SHADE !! it’s hard to find in the middle of our pastures. The boys pasture only gets shade from the trees on the hillside in the late afternoon. The also get some from their barn when they are pastured in the “D” pasture. Sooo what’s a farmer to do!! We thought, well, we will have to plant some trees to make shade. GREAT IDEA… do you know how long it takes a tree to grow before it can make shade ? Too long for hot alpacas today. So …. we had to create a little manmade shade. We ordered some 60% shade cloth online from Catalog Clearance. The pastures are 50ft wide so we got a 20 X 60 piece. Then Paul attached some 4 x 4 posts to the existing fence posts. 2 8ft ones with a 10ft on in the center. At the top of the posts on one side, we attached a wire strainer from Tractor Supply.

Then we strung high tensile wire from one side of the pasture to the other between the 3 sets of posts. Considering we have two pastures side by side, the wire stretched 100ft. We had to add a center support post on the fence that separates these two pastures. We threaded the wire through the grommets in the cloth, wrapped it around and through a hole drilled on each post at the other end. Then cranked the wire strainer to pull it tight. Creating a shaded area that can be moved along the wires from one pasture to the other when we rotate the boys !!

I think the boys love it because they are using it and the slight flapping the cloth does when there is a breeze does not seem to bother them at all !!

This past week was a long time in coming ! On Thursday evening we brought home our female Sonatina who had remained at Alpacas of Cedar Ridge for breeding. She was the last of our alpacas to come home.

Along with Sonatina we brought home a very friendly 2yr boy to be our PR animal…. Eisenhower of Cedar Ridge… of course we call him “IKE”. He knows our other boys, however they had not been in the same pasture for a few months. So the next day there was a bit of neck wrestling between IKE and Trueno to determine their place in the boys herd. They have calmed down now and are getting along nicely.

OK, so maybe they weren’t that cheap, but less expensive than past years and one of reasons I was able to attend this year.

As I am a small farm and had only two juvies to bring, I did not do a farm display stall. So one stall was right for me. Other ways I cut costs were to have my animals transported with another farm. This saved me from having to put tags and insurance on my new trailer ( In KY you don’t have to tag your trailer if you are using it in state ). I also did NOT stay at the host hotel… which was right across the street. I stayed there last year during my attendance of the Indiana Invitational. I’ts a nice new hotel, but it was full by the time I made my reservations. However, you can find some other less expensive accommodations within a mile or two of the Coliseum even without using the word Alpaca !. After all, if you plan to spend all day at the show and then eat out…. what you really need is a safe place to sleep and shower. I just don’t think I need to pay a huge price for this … so I don’t. I also did not buy a dinner ticket….I’ve rarely attended one of those that are really worth the meal and entertainment.

As my luck would have it I had an end stall that was next to some pretty large farms…. Hobby Horse, Magical and Crescent Moon all surround me as well as a couple of other small farms from Indiana. I began to feel like a small itty bitty fish in a very large pond !

Upon my arrival around noon on Thursday, my animals were already comfy in their stall having arrived early that morning. Having a stall near the bathrooms was nice… but it also meant I was on the opposite side of the arena from the water hose !! I started to “decorate” the stall with my farm banners, one on the back inside and one one the side outside. Then I set up my small “hang it off the stall panel” display which consisted of their ARI certificates encased in Plastic displays, a promotional flyer holder with post cards of Americano’s Dreamweaver and my business cards, the emergency contact info, a small basket of Dreamweavers fleece…. and the ever present AlpacaSocial Button !!! If you don’t have one yet….find me at a show to get one !

I still needed to do color check in. They had several color checking “teams” wandering the area. They went into each stall and did the color check. All I had to do was bring my alpaca listing from the Vet Check in area to the center ring and “command center” to be put on the color check list. This certainly beat having to walk my alpacas to the ring and waiting in line. Especially since my boy Chispero does NOT like to walk on lead… more on that later. After color check I returned to the command center to get my “packet” which contained the numbers for the animals. I also had to check in at the AOBA desk to receive my AOBA bag and name tag along with an assortment of promotional material from other farms.

