Alpaca MVPs

Prairie School Farms is about everything from alpaca farm visits to vintage, chippy furniture and unique home decor to hand painted signs and about a thousand other things in our dining room and tucked in storage until our building is renovated. No matter our adventures, the alpacas still are the MVP of our little farm.

 

One of our neighbors is a project leader for a local 4-H club. She had a small group of 4-H members who were working on fiber arts and they wanted to learn more about alpaca fiber.

 

She and the members were super gracious when our offer for a guided farm tour turned into a self-guided farm tour because Jeremy needed to be at the building to work with a contractor and Emily needed to be at work.

 

 From the tone of the sweet thank you card, I think the visit was still a success! We are hoping to see some of those alpaca selfies. We think Kobe was a camera hog.

Meanwhile, in Kansas...

We took off on Sunday to pick up some items we had purchased from some family friends.

While driving down the road, we had a "whoa! wait. what?" moment. We drove past this farm and there was something that was a little unusual.

Can you see it?

Look closely at the roof of the shed.

That isn't a weather vane or a statue, that, my friends, is a goat!

We decided if the goat was still there when we drove back by, we would take a picture. I lobbied for stopping to talk the goat down. Jeremy asked me what I might say and I thought it might go something like, "Hey, buddy! Want to come down and get a drink?"

I did seriously ask if we could stop and ask the residents if they knew their goat was on the roof of their shed. My husband assured me that he has driven by this same farm several times and the goats are always standing on something.

So, what do you think? Is he standing guard? Staying up high to get away from something? Playing kind of the hill (um...shed?)?

Alpaca yarn giveaway and sale!

Happy November!

In celebration of making it through October and the beautiful fall, we are doing two things...

1.  Giving away a small "sampling" of alpaca yarn.   When we receive our yarn back from the mill, we usually have smaller skeins that are the end of the run.  There isn't quite enough for a full skein, so the mill packages whatever is left into these cute mini skeins.  We like to give these away for people who want to sample working with alpaca fiber.

So, we are giving this set of three mini skeins!  These are all natural, no dyes.

If you want to be considered for the giveaway, leave a comment on the Facebook post or this blog post. Tell us what you plan to do with the yarn or make with it.  We will randomly draw someone on December 1.

2.  Offering a sale on all of our alpaca yarn that we have on hand (not any that we have in consignment locations).  Each skein is $15 (not $18-22.50 as usual) and tax is included. This is for the month of November only.

If you have anyone on your list who is a knitter or weaver, this is a great holiday gift idea!  I am really thinking a lot about the holidays because someone told me the countdown until Christmas.  I have forgotten the exact number of days, but I do remember the small sense of panic I felt.

Alpaca rugs

Our new alpaca rugs have arrived.  We have always used Ingrid's Handwoven Rugs in Paint Rock, Texas to process a portion of our alpaca fiber into rugs.

Most of the rugs are 2' x 3', though we have ordered a custom rug that was much larger for a friend.  We think that there is nothing better than these rugs for softness and durability.

You can read more about harvesting the alpaca fiber from previous posts.

A new addition to Prairie School Farms

 Welcome our newest alpaca, Javier!

A few days ago we heard from a student who lives a few miles away from us.  He had a baby alpaca that was an "add on" to his purchase of some guard llamas for his goat herd.  He wanted to know if we wanted to buy the alpaca.

We thought about it and decided he would be a good addition to our little farm.  We were leaving for vacation and asked if they would hold him for us.

Our vacation was in Canada which meant we had a long drive there and back.  We drove the last five hours of the trip this morning and then found out that we needed to pick up the alpaca today - change of plans!  Our original plan was to catch up around the house.

Because of the change of plans, we decided to cut some corners.  Instead of going to borrow the trailer, we planned to transport him home in the extended cab of our pick up.  Armed with a layer of old towels and a blanket, we thought we could make it work.  Some of our alpaca friends have told us they have used their minivan to transport alpacas, so we could make it work, right?

When we arrived at the farm, we found out that he was a little bigger than we thought and not halter broke.  In fact, we found out that the last time they caught him, they had to rope him.  Let the rodeo begin!

