Tuesday, January 8, 2013
Old Man Winter
Old man winter is here. This time of year, going outside to work the herd and the pastures gets miserable. I’m not gonna lie…..the wet, cold rainy blustery days are no fun to be outside. The best part of that is the alpaca interaction. Each one has their own look as if they say “hey, thanks for coming out and feeding me, I’m hungry, or it's about time.....” We save field cleaning for the weekends, although our daughter Stephanie goes out and does the main fields midweek. With short daylight hours, that sure helps. Not complaining, but you fellow alpaca ranchers know what I’m saying. When we get done, hitting the hot tub or building a big fire is my reward but for Jeff, it’s catching whatever football game he can find on tv.
Thankfully, as of this post – we have had no severe winter weather. Thinking back to August when we had our hay stored away, it makes me feel good that we made that investment. This time of year, it’s difficult to find good hay, on a consistent basis.
Farmer's Almanac said we'd have a mild year and so far, they have been right. But old man winter may just have a trick up his sleeve. Stay tuned.