25 November 08 - 10:59RAIN
Wow what a rainy day. The boys and girls all hanging inside. Other than an occasional walk to the poop pile they have no interest in coming out.
20 November 08 - 20:52Boys visit Tilton
Almost forgot on Tuesday November 18th, Warrior, Magic, Pablo, Bolero and Fed Ex took a field trip to The Tilton School.
The Animal Science class wanted to see and learn about alpacas- we set up a small pen on the quad and the boys were very polite. Allowing all the students as well as some teachers including Mr. Clements ( School Headmaster), to touch them and feed them ( alfalfa). They also enjoyed munching on the green grass as they have successfully eaten it all here!!!!
The kids were impressed with the animals and their teacher Ms. Hanover is in the process of contacting Barbie Tilton of Someday Farm Alpacas to plan a farm visit there.
Sue
Elf-Paca Meadows
20 November 08 - 20:43Crisp Cold Hay Day
Lennie took the trip to the hay guy today and came back with 185 bales UGH!!! He did the loading there then once back here I got the lucky job of climbing the hay stacks and putting away most the bales he took off of the trailer. Cyndi ( CynJim Alpacas) got the lucky job finishing the last 20 or so bales for stock in the garden center. The boys are loving the new hay - they are stretching their necks as far as they can to get little tastes - You know it always tastes better from the stacked bales than whats in the feeder !! The last 15 or so bales were dropped at Blue Opal Alpacas in Strafford ( Ruthi & Jack) so the girls could enjoy it there also.
We have our new survivor socks in the store and soon the finger puppets will be in. The shop is looking a lot like Christmas. Wreaths, swags, greens etc are in with Poinsettias and Christmas trees soon to follow next week. ... (more)
13 November 08 - 14:59Fall Weekend at Sallie's Fen
Busy weekend on the farm. Sat morning we gave monthly worming (ivomectin) shots to all 32 alpacas. Jack dislikes needles, so he steadies each animal and I stick. We prepare the shots in advance in the warm house according to each animal's weight (which we monitor weekly) and label each syringe with a sharpie. This is a bit time consuming, but is fast once we are outside with the animals. It was all going quite smoothly as usual, when I managed to stab the needle into one of my own fingers. It was sore for a while, but I think I'll live :) Guess for once I really can say that the shots hurt me almost as much as they did them!
Then I spent the rest of the weekend with a heavy rented leaf blower on my back humming the theme to Ghostbusters under my breath.
When we cleared our woods to make "pasture" (it's still very bony with rocks - they don't call NH the Granite State for nothing - more on that in a later post) we left a lot of ... (more)
12 November 08 - 10:20Crias and roosters/Cynjim
Missy and Tippy are growing quickly. It's fun to watch them chase roosters. The roosters have become part of their obstacle course. When they do their evening romps, they seem to move their course so they are leaping over at least one of the roosters. It also helps keep the roosters up longer. We notice that the earlier the roosters hide in their house, the earlier they crow.
Sunday morning, I noticed the roosters hadn't crowed (this was about 6 am). I woke Jim up, telling him I think something happened to them. He told me they were sleeping in. What I didn't know is the alpacas kept waking them up, so the roosters crowed whenever the lights were on. Our lights are motion detectors, so everytime an alpaca leaves the barn, the outside lights go on. Jim said they have been crowing in the middle of the night, and since he wanted a quiet morning, he blocked them in their house & made sure no light got in. They finally figured out it was daylight at about 7:00. ... (more)
06 November 08 - 11:19Weanlings/ Elfpaca Meadows
Just moved Reina and Captain Morgan away from Moms today. We are doing a soft wean by taking them away just for the day and allowing them back in with Moms at night. This was also their first experience with halters and leads. They both did well and seem to be settling in well. Donoma(one of the moms) kept looking out the gate for her boy but has now settled down.
Went up to new property to check on logger to see when he will be done. He said just a few more weeks. So we should be able to start working on the fields to get them ready for the next spring planting. Now comes the designing of the barn and how to divide the fields. Setting the placement of the barn seems to always be the issue due to sunlight/wind/ access/ drainage etc. Hopefully in the coming weeks we will have all that worked out and ready for spring build.
Lennie
Elf-Paca Meadows
296 Walnut Street
Rochester NH
05 November 08 - 21:00Fall Shows Complete
Now with all the shows done for this season, we have a chance to relax and enjoy the animals. We can look forward to training this years crias for next years shows and evaluate where we need to go with our breeding program based on this years show results. Now is also a time to visit other farms that we have met during the show season to get ideas for the future. Whether it be for breeding decisions or barn ideas etc.
After talking with other breeders at the shows and during farm visits we have agreed that the competition at the shows is getting tougher. Which for the alpaca industry as a whole is great as we are improving the quality of the breed. I just want new and seasoned alpaca owners to remember not to get discouraged if you don't get ribbons. There are alot of beautiful quality animals at the shows and only a few can come home with ribbons. It is the desicion of one person at the show based on the animals in front of them at that time. ... (more)
05 November 08 - 08:16End of Show Season
Well, the farms are back from Vermont. I drove up on Saturday to check out the show. It was a large show & the APR farms did well. The pens were decorated in color from a very successful show year.
Cyndi