Once I was “settled in” I walked around a bit. By this time the line for vet check in the parking lot was growing and growing. Flatbeds arrived piled high with hay, feed, buckets, rakes, poop scoopers, banners, stall curtains, tables, chairs, water jugs, ribbons, flags and everything else people bring. The stalls began to fill up, the bags of cardboard bedding were opened and dumped on the floor. Displays sprang up around the arena and alpacas were unloaded from transport and stalled. Busy busy busy….. people saying hello, hugging, laughing, shaking hands and wishing each other good luck in the rings.

I always enjoy this time, walking around meeting new people and alpacas. I also enjoy seeing people I’ve met before and the alpacas they’ve had in the last year or so that I may not have seen before. Since I don’t go to very many shows… I am not one of the familiar faces, unless of course I’ve met them online. Almost immediately a man boisterously approached me. A big smile, a firm handshake… “Hi!!! nice to meet you I’m Scott Miller !! I have to say, I’m so glad I voted for him. What a nice guy !!

Friday brought the beginning of the show. An awesome LIVE performance of the Star Spangled Banner was sung at the opening courtesy of an alpaca farmer from Michigan !. The show began, ON TIME, with an impressive selection of black animals. The auction animals were on display in the lower lever. Vendors were on both levels selling a wide assortment of alpaca equipment, supplies and wares. OH The amazing work people are doing with fiber these days. The volunteers started putting up the Spin off results ~ Oh I just could not wait to see how I had done with my entry for Dreamweaver. I found his entry on the wall, with a RED RIBBON attached. Another great placing … he now has 9 spin off ribbons, 4 of them being RED. I quietly flipped over the entry to see there were 80 points. Then I looked at the Blue Ribbon winner…. 84 and the 3rd place winner with 79. It’s nice to know how close I came, you don’t get to know how many points you missed by when you are not in attendance at the show.

The auction began and progressed throughout the afternoon. I did not stay for the entire auction, as I had no intention of buying anyway. But the prices were a great disappointment to many. I dare say there were quite a few animals that did not make the reserve and were either taken home or posted for sale with the hopes of making a sale before the end of the weekend. Several consignors I spoke with were disappointed at the selling prices but were accepting of it based on the knowledge that their alpacas were going to nice homes and would be well cared for. The alpacas that were donated to AOBA were paraded on the stage and then taken back to their stalls on the lower level to be bid on through the “Silent Auction” procedure. This was THE WORST IDEA I HAVE EVER HEARD. Some very nice alpacas were bought for a VERY LOW price for the quality of the animal. Some people may have gotten a good deal, but AOBA got the shaft and at least one donor I know was so upset that I would not be surprised if they never participated again.

Saturday brought a fast paced show in 4 rings !! All Full Fleece classes were shown !! My own experience began with my juvie male Esplendido’s Chispero !! Now this little guy just turned 1 year last week after the show. To say he’s been a challenge in the halter training area is a BIG UNDERSTATEMENT. With all the rain we had the last few weeks before the show, I was unable to work on his training, AND the rain and mud did not do justice to his fleece… but that did not matter. My greatest fear was that he would be the oldest alpaca in the class and the first to enter the ring. When I got my show book I was relieved to know my fears were unfounded… he was SECOND. Still he REFUSED to walk into the ring. The judge, Wade Gease, was very understanding and had the third alpaca in line come out to assist by walking in front of me. Well dear old Chispero took a few steps…. but….not many. The ring steward did his best to urge him on from behind and we eventually found our place in line. As I stood there totally embarrassed, the other 11 entries entered the ring. I knew we didn’t have a snowballs chance in … well you know, but we were there anyway. Chispero proceeded to kush, would not move to line up OR show profile… he was a statue When our turn for judging came, Wade was apologetic and explained to me that the alpaca DOES have to walk into the ring for judging. He examined his bite and took a fleece sample as he said this and was generally sincere … I said thank you and he moved on. Now the problem was getting him OUT of the ring when the time came… and it did. But my competition once again came to the rescue as one of the other handlers lifted him by the tail and pushed him along like a wheel barrow ! I think his show career is over…. he will only be entered in spin offs from now on and he IS on the sales list ! That evening I ran into Wade in the parking lot… he was still apologizing !! I told him it was OK and that I had not expected to place anyway and I was only there to have a good time.

