Herd health days...

Today was a busy, busy day!  Today the alpacas got their "spa" treatments, complete with toenail trimming and fecal collections.  Doesn't that sound exciting!?!

We began after church, around 1pm, with the alpacas located at our ranch.  We currently own 12 alpacas.  We are also caring for an additional 5 alpacas, which we picked up yesterday.  Tim and I knocked those out pretty quickly.  We then moved over to another neighboring farm and completed another approximately 15 animals, with the help of our friends, Ted and Cindy.  Many hands make light the work!  Isn't that true?

In between ranches, the owners of the alpacas being boarded here, came by to see their alpacas.  This is the first time in almost four years they have seen their animals!  Bless their hearts, the ranch who boarded them prior to us never allowed them to see their animals.  So, they were super excited to have a reunion with their babies!

Here is Monica holding the newest addition to her herd, born on Thursday.  It was a very sweet reunion.  Smiles abound everywhere.

Mike enjoyed a moment getting to bottle feed the cria (baby) while one of his daughters (who to this point had never seen any of their animals), got to hold and snuggle with the little guy.

These are the sites that make this "job" so awesome...  This is what it is supposed to be like.  Alpacas are the most calming, sweet animals on this planet!  Their humming sounds, while communicating, will make even the most challenging of days melt away.

Are you experiencing struggles or stress in your life from health, work, or anything else?  Consider alpacas!  These quiet little creatures will win you over with their sweet faces and calming personalities.  While you're at it, sit down and enjoy the sunshine while being surrounded by chickens and alpacas quietly grazing in the pasture.  Enjoy the sounds of the roosters crowing and guineas honking.  Do you feel it?  Do you hear it?  The country life awaits you.

Oh how sweet it is!

Ooo wee! We've been busy around the ranch lately! The chicken stalls have been stripped down and loaded up with fresh shavings.


The chickens have been hard at work, laying approximately three dozen eggs per day.


They are spending most of the afternoon under the eaves of the barn, near the water. It's hot!


Our garden is doing really well. The lettuce is all but gone. I picked a gallon sized bag worth of lettuce this morning.


The tomato plants are beginning to get fruit on them. Yipee! I can't wait to taste the juicy yellow and red tomatoes off of the vine.


As you can see from the picture, the cucumber plants and butternut squash plants are growing quite well, too.


We've got green and purple bell peppers, sugar babies (watermelon), artichokes, carrots, strawberries, and lots and lots of peppers (jalapeno, habanero, etc.). Mmmm... mmmm...



While most of us are spending time outside in the sunshine, most of the alpacas are spending their time inside the barn. It's pretty darn hot for animals wearing coats. Even though the alpacas have been shorn, it still gets hot. Most of our alpacas are spending their time in front of the fans. The babies are even sharing their stall with some chickens, which seem to think that the alpaca stall is cooler than the chicken coop!


The horses don't seem to mind the heat at all and continue to spend the day outside grazing on the pasture grass and hay in the feeders.


Yesterday, we spent the day at my sister-in-laws farm. We had tons of fun hanging out, playing kickball, fishing, playing washers, and just catching up.


Two of my hubbies sisters were in from out of town, so there was lots of catching up to do! And look what we brought home with us! We got lots of pecans from my sister-in-laws trees. Oooh are those gonna taste good!


Tonight, we've got friends coming over for a barbeque and swim party. Isn't it just so sweet that we live in a free country?

I want to take the time to thank each of my family members and everyone else who has ever served in the armed forces, fighting to protect our country. May God bless each and every one of you immensely! For those of you still serving, I will continue to pray for your protection and safety. God bless you!

2010 TxOLAN Alpaca Spectacular a success!

The annual TxOLAN Alpaca Spectacular held out at the Will Rogers Colliseum in Ft. Worth was a success! Even with all of the snow, there were still approximately 500 alpacas in attendance! Whoo hoo! The Spin-off competition that I coordinated went well also, with 100 entries. Everyone seemed very pleased with the results and have promised to send samples in again next year.



I am not going to coordinate this event for TxOLAN next year, though. I was asked to run for the board of directors for the State of Texas Alpaca Ranchers. I’m not sure whether I will be elected or not, but I plan on coordinating a fleece event for this organization. It’s a ton of work, but oh so much fun!

It's cold outside!

Just a quick post to show the new cria coats I made. It got down into the teens and I was afraid the cria didn't have enough fleece yet to keep themselves warm. So, my dear friend, Cindy Telisak of Jacobs Reward Farm, and I both went on the hunt for fabric. We had a pattern that we got off of a website for llama coats. We found the perfect solution at a fabric store down off of Harry Hines Blvd. in Dallas. These coats are lined with warm, thick fleece and have a windbreaker type material on the outside. They served their purpose! The cria stayed warm!

Shearing Days a success!

Shearing days were a success! Tim, my husband, worked the shearing for three days in a row. The "team" of workers sheared approximately 73 alpacas on day 1, 84 on day 2, and 53 on day 3. That's a lot of alpacas! As you can see from the video, this requires the help of quite a few people. There are people who are responsible for catching and haltering the alpacas and getting them on the mats for the rope people. There are two people who are responsible for attaching the ropes and stretching the alpaca. There is the shearer, himself, and his "head" guy. The "head" guy is responsible for manipulating the head/neck of the alpaca whenever the shearer is ready to move on to a different section of the alpaca for shearing. There is a "butt" person who is responsible for manipulating the back end of the alpaca. There are one to two people constantly collecting the fleece and putting it in the appropriate bags (i.e. neck separated from leg separated from blanket). There are people sweeping the mats between shearing, people tracking what animals have been done and checking off the spreadsheet, people prepping bags with animals name and labeling which part of fleece is going into the bag (three parts mentioned above). As you can see, it is quite an operation. It reminds me of when the Amish people would gather to raise a barn. It is a really neat experience with great camaraderie. In the end, we have bags and bags of luscious fiber and clean looking animals! Oh happy day!