More Snow
I wrote the previous entry while watching our young alpacas explore their first real snow. Yesterday morning, we started with perhaps an inch on the ground -- mostly slush -- and while the grass was whitened, there was grass available. By noon yesterday, the snow had melted and we were back to muddy, muddy, pasture.
Today is very different. We probably had five or six inches of snow overnight which means we have two or three inches of wet, slushy, snow on the ground at the moment. The tall hills across the river have real snow cover on them -- of course they're 1000 feet higher elevation than we are. Mt. Scott to the east (elevation 4000'+) is really covered, but then Mt. Scott gets lots of snow every winter.
Last night, when we went to check on the alpacas, it was snowing furiously with some of the largest, wettest, snowflakes I have ever seen. I'm a Wisconsin farm boy and I have seen snow. I don't know that I've seen snow that heavy and that wet fall that fast very many times in my life. Our tracks were getting covered up in a matter of minutes. I figure if it had snowed half that hard all night long, we'd be knee-deep at the moment. We didn't get that much snow at our elevation, but we got enough I heard a snow plow out on the highway while I was de-icing the water buckets this morning. It's not every year snow gets plowed on the valley floor in this part of Western Oregon.
Drake and Sindre hadn't gone into their shed, and they each had about an inch of snow on their backs -- and poor Drake was shivering. Alpaca fiber is a really good insulator. Alpacas can accumulate snow on their back and it won't necessarily melt because the fiber insulates the warm body of the animal from the outside world. The snow's on the outside and it stays cold. What was happening with poor Drake, however, was that the wet snow was melting and the water was running down into his fiber along his spine and he was getting cold from that. Sindre wasn't in much better shape, but his fiber is a little longer than Drake's -- it grows faster -- so he has more insulation. The big boys have a shed with nice straw bedding and plenty of hay to eat. They can go in that shed and we know they know the shed is safe because we see them go into the shed. They don't have to lie on cold, wet, ground and get snowed upon to the point they are cold and shivering -- that shed is an option. It's really frustrating for us when they won't go in their shed, but there isn't much we can do.
This morning, the world is white and it's really the first time our young alpacas have seen enough snow that they can't see the pasture. It's a totally new experience and it's fun to see them explore the pasture and try to figure this white stuff out. Del very cautiously followed his mother around, taking twice as long to sniff at everything as Jubilee did. Donovan hopped and jumped at everything, and stood on his back legs, and played with the snow -- and slipped a couple times. Poor motherless Ipo -- actually her mom is just fine and living at another farm -- walked about looking for grass. Usually Donovan follows Ipo about, but this time Ipo was the follower.
Little Percy didn't come out very far for very long. Chloe, Percy's mom, is rather no-nonsense about snow -- it's a food thing for her. If the snow is deep enough to cover the grass, Chloe stays by the hay bin. Percy is normally quite inquisitive and independent, but the snow is new enough he decided to stay next to mom. He hopped about a little when Chloe came out to the water bucket and he ran around in the snow briefly. The moment mom headed for the shed, little Percy ran back in with her.
Everybody is back in the shed at the moment. It's morning grazing time and without grass to graze on, they're grazing from the hay bins. The snow will probably melt by noon and we'll be back to our normal muddy winter.
Today is very different. We probably had five or six inches of snow overnight which means we have two or three inches of wet, slushy, snow on the ground at the moment. The tall hills across the river have real snow cover on them -- of course they're 1000 feet higher elevation than we are. Mt. Scott to the east (elevation 4000'+) is really covered, but then Mt. Scott gets lots of snow every winter.
Last night, when we went to check on the alpacas, it was snowing furiously with some of the largest, wettest, snowflakes I have ever seen. I'm a Wisconsin farm boy and I have seen snow. I don't know that I've seen snow that heavy and that wet fall that fast very many times in my life. Our tracks were getting covered up in a matter of minutes. I figure if it had snowed half that hard all night long, we'd be knee-deep at the moment. We didn't get that much snow at our elevation, but we got enough I heard a snow plow out on the highway while I was de-icing the water buckets this morning. It's not every year snow gets plowed on the valley floor in this part of Western Oregon.
Drake and Sindre hadn't gone into their shed, and they each had about an inch of snow on their backs -- and poor Drake was shivering. Alpaca fiber is a really good insulator. Alpacas can accumulate snow on their back and it won't necessarily melt because the fiber insulates the warm body of the animal from the outside world. The snow's on the outside and it stays cold. What was happening with poor Drake, however, was that the wet snow was melting and the water was running down into his fiber along his spine and he was getting cold from that. Sindre wasn't in much better shape, but his fiber is a little longer than Drake's -- it grows faster -- so he has more insulation. The big boys have a shed with nice straw bedding and plenty of hay to eat. They can go in that shed and we know they know the shed is safe because we see them go into the shed. They don't have to lie on cold, wet, ground and get snowed upon to the point they are cold and shivering -- that shed is an option. It's really frustrating for us when they won't go in their shed, but there isn't much we can do.
This morning, the world is white and it's really the first time our young alpacas have seen enough snow that they can't see the pasture. It's a totally new experience and it's fun to see them explore the pasture and try to figure this white stuff out. Del very cautiously followed his mother around, taking twice as long to sniff at everything as Jubilee did. Donovan hopped and jumped at everything, and stood on his back legs, and played with the snow -- and slipped a couple times. Poor motherless Ipo -- actually her mom is just fine and living at another farm -- walked about looking for grass. Usually Donovan follows Ipo about, but this time Ipo was the follower.
Little Percy didn't come out very far for very long. Chloe, Percy's mom, is rather no-nonsense about snow -- it's a food thing for her. If the snow is deep enough to cover the grass, Chloe stays by the hay bin. Percy is normally quite inquisitive and independent, but the snow is new enough he decided to stay next to mom. He hopped about a little when Chloe came out to the water bucket and he ran around in the snow briefly. The moment mom headed for the shed, little Percy ran back in with her.
Everybody is back in the shed at the moment. It's morning grazing time and without grass to graze on, they're grazing from the hay bins. The snow will probably melt by noon and we'll be back to our normal muddy winter.
posted by Upper Alpacas | 9:16 AM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home