Later on I entered the female ring with my September Rain. Rain easily walked in the ring. However it was standing in place that she had a problem with. She moved around, lay down and rolled on her back a couple of times and kushed. Being as she is only 8 months old, she was #14 in line out of 15 alpacas in the class. So we had a long wait to enter the ring, and she was quite antsy. She also did not place in this large class. The judge was Ken Hibbits. Although the competition was pretty tough, I do think he could have been a bit more thorough in his assessments. nuff said.

With my showing behind me I was free to browse, shop, talk, look at alpacas and watch more judging… and that is what I did for the rest of Saturday and Sunday. I bought some things from a vendor for my farm store, I bought some Extreme Alpaca Socks from AFCNA…. they had a tub of seconds for only $8.00 EACH. I donated my bag of 18lbs of alpaca fleece to the large pile being collected for the Gulf Oil Spill. I picked up some items from the ARI display and asked a couple of questions about some transfers. I watched a demonstration of a felting machine and marveled at the many creations of others… oh if I only had the time !!! I went to the “BLUE ROOM” upstairs where they had the fleece competition results displayed. I marveled at the champions, I felt the fleeces and left in AWE…. I have a long way to go.

The one disappointment I had was the shearing services. With so many alpacas in attendance that needed to be shorn… they had but ONE shearer lined up, $35.00 a head. Some people waited in line for as much as 7 -8 HOURS !! Another farm decided to take matters into their own hands and bought a pair of clippers from a vendor… they were planning to get another pair anyway. They borrowed a table from Light Livestock and sheared their own animals right next to the other guy and then began charging $50.00 a head !!! My two were shorn by a fellow breeder on the way home in Indiana along with the 6 from my transporters farm. Although this meant they were up all night and did not arrive home in KY until early Monday morning… it sure beat waiting in line for 8 hours for a shearer that was moving quickly and sometimes not doing a very good job.

At 3PM on Sunday I packed up some of my things, said good bye to old friends and new and headed to the parking lot for that 6 hour drive home.

I had a GREAT TIME and that is what I set out to do. I know that during past National events, they have had numerous seminars and classes, this time they did not. It was a cost savings initiative and one that many people missed. I hope that they can include them again soon, as many smaller farms would be interested in them. I look forward to my next showing adventure, which will be the Kentucky show this fall in October. I’ve yet to decide who I will take, if anyone at all… we’ll just see how their fleece comes in between now and then… but I’m thinking I might be taking my two year old Trueno ….. he’s good on the lead and a sweetheart with some nice fleece character… I probably should have taken him to Nationals….instead of Chispero !! You would never know they are 1/2 brothers.

Good things come in small packages and we got one late on Tuesday night. It was not a new cria, but little Jemma who is 11 months old. She arrived in the US from Canada last month with our other alpacas and went to another farm. As these economic times have affected us all, they were unable to pay for her. So, she is now with us. She arrived via transport late Tuesday evening. It was cool and dark, so we walked her out to the pasture to find the other “ladies”. Once we heard the humming we knew she would be fine and we let her get reacquainted with her friends.

It’s now been just over a week since we separated Chispero and September Rain from the main herd because they are going to Nationals next month. Not wanting to have Jemma get lonely while they are away, we put her right in with the older girls. She’s doing great ! Rain is a big girl and she is kind of missing the older girls. Chispero has finally stopped standing at the fence staring back at his Dam…. well, most of the time anyway. For an older male he is such a mamma’s boy!!

I continue to work with both Chispero and Rain for halter training when weather permits. This last weekend Chispero and I spent a bit of time walking around the pasture, or shall I say back and forth near the fence. He still needs a little nudge to move forward. He still has a way to go before “show time” and I’m determined that he will NOT embarrass me in the ring !!

Today was shearing day ! Of course it also turned out to be the coolest day in the past 3 weeks. It also threatened to rain. Since most mornings lately have been very damp as well, we decided to put the girls in the barn for the night on Monday. This was no easy task as they gave us quite a run for our money. Seems lately they have been satisfied enough with the pasture grasses and have not wanted to go in the barn for the grain we’ve been putting out. So they did not come to the barn when they heard the grain in the pans. It was not until after dark that we were finally able to coerce Judith and Ilsa to come in for grain. Sunspot and Chardonnay soon followed.

