The Great Llama Shearing

With the impending first heat wave of summer, we decided that we needed to get the llama sheared before it became too miserable for the big guy. We didn't get around to shearing him last year (it costs a pretty penny to have the shearer to come out for 1 llama), so Zorro spent the hotter days under a sprinkler that we had set up in the pasture. With 2 years worth of a fur coat and not calling the shearer in a timely fashion, we had to get down to business and shear him ourselves. Thankfully, a friend of ours was more than willing to help. You see, back in high school, he did 4H llamas, and he :really: wanted some llama time. So we set aside a Saturday to tackle the project. Nathan came up wearing his 4H llama shirt from yonder llama days and armed with the biggest, baddest shears I ever did behold. After some llama wrangling, we set to work taking off the mat of a fur coat. 

With Nathan working on one side of the llama with his shears, and Dad working on the other side with the clippers, we finished in a fairly decent amount of time. The impressive part was when the mat of fur came tumbling down the llama's side like a giant shag rug - one big, tangled mess. We really didn't care about saving the wool for spinning because we still have bins full of the wool from past shearings with all our other llamas. The sole purpose of this shearing session was to make the summer heat more bearable.

Before:

Sorry for the blurry picture... 

And after:

Silly llama doesn't like any sort of drama, but he'll feel much better without that heavy coat. 

Now if anyone would like to help give the billy goats a buzzcut... :P 

Until next time!

SG

The Peek-a-Boo Guard Llama

When we brought home the insta-dairy herd, all residency in the barn was suddenly claimed by goats, and there was no room in the inn for our llamas. We had the hardest time picking just one llama to keep as a guard for our mini caprines since everyone had their favorite llama. Somehow, someway, it was decided that Zorro would be our watchman.

So we're down to one camelid. And he quickly adopted all the little goats has his herd. Ne'er to part. If you so much as walk one of the goats out of the pasture or barn, Zorro is right there in almost a panic at the gate whining for them to come back. (Yeah, this guy doesn't hum like your stereotypical llama... he's either silently standing aloof or whining for his goat buddies to come back) The funny thing is, the does are petrified of their towering sentinel.  I don't blame them, actually; those tiny goats only come up to about his knee.

Now he has also decided that it is his duty to keep an eye on the baby goats. Dare I say, nothing will happen to them while under his watchful eye. When we had Mazy and her twins in a separate area, Zorro would come into the barn, check on everybody else (all while causing a tizzy and stampede), he would sneak over to the window with the newborns to peer in, then he would just stand there watching them. I don't know if he was curious about the whole ordeal, if he was shocked by their tiny size, or if he couldn't wrap his mind around the fact that there were two trouble makers. (Llamas usually only have one cria per pregnancy; goats on the other hand... well, you hope that it's only two.) When Dreamer had her kids, we also kept them in a different spot so they could have some peace and quiet from the rest of the herd. Again, the llama would do his rounds in the barn, and then he'd stand in the window and just watch them.

I don't know how he'll do as a guard llama in the long run - he's an intact male. But so far, it's been fun to watch him try to get assimilated into a goat herd. ;)

Entropy and Chain Reactions

Picture from here

When you overcrowd poultry or they see a molecule of blood, they go cannibalistic on each other. Not joking. There is a dark side of chickens that isn't always talked about in those nice little backyard bird books. So, there I am, building a makeshift brooder divider out of fruit packaging from last summer's bounty and masking tape, and Mom is smearing what we lovingly call 'bum balm' on a poor victim. The grand opening of this year's chick ER was short lived though - we found another patient. Leave it to all those little boys... they just beat each other up. Off to the ER with you! After your slathering of the rooster booster, of course.

After we get the birds all settled in, Mom headed out to run some errands, and I was cleaning myself up from  chicken adventures (when you have a lot running around, you run into weird things apparently...), Eli, the mini-man, bursts in through the door, "Sarah, the gate latch is broken!" Say, what? The shoes go back on, and we headed back out to inspect the damage. We almost had a llama stampede. They see an opportunity to make a run for it, and they seize it. Eli held the gate shut as I headed to the barn to get some twine to tie the gate shut (it's amazing all the things you can do with that stuff). I opened the back barn door, snuck past mamma goose, and found some twine, just as Eli shouts, "LLAMAS!" Oy vey. I didn't close the back door. In comes llama stampede. And the front doors were wide open. That could have been lovely... While trying to get the llamas shooed back to where they belong, one of them decided to walk through the goose fence, and she promptly tripped over it and bent it. Being the stoic llama that she is, she nonchalantly got up and proceeded to join the rest of the herd in the stall, uninjured despite her fall.

