It is quiet in the house. I've been awake for a while now and it is just starting to lighten on the eastern horizon. To the west there is still the dark-blue-of-an-ink-stain on the horizon. I can hear Duffy snoring gently at the top of the steps and there's a bat outside of the office window going mad after the flies and moths.Hubby is sleeping... at least I hope he is, and the Daughters are sleeping. All is quiet.
Yesterday, Hubby worked in the barnyard prepping things for the four new sheep to come on Tuesday. He pounded in two new fence posts and tightened fencing, he cut a new door in the barn and put in a divider so that it could be gotten into from the two different paddocks. Then the moment arrived when Hubby came to the house to tell me he needed mine and the Daughters help moving animals from one paddock to another. We let the sheep out onto pasture to graze while we opened the gate between the old garden where Honeydew (the llama) and Mishka (the female alpaca) and Greigg and Oscar (the ram) were. They entered the middle paddock with some encouragement from Hubby in the form of a smack on the rump. Daughter #1 closed the gate behind them and tied it tight. Woo hoo! Move number one done. Honeydew and Mishka, and the boys were quite perplexed by what was happening.... but let me tell you that Mishka and my male alpacas were getting to know each other in very short order now that there was only some wire separating them. Obviously keeping a paddock in between them had been a good idea. Coal, who is usually so passive, was trying his best to melt through the fence like butter. This was good because he and the other males were so busy checking out the cute female on the other side of the fence that we were able to sneak up on them and catch them pretty easily.
One by one, the alpacas were moved to their new digs. Phew! Move number two done! They are now in the paddock nearest the house with a lovely new shelter, under which they can hide away from stormy weather. Still Mishka was in the middle paddock which meant that all my boy alpacas were getting ready to try out their jollies. There was a total loss of male mind power.... like there ever was any (snort). I've never seen a hornier lot than those five male alpacas. I mean you could see them actually trying to figure out how they could high five each other in the battle for girl power. I think Coal was winning though. He wasn't wasting time on the other boys.... he only had eyes for Mishka.
We were able to catch Mishka fairly easily but Honeydew was quite upset by the whole process. She is not good with change. She kept going back and forth trying to figure out how to follow Mishka. Meanwhile Greigg and Oscar the ram got caught behind the barn in a little spot about two feet wide and couldn't get turned around because they just wanted to go forward but going forward got them stuck worse. Honeydew kept looking around going where did everyone go. She couldn't see rammalama-ding-dong (Oscar) and nuts-off (Greigg) stuck behind the barn. Greigg kept trying to get Oscar to move backwards but Oscar wanted Greigg to go forward.... neither one of them was going anywhere. We all backed off and let them figure it out for themselves which took a few minutes being (stupid... did say that?...) sheep. Eventually they managed to extricate themselves from their predicament and decided to check out the barn and surroundings.
Meanwhile Mishka was being led into the far paddock and was quite nervous about what was happening to her. But she survived and started to check out the poo left by her boyfriends.
Hubby went off to fetch a pail of oats and that was the downfall of the sheep. They enjoyed their half hour of freedom grazing on the grass while all the paddocks were being changed, and then back into the paddock they went,only this time it was a different paddock, carefully led by a bucket of oats. Now, all sheep have access to a barn... the barn has been divided so that the girls have access from the west side and the big paddock. Mishka has new friends in the form of the sheep and she also has access to the barn and shelter for the winter. The ram and Greigg have access to the barn from the east side and the middle paddock and even Honeydew can get in there on the most miserable of days.
Meanwhile the five males alpacas have rolling rights in what used to be our garden and they will get a new paddock in the spring. We have also built them a new shelter and though it is temporary, it will work for the winter. They also have fertilizing rights in the garden which is good because they tend to spread their poop more than Honeydew did and the Greigg and Oscar did.
The new ewes coming on Tuesday, will go in the big paddock with the rest of the ewes, and the new ram will have a spot with the boys in the middle which I feel is a better sharing of space. The biggest lot of animals are in the big paddock and the smallest number of animals are in the smallest paddock and the medium sized number of animals are in the medium sized paddock. That's fair... I'd say.
Anyway the barnyard was rather exciting yesterday.... Hey! Look at that... Mr. Bat has departed and there is the sun just coming up.... I must go have a look and see how all the animals faired in their new paddocks overnight..... hmmm... everyone is sharper than usual.... but I guess that is to be expected. At least none have made a break for it and there are none ready to jump the fences. I hope they settle soon.
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