Happy New Year!

Well it's a New Year and things are looking great!
I want to thank Dew Hills Coffee Shop in Marinette for selling our alpaca sweaters, gloves, hats and scarves. I also want to thank everyone who purchased our items there. Sales were very good, especially for Christmas! I will be dropping off more sweaters sometime this coming week.

We've been trying to streamline our chores at the farm. We've purchased large round bales of hay and placed them out in our two shelters for our alpaca boys and that helps save time. We're also in the process of rearranging things in the barn to make better use of stall space and the barn's "built-in" feed bunks to provide hay without having a lot of waste.

I (Elizabeth) will be getting married in the fall and my fiance' doesn't plan to do much farming so we are looking for more ways to minimize my time at the farm. Part of that plan includes selling off some of our alpacas so feel free to check out our new, lower prices on our AlpacaNation farmsite.

Busy time

These past few weeks have been extremely busy! Not only does Christmas have us rushing around but so has the winter weather.

Last weekend, the power went out at the farm and wasn't back on until about 12 hours later. This caused problems in the house and barn by freezing up the water pumps. Fortunately, after the power went back on, the heat tape along with Rick's persistence and some heaters got the water flowing again.

The snow brought about more challenges with drifting and blowing snow making our daily chores to the outside pastures miserable. Temperatures have varied between the single digits up to the low 20s and the wind chill makes it more uncomfortable. Of course this is something we are used to in Wisconsin.

We do several things to prepare for the winter. The first thing we do is increase their daily food ration to help them build up a little more body fat. We feed them alpaca pellets and add some "Sweet 16" to it for a little extra energy. We also make sure they have enough hay to munch on throughout the day since there is no pasture available to graze on. At least half of our alpacas and llamas are housed in the barn which is the best place for them during the winter.

The others (all males) are in shelters that we have built as our herd grew. The first shelter we ever built is a little smaller but is able to house five alpacas. My brother added an overhang off the front entrance which is a nice area for them to stay in the shade during the summer. In the winter, we wrap the outside of the overhang with a couple of tarps, creating an extra "room" for their shelter. This seems to work well for us and the alpacas.

Our second alpaca shelter is much larger and has paneled walls. In the summer, we remove one panel on opposite sides to allow a breeze to pass through. When the weather starts getting cold, we put those panels back up. A heated water bucket keeps them with a fresh supply of water all day, without freezing up.

For both of our shelters we make sure there is hay or straw for them to lay on. It always amazes me when the wind is blowing hard and it's snowing or the wind chills are below zero and I walk into one of our alpaca shelters and it is cozy, quiet and noticeably warmer than I expect it to be. The animals will be standing or laying down inside, all content with their hay.

We always do our best to keep our animals warm and comfortable. They do their part by growing long, thick, beautiful fiber.

That's all for now...take care and keep warm!

Getting back on track...

Well, it's been almost a year since my last post. Life always gets so busy.

All the animals are well and I'll have to get some new pictures up soon.

Weaning the crias

Victor and Matthias are now old enough to be weaned off milk. Victor is coming along great. A month older than Matthias, Victor has been eating pellets for the past week or two and is getting less milk supplement.

Matthias is still dependent on his mother although he and Victor both enjoy eating hay. Matthias has been introduced to pellets and will eat a little of them but will lose interest right away and go for the hay instead.

This weekend, we are separating the two boys and will keep them in their own pen for feeding and to wean Matthias away from his mom. This will be a tough adjustment for Matthias because he is very attached to his mother. We've learned over the years that crias will often try to escape their pens during weaning to get back to their moms. In the beginning, we'll only separate them for a few hours and give them breaks to get back with their moms. Of course this won't be an issue at all for Victor since he's been bottle fed and is a very independent cria.

Usually during weaning, I worry about the crias getting enough water. It's important to make sure the crias have fresh water available to them and that they are drinking it. I've seen both Victor and Matthias drink from the water bucket so I know they will be fine. We'll keep track of their weight and make sure they are both adjusting well to their new feeding schedule.

Wrapping things up for 2009

I hope everyone had a very Merry Christmas!

Now is the time of year when we close out the "old" year and prepare for the New Year. I've got the majority of our tax information together but still have a few loose ends and information to gather yet for our tax preparer. The hardest part is getting everyone else's information and receipts together. It seems to get easier though and Quickbooks has been a wonderfully helpful program for keeping all of our account information accurate and accessible for our tax preparer.

Looking ahead to 2010, we've already registered for a show in the spring and I hope that we will be able to attend at least two shows this coming year.

I would like to make one New Year's resolution and that is to get back on track with my blog posts. I realize I haven't been updating very much lately, especially this last month when my computer died, but the new (used) computer seems to be working great so I should be able to get back on a blogging schedule.

In the meantime, I wish you a very happy and healthy New Year from all of us at Hidden Pond Farm, LLC!

Winter officially begins December 21...

This picture isn't actually from this winter but it could be. We had blizzard conditions last week and more snow on Monday so it's definitely beginning to look a lot like Christmas!

Well the last post I made to this blog was a few weeks ago and I've probably lost all my regular visitors. I apologize for that. As I mentioned in the last post, my computer died on Thanksgiving. I later found out I would need a new "motherboard" and "power supply" in order to bring the computer back to life. The cost of doing that would be close to buying a new computer so I've had to think on it for awhile. In the meantime, I'm limping along with a very old computer and occasionally borrowing the use of my mom's computer (like right now as I type this).

