Beautiful Day

Today was a gorgeous day. Temperatures in the upper thirties and plentiful sun definitely did not make it feel like December. So what did we do on this beautiful day? We took advantage of the fact we would not freeze nearly to death working outside by cleaning out the stalls and the pasture. Jealous, aren't you!? Now our chickens, goats, alpacas, and cats have a cleaner place to live and play.

Tulip felt it was time to have her picture on the blog again.

We also decided to try our first attempt trimming hooves on the goats and alpacas. We started with the goats and they weren't too bad. They don't mind human contact. In fact, they love letting us pet them so they were easy to catch though they were not overly fond of having their hooves trimmed. It helped that their feet were in good shape and didn't need much trimming. 

He looks innocent but watch out, Blaze can be feisty!

Then it was time for the alpacas. I really wasn't sure how this would go. The alpacas are used to me and come over to me when I enter the pasture. However, they don't really like it when I try to pet their backs and they will not tolerate me going near their faces, unless they are just sniffing my hand. They also aren't too sure of Jon and I was going to need his help.

First problem was how to catch one. They came to me in the side pasture and I closed the gate so they couldn't go far. No way would they let us get near them though so I lured them one by one into a stall with a bucket (they were hoping it contained food). Then I threw a rope around the "victim's" neck so I could hold him while getting the halter on his head. Then Jon held him in place while I trimmed the hooves. I was pleasantly surprised at how well that process went, at least for three out of four. 

Then we took on Blaze, my shyest boy. While trying to rope him, I got kicked twice in the knee. In the same spot. Good thing alpacas are little and have padded feet or that might have hurt! We eventually got the halter on him and then the fun really began. He fought us but we finally wrestled him to the ground so I could trim his fee
t. Since we got the alpacas, many people have commented that they just wanted to lay on the alpacas because they looked so fluffy and soft. Now I can say that I have done that and yes, they are SOOOO fluffy! Too bad it wasn't more relaxing. Plus, the half that wasn't on my living alpaca "rug" was in 'paca poo so it wasn't nearly as enjoyable as others have dreamed it could be. I am glad I cleaned the stall well though so I wasn't lying in nearly as much poo. 

Oh, and did I mention I also got spit on by an alpaca for the first time? Yep, it was gross. Food, hay, and spittle right in the face no down into my shirt. I was a few feet away from the alpaca at the time so I am not sure whether he was actually spitting at me or another alpaca but I suspect he was just bitter because of his unwanted "pedicure".