After a little bit of running around, we were able to catch him and fit him with a halter.  We made a halting, running and jumping walk to the truck and then loaded up.  We said a few prayers that he would cush into a sitting position as we had been told alpacas typically do in moving vehicles.  Thankfully, after the first half mile, he found a comfortable sitting position and we made it safely home.

Once we got unloaded, we made another running, jumping and halting trip to the pen.  All of the other alpacas were very curious about the new guy.

 We got Javier settled in with some water,  hay and food.  His companion in the small pen is Blue - our ambassador animal.  They were getting along great after a few minutes of getting used to each other.

 

We think he is going to fit in very well here.  Our goal is to have him halter broke within the week.  Can we do it?

All the other boys are still really curious. We will introduce him to the bigger pen after a little more time in the small pen.  I am also thinking it will be easier to catch him in the small pen for halter training. Or, we can put him in the big pen and just chalk the catching time up to our cardio workout for the night.

Something waxed the rooster...

"Something waxed the rooster"...and other strange things said in my house.

We often laugh about some of our conversations, thinking that if someone were listening in, we would either be committed or arrested.   In our attempts to find humor, we sometimes have strange conversations or choose strange phrases, like referring to a dead rooster as getting "waxed."  On my commute to work that day, I kept thinking about how many professional women in our country had a conversation about a dead rooster before 7 a.m., let alone any time of the day.

Last Thursday morning, my husband finished morning chores and returned to the house.  He let me know that our one, lone, survivor rooster was dead by telling me that "something waxed the rooster."  This is the same rooster that escaped the gathering of the roosters for butchering last fall...the one that was last seen that morning running down the middle of our paved county road towards our neighbors.  This is the same rooster who returned to the yard and roamed around the pen until we took mercy on him and let him back in the pen.

At the time of his passing, we thought that he might have died of a heart attack after chasing our new chickens around the pen.  We had decided the night before to put the new chicks, now adequate size to hold their own in the coop with the other hens and this rooster.  We thought if we added them at dusk, the old chickens would be a little groggy and by morning, they would just think, "hey, have you been here this whole time?"  We would save the new hens some of the annoyance of the expected establishing of the pecking order.  Maybe the rooster went a little crazy with all of the new hens invading his space.

In actuality, we now think that the rooster died a hero's death trying to protect his flock.  We woke up Sunday morning to 60 percent of our chickens dead or missing.  Something got into the pen and took out nearly all of our new chicks and left the survivors a little rattled.  We found where the varmint (of some sorts) broke through the chicken wire.  The postmortem on the situation was that we lost the prettiest of the new birds and we spent Sunday morning cleaning up and fixing the fence.  We think that the wind from our little thunderstorm kept us from hearing anything.

My husband was pretty bummed that he had worked really hard to raise our little chicks and to see them through.  We also counted ourselves pretty lucky that we haven't had this problem before. Now, we are being extra cautious about keeping the hens locked up in the coop at night and I am sure my husband's repair job on the fence will hold.

The ups and downs of farming...

Spring time fun: alpaca shearing

 Ahh, spring is here!  We all seem just a little more thankful for the warmer temperatures after the snowfall last week.  Snow in late-April is a bit of a trial for people desperate for warm temperatures and time outside.  It also adds a layer of complications to shearing alpacas.

Last Tuesday, we were scheduled to join our friends on their farm for shearing day.  This is always a much anticipated day and involves a lot of logistics to trailer our animals back and forth.  I had to work and we made arrangements for my mom and dad to help my husband.  They are experienced alpaca shearing day helpers and really generous with their time.

At 5 a.m., we started prepping.  I needed to be in the shower by 6 a.m., so we got an extra early start.  We haltered all of the animals and put them in the trailer in the middle of a wintery mix of precipitation.  We were hoping that the snow would pass us by and if not, the trailer would keep everyone dry.  Worse case scenario?  We would get everyone sheared and put all of their fiber out to dry on tarps in our garage. 

