This heat has us all moving a little slower. Lots of shade and water helps everyone. The Alpaca pools are being refilled a few times a day.
We took a year off breeding our Alpacas so at least no big Alpaca mama's waiting to give birth in this weather. We really miss the cria's (baby Alpacas) and are going to have some of our girls breed this year as soon as the temp's cool off a bit.
Bibb's just loves to drink water from the hose.
So no cria's on the farm this year does not mean that we have no babies.
The little joey we saw while shearing was very cute but no kangaroos for us.
I was very tempted to take home a cashmere goat while shearing. Still thinking about that but I'll hold off for a while anyways.
Then there were the mule foot piggies. Yep we now have 3.
Our grandson James gets a kick out of them.
The Alpacas were not sure what to make of the pigs.
They
are a heritage pig. Not like the other white meet but very hardy,
disease resistant and TASTY. Because pigs are mostly being raised
indoors these days and people want a leaner, healthier meat, the mule foots
lost popularity. Unless of course you talk to world redound chefs and
restaurants. Many say that the pork we eat today has no flavor. These
pigs are a little fattier and take longer to grow, making them a little
more expensive but very flavorful. They also have great temperaments. We are fortunate to have a few restaurants giving us
there left over & scrap veggies to supplement. Our son works at a
restaurant where they make there own beer. The pigs will also be getting
the left overs after brewing. I'm pretty sure no alcohol in there so
the pigs won't be getting to goofy.
Our old Black Neufoundland dog, Maggy, isn't sure about them. However they seemed to think Maggy was there mother for the first week or so. Good thing Maggie has a good disposition.
We also have 35 meat chickens. They grow really fast and always seem to be hungry. Kind of sad in a way. Makes you wonder how their genetics were changed to make them this way. They do get to scratch at the ground, eat the occasional bugs and lead as normal a life as a chicken that grow to full size plus some in 8 weeks can. We ordered 25 chickens and they thought we said 35. We are thinking we won't have room in our freezer for all the chickens so if you are interested in purchasing any please let us know soon. We will be taking them to the Amish to be "processed" July 12th
We have a few chickens sitting on eggs in the barn. Yum more egg layers to come. Excepting we don't need any more laying chickens so we will be selling a few of our layers as well.
Then there's the baby my husband, Paul, bought. He calls it BOAT and he is quite smitten with it
Although we are enjoying all the baby's, the one that has stole the show this spring is our new grandson Kaden Andrew Webster. Born May27, 2012. No problems. Content, happy, beautiful baby boy
Kaden's 2 cousins and big brother were very excited to meet him
His big brother Jordan holding him for the first time. Sure he liked him but he wasn't as much fun as Jordan thought he would be. Jordan was worried that Kaden did not like him because he didn't smile or talk to him or anything:)
Mom is doing good. Just a little tiered
Dad & brother are enjoying him though
Amazing how fast he's growing.
