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Winter weather

Winter has arrived full force at Rocaro Alpacas. We were blessed with 6 inches of wet snow followed immediatley by several inches of rain to equal 6 inches of slush. Yippee!

The day is sunny and cool, perfect weather for pruning trees in the pasture.

Oh, $%#*&

We have had several days of high winds and so far the old barn has stood up to the challenge.

Except for last night, when one of the big front doors blew off.

Not only did it blow off, it is well damaged and took some of the sliding track with it.

Now I am not impressed; it's right before Christmas and I have to find a carpenter (we need the new door to be square) and convince the door company that we need a new runner fast.

Meanwhile the girls look over their gate thinking Hummm, this is new....what should we doooo?Hopefully we are not in for more wind & rain, or worse yet snow or we will be shoveling out the barn. Arrgh!

Weaning time again

We have all this year's cria moved to the "Cria Club" area of the barn to be weaned from their moms, and then start learning some manners (halter & lead training).

The move went well and without too much fuss from either the moms or the babies.

During halter training we will decide who will be going to shows and who will be in our breeding program.

Jewellery for the Girls

Well, the herd is large enough now that it has become hard to tell some of the critters apart. This is particularly true of the yearling girls and this years' crop of cria.

We found a way to ID those in question with the use of plastic chain and cattle ear tags. We attached the ear tags to the chain, added the name and parentage of the alpaca needing ID to the tag, and attached the chain around the neck.

While not particularly high-fashion, it is serving the purpose.

Alpaca Gargoyles

Add to your herd or start a new herd with one of these cute alpaca gargoyles. These gals are hand crafted clay with plenty of attitude and can be ordered from our webstore. Have a good laugh.

http://www.rocaroalpacas.ca/sunshop/index.php

Wolfville Market

Only three more Saturday's at the Wolfville farmers market until Christmas. Come by and visit us on the second floor of the market to get your special christmas gifts. Or as always you can visit our online store. www.rocaroalpacas.ca

Our past 6 weeks at the market have been a great success and now the online and farmstore sales are picking with christmas coming. We have even sold out of somethings.

If you are wanting Duvets, pillows or other bedding products to keep you warm this christmas will need to be ordered soon as free delivery with Canada Post. Extra charge if you want by courier.

This weekend at the market is titled "Get Unscrooged" with special draws and events.

Tucking in for winter

My saving grace is that winter comes late to Nova Scotia.

I have turned my attention to planting the last few fall bulbs and getting the flower beds cleaned up for winter.

Six beds have been trimmed and weeded leaving only the two big ones to do. With any luck the weather will hold just a little longer so I can finish...

Barn Door Ballet

The weather became wet and windy overnight and I was not inclined to go to the barn in the dark this morning.

At first light, I realized I had a problem with the new double Dutch style barn doors. Each of the 4 individual doors were taking their turn swinging & banging in the wind, and at this point I have no idea if the animals were in the barn or had taken advantage of the situation to go "walk-about".

Off I go to the barn.

Upon my arrival I see the alpacas huddling in a corner of the barn looking concerned that something isn't right, Tab the barn cat is meowing like crazy and trying to get to me while the dogs are responding by barking and trying to get at the cat. Meanwhile the doors continue to bang.

After analyzing the problem I had to construct supports to attach to the inside of the barn doors to add stability, after which I nailed the hay feeder to the doors for added security (will probabaly catch hell for that) and then replace the small outer supports with big long ones firmly attached by long screws. All of this while fighting against gale-force winds, arrrgh.

Once completed the alpacas relaxed and settled in for a morning nap, the cat got a cuddle and the dogs snoozed on the hay.

The doors appear to be holding...

Wwoofing season over again

Once again we had a great time with all the Wwoofers who passed through the farm this year.

As always, the help was invaluable and we learned from each other. Everyone participated in the barn chores and I will miss the company and help in the barn.