I left for work and called my husband to say that the roads were wet and starting to get slushy.  By the time he left, the roads were really slick.  He saw several car accidents and decided that he needed to turn around. We ended up postponing shearing until the next day.

What to do with the alpacas?  If we took them back to the barn, they were going to need to somehow dry out.  I was too cold to use the fan that we use during the summer to keep them cool.  My husband sent me a text to say that he had a plan!  He built a makeshift pen in our garage and put them up there for the night.  They ended up drying out and staying out of trouble.

The next morning, we loaded everyone up again.  The day was cold in the morning, but the sunshine warmed us up.  I am still a wimp; I wore three layers of pants and three layers on top, including my huge winter chore jacket.

Once we got there, everything fell into place.

 Four farms came together for this shearing day.  Read about last year's shearing for more about the process.

This year we had three guys on the shearing crew from New Zealand.  They work very quickly and do a great job.  It is an added bonus to get to hear their accents.

Winter weather at Prairie School Farm

Today was a snow day.  One of those snow days where you know in advance that work and school are canceled and there is no need to wake up early and shovel the drive and allow extra drive time.  Everyone had made the call to keep people home, if they could, to avoid the blizzard like conditions and mammoth snowfall expected.

 

We went to bed with no snow.  We woke up and we were surprised to see a little snow.  At one point, the meteorologist said that we could have more than 20 inches of snow.  Where was all of the snow?

  And, then the snow started.  It snowed and then it stopped.  Then, it iced.

Then, it snowed again.

Once the snow stopped, we talked about going outside.  By the time we got bundled up, it was snowing again.  But, we still ventured out to check on the animals and to see if we could dig out the cars.  My husband hadn't been feeling well, so despite my objections, he said he needed the fresh air.

The snow started falling again and it was a really beautiful scene.

The alpacas were nestled in the barn with their coats frosty with snow.  They seemed to be content to enjoy the hay we tossed to them.

Everywhere we looked, the snow made everything look just a little more beautiful.

The garden gate...

The butterfly I forgot to put in storage for winter was still standing guard in the garden.

And, the poor rooster that was left out, too - up to his neck in snow.

Snow on our chicken coop door.

Our containers all looked like they were frosted.

Seriously frosted with a lot of snow.

It is fun to think that in a few weeks, we will have all of these planters filled with flowers.  Spring will be here soon.

Joey was good company.  He loves the snow.

My husband wanted to get the snow blower out.  After he cleared the driveway, he took to the yard.  I think if he was feeling better, he might have cleared the whole yard.  Paths to the alpaca barn and dog kennel would have to be enough for tonight.

As of now, it is still snowing.  I can't wait to see our farm in the morning.

Duped by a fellow farmer

We were really excited to buy some replacement hens this summer.  We thought we had a great situation - healthy looking new chickens and a smooth transition introducing them to the flock.

Then, we had a surprise.  Our ten hens turned out to be two hens and eight roosters.

This is pretty embarrassing for someone with an undergraduate degree in agricultural education.  Friends, I have taken classes and taught lessons on the anatomy of a rooster versus a hen.  This is not tough stuff.  It is, however, tough when the birds are young and the comb and wattles aren't obvious and the farmer selling you the birds plucks out the tail feathers.  We thought the tail feathers were missing because the birds where hot and stressed in the small cage.  In retrospect, I think our birds were selectively plucked to appear like hens.  I guess we can give this farmer points for solving a problem.  Unfortunately, we inherited his problem.  What do to with eight roosters?



Source: BackYardChickens.com

We were discussing our options one weekend afternoon while we cleaned up the garden.  To add insult to injury, our formidable flock of roosters began a chorus of crowing.

We did some outreach to friends with chickens and discovered someone who was butchering part of his flock and he would help us.  My husband had the day off of work and volunteered to see this task through to the end.  The alternative of feeding these food eating monsters through the winter seemed really expensive and annoying.  And, the crowing!  Our neighbors would need a lot of "good will" eggs to forgive all of the crowing.

