Alpacas on a Frosty Morning
One of my least favorite chores as an alpaca breeder is breaking ice on water buckets first thing in the morning -- while the coffee is still brewing and before I'm fully awake.
The frost was so pretty this morning that I took the camera out with me when I went to chip the ice and pour hot water into the buckets.
Donovan and Percy in the frosty morning.
Note the dark patches on the ground where there is no frost. This is where the alpacas bedded down for the night. There is a nice, deep, bed of straw on the floor in the shed, but the boys generally spend the night out in the pasture unless it's raining.
All that frost is on the tips of their fiber. The animals are nice and warm at the skin. Because of the cold, I checked carefully and none of the alpacas were shivering this morning. They're hardy and they have enough fiber at this time of year that if they can stay dry and out of the wind, they'll be fine.
Donovan covered with frost.
Note the tufts of hay hanging over Donovan's eyes and the heavy frost at the tips of his ears. Donovan has long tufts of fiber on his ears and these hairs were covered with heavy frost this morning. All the frost on his ears, however, is on the tips of the longer hairs, not on the short hairs covering the skin. His ears are plenty warm.
Most of our alpacas seem to think the hay at the bottom of the bin tastes better than the hay at the top. When they eat, they make little tunnels into the hay bin as they munch and burrow the way to the bottom. Some of the hay from the sides of the tunnel gets caught on their topknots. That's what you see hanging down over Donovan's eyes.
Percy covered with frost.
The frost was so pretty this morning that I took the camera out with me when I went to chip the ice and pour hot water into the buckets.
Donovan and Percy in the frosty morning.
Note the dark patches on the ground where there is no frost. This is where the alpacas bedded down for the night. There is a nice, deep, bed of straw on the floor in the shed, but the boys generally spend the night out in the pasture unless it's raining.
All that frost is on the tips of their fiber. The animals are nice and warm at the skin. Because of the cold, I checked carefully and none of the alpacas were shivering this morning. They're hardy and they have enough fiber at this time of year that if they can stay dry and out of the wind, they'll be fine.
Donovan covered with frost.
Note the tufts of hay hanging over Donovan's eyes and the heavy frost at the tips of his ears. Donovan has long tufts of fiber on his ears and these hairs were covered with heavy frost this morning. All the frost on his ears, however, is on the tips of the longer hairs, not on the short hairs covering the skin. His ears are plenty warm.
Most of our alpacas seem to think the hay at the bottom of the bin tastes better than the hay at the top. When they eat, they make little tunnels into the hay bin as they munch and burrow the way to the bottom. Some of the hay from the sides of the tunnel gets caught on their topknots. That's what you see hanging down over Donovan's eyes.
Percy covered with frost.
posted by Upper Alpacas | 9:38 AM
1 Comments:
Love your description of the pacas making tunnels in the hay... mine *all* do the same thing! LOL!
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