I did another run through and checked on everybody, just in case - they all seemed good for now.

All that said - I should probably go inspect everyone, again. ;)
Until next time!
~*SG*~

Ocho huevos

She's sitting on a grand total of eight eggs. In the middle of the barn. Well, not really the middle, but they think that they own the place. With two grouchy, territorial geese diligently guarding the filled nest, doing anything in the barn has become a 007 adventure. We sneak around, close doors, lock gates, and hide behind things, all to avoid them. Should you get caught, oh my, I pity the poor soul who gets stuck in that situation. The garden hoe is not a suitable weapon of choice because it snags onto things that you didn't want snagged (think: stuck under the gate while the goose is charging you).

Not even the chickens are exempt from the harassment. Kevin decided that the goose nest was a perfect place to lay her eggs. Chickens are not always the brightest bulbs. Being very persistent, Kevin continued to try to lay in the nest despite loud objections from mamma goose. Trying to hold back two vicious geese and push the chicken away, my mom had her hands full (with goose necks that is). The back barn door was open to allow the breeze to blow through, and the dividing gate was ajar - and in comes the llama herd. Not only was she protecting the chicken, mom had to keep the llamas contained as well, all while her hands were full of noisy neck handles. "SARAH!" Uh-oh... What'd she get herself into this time? Once we quarantined the camelids, we had to find a new place for silly Kevin to lay her eggs. Being our special little barn chicken, the pile of straw in the corner (out of sight from the geese) was perfect. As soon as we put her in her new nest, she laid her egg right away and proceeded with whatever it is chickens do.

So... We are expecting the children of evil to joining us soon. Do you want some goslings? They're pretty gosh darn cute when they're little...

Teaser!

Okay, so since I've been lazy and not taking pictures of what I told you I would - I'll just get up what I got. ;) So... the paper above is some of the packaging. I guess you could say the Polish magazine was pretty exciting - especially with the "football" - the literal sense of the word "futball"

And here it is!!! at least the box...


Yes, we got a spinning wheel!!! Now we can start working down all that llama wool that's been in the attic since last spring! Just to learn how to use it... ;)

As promised!

Just as I promised! Pictures of the newest member of our farm!!! You just want to kiss her! She's so cute! <3

The difference between the April baby and the new baby. Wow, they grow fast!

Mama and baby looking into the sunset! I still want to kiss her!

The Seasons Come and Go...

Isn't if funny how you can get into the groove of something so much that it becomes almost second nature and then, out of the blue, something gets in there to kink the whole process? That is almost how it is with farm work... When the weather's fair and comfortable, you don't think about the chores very much until you get hit with some freakish weather that makes the whole process screech to a halt or makes you cringe with the thought of doing anything.

That's how it is with all this insane amount of heat in the area right now...

When most people are retreating inside with the AC units, we (my family and me) are all out trying to make sure that the animals have enough cold water and are comfortable enough to withstand the heat. We hose down the llamas, spray the chickens (they hate it, but it's for their own good!), hose ourselves down and continue with the work.

The opposite was true this last winter when we had more than 3 feet of snow... We just had to dig trails through ice, wind, and snow to get to the barn and chicken coop. With the power out we only had the fireplace for heat and the generator for a few commodities. We spent minimal time outside because it would take way to long to warm up again to be safe...

It truly is amazing how 6-7 months ago we were in below freezing temperatures. Now it's touching the triple digits... XP

Stay cool and drink lots of water!

Llama!

I've just figured out, I think, how to get pictures up with my posts. We'll see how this goes... =D

About mid April this year, one of out llamas had her first baby! It was a pasture birth, we just walked out there about lunchtime and there she was! A beautiful, healthy cria!

The llama that had her baby almost a month before this mama, lost her baby... =( We think that it was premature and still born... so when we found this vibrant little one, we were all extatic! She very quickly became everone's favorite llama on the farm!

From what I understand, crias can grow about a pound a day- so she has grown fast!