The morning brought us cool cloudy skies and some sprinkles. The shearers showed up right on time at 7:45. We decided to do Dreamweaver and Trueno first since they were out in the open and getting wet. As the shearer set up in the barn Paul and I went for the pasture to get the boys. It took us a few minutes to get them corralled in the shelter, but once we got the halters on, they were easy to walk right into the barn. After a little drying off with a towel, Trueno became the first victim. He screamed a bit, but was not too bad. When it was all done he had shed 6 lbs 12oz of fiber.

Next up was Dreamweaver. He also was pretty good and relaxed while shedding his 8lb contribution to the fiber pile.

Next we did 3 other fiber boys from a neighboring farm. Otis, Elmer and Jasper !! They were pretty good boys and were done in out to go home pretty quickly. Jan and Greg were thankful to have a place to bring them for shearing.

After a quick break we moved on to working on the girls. First up was Ilsa. She was calm but needed to be carried to the mats. Once on the mats she was a good girl. She’s so skinny under all that fleece !!! We also took some time to do a little dental work on her that was badly needed.

Sunspot was next and she was the one in every crowd that gives you are hard time. There was no way she was going down easy and she fought the whole way… and did not give up. After three men wrestled her down on the mat she continued to spit, scream, pee AND poop the whole time. Thank goodness this is a once a year event !!! She contributed 4lbs 10 oz of fleece. I really thought she had more, but her body frame is quite large.

Judith also was a screamer, but was not as bad as Sunspot. Judith contributed 4lbs 2 oz

Chardonnay was last and she was a dream. We haltered her and she walked calmly to the mats. She was down easy and lay there QUIETLY while don gently worked his blades to remove her dense fiber. Chardonnay contributed 6 lbs of fleece !!!

All in all it was a good day. We were finished by noon, everyone got a nice haircut and will now be more comfortable in the warmer weather. Since Dreamweaver and Trueno’s fleeces were a little damp I took them into my office and spread them out on the skirting table and floor and put the fan on to help dry them off. They are very nice looking fleeces and I can’t wait to get busy skirting them for the spin offs this year !!!

Our new trailer arrived at the dealers on Friday April 16. We needed to have some work done on the truck for the brakes and that was scheduled for Monday April 19th. So first thing Monday Paul went and got that done and picked up the trailer. After a quick lunch we put the mats in the trailer and headed out for Cedar Ridge to pick up Dreamweaver and Trueno. They were good on the ride home and were very happy to be in the green pastures. As soon as the boys got in the new pasture the girls next door came running over to greet them! There was lots of sniffing and noses touching. Dreamweaver seemed pretty excited too, with his tail swishing back and forth.

It’s now been three weeks since we brought the alpacas home. Everyone seems to be getting along find and getting into a routine. Alexis is helping to feed every morning before going off to “school” and again when she returns. The alpacas are getting to know that when they see her with the pans, it’s time get some grain.
There are times when I think we have two herds with three alpacas each. The one herd of the girls from Canada, Judith, Sunspot and Ilsa… and the other herd of the three that were at Cedar Ridge here in Kentucky, Chardonnay, September Rain and Chispero. They seem to stick together. However in the last week or so I have noticed them blending in a little better…. except for at meal time. They spend their days grazing in the pasture and come to the barn periodically for hay and water. With some pretty sunny days lately they have also been spending time in the shade of the barn, which is about 15 degrees cooler than outside. We shut the south facing doors in the late afternoon to keep it cooler in there.

It did not take me long to figure out the “personalities”.

Judith – She is the alpha. She gets to a pan of grain and nobody gets any till she’s done… and if she decides she wants YOUR pan, she will take it. She’s not easily caught and she kicks.

Ilsa – The calm one. She was the first to approach us when we offered the grain on the first day. No hesitation. We’ve caught her easily and examined her fleece which we found to be a beautiful dark brown with maroon hues when in the sunlight. We took her temperature during herd health because she felt a little warm. The next day we took it again and she continued to stand in place even after we walked away. She was just fine.

Sunspot – The indifferent one. She’s not aggressive at the food pan. She waits her turn and finds some anywhere she can. She’ll share with “the other herd” if she has too, but most often she will find a feeder off to the corner and stand there quietly munching along.

Chardonnay and Chispero – Mother & Son – They pretty much stick together, even though he is nearly a yearling. He was weaned at Cedar Ridge before coming here and we have caught him trying to nurse a couple of times. However Chardonnay has no milk and he has soon figured out that there is nothing there. He will be moved to the boys pasture as soon as we get the shelter done and fencing up.

