That is cool! 
Bil
October 2008
Think I need an animal like this?
Sunday on the farm
We had church early today, so we were able to take a nice walk on the farm today. It was a beautiful day, sun was shinning, it was probably around 70 degrees.
We spent some time with the alpacas. Then a few minutes sharing apples with Jackie, and then we found a path down to the creek and to what we are now calling Silk Creek Island!!
Silk Creek runs along the back of our property, and a good chunk of it is through our property. There is a bend in the river, and how the river has flowed, it has caused an area that at times of the year will be an island, and that is part of our property. SO. . .
WE OWN AN ISLAND!!!
Here are some pictures from today:
Brownie & Helena enjoying the sun and the pasture!
Brownie getting curious about what we were doing
Really Curious!!
Curious, but cautious!
I LOVE 606’s!! (when I was growing up, we would go to Smith’s Food & Drug, and they had bulk food. My ALL time favorite cookie is frosted animal cookies. The bin number was 606. So, when mom would ask what I wanted from the store, I would just say, “Get me some 606’s.” Now my family calls them 606’s and not frosted animal cookies. When we bought Feline, I didn’t notice that her ear tag was 606. Just thrilled with my 606!!)
All the girls enjoying the sun
Jackie looking for more apples
Julia standing on Silk Creek Island. Taken from up above.
Taken from Silk Creek Island looking East
Julia on top of Silk Creek Island
Once we returned to the barn, we decided to take a look at the babies and their fleece. We were very happy with what we found. JoJo also decided that she wanted to come in and have her fleece looked at again. Here are some of the pictures we took.
Helena
Sunshine
Brownie
JoJo
Their fiber is looking good. It is getting longer, some good crimp, and nice luster. I also LOVE the colors!! Can’t wait to find out the micron size next summer!
JoJo – Our new alpaca
We welcomed a new alpaca to our herd today. Jojo from SpringHill Alpacas in Albany, OR.
JoJo with little Brownie (I think Brownie likes having another black alpaca around)
Julia was talking with one of our friends, Diana Chappell of Chappell’s Alpaca Junction the other day, and she said that a friend of hers, Ingrid, had an alpaca that she was needing to find a home for. This was a beautiful alpaca, wonderful fiber but will not be able to be bred. Ingrid is helping take care of some other alpacas that are being rescued from Southern California so she needed to have some extra room.
Julia and I went up this afternoon to pick up JoJo. We decided to drive up the mini-van instead of using the trailer since it was only going to be JoJo. We put down a blue tarp and took some hay and hit the road. We found SpringHill very quickly, and they have a great property. Beautifully landscaped, and a great area in back for the alpacas. We met Ingrid, and had a great time talking with her about her alpacas, her barn, how she has gates and paddocks set up, etc. We enjoyed getting to meet her and all the alpacas that SpringHill has.
We finally decided to load JoJo up and she didn’t want to get in right away, but with a little help from Ingrid and myself, we got her up in the back of the van. JoJo didn’t want to cush right away, but by the time we made it to the freeway she settled down, and all was well. The trip home was uneventful. She just enjoyed the scenery, and didn’t even make a sound.
We drove the van in to the front pasture, and all the other alpacas were very interested in what we were doing. It only took about 60 seconds from when I opened up the back hatch until JoJo saw the other alpacas and jumped right out. The babies seemed most excited about having a new friend. The mothers either just ignored her (Milkyway & Aurora), pranced around like she was the queen of the pasture (Alsea), or was just annoyed that everybody was prancing and making too much noise while she was trying to eat (Feline). No spitting, no fighting (except Rogue and Zach trying to show off for JoJo), no problems at all. Everyone was excited.
Here are some pictures and a quick video:
Leaving SpringHill
Just about to the freeway
Taking off the halter
Hey, there are other alpacas out here!!
Hi there!
Too much too look at!! I’ll eat pellets later!
A video of everybody having fun with some pictures on the end.
I went out later tonight to check on them after dark and they all seemed to be doing well. They were all cushed in the same area. They seem to be doing great together.
Away in a Manger . . .
a place for some hay!
I finall had time today to build the manger in the horse barn. We really needed somewhere for Jackie to eat her hay so it wasn’t on the ground. It’s been 3 weeks or so since we finished the barn, so it has taken me too long to get back to it.
I went outside last night and measured, and then came back and cut the 2 cross boards. I build it with a 2×6 for the bottom support and and 2×4 for the top support. I built a floor for it and then a front. It turned out pretty good, and really strong. I don’t think Jackie will be able to knock this off the wall.
Here are some pictures.
My lovely helpers!!
If I can sit on it, it must be strong
I’m glad to get this done. Now Jackie has a nice place to eat.
Dumb Dog & New Growth
Well, this afternoon, Julia and I were in the far back pasture that we call the “P”. (Our property is shaped like the letter P with a small overgrown section that is up by the creek). We were looking if there was a way down to the creek, looking to see if we could get some goats back there to clean it up and make it more usable. We had left Talbot in the back yard.
I noticed that Talbot’s barks seemed louder that we thought they should be. I walked over so I could see the front pastures and noticed that Talbot was chasing the boys. I called Lilian who was in the house and she ran out and got Talbot out of the pasture. He listened right away, and we thought all was going well. As we were walking up the pasture from the back pasture we noticed one section of the fence had been knocked up and pulled out a little. So we checked on the boys, and Rogue had a little blood on his neck and Zach had some blood on his nose. We got the boys in the barn, and took a close look at them. Zach had run in the fence and cut his nose a little and we got that cleaned up. Put some neosporin on it. The blood on Rogue was from Zach, he wasn’t hurt at all. We called the vet, and he said we were doing everything right, and to call him tomorrow if things didn’t get better or of they got worse.
We have the boys in the barn right now so they can be there overnight. We’ll let them out in the morning.
The good news is there is a LOT of new growth of grass in all the pastures and in our yard. This rain is turning our pastures green again. It is good to see. The alpacas will like all this new growth, and will hopefully start eating more in the pasture and less hay.
The Barn is finished
Well, Howard, Judy, Julia & I finished the horse barn yesterday. It took quite a while, and we had to run to the store to pick up one more 14′ 2×4 & some screws, but we got it done. We had to put up the headers and the rafters, and then get the tin on. It was raining on and off throughout the day. The first pictures are from yesterday, and then some of the completed barn from today.
So now all we have to do is build a manger inside of it, and then paint it. Jackie already has been using it, and it is helping to keep her feed and hay dry.
Pictures of horse barn
Here are some pictures of the horse shelter we started to build on Monday. We should finish it this Saturday. We have the roof and wood to finish it now.
It is really sturdy. We are going to put a 4″x12″ header over the door. We’ll put a 2″x4″ header on the back, and then put 2×4 rafters in every 18″. We also have corrugated metal roofing to go on. It should have a pretty good tilt to it so water will run off. More pictures this weekend.
Bil