Also, thanks to Cathy in the garden, Lilian for weeding and planting beans, Ching & Sara for all the painting, Tracy for weeding, fibre prep and jellying (Carly for keeping the squirrels at bay), Tosca for more weeding and jelly making, Betty, Gerry & Muriel for the help on Open Farm Day, Laura for gardening & soap felting and the farmers market, Jim for door building and gardening, Jill for the garden help and soap felting and the farmers market, Hollis for wrangling alpacas and helping at the market, and last but not least Fabian for helping to hang the new barn doors.

We couldn't have accomplished so much without all of you.

Farmers Market a Success

We have attended the Wolfville Farmer's Market two Saturdays in a row, and expect to be there if space is available from now until Christmas.

We have had excellent success so far, this is very encouraging. We have met some very enthusiastic people and everyone is curious about alpacas.

There is a lot of organizing required to prepare for the market along with loading & unloading the truck, set up, break down and loading & unloading all over again. Every time we go we get better at it though.

Swirling wood ash

As part of the Nova Scotia Nutrient Management Plan for our pastures we received a tractor-trailer load of wood ash to be spread.

The ash arrived on a beautiful calm Thursday afternoon, and I called our neighbour with the equipment to let him know that Friday would be a good day to spread the as beecause rain was forcasted for Saturday.

Friday morning arrived with a stiff breeze. The neighbour arrived and the breeze became a strong wind. We spread the ash anyway in a cloud of blowing black soot. By the time we were finished the wind was gale force. It was a good thing that we received more ash than we really needed as a good portion of it blew into the woods across the road.

Each one of us was covered in black ash, and soap and showers were running full force that afternoon.

A new toy

The old manure cart, a steel type trailer has finally given up the ghost. We have replaced it with a heavy duty plastic one that good or bad, carries twice the load. It's easier to load & unload & doesn't leak. That in itself is a good thing.

Thank you

A very big thank you to all who have helped at the farm this past year.

Thank you to all of our customers who support our business. Without your support our farm would not be as successful as it is.

New socks

Just arrived: A brand new sock order! We have a new supplier for thermal socks, hiking socks, cable dress socks and ever so cute kids socks. All 80% alpaca.

Open Farm Day - another success

Open farm day 2010 was another great success. Thankfully we had the help of three wonderful volunteers to manage parking, run the shop and oversee the over 200 visitors to the farm leaving us to chat and provide informative talks.

Members of the Atlantic Spinners & Handweavers did spinning & weaving demos, also a great addition to the fun.

Live At 5

The CTV crew and the NS Department of Agriculture was here today to do an interview and promotion for Open Farm Day, featuring non-traditional farm products. We had a great time tapeing, interviewing and getting up close and personal with the alpacas. We all had a great time and I think alpacas have wiggled their way into some new hearts.

Check Live At 5 to see the results!

Home from Fredericton

What a weekend at the "FREX"! We caught up with old friends and certainly made some new ones too. Typically about 15,000 march through the doors of the Ex over the course of a week, and by the end of the day on Saturday it felt like we had spoken to them all.

We sold alpaca product, gave away magazines and of course participated in the first ever New Brunswick Alpaca Show.

The four we took to show Oreo, Toblerone, Blizzard and Anuone all took First in Class. The show was not large enough for colour Champions.

We need to make room in the barn

With seven females bred for the 2011 season, we need to make some room in the barn.

Check our website for specially priced alpaca packages.

We Survived!!

All the Alpacas are well and Hurricane Earl did little to our farm besides a few broken branches.

Power went out abruptly at noon and the storm pretty much ended by 5pm for us. We even had some sun about 4pm. A few downed or broken branches but otherwise all is fine. It even got so humid again that Caroline and I went into town and found the local cinema's had power. So 'The American' with George Cloney. A good classic style spy like movie. None of the flash bang of the movies today. Very enjoyable. Caroline also enjoyed it as the movie played on the expression and the tension that was always present.

