Beating the heat

The dog days of summer have arrived with full force and we are all trying to stay cool. It has been hot 30c with heavy humidity. This puts us in the danger zone for alpacas (80f and 80%humidity is the benchmark) so we need to provide methods of cooling.

The girls and the juvenile males like to dip in the pools. The adult males prefer that we spray the trees so they can stand under the dripping water.

The dogs seek the shade, and for us, we do what we can.

Home again

Home again and busily trying to catch up on farm work after a week at Olds Agricultural College in Alberta.

I attended the annual Fibre Week, taking a 2 day class in making felt boots and a four day Alpaca fibre sorter/grader/classer program.

The fibre program has a two year apprenticeship during which time I need to sort and grade 250 alpaca fleeces. Needless to say I will be looking for farms that need help with this step.

My boots are quite funky and just require the addition of soles to be ready for this winter.

Being surrounded by 400 plus fibre artists for a whole week certainly was inspiring and I have returned with many new ideas.

Hay Days

Bill came down and cut the hay last week and then turned it on the following days. On Monday, with Caroline now home it was time to bale. Thankfully Caroline was now home as being a Monday some of our regular help was away at work and then the other local boys who often come on baling day did not show. That left Caroline, Bill and myself to move the 900 odd bales into the barn. Bill, who has the equipment would help us finish each load so he could dump the next one. Became a very long day as we started at 130 and finished about 9pm. Thankfully another neighbour Mike came by looking for Bill and helped us finish things up for the last hour just as Caroline and I were at the point of total exhaustion.

We did get another good crop in the barn and things are set for another winter season. We only need about 300 bales for the year so we are selling some again this year.

Bartholomew arrives

Our first cria of the season arrived on Sunday June 6, right on schedule. A good size guy, he has been named Bartholomew although we don't know why; it just seemed right.

He got off to a rough start with Mom not wanting to feed him. We had to take quick action and gave him a NurseMate supplement. Mom was still none to interested so we had to administer colostrum by bottle during the first 24 hours.

One of us would sit on the floor holding him while the other held the bottle. This process was interesting to Bartholomew's big sister Anuone, and she checked it all out.

The second time we went to the barn for feeding, Anuone positioned herself immediatley behind and slightly over Bartholomew and guided him right over to where we were preparing his feeding, by using her legs and pushing him along.

It took us a moment to realize what she was doing...alpacas are pretty smart.

Mom has now settled down to business and little Bartholomew is getting along fine.

EEEK!

It's showering off and on meaning it's a perfect day to get the greenhouse cleaned up and planted.

Yes, I am really late in attending to the greenhouse this year but better late than never.

Upon wrenching the greenhouse door open I was greeted by an astounding sight. Weeds beyond belief...laying unhampered for the winter and early spring in a nice blanket of Alpaca beans, the weeds had taken off and were nothing short of knee high.

Two years ago we got rid of the snakes in the greenhouse by pouring a box of salt down the snake hole. After removing the snakes, the next spring I found that a rat was chewing off and absconding with my newly planted tomato plants under the cover of darkness. Hence the barn cat. I'm not sure which is worse, snakes or rats.

No sooner had I begun the task of clearing out the weeds, a movement caught my eye. It's no secret that I hate snakes, and the movement turned out to be a long, grayish snake just inches from my foot. The mandatory scream brought the dogs running.

At the sight of out trusty Spaniel, Sultan I yell at him Get it!, Get it! while feebly pointing in the general direction where the snake disappeared. With tail wagging he happily snuffles through the long grasses. I see the snake again, screaming and encouraging the dog to Get it!

Sultan (my savior) does get the snake, shakes it until it no longer moves, and happily deposits it on the grass outside.

With heart a-pounding and a wary eye for what I'm sure will be many more snakes, I continue hoeing out the weeds.

The dead snake will lay in the grass and make my heart pound in fear until I can convince someone else to remove it. Even dead I am not going near that thing.

As for Sultan, he deserves a steak!

High Speed Arrives!

After waiting patiently for the past 5 years, high speed internet has arrived in our rural location. Last week the guys spent the better part of the morning installing the stuff they install and got things up and running.

Thank God!!!

Shearing Day 2010

Once again shearing day was a great success. We had 12 wonderful volunteers helping with everything from using the shop vac to vacuum the animals, weighing alpacas, holding them on the shearing table, trimming nails and skirting fleece.

The day began at 9 AM with the arrival of the first volunteers and followed shortly after by Lukas the shearer. Two stations were set up for shearing, one on the table and an area on the floor. This way Lukas could move from one alpaca to another without having to wait.

We began with the darkest alpacas, moving to the whites. It's easiest to see the dark fibre when the eyes are fresh. As usual after they are shorn alpacas look pretty pathetic. I had made some "apres shear wear" (coats) for two of the smallest animals to help keep them warm until they adjusted to being naked.

We did some skirting right off the alpacas, the really hairy bits and lower leg fibre went directly into the felting bin. This made the process of bagging the shorn fibre a little easier.

The day wrapped up at 3 PM. The crew was tired and dirty and more than ready for the beer and barbecue that followed.

We are very grateful for the help of both old and new friends.

Mayflower Show 2010

We're back from the PEI show with more successes.

Blizzard won White Champion and Callibaut took Reserve Brown. Oreo was first in his class, however there were not enough blacks for a Championship class.
Oreo and Anuone took Produce of Dam (Sedona) and Anuone, Arwyn and Alteza were first, second and third in Junior White Female. Last but not least, Toblerone was first in his class for Fawn Yearling Male.

We enjoyed the high-speed access at the hotel, and now that we're home it's back to dial-up. ARRGH!

