Just Ticking Along

Anya, Cinnamon and Willow, three friends born within days of each other, relaxing in the winter sun

 

With school being out the last couple of weeks it has meant that Ric has not been called in to teach and so has been available to help out more with various tasks around the farm.  We have been working our way through each pasture checking and trimming teeth and toenails, body scoring the alpacas and inspecting their fleeces.   Everyone looks fine, with the exception of a couple of broken toenails (the result of boys rough housing).

 

Ric has set up a drain plug heater in one of the big water tubs to prevent it from freezing at night, along with an air hose to blow the water out from the water hose to prevent it from freezing too.  It sure beats dragging buckets of warm water out from the house to water the alpacas with (although the buckets of water provide a great workout for the arm muscles!)

 

The weather has been fluctuating from warm to cold to warm as cold fronts pass through the area, a situation that always has us more watchful.  The change in barometric pressure seems to have an effect on an animal’s digestive system.  Our vet reports more cases of colic in horses when the barometric pressure suddenly changes, and it does seem that when we have an incident of digestive upset in the alpacas it is often around a period of changeable weather.

 

Thankfully for the last couple of days the wind has died down, it is tiring enough for us to be hearing and battling the wind as we do chores, how much more so must it be for the alpacas and horses who are out in the wind all day and night.  Certainly they seem a bit lighter in spirit and more relaxed since the wind has subsided, exploring the pastures more and stretching out for a bit of winter sun bathing.

 

The weanling group are making progress, although I have to say that this particular group of weanlings seems the most determined to continue nursing from their dams.  Usually by now at least a few of the group will be headed for the hay rather than their dams when it comes to be reunited with them in the evening, but this group are all still having a good nurse – perhaps they are egging each other on to do so!  I have noticed though that where, during the first couple of days, there was an explosion of weanlings dashing to find their dams, now they are walking across to the girls and taking more time to find their dams.  Small progress, but progress all the same. 

 

When I walk into the weanling pen during the day there are always a couple who will come over and tell me their tale of woe.  Dream in particular likes to come over and hum at me, resting her head on my legs and turning her face up to me in the hope that her big brown eyes will persuade me to open the gate and let her back in to her dam Rosie.  Annochia too likes to let me know how she feels about the day weaning process, and expresses her displeasure quite loudly.

 

As the weanlings are walked across to their day pasture every morning, they also are receiving some good halter training practice.  They are all walking well on their halters, a couple of them are still a little stiff as they walk, but every day we see them getting better and more comfortable with wearing a halter.

 

So things are ticking along, and soon when the new year starts there will be a return to a more normal routine (if there ever is any such thing as normal!).  The New Year will bring plans for shows, seminars, alpaca sales, product sales and more.   Of course there will be new crias coming on the scene and before we know it shearing will be upon us too with the hive of activity that shearing brings.  As the saying goes “Time stands still for no man” and that is certainly the case around here!

Rosemary

Mom!!!!

 

The weaning crias rushing back to their dams

 

 

I think that was the general cry as we let the fall crias back into the main pen following their first day of day weaning.  You can see from the blur of running weanlings in the photo above that they did not hang about in returning to their mothers!

 

The weanlings all handled their first day well, although some were definitely more at ease than others.  Zianna, Stormy and Pride walked over with us to the weaning pen without hesitation, while Dream and Annochia had already figured out that this was not going to be what they wanted and balked at the process of crossing the pasture.  Serenity and Atlas walked over with plenty of head turning and wondering where they were going.  Song being an orphan did not have a dam to worry about leaving, but was more concerned about staying with her buddies.  Song is no longer taking a bottle as Ric finished weaning Song and Mags off the bottle while I was in England.  Mags is already in with the juvenile male group and is settling in well.  Once they are weaned Pride, Stormy and Atlas will be joining him there.

 

During the day we kept an eye on the weanling group and for the most part they stayed in their shelter eating hay.  It was one of those windy New Mexico afternoons (sustained winds around 25 mph), helping encourage the weanlings to remain in the shelter and distracting them from watching the fence line for their dams.  There were a couple of times when one or two of them did come to the fence to look for their dams, but they soon returned to the weanling group when they realized that they could not get to their dams through the fence.

 

To help add some stability to the group we put a few of the maiden alpacas in the pen with them.  Kanika, Carissima and Velvet did a good job of calmly going about their daily business, reassuring the weanlings that all was well with the world.  We have found that the addition of two or three older alpacas in a weanling group helps provide an element of calm in what can be a stressful time for the weanlings.

 

Out of the whole group I think Annochia took the weaning the hardest.  A member of the Bjorn family, a very close family group of alpacas, she was not at all pleased about being away from her dam Anya, making me wonder if she will be as hard to wean as her dam was.  Both Anya and her sister Keeva took a lot of persuading when it came to the subject of weaning and I suspect Annochia may be the same.

 

As often is the case, the dams were not at all concerned about the crias being away for the day.  Serenity’s dam Snow did initially wander over and look through the fence at the weanling group, but soon returned to join the other alpacas at the hay feeder.