Please keep in mind that my husband doesn't like to put his hands in dishwater, let alone butcher chickens.  He was also going to have to catch all of the roosters early on that Friday morning...and did I mention this was his day off!  If he didn't have a lock on husband of the year before, he certainly does now.

He was almost finished catching the birds when the door to the cage flew open and one escaped.  At least, he thought it was one, but he wasn't sure.  It was dark and cold and he was chasing the bird around the yard.  At one point, it escaped to the front of the house and onto the road.  He chased it for awhile and saw it last running down the middle of the road towards our neighbor's house.  Geez.  Eventually, the runaway made it back to the yard.

My husband has a whole adventure story about the actual experience of processing the chickens.  The story involves a collapsing cage, runaway birds (again), tackling of runaway birds, and a firearm...all because we were duped by a fellow farmer.

Trust me...I am keeping my eye out for that farmer.

Ahead of schedule

On Labor Day weekend, we had a list a mile long and the benefit of having family members available to help at different times throughout the weekend.  I also had to work mid-day on Saturday which meant we had to keep to a really tight schedule to make sure I wasn't late for my work commitment.  Our Saturday morning list included finishing some cleaning and repair work on a rental home that we own in a neighboring town.  We were really proud of ourselves when we headed back to our house ahead of schedule.  Then, things got interesting.

We were headed down a county highway and all of a sudden there were cows in the road.  What?  Cows.  Standing in the middle of the road.

We realized that the farmer traveling towards us had the gate to his stock trailer fly open and most of his trailer full of cows spilled out onto the highway.  All the girls looked uninjured, but a little dazed.  We pulled over and so did a young guy in the pick up behind us.

My dad was with us and he drove our truck up a few yards and jumped out to stop traffic.  My husband, the other good Samaritan and I tried to keep the cows together and on the road instead of in the bean fields on either side of the road.  The farmer was quick enough to close the trailer to catch a few of the cows before they exited.  Still, we had eight or so cows in the middle of a highway with cars backing up in either direction.

The farmer decided that running them back a couple of miles to the pasture from which they originated would be the best bet.  My husband accepted this challenge - he drove them all the way back to the pasture on foot.  He checked is run for the day off his list.

The whole situation was made better by a series of fortunate events.  When it first happened, there wasn't any traffic except the truck and trailer, us, and the other good Samaritan.  We had just enough people to help keep the cows together, stop traffic, head them off at the appropriate corners (we had to make two corners and the turn into the pasture), and everyone was willing to help.

My dad and I picked up the farmer's wife because she had jumped out to help and the truck and trailer sped off to help us find the pasture.  She could not have been more thankful for the help.  We had a lady delivering mail that stopped and help turn the cows into the pasture.  Everyone breathed a sigh of relief when all of the cows were back in the holding pen.

As we all climbed back into our truck, my husband laughed and told me that we were still two minutes ahead of schedule.

The funniest moment was when I was running down the highway.  My dad had pulled ahead and my husband was way ahead behind the cows.  One of our friends and his daughter pulled up along side me and asked, "What are you doing?!!!"  I tried to explain that a farmer lost some cows on the highway and my husband was running them back to the pasture.  Of course, that is what everyone does on the Saturday of a long weekend.

(The picture above is not of the cows that enjoyed the 5K run with my husband.  These girls were in a pasture near our house two springs ago.)

I am not a...5-star Horticulturalist

Sometimes, you just have to share something that makes you laugh, even if you don't know what to make of it!

My husband is really good at finding awesome things on Craigslist.  He's great about scanning the listings and discovering some item that we just have to add to our collection of collections.  And, every once in awhile, he will stumble on a particularly creative, funny or weird post.  I am not exactly sure how to classify this post, but it made me laugh!

Folks, how many times have you gazed forlornly at your sad and sorry roses and thought to yourself, "How I yearn for a few dried cow patties* to rouse and revive them!"?

Ah, well, your wishes CAN come true! 

 Yes, I have risked chiggers, heatstroke, and a vast array of spiders to provide you with a bag of all-natural cow manure. And this didn't come from just any old herd--these are special Gelbvieh/Limousin cows--loved and petted at Prairie Springs Cottage; why there is even a lovely one named Erma!