On the way home we kept looking for the next yard light as we turned each corner. We were feeling pretty good when there were lights on Georgefield Rd. So yes we have power after only 8 or 9 hours without.

We are thankful.

Alpaca Canada Days Sept 25 and Sept 26

This year we are participating in Alpaca Canada Days which is on Sept 25th and Sept 26th. Come visit us between 10 am and 4 pm. This is a also a good time to visit us if you could not make it out on Sept 19th.

Come learn about alpacas and have the opportunity to feel how soft they are. We will also have our farm store set up so you can get an early jump on christmas or winter shopping. Besides yarn, scarves, socks, and other alpaca items we will have jams, jellies, and some farm produce for sale.

Additionally we do have some of our Alpacas for sale as we need to rotate a few bloodlines.

If you cannot make it this weekend we always accept visitors by appointment.

Hope to see you here.

Hurricane Earl

Hurricane Earl is now battering our Alpaca farm with steady heavy rain for over an hour now. The winds are increasing but so far so good. Earl did hold off long enough this morning we were able to get the alpaca chores done. While we still have power we expect to loose it at some point today. Fingers crossed it is for a short period.

Nova Scotia Farm Day Sept 19th

This year we are participating in Nova Scotia's Open Farm Day which is on Sunday Sept 19th. Come visit us between 10 am and 4 pm. Last year we had over 160 people visit.

Come learn about alpacas and have the opportunity to feel how soft they are. We will also have our farm store set up so you can get an early jump on christmas or winter shopping. Besides yarn, scarves, socks, and other alpaca items we will have jams, jellies, artisan breads and some farm produce for sale.

Hope to see you here.

Fredricton Alpaca Show

Next week we are off to Fredricton for the NB Alpaca Show. This a composite show which we have never competed in. So it will be interesting. We are taking Aztec Artic Blizzard, Toblerone Ben, Anuone Ben and our black Oreo Ben.

As the show is part of the Agriculture exhibition we are also bringing a bunch of product to sell.

Hurricane Earl arriving 9 am

So far so good. The outer bands have reached us with some wind and intermittant rain. The alpacas are currently out in the pasture probably enjoying being cooler after being over 30 degrees celcius for the past week.

Hurrican Earl did shift to the east from last night which means Nova Scotia will get hit harder as the eye should move right up the province. But should have less intensity by the time it reaches up.

Will keep posted as long as we have power.

Earl

Hurricane Earl is due to arrive in Nova Scotia tomorrow morning.

This of course means that anything loose must be secured or brought in under cover. Chances are high that we will be without power for some period of time, which also means the well doesn't pump, so no water.

The alpaca pools are filled to the brim, they like that, also meaning if necessary there is water available. Clean water is drawn for them to drink, and stashed away. Pots and buckets of household water are stored, the yard secured and all the glads now reside in a vase on the table.

Hopefully the corn, tomatoes and the rest of the garden make it.

The alpacas will have free access to the barn but won't be locked in. If our old barn becomes unstable they will be better off outside.

Wish us luck.

Gym Membership not required

We have a neighbour who cuts firewood for a living. With fall approaching (although you wouldn't guess it by the 34c temperature today), he has been very busy.

We had previously asked him if we could have the wood chips for alpaca bedding, and he was glad to get rid of them.

Today he delivered 5 loads of shavings to the barn.

The first load I had him drop outside the barn, but on the second load I got smart, and asked him to unload the rest inside the barn.

I shovelled 2 loads into the shavings crib for storage, pouring sweat the whole time. By the time he brought the rest of the loads, it was just too hot to continue.

I will sleep like a baby tonight.

Pool felt

We had a wonderful volunteer at the farm who was up for all my crazy ideas.

It was a very hot day, and we were both eyeing the alpaca pools with envy. Suddenly it came to me, lets dump 2 bags of scrap fibre into one of the pools, add the soap and squish around in it barefoot. Surely we can make a big felt this way.

