Tuesday, October 27, 2009

Last night Buddy, my livestock guardian dog, was released from the yard. We do this almost every night so that he can get some exercise and scour the area for any wild critters before we go to bed at night. This usually cuts down on the all night bark fest that Great Pyrenees dogs practice. One of the wild critters that is fairly common around here is the skunk. You can just about guess the rest of my story.

I saw Buddy rolling around, all four feet up in the air, having a great old time. I went to let him back in the yard and immediately got smacked in the nose with the overwhelming aroma of skunk. Then I saw Buddy jump up and grab a black something and fling it up in the air! Oh my gosh! Gross, gross, gross! I thought he killed the skunk and was playing with the dead animal. He dropped it when I went out so I let him in the yard and then went to investigate. It was only the skunk's tail! Gross again!

Holding my breath as best I could, I put the tail in a plastic bag and placed it in the garbage. I don't know if Buddy killed the skunk or just played with the remains. He smells to high heaven either way! But not as bad as last year when he encountered a live skunk and got sprayed straight in the face and chest. Luckily for me, I wasn't here last year when it happened. Steve was and had to clean him up! Yukky job! I don't think I will have to bathe Buddy or anything this time. The smell has dissipated a great deal this morning, but also our weather is supposed to change drastically tonight. I don't want a wet dog having to deal with freezing temps and cold rain. So we will all have to endure and hope the stink goes away fairly quickly by itself!

Friday, October 23, 2009

This morning I woke up to the sound of alpaca alarm calls! Tinker raced along the fence line head up and making that high pitched noise. Then Buddy joined him with his deep warning bark. What the heck! I ran out the back door to see what was going on. The neighbors field was full of big black angus cattle! Yikes!

You have to understand, I really really don't like cows! My daughter makes fun of me. She says I'm afraid of cows. Well, maybe I am a little. They are huge and dumb and unpredictable. My grandfather made all us kids stay in the hay loft one time when a neighbor's bull got loose, so maybe I am afraid. Cows can carry a disease called BVD. It causes them to lose their calves and other hideous stuff. Anyway it can be passed to alpacas so I really don't want cows on our property.

I thought about calling the neighbors and letting them know the beasts were there, eating their trees and trampling the plants. I figured they'd be more pissed off at me for calling them at 6:30 than at the cows. They were up soon anyway. I heard someone banging on a bucket or something and looked out again. The man was beating on a piece of metal and a whole herd of cows was headed right for my fence! Oh My Gosh! All I could do was watch and hope for the best! As soon as the herd saw the fence and the barn blocked their way, they turned and headed for the neighbors gate where they had come in. Thank the good Lord! There were about 6 or 8 big cows and a couple little calves running with them. They went out the neighbor's gate and over the hill. Just the same, I closed my gate when Steve left for work. I don't want to have to chase any of those beasts off my property!

Tuesday, October 20, 2009

Ever since we got the new alpacas, Prince and Tinker have been fighting like mad. I mean screaming and chasing each other all over the pasture, biting and kicking. They were so violent that they both fell down a couple of times. I also noticed that Prince was staying in the shelter and Tinker was keeping him there. They started a new poop pile in the shelter which does not make me happy!

Today the violence seemed to be lessened somewhat. They were both in the shelter looking over the fence at the new boys. I am still reluctant to turn them all lose together. The new boys seem so much younger and smaller than Prince and Tinker. Tinker is a big alpaca and while Prince is not as big as he is, Prince can hold his own against his half brother. I don't know if the new boys would fare as well. Stewie is especially small compared to all the others. It would be nice if I could find one more small male alpaca to be company for him. Then I could put all of the big boys together.

I am pretty upset with Falkor lately too. He has been butting with all his might against the gate in his pen. He has managed to move the pen next to him so that the fence is bent and sticking out about 6 inches. I'm afraid if he keeps doing it he will collapse the whole fencing network of all three pens. So I am hoping to get his new pen built very soon, like maybe this weekend.

Today our weather changed drastically. The wind was just blasting and the tempurature dropped to about 79 instead of 85 or so that it has been. Mellie and Little Bones spent a lot of time inside today. Falkor hid by the side of the barn when he wasn't butting the fence. It is only supposed to be 50 degrees in Tucson tonight so it will probably be cooler here. We are up higher at 4800 feet and, of course, there is the wind still. So we will get straw bales this weekend too. The cost of straw has gone from $6 last year to $7.50 per bale now. At least I have my business account now. So hopefully all these higher cost will help with taxes this year.