Road Trip

We are back safely from the big adventure of driving to Ontario. We girls, myself and the First Assistant headed off with a trailer full of six alpacas for the 2 day drive to Orangeville.

We were fortunate to have excellent weather in both directions although the weather in Ontario during the show weekend was cold, windy, and snow was in the air.

In retrospect, the drive through Montreal at rush hour was a piece of cake compared to the 401 through Toronto, (not during rush hour!). The newly acquired GPS (thanks Mom) was a god send navigating the 401 exits, however "The Voice", I think her name is Laurie, punished us for mis-understanding her directions.

There are few show pictures as we were both busy ferrying alpacas to and from the show ring, and standing in the ring while the Judges inspected the animals.

This was our First Assistants first time showing alpacas and she pulled it off like a pro. We were pleased with our results at the end of Saturday and decided that if we were to win any ribbons on Sunday that would be icing on the cake. Sunday came and we continued to win ribbons, in spite of Oreo rolling in the dirt and Anuone being wet.

We headed for home Monday morning, and "Laurie" punished us once again. We had a lovely tour of Riviere du Loup and met a charming gas station owner who reassured us that a lot of people stop at his establishment looking for the highway.

It was a long trip but worthwhile just the same. Next trip is to PEI for the Mayflower Show.

Success at Orangeville Show

Caroline, this weekend took six animals to Orangeville for the Alpaca Ontario show. She will post more about her adventures but here is a quick snapshot of the results

On Saturday,
Blizzard 1st place Yearlying white male
Alteza 1st place young junior white female
Oreo 1st place yearling black male
Anuone 2nd place older junior white female
Toblerone 3rd place yearling brown male

On Sunday
Oreo Black Male colour champion
Altezza Reserve white female colour champion
Sedona 2nd place get of dam (Showing of Anuone and Oreo)

All in all a very successful weekend.

There's always something!

In preparation for the trip to the Orangeville Alpaca show in April, we purchased a truck cap with a rack on top.

To make it easier to off load the large loom we purchased on the weekend, it made sense to back the truck right up to the door where we would be unloading the loom.

All wenta as planned until it was time to return the truck complete with roof rack back to the garage. From inside the house, I heard a screeching sound and ran to the door to find out what was wrong with the truck.

As it turns out, the truck was just fine, but the clothes line was caught in the roof rack, and the noise was the sound of the clothes line and 20 ft steel light pole being pulled to the ground!

A frantic call to the neighbour to bring his tractor ensued, and we were able to push the pole back into place. We'll see how many windstorms it survives.

And so it begins again

February is when we begin "school" for last summer's cria. As with last year we teach the wee ones how to stand quietly while tied, and are beginning instruction on walking calmly on a lead. The calmly part takes a while....

Preparations are underway for our trip with 6 alpacas to the huge show at Orangeville, Ontario in April where approximately 400 alpacas are registered for the event.

As our magnificent farm sitter will be my companion for the trip, we are involving her in the training lessons. With this additional skill set added to her resume, our farm sitter has become "First Assistant". A much more appropriate title indeed.

Winter living

Winter should be a time to lay back a bit and enjoy a slower pace on the farm. Not so this winter!

While the weather has been pretty easy this year, farm life remains busy.

Farmgirl and Farmsitter are taking weaving lessons which is great fun. The aim is to weave items from our alpaca fibre. We have received all the yarn and rovings from our clip, four boxes in all; beautiful stuff.

There are several marketing seminars in February to attend and the usual rounds of animal care. Lead training begins this weekend with the use of bike inner-tubes.

Little Andele is improving. He is bright-eyed and steadily gaining weight, so I guess he is out of the woods.

We will be hosting a fibre skirting course just before shearing season begins. Watch for dates.

Update on Andele

Thanks to our farm sitter who helped little Andele through the Christmas period. When we returned he was up and about but still thin and not eating very much. His battery of blood and fecal tests all came up inconclusive. We did notice though that he was regularily eating hay but not fighting for the grain or alpaca mash. We even tried bottle feeding but there was limited response.

On the Sunday we moved him to the other crias which we had placed in the weaning pen. Last night I observed him eating grain and this morning eating the mash. Hopefully he has turned the corner and will start to recover and add weight to his thin frame.

What was originally wrong though is still a mystery.

Farm Sitter Blues

During our recent off-farm adventure our farm-sitter had some adventures of her own. She may be thinking of writing a new C&W song about her experiences. Here is an account of the happenings in her own words:

"From the 18th of December until the 4th of January I "Farm Sit" at Rocaroalpacas while the owners went on holidays. This was not the first time I "Sat the Farm" but I think it was the most interesting and eventful.

First a little male got sick and the vet had to be called in twice, this included me giving the little one a needle every morning for 4 days as part of his treatment. This was done with the help of a neighbor, who use to be a dairy farmer, so he was use to handling animals. Also had to borrow a heat lamp from another neighbor. The neighbors were really great, and told me I could call on them at any time. Thank goodness it was only those two times.

One other morning 4 of the alpacas got out of their pen, then out of the barn and onto the lawn. Quick thinking and I got them all back in. Lessons learned, do not leave the barn door open when you go in the barn and make sure the gate is securely shut and the two dogs who like to tease the cats do not jump on the gate.

I fed the herd, mucked out their pens, mixed feed, fed the two cats, fed the two dogs, walked the dogs, kept the wood fire going most of the time to make sure the house was cozy and did everything else involved in the business of farming.

The owners of Rocaroalpacas are very nice people to let me sit their farm while they go away. I am very greatful that they have the trust in me to do this job.

Did I enjoy my job? YES

Would I do it again? IN A HEARTBEAT

Farm Sitter"