Alpacas Join the Farm

Eclair, Ginger, Pixel, Tabitha and Hollywick joined the farm.

I've made some changes on the farm this spring.  When the herd of Black Angus cattle  that had boarded with me for three years, finally got a farm of their own, I was left with only 16 head of cattle a a dozen chickens. Three of the cows are too old to breed again and three of them are yearling or older bulls.

Unfortunately all my bees died (but honestly bees were not my thing), so I sold the hive to a friend who really loves bees.

Then a colleague from work, Mallory,  contacted me to say her farm was seriously downsizing its alpaca herd.  She made me a very good deal on five little girls and a donkey named Taco.  The alpacas arrived last evening and as you can see have settled in pretty well.  They are having their evening ration of sweet feed. Taco is meant to be the protector and is arriving late this evening. Coyotes have killed two chickens this month and caused a riot with the cattle resulting in broken gates, broken little trees and lilac bushes. Hopefully Taco is up to the task of fending them off.

That's Hollywick looking at us.  They have all just been sheared.

Several of my family members hand spin and many of us knit. My angora goats died a couple of years ago (mohair) and the last of the sheep died last winter of old age. We suddenly found ourselves with nothing to spin or knit!  Alpaca fleece makes very soft warm yarn. I'd purchased a little winter hat for baby Natalie made from Mallory last summer and the more I thought about that lovely soft yarn the more I thought it might be time to get some alpacas.  I did not purchase a male. My interest at this point in time in strictly fleece. Besides, three of the girls are less than a year old. And Mallory's family even sheared them for me and gave me the fleece in the deal. So a new adventure begins. The cows don't know what to think!