Meet and Greet

Last week, we had two rather significant events here on the farm. One of our home-grown llamas graduated and has gone on to hopefully begin training for a career (more on that later) and two new members joined our fiber flock. I'm always cautious about how I introduce new animals to the rest of the gang here. Usually there's no drama, but it's always better to err on the side of caution. I pulled the trailer into the back barnyard, opened the door and stood back. After spending some time trying to figure out how they happened to land in this place, the boys came off the trailer and went straight to the gate for a meet and greet. There was a lot of sniffing, but that's about all. Normally, I might quarantine new arrivals, but all of our alpacas came from the same farm and I had no misgivings about putting them together.

Our alpacas came from Seldom Scene Farm, right here in Woodford county. My friend, Lindy, has a beautiful farm, right on the Kentucky river at the other end of the county from our farm.  Her farm is famous in alpaca circles and has a reputation for producing wonderful animals. We have strictly fiber boys in order to blend their fleeces with the wool from our sheep.

I'm happy to observe that the new boys have integrated into the herd with no problems, possibly because they are younger and smaller and are being submission to the older animals. The timing for bringing the new boys home is just about perfect. Shearing day for the alpacas is April 20th, when they will all load into the trailer for the short ride back to Seldom Scene, where the shearers will be working. Hopefully, this year, I'll have the presence of mind to take my camera and actually use it.

Spring is trying really hard to arrive here in the Bluegrass state. Yesterday was warm and sunny, though a bit windy. Today is warm, but cloudy and extremely windy, which signals rain and a cold front heading our way. This morning I mowed the house yard and part of the barnyard and yesterday the Purple Martin scouts appeared on the porches of their house; all signs that the long, hard winter is over!