Monday, October 19, 2009

I got the pictures back on the shearing. It took place on Friday. Danny has been shearing since he was 16 years old. He did a very quick efficient job on our 6 goats.

He started with Falkor and finished with the 3 new boys. Now I have 6 more bags of fleece to find a use for.

I did find someone today who will turn my alpaca fleece into scarves or blankets in about 7 weeks. And I joined the Alpaca Blanket Project which is a project to turn US alpaca fleece into US Pendleton blankets. I am excitedly looking forward to having both of these products to sell from my farm soon.

Saturday was a fun day too. A friend and I went to the Tucson Wool Festival at Kathy Wither's Ranch. I met some very interesting people who had some great items and fleece for sale. The best part for me was seeing all of Kathy's goat kids who were born this past spring. So cute and so many colors. I do want to get a couple more does eventually. I have to get a pen built for Falkor first and a new pasture fence put up.

Anyway, enjoy the before and after shots. Go to Kathy's website to see pictures of the wool festival: www.uniquedesignsbykathy.com.

Thursday, October 15, 2009

My new alpacas arrived yesterday about 12:30. Two nice men, Bill and Rudy, delivered them in a huge truck piled high with hay and an alpaca trailer. Bill was afraid he might lose his hay coming up our steep hill.

The alpacas were haltered without incident and we lead them to their new pasture. Prince and Tinker, my resident alpacas, got very excited and raised up on hind legs trying to make contact over the fence with the new boys. Prince and Tinker look huge compared to the new boys. They are mature alpacas though. The new boys are younger and not quite full grown.

The new boys are gorgeous. Kardigan is jet black, his ancestors include Royal Fawn and Dom Lucilio. He was born on January 27. 2007. Cimmaron is a bunch of colors, including gray, maroon and white. He has General Schwarzkopf and Chaka Khan in his background. His DOB is January 28, 2006. Prince Stuart, or Stewie, as Bill called him, is light fawn. He has fantastic fiber and has Caligula in his background. He was born on August 20, 2007. He is the smallest of the three. In Bill's opinion, Stewie would be show material if he would get a little bigger. Maybe he will grow since he is only two years old. I will probably call him Stewie too so as not to confuse him with Prince, whose name is really Viking Prince.

So far there hasn't been any real fighting among the old boys and the new boys. Maybe because they are on separate sides of the fence. Alpacas are very respectful of fences and do not try to bust through them like some animals do. I will let them get used to each other for a week or more and then take the temporary fence down and let them all have the run of the pasture.

It is so cool to have a real herd, 5 alpacas! WOW! I also met some really nice alpaca people in the process of getting my new boys.

Wednesday, October 14, 2009

This past weekend, Steve and I traveled to northern Arizona. We visited good friends, went hiking, antique shopping and visited an alpaca farm. It was absolutely beautiful fall weather. The aspen trees were turning bright shimmery yellow and other trees had turned red or gold. We had a very fun and relaxing time.

Today I am not so relaxed. WE ARE GETTING THREE NEW ALPACAS TODAY!

We tried to take pictures up north but the battery died on the old Sony. We got a few pics of a baby alpaca but no pics of the foliage or the alpacas we bought. I will post pictures of them soon.

I took a major step yesterday and opened my business account at the bank. I will pay for the new alpacas from that account.

Also, while we were up north, the shearer called me back. He will be coming out on Friday to shear the goats. It is going to be a busy week, getting the new alpacas, shearing the goats and Saturday is the Tucson Wool Festival at Kathy Wither's place. I am looking forward to that.

Tuesday, October 6, 2009

Another week has slipped by so quickly! Our weather has gotten cooler and very windy. Today there are lots of clouds and lots of wind again.

The wind spooks some of the animals. Like right now, my daughter's dog, Lux, is trying to hide at my feet. She doesn't like the noise of the wind or all the loud unpredictable bangs that come with it.

I love the fall flowers. Steve drove me down the frontage road Sunday so I could take pictures of the sunflowers growing wild. Someone said or wrote that there used to be many more of them but some highway person got the idea that they were ugly weeds and started spraying to get rid of them. They must've missed these or don't spray the frontage roads. Even if they are weeds I still like them.

I'm still waiting for the shearer to call me back. I put in another call to him yesterday. It's starting to make me nervous this waiting. My mother said I should learn to shear the goats myself. She's probably right!