September Rain – Our “little” girl. Just six months old now, she weighed in at 76 lbs last week during herd health! She’s a sweet heart and is doing much better than Chispero in the halter training sessions I’ve been doing. She sticks with Chispero and “Auntie” Chardonnay most of the time, but she is also beginning to make her own place in the herd.

Yeah, Good things come to those that wait, and wait and wait. Well we’ve waited a long time, nearly 3 years since we purchased Sonatina and Chardonnay !! On March 15 we welcomed 6 alpacas home !! Matt almost didn’t make it down the road, but he took it slowly and came down in the pickup first to scope it out.

First off the truck was little miss September Rain. At just under 6 months of age she had just been on her first trailer ride and along the way she met some new herdmates.

We were lucky enough to be able to purchase 3 females from a retirement sale. Matt had picked them all up and delivered them to the new owners. So along with September Rain, Chispero and Chardonnay we welcomed home, Ilsa, Sunspot and Judith who had been on the trailer for several days during a long ride. They were all very glad to be off the trailer and on solid grazing ground.

All seem to be getting along fine and are settling into a routine. A routine that we are also developing as we go along. Alexis is learning new skills like herding and fiber gawking. Just today she came running into the office to get me. “Grammy Grammy… you have GOT to see this FLEECE!!” Sure enough Paul had caught Ilsa and was holding her so we could take a look at her fleece. Every day is an adventure !!

Yes.. I know I’m not real good at keeping this thing updated… but hey, I’m a busy girl. Now it’s time to catch up. So… when last I blogged, I really must get better at this don’t you think, anyway, where was I… OH yeah, when last I blogged it was about the barn roof.. notice the pictures below in the other postings. It was pretty cold that day. But we were sooooo lucky to get it done because the weather that came after that…would NOT have been nice for putting on roofing. It’s been a COLD and WET winter… wet yes. We’ve had more snow this winter than in the last 10 years around these parts… so the locals say. The kids have been out of school around a dozen days because of it… lots of making up to do for them. Also, not good weather for working on a barn and fencing… but we’ve managed to get most of it done. With so much to do, money to spend, supplies to buy I’ve been very busy getting ready for the Alpaca Homecoming.

WAAAYYYYY back to January we got that roofing put on. The next weekend we rented the manlift from Green River Building Supply and put up the siding on the second level. We tried to put the door on the loft, but it was just too heavy. So we used the lift to bring it up to the loft and then left it there inside. Once we got the hang of it we kept on moving. Paul was in the lift and I was on the ground preparing the siding to be hung, cutting, measuring. We finished up the last piece with just enough time for Paul to come down, hook the lift to the truck and take off to return it. He pulled into the lot at Green River and they shut the gate behind him…. whew… good thing I called ahead and told them we were on our way !!

Paul started to work on the other doors for the barn, we just needed to put them up. They came out sooo nice. I really can’t wait to get this barn painted, it’s gonna be the best looking barn around for miles and miles…. well, considering most of them in these parts are OLD and falling down, or tipped over…. it will be. All my friends already have barn envy !!! That’s our girl Roxie striking a pose for the camera.

After we got all that siding up we moved right along on the next weekend to the trim boards and finishing up the siding on the back. It had rained and that side was very muddy. Sometimes it was cold, but we bundled up and did our best to keep moving ahead.

About two weeks later we were able to get some gravel delivered. We requested 3 loads, the first arrived on a Thursday or was it a Tuesday? We also spoke with some locals to come on over with the Bobcat and spread it around, they promised to come on Monday. Well, as luck would have it…. the next day it got really cold, then it snowed, and froze. The gravel was one large frozen pile of rock. Then it snowed some more. So after about 10 days it was finally good enough for them to come over and take care of it.

And when they were done it looked like this……….

Fence and Gates !!! Now that the gravel was down it was time to finish up the fencing and gates around the barn. We have left them off to allow for room for the bobcat to move. So we spent the next weekend putting up a fencing and gates. Three gates, which needed A LOT of help and adjustments to be level. The ground is so crooked !! Here Alexis takes a ride on one of the gates.

