Watering the Alpacas

Each season brings us new learning opportunities.

Over the summer, the alpacas water intake increased a lot.  So we added a second water bucket to each corral.  The second bucket meant we were washing and refilling buckets once each week which was fine in the summer.

So as the weather turned colder, I purchased extra de-icers to keep the six buckets defrosted.

The extra de-icers tripped our circuit.  So I removed one each night and learned that we could only support three de-icers.  That's one for each corral, which is what we used last winter.  However, the increased water intake meant we were refilling buckets at least twice each week.

Without snow on the ground it wasn't that big of a deal.  But now that winter has finally arrived it has been difficult to ensure the hoses were also frost free.

So I purchased three livestock water tanks.  These are small as far as livestock tanks go, but much larger than the plastic buckets we have been using for the last year.

Don't worry, the metal trough is full of open water

I swapped out the buckets and filled the tanks on a nice day we had early last week.  And then our circuit was being tripped again.  I suppose there is a larger load with the larger volume of water being heated.  So I found a few extension cords and spread the load across two circuits which has solved the issue... at least until we grow beyond three corrals or install water and electric in the barns and corrals.

No ice even though it was 25 deg F with five inches of snow when this photo was taken.

How often we need to refill and wash the troughs is still unknown.  But after several nights below freezing, a few days in the teens and 6-7 inches of snow, all three troughs have remained completely free of ice.  So I think we can call this good.



Alpacamundo's Augustus striking a pose

More good news about the new tanks: I now have plenty of old water buckets to use as feed buckets and won't have to replace cracked buckets for a long time.  I love being able to use what we already have.  :-)

And, just for fun... a photo of yesterday's beautiful day.



48 deg F and melting like crazy

We Took a Walk

Last weekend, we took a walk along the Cache la Poudre River in Fort Collins.

There is a great bridge and huge cottonwood trees.

The sky was interesting.

The light was great.

It was a good walk.

Organic Lawn: June

Last month I wrote about our plans to maintain our lawn organically at One Small Change.

Progress:

We have mowed and edged a few times.

We started watering the over the Memorial Day weekend.  We don't have a sprinkler system, so I bought a couple of hoses and sprinklers that I've been hauling around the property.  I set up rain gauges to ensure we are getting 1 - 1 1/2 inches of water each week.

I've been working on the weeds in the garden areas, cracks and driveways.

Observations:

The back and side yards are holding water very well.

The front yard was extremely dry when I watered it for the first time and the water started pooling which would indicate there is more clay than in the back.

There are more dandelions and clover than I initially realized.

Learning:

Aerating and fertilizing have had to make room for lawn mower maintenance.  My husband bought an old riding mower from the house sellers. 

We could tell the blades were dull because the tips of the grass were more whacked off rather than cut.  Then the tips would turn brown soon after mowing.  The strangest thing though, was the mower was leaving a mohawk in the center of each cut.

Our neighbor helped us remove the blades so we could sharpen them.  We couldn't believe the thing was cutting any grass.  The blades were dull and chipped.  The ends were completely gone.  I wish we had kept the blades or at least taken a picture.  It was really quite impressive how bad the blades were on this mower.

We made a trip to a tractor supply store and picked up new mower blades and a belt.  Our awesome neighbor helped hubba replace them.

Hubba mowed last night.  Everything went much more quickly and neatly with his newly refurbished mower.

Who Wants to go Swimming?

Our girl Kocoa loves to splash in the water.

It's actually quite frustrating.  Whenever we clean and refill the water buckets, she splashes in them.  Which makes them very dirty.

Last week she started splashing during the refilling instead of after. 

The other girls were begging to be sprayed too. My husband called me over to try to keep them away from the buckets so he could at least get some water in them. I tried, but pretty much just laughed and took pictures.

 

 

We bought a plastic kiddie pool that we will put out after shearing this weekend. Hopefully then, Kocoa will splash in the pool and not their water buckets.