Munching on Flint Hills grass, drinking from spring-fed (soon-to-be-brackish) pond-water, and nibbling a bit of George Ebert's hay (Hey! We're in a drought if you haven't noticed!), these cows have ruminated and digested (and expelled) a perfect, pretty-much-organic, fertilizer just for you.

Despite barbwire tearing a hole in my shirt, a grasshopper thwacking my eye, and enduring the thrumming of hovering Chinooks, I am still willing to give you a tremendous bargain: $8.00 for a pillowcase-sized bag; cash only.

On second thought, all of you should get off your lazy duffs and get it yourselves--maybe you too would get to see one of these little endangered horny toads, become 'one' with nature, and have an all 'round great day...!

*disclaimer: I am not an Herbivorologist, a Poopologist, nor a 5-star Horticulturalist--I have no idea how much to put on roses--google it yourself, please.

Stalking rain clouds

 We need rain.  Bad.

There is rain in the forecast and we are so excited, but cautiously so.  Last time we had thunderstorms in the area, all of the action split and went north or south of us.  We are desperate for rain!

We noticed that there was some storms on the radar to our west.  The clouds started to look promising and any thunder-like noise had us stop and listen.

Given the likelihood that it might rain, we hustled out to take the fabric top off of the gazebo and to feed the alpacas some hay.  I grabbed my camera to get a few photos of the building clouds to the north and east of our house.

I was struck by how dry the corn looked in the foreground and yet so hopeful about the promise in the clouds.

Shearing day

Today was shearing day! Each April, we transport our alpacas to a nearby farm to harvest the fiber our alpacas have produced.  For us, this day represents a year's worth of work and all of the possibility of what the fiber will become - yarn, roving and rugs.

Shearing day is very fun, very busy and full of hurry up and wait moments.

We started bright and early.  We had a beautiful sunrise as the backdrop for chores which mostly consisted of my dad and I standing around watching my husband put things in order for the day.  He was a man with a plan and we just needed to stay out of his way.

My dad traveled up the night before to provide an extra set of hands.  My mom met us at the farm to help with the process, too.  Most years, I have been traveling for work on shearing day which left my husband and dad to take care of things on their own.  It was great fun to have us all together.

Our shearing crew is two men from New Zealand that spend time in the United States traveling from farm to farm providing shearing service to alpaca and llama producers.  It helps to have several smaller farms meet at one location to save set up time. We borrow a trailer and that means a little extra time for loading and a little uncertainty for the alpacas - it's not everyday that they ride in a trailer.

Everyone was a little camera shy (and extra dirty from rolling in the dirt) this morning.

Meet Chaccoyo.  He is one of our newest alpacas and offers a good "before" picture.

All of our alpacas wear their halter from the moment we catch them at our farm until they are secured in the shearing area.  When we arrive at the farm, we help with set up for the shearers and the host family and then we catch two to three animals, attach the lead rope, and bring them out of the trailer.

Every person has a role - someone helps in the shearing area with holding the animal, clipping toenails, releasing and tightening the ropes, while another gathers fiber and one or two others hold animals that are on deck or transfer finished animals back to the trailer.

The alpacas are secured in a very safe and gentle way.  The primary goal is to protect the alpaca and the shearer.  Alpacas basically has two defenses - spitting and kicking and neither are pleasant when you are on the receiving end.  The shearer also does not want to cut the animal and that means that having the animal secure helps reduce the chance of this happening.

The method of securing the animal involves gently putting a padded rope around each leg and extending the front and back legs out from the animal.  Once the ropes are in place, two people lift the animal and set them on the padded shearing area and the ropes are set by a third person.

When the animal is set, the halter is removed and the shearer and a holder go to work.  The first part to be removed is the blanket.  The blanket is the fiber from the main body of the animal.  This portion is bagged separately from the neck and leg fiber or seconds. 

We have the blanket processed into yarn and roving.  The seconds are processed into handwoven rugs.