After we got the gates up we had to attach some fencing to them. Paul attached 2×4’s to the gates with U shaped brackets… I think they are for pipes. We then stretched a piece of fence over that and attached it to the wood.

Next up we started the stairs and landing to the loft on the outside. Once the landing was up Paul constructed a railing using the same pattern that was used on the house porch. The railing on the south end of the landing is actually a gate. It’s attached with hinges and has a locking slide bolt. This gate opens up to the inside and will allow us load hay in the loft from a truck parked below using a winch which will be mounted inside the loft and hanging from the beams just off the porch landing on the right.

Then we moved on to the inside to make it comfortable and safe for the alpacas. Considering we needed to block them off from 1/2 of the barn so that we could do the vet room construction this spring, we used our new 16ft gate to accomplish that. This gate was purchased to go between the girls and boys pasture. But we are not ready for it there yet, so it was mounted inside the barn. Paul also built a small wall with 2 x 8’s. Next we ordered and put down “Stall Skins”. We’ve heard so much about them that we had to give them a try. 1/2 the price of the rubber stall mats, they looked VERY appealing. So we bought two large size stall skins that will eventually cover the entire barn floor. We also bought a few mats to use in the doorways.

Next, we wanted to protect the barn siding on the inside. The siding is a compressed paper/wood material and we knew that if it got wet on the inside where it was not painted, then we would be in trouble. So to protect the lower half we decided to hang or tack up something … but what. Originally we thought stall mats, but those are so heavy and more than what was needed. On a trip to Lowes we found a big roll of Black ribbed carpet runner, 3 ft wide… PERFECT !!! We bought the whole roll, 60 feet. Then we tacked it up on the inside of the barn, ribbed side in/smooth side out, with the left over roofing nails. Wha la…. the alpacas now had carpeting and wall coverings !!!

The last thing Paul created was the Hay feeder. He built this in a matter of hours using left over ballisters, and wood, a set of hinges and two slide bolts. Of course in this picture there is a bungee cord holding it together because he needed another slide bolt. But that is fixed now. That side of the feeder drops down to allow you to place ONE square bale of hay inside, then just lift it up and slide the bolts. Free choice hay attached to the post inside the barn. There are opening all the way around and at the bottom so the little guys can reach it. There is also a flat table area on the back where we can sprinkle supplements and minerals.

THEN we were finally ready !

A new year… and a new barn !! Wow are we moving right along. Our Amish friend Daniel is so dedicated and honest. He was supposed to come over on 12/30 to help with the barn. He called in the morning to advise us that a friend of his had lost his workshop overnight to a fire and he wanted to go and help him out… so we said GO.. our roof can wait. We took the day off from barn building as well and went for a trip to Lexington where we got some new tires for the truck and Paul exchanged a tool at Sears. ( Silly me I bought him something he already had !! ) Anyway on 12/31 it was so cold and rained all day. Daniel showed up that afternoon telling us he could work if we wanted him to. We sent him home !!!

New Years Day brought with it some mighty cold temperatures, it didn’t get above 21 all day. But as long as there was nothing falling from the sky, we were determined to do some work. Daniel showed up around 9 AM and went onto the roof, which was a bit slippery. After he put up 3 sheets of metal he and Paul decided it was best to just wait until the sun came over the ridge and perhaps it would be better. So Daniel went to cut up some firewood from the trees that fell during the Tornado in October and we went inside. Around 1 PM Daniel showed up again and immediately went to work on the roof. With Paul passing the sheets of metal up to him, he began screwing them down. As each piece went up the ice began falling off and water dripped. Within an hour there were icicles hanging from the edge of the barn… or maybe it was sooner than that.

Paul kept passing the panels up and Daniel kept screwing them down. Around 3 PM Paul put two panels out on the lawn in the sun and I chipped off the ice and dried them off with towels. These were to be the final two pieces that Daniel would have to walk on.
The last two sheets went up on the roof around 3:45 and Daniel had them all screwed down by 4PM …. just in time to go home and do the milking on his own farm.

On 1/3 Paul worked all day outside to remove the temporary platforms he had put up for working on the roof. He stacked and stored all the wood in the barn too. It was very cold and it was snowing on and off all day long, with no accumulation on the ground.
In the afternoon he put on the wood 2×4s that we would use to attach the siding.

On 1/4 we attached the siding on that side of the barn and Paul framed in the doorway.