 

By evening chores though the weanlings were telling me they were more than ready to go back to their dams.   As you can see once the gate was opened they rushed to be reunited with their dams and then nursed hungrily as if they hadn’t eaten all day!

 

Today we will repeat the process again, and will continue to do so for about two weeks before the weanlings take the next step of staying away from their dams overnight.  Usually by that time they have adjusted to being away from their dams and will take the next step in their stride.  (Lets hope Annochia agrees with me on that point when the time comes!)

 

Rosemary

 

Mixing and Mingling

 

Until recently we have kept the fall cria group and their dams in a separate pen from the main female group on the farm.  This started before the fall crias were born when we wanted to provide a quiet place for the dams to give birth and for the small crias to be safely away from the antics of the larger spring crias.

 

Now though it is time for some change, the spring cria group is ready to be weaned and the fall crias are now nearly all over 30 lbs and growing well.  I say nearly all, as Little Man is still shy of the 30 lb. mark but is gradually headed in that direction.

 

We like to start the weaning process with day weaning, and in order to do that we need to be able to put the spring crias in a separate pen during the day to prevent them from nursing from their dams.  So some rearranging of the female herd has been necessary.

 

Our main female pen is close to our quarantine pen, with a 10 foot enclosed alleyway separating the two pens.  The fall cria group and their dams have so far been in the quarantine pen.  Now though we have opened up the gates between the pens to allow the two groups to mix and mingle.

 

It is always amusing to me to watch the alpaca’s behavior when we first open the gates.  Inevitably for the first day or so we find that the two groups swap places, the group from the main pen will be found in the quarantine pen and vice versa, I guess the alpacas just want to prove the old adage of “the grass is always greener on the other side”.

 

So far the two groups have been getting along well.  Young Pride, determined to prove that he is destined to be a herdsire has been checking out the new girls and receiving a suitable amount of spit in the process.  The fall crias have had great fun exploring the larger area, and the adult girls are convinced that the hay feeders that they did not have access to before must have better hay in them than the ones they have been feeding from.

 

We have allowed the two groups a few days to settle down before starting the day weaning process of the spring crias.  We don’t want to put any additional stress on the crias that are to be weaned.  By allowing free access to both areas for a while, the spring crias start to become familiar with what will become their day pasture. 

 

This week we will start the day weaning process, by putting the spring crias (without their dams) in the quarantine pen during the day and once again closing the gates between the two pens.  When we do evening chores we will feed the weanlings in their day pen and then open the gates to allow them to go back to their dams for the night.

 

With the spring cria group being quite a large one I suspect that they will handle the weaning process well.  They will have the company of each other, something they have had from birth and are familiar with.  I am sure there will be some displeasure at not being allowed to nurse from their dams during the day, but from the dams perspective its more than time for the spring crias to reduce their milk consumption (and some sighs of relief will no doubt be heard from the girls!)

 

Rosemary

Anyone Need Any Tumbleweeds?

Because we have a few hundred to spare if anyone wants them!

 

Having made it safely home from my trip to England (a day later than expected thanks to a cancelled flight) I was greeted by below freezing temperatures of 15 F and walls of tumbleweeds that blew in en masse on Sunday when the sustained wind speed was 30-40 mph with gusts of 65 mph – lovely!

 

Tuesday was a little warmer and calmer and I foolishly spent time trying to remove some of the tumbleweeds.  I say foolishly as on Thursday the wind blew again and the tumbleweeds returned.  In some parts of town the tumbleweeds stacked up past the top of ground floor windows and there are suggestions that this is the worse year ever for tumbleweeds.

 

At the farm our fences did a wonderful job of collecting tumbleweeds and I had to spend time pulling them away from the pasture gates just to be able to get in to feed the alpacas.  You can just about see the alpaca’s faces peering through the wall of tumbleweeds in the picture above.

 

The alpacas were quite blasé about the new walls to their pastures, nibbling at the offending tumbleweeds and rubbing up against the tumbleweeds that made it into the pasture – I’m hoping they didn’t get too many broken pieces of tumbleweed in their fleeces.

 

The crias and yearlings enjoyed the windy weather, running around the pasture and spooking at each other and the tumbleweeds that rolled across their path.  There was much jumping and turning up in the air and running at full gallop, ending up with a game of “lets see who stops closest to the fence”.

 

So now for me it is back to work, sorting through the various emails and mail that arrived while I was away, trying to get back on track and perhaps even preparing for Christmas (most men I have spoken to have assured me that five days is more than enough time to prepare!).

 

For all who sent me messages of sympathy and support following my fathers’ death I thank you for your kind words and wishes.  Each and every message I received meant a lot to me and was a comfort at a sad time.

 

I hope to get back on track with my blog entries now and look forward to posting more entries about life on our farm and reading the comments of visitors to the blog.

 

(and don’t forget if you need any tumbleweeds we have plenty to spare – an excellent gift for that hard to buy for person in your life!)

