I put the kids to bed earlier tonite. Everybody has fresh hay and water. I peeked out there a few minutes ago and all was quiet. The big boys are cushing (that means laying down - they tuck their feet underneath them) in the dry lot. I couldn't see the girls at all so they are probably in the barn. Snow and cold weather doesn't bother them at all. They have plenty of insulation with all that fiber on them! They are walking around with giant fur coats on!
This is going to sound crazy, coming from me, former suburbanite here... one of my daily chores is cleaning up their poop piles. It's not as bad as it sounds, and it doesn't smell bad at all. (cleaning up the dog poop is a whole other story! total yuk!) The boys, both big and small, are easy and quick to clean. They keep their duties to a very defined area. The girls, on the other hand, go where they feel like it, practically - lots of little piles spread out over the corner of the dry lot. However, our alpacas and llamas are all very well mannered in that they have refrained from using the barn. When it's this cold outside, the beans, (alpaca farmer lingo for poop because they look like coffee beans) freeze quickly so they are easy to scoop up. Okay, enough of that. I hope I didn't scare anyone away. This is just part of the whole farming experience. Anyway, when I'm out there scooping in the girls' lot, I'm using accompanied by Tasha, our livestock guardian dog for the girls. I guess she wants to be sure that I'm being thorough! Opal comes over often also. She likes to nibble on the edge of my jacket, hoping for a treat. She's our PR girl.
I'll try and remember to take some more photos for my blog, so ya'll can put names and faces together! :)
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| Pixie and Tasha playing |
Goodnite all! I'll let you know if the weatherman was on target for tomorrow!
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