Sunday, January 10, 2016
December 7th I drove down to W.Va to get a weanling male, and guess what? I came home with three stunning boys. Alpacas are like potato chips and German Shepherds, you can never have enough. Thursday and Friday were herd health days and with the help of my farm sitter and her husband, I was able to get everyone except Black Mystique done. Mystique decided she was not going to get her shot that day, and nearly knocked over the pen I had around the scale. We decided it was not worth possibly read more...
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Sunday, November 22, 2015
Ok, so I have several big bags of blankets that I need to process and started to wash several today. In two hours, I got two full blankets washed and spun out. I have pvc pipes with plastic chicken netting attached, so I can lay it over one of my big dog crates to dry, as the weather is not conducive to outdoor drying. I am getting the system down pretty pat now and will spend a few minutes in the morning, pulling the drying fiber apart. Once it is dry, it will be picked. Got six bags of bl read more...
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Saturday, November 21, 2015
Now that it is almost December, I am getting my barns ready for some cold weather, and moving the adult males to the main barn where there is a new addition to make things more comfortable for them as well as for me. The summer barn has no water lines to it, so it is not an option for a cold winter. The main barn has water lines, and watering troughs that are kept from freezing via some submersible heaters. It also has electric, so I can do work in there after dark.
So far, the only males read more...
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Saturday, November 21, 2015
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Sunday, October 25, 2015
Since I want to continue learning about alpacas and the exceptional fiber they produce, I felt it would be of benefit to me and the fiber that my animals produce, to attend one of the sorting seminars that was being offered in September at U.S. Natural Fibers in Springfield, Kentucky. Most of the seminars have been too far away for me, but this was just a three hour drive from Tanglewood, so I decided to go for it. What I did not know is how much I would learn, both from the very helpful teac read more...
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Thursday, September 3, 2015
As many alpaca farmers, I am anal about checking my pregnant girls when it gets close to their due dates. On September 1, though, I was very busy and had to go shopping for numerous alpaca related items, one of which was getting needles for the next herd health day. Getting home around five, I was tired, and decided to take a quick cat nap. No sooner had I laid myself down, than I realized that I might as well do the pm barn clean-up right then, instead of waiting until later, so got up and read more...
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Sunday, June 21, 2015
After 373 days of anxious waiting, we finally have a cria here, the first of 2015. As usual, I was checking Deerfield out every half hour or so, and was beginning to think that June 13th would pass as the rest of the 373 days had done, with lots of watching, but nothing productive to show for it.
Then, finally, at 4:00 pm, I noticed a bubble, the first sign of impending birth. I had put in a call to the vet clinic the day before because I was worried about the exceptionally long gestation, read more...
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Tuesday, June 9, 2015
Anticipating the birth of a new cria is always an experience, particularly with this one. My fawn girl, GSAF Miss Deerfield, is driving me bonkers, waiting for her to deliver this highly anticipated cria, which will be the first offspring of our new herdsire, CFI Peruvian Stryker. Her due date was in late May, and here it is the ninth of June, and although she has cria sticking out on both sides, apparently has no desire to drop her baby yet. About an hour ago, I checked on her again, as I ha read more...
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Monday, June 1, 2015
I have noticed that my Guinea hens, who had been sitting on a bunch of their eggs, have not been seen for two days. The male is getting lonesome and has been looking for them too, but neither of us has found them. Last night, Kander, the ever vigilant Anatolian Shepherd, managed to do one of his Houdini escapes and slipped past me as I was bringing a bale of hay in to the boys. Of course, he let all the boys out as well, and as luck would have it, I had left the driveway gate open so I could read more...
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