 

Rosemary

Putting Our Fleece On Our Feet

Our new socks made from our own Windrush Alpaca fleece

 

Just before I left for England our shipment of alpaca socks made from our own alpaca fleece arrived.  I just had time to open the boxes and take a quick look, check that none had gone missing in transit (it can happen sometimes, so always insure your processed products) and select two pair for me to take with me on my journey (I am wearing the white pair as I write this entry, except for when I took them off for the above photo).

 

I always joke with Ric that it’s necessary for me to try any product we produce, I think he feels it is an excuse for me to wear lovely alpaca all of the time, but there is an element of necessity in wearing and trying our products.  When you sell any kind of product you really need to know that product’s strengths and weaknesses in order to be able to answer customer questions.   It is impossible to tell someone how a particular pair of alpaca socks feel on your feet if you have never actually worn them yourself.  Likewise are products are subject to various laundry experiments so that we can make our customers aware of how those products will react in certain conditions.  For instance the first alpaca socks we had made from our fleece did not withstand the cavalier washing and drying of Ric’s son Paul.  Once Paul had tossed the socks in with his regular laundry and put them in the dryer he discovered that they reduced to a size suitable to fit the paws of his dog!

 

So having learned the faults of previous socks we had made we tried to rectify those problems in this latest batch.

 

While these latest socks still have the washing instructions of “hand wash, dry flat”, they should be able to withstand machine washing on a cool cycle and maybe even tumble drying on low, but I have not had time to experiment with the dryer yet.

 

Another improvement we have made to out latest line of socks is to have a tough, nylon thread added to the yarn that is used for the reinforced area on the toes and the heels of the sock to help prevent wear and tear in those areas.  The nylon does take away a little from the soft handle on the outside of the sock, but inside the sock we have a soft terry alpaca lining to provide the warm, softness of alpaca next to the bare skin of the foot.  Knowing that I am hard on the heels of my socks, the lady at the mill where we had these socks produced has now challenged me to wear them out!  She is very confident that she will win that challenge.

 

The new socks are a lighter weight than our previous socks, making them more suitable for daily year round wear and have been produced in two colors, traditional white with a grey reinforced toe, instep and heel, and also a nice dark fawn with a brown reinforced toe, instep and heel.   The socks have a small amount of fine wool blended with them for increased elasticity and durability too.

 

We still have to band the socks with our own sock band (a job to do when I return) and then take the necessary steps to market them.   We will be selling them for $20 a pair plus tax.  With my sudden trip to England the launch of our online store has been delayed, so if you would like to try a pair and cannot wait for the online store, give Ric a call at 575-683-5177 and I am sure he will be glad to get some on their way to you!

 

Rosemary

Staying Warm In Record Lows

 

Sometimes life doesn’t cooperate the way we would like it to.  While I made it safely to England for the funeral services for my father, Ric has had a more challenging time at home.

 

When Ric returned from his trip to England, he apparently brought an unwanted gift with him – a nasty virus which has left him with a sore throat, cough, low energy and which has stolen his voice.  Not really what you want when you are running the farm on your own, but so far he has been managing. 

 

If that was not enough to deal with the weather has turned really cold with Wednesday night/Thursday morning bringing record lows.  (I think Ric said minus 15, but with his lack of voice it is difficult to understand him sometimes).

 

Cold weather always brings more work with it, the alpacas need extra bedding and we also increase their hay to help them keep good energy during the cold temperatures.  Extra beet pulp shreds soaked in warm water are always welcomed by the herd, who love to slurp up the warm sweet water that the shreds are in.  We also like to put out buckets of warm water for the alpacas to drink.  Ric contends that the warm water freezes more quickly, but often the alpacas drink most of it before it gets a chance to freeze.  The first couple of warm water buckets may show less consumption but usually once word gets around (and it is amazing how quickly alpacas spread the word of something good to eat or drink) the warm water is the first to go.  It makes sense really; I know I prefer to drink warm drinks over iced drinks on a cold day.

 

The youngest of the crias have been practising their warm up routine, galloping at high speed around the pasture at dusk, and Ric reports that on Thursday morning the cria group had figured out that if they all cushed close together they could all be pretty comfortable.  Usually crias tend to sit with their dams at night or when it is cold, but I have noticed in the past that this fall cria group will often sit in a group together and sometimes even lie across each other.  They are a happy, friendly (and now in the cold weather comfortable) little group.

 

To keep us humans warm in such cold times the solution is lots of layers of clothing and I can be pretty certain that Ric is using his insulated coveralls, fleece lined jeans and of course alpaca socks (a post on our newly arrived line of alpaca socks will be following in the next day or two!).

 

The forecast says that the temperatures in New Mexico are due to start to warm back up again, so hopefully that will be the case.   I am sure not only Ric but all of the animals will appreciate some warmer weather.

 

Here in England I am doing my best to stay away from anyone who has the slightest hint of a cold or sickness, the only thing I plan on bringing back are my suitcases and some goodies from the grocery stores that I cannot buy in the United States (and with my trip coming so close to Christmas there are lots of goodies to choose from!)

 

Rosemary