In we get to slip and slide around with the alpacas looking on curiously. After a while it became apparent that this method will make a lot of small felts but not one large felt. Probabaly we should have used carded fibre.

A fun learning experience and we did get to cool off.

Must be jelly 'cause jam don't shake like that!

We took the apples from our "Summer apple" tree to the Annapolis Valley to have them pressed into soft cider. This cider is not pasteurized and has a limited shelf life. I came home with 96 liters of apple juice. We are fermenting some for hard cider, sold some, froze some and still had lots leftover.

The only remaining option was to make jelly! Six cases later, we have apple jelly, apple ginger jelly, apple lovage jelly, apple basil jelly, spiced apple jelly, apple red pepper jelly, apple lemon balm jelly....you get my drift.

Get 'em now at 4.50 each.

A girl for Wyonna

The last cria of the season was born today, a girl for Wyonna. I was in the barn getting the chores done and before I knew it the little thing was on the ground. Wyonna is an experienced mom and did not require any help at all.

The little one was on her feet in good time and has made her way out to the pasture.

It is late in the season so we will give Wyonna a winter rest and re-breed her in the spring.

Another win for Oreo

We sent some fleeces to the Navan Fair Alpaca Show which was held outside Ottawa on August 14-15.

Oreo's fleece won Black Champion and Toblerone's fleece took a first.

Maitland Launch Day

August 21 is Launch Day in Maitland NS. It is the anniversary of the launch of a boat into the Bay Of Fundy.

The town puts on a parade, events and local crafters set up displays. Somewhere around 300 or so people attended the event. Our table was a popular spot as people were keen to learn about Alpacas.

www.maitlandns.com

Pasture rotation

The boy's side of the pasture was looking a little worse for wear so we began a pasture rotation program. We moved all the males to a larger pasture area behind and next to the ladies area.

This worked for about a day.

Perilli our main stud decided that now that he could clearly see the female herd, they all belonged to him. He put the run on the other males which defeats the purpose of the pasture rotation. We moved Perilli and a "buddy" back to the original area, leaving the rest of the herd (the young guys) by the girls.

They still hang out along the fence looking wistfully at the ladies but at least all is calm.

Toblerone's First Breeding

Now that our young studs are two years of age we are giving them a chance to breed. Toblerone got his shot a couple of weeks ago. It seems to have taken as Karmelita was not interested in the spit testing we did this weekend.

Barolo and Karmelita

Pictures from Barolo's first day.

Ways to keep cool

A busy time in the pasture

Sweet Dreams finally delivered a beautiful girl after a very long wait. This was her first.

We had been working in the vicinity of the barn and stopped to have a look before heading in for lunch, and noticed that S.D. was walking funny. It was then apparent that there was a head and 2 legs, but the legs were in an incorrect position.

We geared up and went to help. Well S.D. did not think we were going to help, so she took off to the back part of the pasture with a half-born cria in tow. It took four of us maybe 20 minutes to get her in a position where we could catch her and assist.

Thankfully the cria was breathing during this time.

We finally birthed the cria and mom and baby are doing well.

She has earned the name Bacio, Italian for kiss, as all the alpacas came to the new addition to give her a nose-kiss.

Bechamel is Cria # 3

On Sunday, I headed to the barn in the soft rain to give the morning mineral mash and close the animals in the barn as few needed shots and we wanted to do some breed Karmelita. In the morning stuper I did not see notice that not all the girls came. We organized the first breeding of Toblerone to Karmelita and started give a few shots. We were looking for one of the animals and realized she was not in the barn. A quick head count showed 3 must have been on the far side of the pasture so I did not see them when I called them in. Opened the door and there was Cadence giving birth to our first girl of the the year Bechamel.

All is well with mom and baby and the woofers got to watch and video the birth. Pictures should be up shortly and we will advise when we post the videos.

A happy accident

Somehow this morning one of the gates between the adult males and the juvenile males became unhooked.