The fiber on the top of the alpaca's head and on the face is carefully removed.  Chaccoyo had a lot of fiber and it was so full this spring that he was having trouble seeing.  We had tried to give him a touch up before shearing day to help him.  Today's haircut was much more effective.

Once the last of the shearing is complete, the halter is put back on and the alpacas is released.  The shearing  process takes around eight minutes per alpaca.

I promised my mom that I wouldn't get her in any pictures.  She was an expert fiber gatherer.  That's her leg and elbow in this picture...I mostly kept my promise.

And, Chaccoyo after shearing - a new alpaca.  With our really warm temperatures, having the fiber off the boys is one way we can keep them cooler.

Old barn, a favorite thing

This old barn has been a landmark on the drive from Wamego to St. Marys for as long as I can remember. Several months ago, we noticed that the roof had caved in and the entire structure was leaning to the east.  I had been meaning to bring a camera each time we drove that way, but always forgot.  I finally remembered a couple of weeks ago on a Sunday that had me bound for Kansas City for work.  Imagine we standing in the ditch in my suit, camera in hand, with the spring Kansas wind whipping around me...quite a site, I'm sure!

These old barns are so special to me as I regard them with equal amounts of awe and regret.  The form and function of old barns is really amazing, especially when you think of when they were likely built and the necessity of the barn for any farming operation.  I feel sad that the structure wasn't preserved and that it will likely slowly fall to further ruin until it is either flattened by gravity (or gravity and a strong Kansas wind) or someone tears it/knocks it down.

Old barns, old farmsteads, old school houses and old churches...some of my favorite things.

Chickens moving to the big house!

After a couple of weekend's worth of construction, our trial run chickens (total of six) have moved to the new chicken coop! It has just the right look of rustic style and has been designed to be rodent proof (we hope).

The six babies are developing their feathers nicely. What we thought to be six bantam breeds might be three Rhode Island Reds and three from an unknown bantam breed. That's what you get when you buy from the local farm supply store when you are overanxious to have something live try out the results of your work.

We look forward to our big shipment of chicks from the McMurray Hatchery. In mid-May, we should have 31 new chicks arriving - thirty of mixed bantam breeds of our selection and one mystery rare chick. We could have a very interesting and colorful chicken crop this year.

Then, it will be a waiting game for our first eggs.

The beginning

This inaugural blog is my first attempt to put to words the adventure Jeremy and I have started. We have always talked about having a small farm. Little did I know that at ages 30 and 32, we would begin.

After much discussion, we purchased our first alpacas in October 2007. We have five total and have been learning a great deal about caring for and maintaining these really beautiful animals. They are much different than the sheep my family raised during my childhood and certainly different than the market pigs that were my 4-H project and the cattle my dad now owns.

People question why very busy 30-ish professionals are launching a farming adventure. We have several inquiries about our sanity. In the early months of our alpaca purchase, people would drive by slowly on the county road that runs adjacent to our house - sometimes even stopping to stare. My favorite was our neighbor who call and just flat out asked, "What are those animals in your yard!?" While we could name the animal, I am not sure we can put a label on our motivation for this lifestyle choice. It's complex.

Maybe this blog will help us label it. My husband said it best when he said, "You got to have the 4-H experience growing up and I have to have that - 4-H at 30." We laugh when we tell our friends that is "the reason." I think there is something to that, but maybe that is putting it a little simply.

We do want to have a connection to the earth. We want a joint project that brings us together. We want to have animals in our care that are useful (fiber production) and entertaining. We want to join a community that could not be more welcoming to two very green alpaca farmers. We want to have farm fresh eggs gathered in our own backyard. And, we like that we will know (when our chicks reach laying age) what the chickens have been eating before they offer up their eggs for our consumption.

Looking back, some of these motivations were some of the outcomes of my 4-H experience. Granted, at 7 years old, I couldn't tell you these were the best things about 4-H membership. I would account the fun times with my family, learning new things, and making great friends. Alpacas have been an avenue to all of these things.

So far, our farming adventure has delivered on most of our desires. I look forward to seeing what else we learn about the process of farming, together as a young couple, and what we learn about ourselves in the process.