night.

If you aren't already reaping the benefits of green tea, you might give it some thought.  I think it is therapeutic just putting the kettle on! 

I've added the ability to "follow" this blog.  Look for the link in the right column.  I'd love for you to follow or subscribe!  We don't have all the answers, but I do ask lots of questions.  You can learn about alpaca farming, using the fleece, and fiber crafts right along side of me.  :)

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.  :)