We really didn't notice this until after lunch when we are working in the barn area. I glanced up to see that the juveniles had entered the forbidden territory of the adults. They were all happily grazing together without incident, perhaps because they have been fence-mates for quite some time.

We were planning to introduce them at the end of the breeding season to ensure a smooth transition. We need not have worried, as nature takes care of things herself.

Welcome to Barolo

Our second cria of the season arrived on July 11. Bartholomew is happy to have a playmate to romp with.

Beating the heat

The dog days of summer have arrived with full force and we are all trying to stay cool. It has been hot 30c with heavy humidity. This puts us in the danger zone for alpacas (80f and 80%humidity is the benchmark) so we need to provide methods of cooling.

The girls and the juvenile males like to dip in the pools. The adult males prefer that we spray the trees so they can stand under the dripping water.

The dogs seek the shade, and for us, we do what we can.

Home again

Home again and busily trying to catch up on farm work after a week at Olds Agricultural College in Alberta.

I attended the annual Fibre Week, taking a 2 day class in making felt boots and a four day Alpaca fibre sorter/grader/classer program.

The fibre program has a two year apprenticeship during which time I need to sort and grade 250 alpaca fleeces. Needless to say I will be looking for farms that need help with this step.

My boots are quite funky and just require the addition of soles to be ready for this winter.

Being surrounded by 400 plus fibre artists for a whole week certainly was inspiring and I have returned with many new ideas.

Hay Days

Bill came down and cut the hay last week and then turned it on the following days. On Monday, with Caroline now home it was time to bale. Thankfully Caroline was now home as being a Monday some of our regular help was away at work and then the other local boys who often come on baling day did not show. That left Caroline, Bill and myself to move the 900 odd bales into the barn. Bill, who has the equipment would help us finish each load so he could dump the next one. Became a very long day as we started at 130 and finished about 9pm. Thankfully another neighbour Mike came by looking for Bill and helped us finish things up for the last hour just as Caroline and I were at the point of total exhaustion.

We did get another good crop in the barn and things are set for another winter season. We only need about 300 bales for the year so we are selling some again this year.

Bartholomew arrives

Our first cria of the season arrived on Sunday June 6, right on schedule. A good size guy, he has been named Bartholomew although we don't know why; it just seemed right.

He got off to a rough start with Mom not wanting to feed him. We had to take quick action and gave him a NurseMate supplement. Mom was still none to interested so we had to administer colostrum by bottle during the first 24 hours.

One of us would sit on the floor holding him while the other held the bottle. This process was interesting to Bartholomew's big sister Anuone, and she checked it all out.

The second time we went to the barn for feeding, Anuone positioned herself immediatley behind and slightly over Bartholomew and guided him right over to where we were preparing his feeding, by using her legs and pushing him along.

It took us a moment to realize what she was doing...alpacas are pretty smart.

Mom has now settled down to business and little Bartholomew is getting along fine.

EEEK!

It's showering off and on meaning it's a perfect day to get the greenhouse cleaned up and planted.

Yes, I am really late in attending to the greenhouse this year but better late than never.

Upon wrenching the greenhouse door open I was greeted by an astounding sight. Weeds beyond belief...laying unhampered for the winter and early spring in a nice blanket of Alpaca beans, the weeds had taken off and were nothing short of knee high.

Two years ago we got rid of the snakes in the greenhouse by pouring a box of salt down the snake hole. After removing the snakes, the next spring I found that a rat was chewing off and absconding with my newly planted tomato plants under the cover of darkness. Hence the barn cat. I'm not sure which is worse, snakes or rats.

No sooner had I begun the task of clearing out the weeds, a movement caught my eye. It's no secret that I hate snakes, and the movement turned out to be a long, grayish snake just inches from my foot. The mandatory scream brought the dogs running.

At the sight of out trusty Spaniel, Sultan I yell at him Get it!, Get it! while feebly pointing in the general direction where the snake disappeared. With tail wagging he happily snuffles through the long grasses. I see the snake again, screaming and encouraging the dog to Get it!

