Llamas and woodstove!

Well, work today was busy with delivering our Range Printing Christmas cards, and saying hi to friends and customers. Also worked on some other projects and setting up appointments for next week.

Once home, I did outside chores checked the hay ring for the animals and made sure they could reach what is left, tomorrow AM they get another new big round bale to feed on.

I buy my hay from a friend, who is actually married to Crystalie's old employer. Jeff and Debbie Scharrer, and there little boy Carson. It involves me taking my trailer up to his house and he loads a bale in the middle of it, and I haul it home and roll it off my trailer onto the spot where the hay ring needs to sit so both pens of Llamas and the horse can access it, yet keeping one male Llama away from the female Llamas. We have to get him fixed yet, which will be this spring sometime.

Here is a rundown of our Llama's names by age

Dolly, maternal female

Latte, daughter of Dolly

Scooter Pavo, an adapted male we used to sire Latte and Dolly

Regalo, our first offspring, a male and he was a gift, Dolly was carrying him and no one new till he arrived in mid November

Pepper, another male

Paco, another male

Pedro, another male, the one who needs to be fixed

Lily, our first female, Latte's offspring

Nina, our last born llama, female also

I think that makes 9 in all and of course one horse named Bucky, a mare.

Well these 10 animals can go through about a 900 lb round hay bale in 8-9 days, and about 100 gallons of fresh water in a week. Watering is easier these days as I now have an outdoor hydrant closer to the heated water tank. I have a 75 ft garden hose I store in the back of my woodstove outer shell, on a little rack, that keeps it nice and warm and flexible and ready to go when I hook it up and unroll it on the snow and frozen ground. It takes about 15 minutes to fill the tank, and then I disconnect the hose and hang it in the back of the woodstove shed, this all has to be done at least two times a week. The picture is from earlier this fall of my woodpile and the little gray woodstove shed that keeps us toasty warm all winter and preheats our hot water also.

Weather: about -5 last night and almost up to 20 above during the day, down right balmy this afternoon, not much of a wind also. Good Ice fishing weather, if you enjoy that sort of thing!