HISTORY 4

July 5, 2001
The ear infections have all cleared up now, but Kimball is still having problems with loose stools. It's odd that every morning, his stools are normal, but at night, his stools are more like dog piles. Maybe there's something in our pasture that doesn't agree with him. Wouldn't surprise me much - suckers from the old oaks that we took out, and from the acacia trees we took out, grow all over the place. And of course, we don't have any real idea what kind of grass was growing there when we started. We can't till the land and kill off all the old stuff before planting new.... there's no way a tiller could get through the rocks. But we've planted lots of pasture grass and orchard grass, so that might help some in the long run.

We've been giving Kimball a probiotic product called "Jump Start" - it's intended for "young alpacas," and I guess until he's of breeding age he's considered "young." We're not planning to breed any of these guys... they're to be gelded when they're old enough. We are wavering about Kirk, though. His fleece is so dense we can hardly part it enough to find the skin underneath it! It's too short yet to tell whether it's going to be crimpy, but that will have an impact on our decision. Fortunately, we don't have to MAKE that decision until December.

We finally got the shelter built! It's 16 x 24, with only two enclosed sides. We can put canvas tarps over the other two sides if need be in the winter, but it's nice and cool and breezy. I've ordered a water bucket to put out there, and Rick will pick up another manger as soon as it gets in. Here are a couple of pictures of the shed - and one of our three Practice 'Pacas. As usual, just click on the image to see the full-sized (640x438) image.

We've also been trying to halter-train the 'pacas. They want nothing to do with it! So far, when Rick catches them, they rear up on their hind legs, trying to dislodge his grip. Then, once they've settled down and I put the halter on them, their legs stiffen up and they will not take a single step... except when they're fighting the halter. Rick carefully handles each leg of the 'paca so he will (with luck) understand that when we pick up his foot, he's still safe. They do come when we shake the food cup and call them, but they don't know their names yet. And here I thought these guys were intelligent! heheh!!

Creekside Breeders is holding a TTEAM (Tellinger Touch Every Animal Method) training seminar on the 25th and 26th of August, and I hope we can go. It's expensive, though... $300 each. Not per farm, but for EACH of us. Still, it's supposed to be the best training method there is. We could do clicker training with the girls because they were already accustomed to people. These three guys behave as if people never came near them... and I know that can't be the case, because they've had a couple of shots each.

Our Golden Retriever, Tawny, has taken it upon himself to watch the alpacas. Tawny doesn't normally bark, so when he does, I know something is amiss. Yesterday, while we were trying to catch the alpacas, we didn't put Tawny in the house first... and he barked at US for disturbing his charges! Greta barks about every little thing... and what she doesn't bark about, she cries about... so we don't pay much attention to her barking anymore. But when Tawny barks....

I finally located some food-grade diatomaceous earth. I don't plan to feed it to the alpacas, but didn't want to get the crystalline kind because of the danger there is in breathing it (it causes lung problems). I've mixed 10 pounds of PDZ to 1 pound of DE - sure does lighten up the PDZ, which is really heavy. This mixture not only controls odor, but it has cut the bug population enormously! Now, when I go out to pick up the beans, I am not inundated with gnats and beetles and other bugs. They just aren't there. The solar fly traps are working great. They're capturing flies as quickly as the creatures get in. The Trap and Toss traps are a total waste. In three weeks, I think each of them has caught three flies.. one a week! hmph! I have to confess, though, that the concoction provided as fly bait is a foul - very foul - smelling substance. I've already learned not to mix it up using any of my kitchen utensils... the smell doesn't come out! Instead, next time I mix it up, I'll get a stick from the yard to do it with. I mix it in a gallon-size milk jug. I try to agitate it some, but carefully lest the stuff pour out through the not-so-tight-fitting lid.

As a final note for this section, we've found that the guys HAVE decided who gets which feeder. Although they start out all trying to eat out of one feeder at a time, it doesn't take long before they've sorted themselves out.... Forrester toward the front of the barn, Kirk in the middle, and Kimball in the back. And Kimball is still the only one who will eat from our hands. The other two still don't trust us enough.

More later... I'm off now to do more alpaca training! Incidentally, having alpacas really has changed our lifestyle... for the better!

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