Sultan (my savior) does get the snake, shakes it until it no longer moves, and happily deposits it on the grass outside.

With heart a-pounding and a wary eye for what I'm sure will be many more snakes, I continue hoeing out the weeds.

The dead snake will lay in the grass and make my heart pound in fear until I can convince someone else to remove it. Even dead I am not going near that thing.

As for Sultan, he deserves a steak!

High Speed Arrives!

After waiting patiently for the past 5 years, high speed internet has arrived in our rural location. Last week the guys spent the better part of the morning installing the stuff they install and got things up and running.

Thank God!!!

Shearing Day 2010

Once again shearing day was a great success. We had 12 wonderful volunteers helping with everything from using the shop vac to vacuum the animals, weighing alpacas, holding them on the shearing table, trimming nails and skirting fleece.

The day began at 9 AM with the arrival of the first volunteers and followed shortly after by Lukas the shearer. Two stations were set up for shearing, one on the table and an area on the floor. This way Lukas could move from one alpaca to another without having to wait.

We began with the darkest alpacas, moving to the whites. It's easiest to see the dark fibre when the eyes are fresh. As usual after they are shorn alpacas look pretty pathetic. I had made some "apres shear wear" (coats) for two of the smallest animals to help keep them warm until they adjusted to being naked.

We did some skirting right off the alpacas, the really hairy bits and lower leg fibre went directly into the felting bin. This made the process of bagging the shorn fibre a little easier.

The day wrapped up at 3 PM. The crew was tired and dirty and more than ready for the beer and barbecue that followed.

We are very grateful for the help of both old and new friends.

Mayflower Show 2010

We're back from the PEI show with more successes.

Blizzard won White Champion and Callibaut took Reserve Brown. Oreo was first in his class, however there were not enough blacks for a Championship class.
Oreo and Anuone took Produce of Dam (Sedona) and Anuone, Arwyn and Alteza were first, second and third in Junior White Female. Last but not least, Toblerone was first in his class for Fawn Yearling Male.

We enjoyed the high-speed access at the hotel, and now that we're home it's back to dial-up. ARRGH!

Road Trip

We are back safely from the big adventure of driving to Ontario. We girls, myself and the First Assistant headed off with a trailer full of six alpacas for the 2 day drive to Orangeville.

We were fortunate to have excellent weather in both directions although the weather in Ontario during the show weekend was cold, windy, and snow was in the air.

In retrospect, the drive through Montreal at rush hour was a piece of cake compared to the 401 through Toronto, (not during rush hour!). The newly acquired GPS (thanks Mom) was a god send navigating the 401 exits, however "The Voice", I think her name is Laurie, punished us for mis-understanding her directions.

There are few show pictures as we were both busy ferrying alpacas to and from the show ring, and standing in the ring while the Judges inspected the animals.

This was our First Assistants first time showing alpacas and she pulled it off like a pro. We were pleased with our results at the end of Saturday and decided that if we were to win any ribbons on Sunday that would be icing on the cake. Sunday came and we continued to win ribbons, in spite of Oreo rolling in the dirt and Anuone being wet.

We headed for home Monday morning, and "Laurie" punished us once again. We had a lovely tour of Riviere du Loup and met a charming gas station owner who reassured us that a lot of people stop at his establishment looking for the highway.

It was a long trip but worthwhile just the same. Next trip is to PEI for the Mayflower Show.

Success at Orangeville Show

Caroline, this weekend took six animals to Orangeville for the Alpaca Ontario show. She will post more about her adventures but here is a quick snapshot of the results

On Saturday,
Blizzard 1st place Yearlying white male
Alteza 1st place young junior white female
Oreo 1st place yearling black male
Anuone 2nd place older junior white female
Toblerone 3rd place yearling brown male

On Sunday
Oreo Black Male colour champion
Altezza Reserve white female colour champion
Sedona 2nd place get of dam (Showing of Anuone and Oreo)

All in all a very successful weekend.

There's always something!

In preparation for the trip to the Orangeville Alpaca show in April, we purchased a truck cap with a rack on top.

To make it easier to off load the large loom we purchased on the weekend, it made sense to back the truck right up to the door where we would be unloading the loom.

All wenta as planned until it was time to return the truck complete with roof rack back to the garage. From inside the house, I heard a screeching sound and ran to the door to find out what was wrong with the truck.

As it turns out, the truck was just fine, but the clothes line was caught in the roof rack, and the noise was the sound of the clothes line and 20 ft steel light pole being pulled to the ground!

A frantic call to the neighbour to bring his tractor ensued, and we were able to push the pole back into place. We'll see how many windstorms it survives.

And so it begins again

February is when we begin "school" for last summer's cria. As with last year we teach the wee ones how to stand quietly while tied, and are beginning instruction on walking calmly on a lead. The calmly part takes a while....

Preparations are underway for our trip with 6 alpacas to the huge show at Orangeville, Ontario in April where approximately 400 alpacas are registered for the event.

As our magnificent farm sitter will be my companion for the trip, we are involving her in the training lessons. With this additional skill set added to her resume, our farm sitter has become "First Assistant". A much more appropriate title indeed.

Winter living

Winter should be a time to lay back a bit and enjoy a slower pace on the farm. Not so this winter!

While the weather has been pretty easy this year, farm life remains busy.

Farmgirl and Farmsitter are taking weaving lessons which is great fun. The aim is to weave items from our alpaca fibre. We have received all the yarn and rovings from our clip, four boxes in all; beautiful stuff.

There are several marketing seminars in February to attend and the usual rounds of animal care. Lead training begins this weekend with the use of bike inner-tubes.

Little Andele is improving. He is bright-eyed and steadily gaining weight, so I guess he is out of the woods.

We will be hosting a fibre skirting course just before shearing season begins. Watch for dates.

Update on Andele

Thanks to our farm sitter who helped little Andele through the Christmas period. When we returned he was up and about but still thin and not eating very much. His battery of blood and fecal tests all came up inconclusive. We did notice though that he was regularily eating hay but not fighting for the grain or alpaca mash. We even tried bottle feeding but there was limited response.

On the Sunday we moved him to the other crias which we had placed in the weaning pen. Last night I observed him eating grain and this morning eating the mash. Hopefully he has turned the corner and will start to recover and add weight to his thin frame.

What was originally wrong though is still a mystery.

Farm Sitter Blues

During our recent off-farm adventure our farm-sitter had some adventures of her own. She may be thinking of writing a new C&W song about her experiences. Here is an account of the happenings in her own words:

"From the 18th of December until the 4th of January I "Farm Sit" at Rocaroalpacas while the owners went on holidays. This was not the first time I "Sat the Farm" but I think it was the most interesting and eventful.

First a little male got sick and the vet had to be called in twice, this included me giving the little one a needle every morning for 4 days as part of his treatment. This was done with the help of a neighbor, who use to be a dairy farmer, so he was use to handling animals. Also had to borrow a heat lamp from another neighbor. The neighbors were really great, and told me I could call on them at any time. Thank goodness it was only those two times.

One other morning 4 of the alpacas got out of their pen, then out of the barn and onto the lawn. Quick thinking and I got them all back in. Lessons learned, do not leave the barn door open when you go in the barn and make sure the gate is securely shut and the two dogs who like to tease the cats do not jump on the gate.

I fed the herd, mucked out their pens, mixed feed, fed the two cats, fed the two dogs, walked the dogs, kept the wood fire going most of the time to make sure the house was cozy and did everything else involved in the business of farming.

The owners of Rocaroalpacas are very nice people to let me sit their farm while they go away. I am very greatful that they have the trust in me to do this job.

Did I enjoy my job? YES

Would I do it again? IN A HEARTBEAT

Farm Sitter"