Winter is kind of rough at our farm, worrying about the water pump freezing up in the barn, keeping the animals cozy and warm, clearing snow when needed, and working outdoors in the cold. I'm a big whiner about putting on my snow pants and heavy boots, along with layers of sweatshirts and coats, thick gloves and a hat. I must be ten pounds heavier when I walk outside in the winter and it gets to be a bit of a workout just to do the regular chores.

Speaking of bundling up, we had to do that in our homes last week. As a result of the big snowstorm, we lost power for about 12 hours at my house and about 15 hours at the farm. Luckily it was "warmer" outside that day so temperatures in the house only got to about 40 degrees. It's a pretty hopeless feeling when you don't have a fire place or alternate heat source to heat up your home! But all is well now and hopefully we won't have any more problems.

I plan to resume posting blogs on a more frequent basis again so check back now and then to see if I've kept my word.

Merry Christmas!

Always busy at the farm

Today was a very productive day at Hidden Pond Farm! Rick and I had all the animals watered and stalls cleaned, one pasture cleaned, and we gave Ivermectin shots and trimmed toenails on a group of five alpaca boys -- all before 9:00 a.m.

Later we picked up a load of hay and put it up in the loft. Then we fed everyone dinner and cleaned two more pastures before calling it a day. It seems as though everyone loved the "new" hay so we'll see if we can buy another load next weekend.

My computer died on Thanksgiving Day so until I figure out what's wrong with it I'm temporarily (hopefully) using an old computer. Even this simple update is taking me forever as I wait for the computer to catch up with my typing! I hope to be back up to speed by the end of the week at the latest.

Time Correction!

This is very late notice because I just found out myself... The vendor fair at Little River Country Club tomorrow (Nov. 21) begins at 11:00 a.m. I apologize for any inconvenience.

Thank you to everyone who has come out to see us at the vendor shows and for stopping in at DewHill's to buy sweaters. We're adding alpaca scarves to our inventory at Dew Hill's in Marinette so visit them again for some coffee and check out the scarves!

I hope to see you out at our Holiday Beauty & Bazaar this Sunday, November 22nd. See my last post for details. Another correction from my last post regarding the times for the Mary Kay facials...we will also be doing facials at 12 noon (as well as 10 & 11 a.m. and 1 p.m.).

In addition to Hidden Pond Farm alpaca clothing, there will be a great variety of other vendors, including Dove Chocolate at Home, Homemade Gourmet, Tastefully Simple, Scentsy,Pottery, Wildtree, Crafts Murals & Accents, Pampered Chef, Purses, Tupperware, and Just Jewelry.

I'll be busy baking this weekend for the bake sale. Non-perishable food donations and proceeds from the bake sale will be donated to our local St. Vincent De Paul.

HPF around town...

I had hoped to discuss something different for this post, but I've been running in a lot of different directions lately so I haven't had time. I did want to mention where we'll be selling alpaca garments over the next couple of weeks.

Look for our Hidden Pond Farm alpaca sweaters, gloves, hats, scarves, etc, at these upcoming events:

• Saturday, November 14th at Best Western (corner of Hall Ave and Riverside in Marinette) from 10:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m.
  
• Saturday, November 21st at Little River Country Club, N2235 Shore Drive in Marinette, from 10:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m.
  
• Holiday Beauty & Bazaar -- Sunday, November 22nd at Holy Family Parish Center, 2715 Taylor Street in Marinette from 10:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m. This event will include a vendor fair with great gift ideas, a bake sale, and skin care information presented by local Mary Kay consultants. As a new Mary Kay Independent Beauty Consultant I invite you to stop in for a free facial/mini-makeover at 10 a.m., 11 a.m. or 1 p.m. Visit my Mary Kay webpage at www.marykay.com/ewoodky to view the latest products or to contact me to reserve a time for your facial! Walk-ins welcome. Bring in a non-perishable food item and enter your name into a drawing for a great prize! Food donations and proceeds from this event will benefit St. Vincent De Paul in Marinette.

Thanks for your support!

Our sweater sales went really well this first weekend at DewHill's Gifts and Greetings in Marinette! Thanks to everyone who stopped out and bought a sweater or gloves. We'll have our alpaca clothing items there throughout the winter so feel free to check in now and then for different colors as we restock our inventory.

Tis' the season for craft shows and vendor fairs and we're scheduled to be at two of them during the next two weekends. You'll find us this Saturday, November 14th at Best Western in downtown Marinette. Next we'll be at Little River Country Club on Shore Drive in Marinette on Saturday, November 21st.

Well, we trimmed toenails on our older boys on Sunday and a couple of them really needed it! It seems that some of our alpacas grow out their toenails a lot quicker than others. All is well on the farm, but we are watching the newspapers for hay ads. Our supply is running down and we need to stock up for the winter.

Alpacas and llamas need only grassy hay (similar to horses) rather than alfalfa hay. It's okay for them to have alfalfa but they really shouldn't be offered too much of it. We've found it much easier to get alfalfa hay than it is to get grassy hay and you can really see a difference in their fiber when they get too much alfalfa. I've heard it referred to as "fiber blowout" where the fiber (hair) is more dull and puffed out due to the extra protein in the alfalfa. Don't quote me on any of this because I'm writing this from memory and my memory isn't always that great. I'll read up on this topic and fill you in with the correct information on the next update.

If there are any blog readers who live in Marinette or close by, send me a note if you have grassy hay, preferrably small square bales, available for sale. We'd really appreciate hearing from you!

Looking for holiday gift ideas?

Victor (left) and Matthias have been really growing. Although they don't actually play together, they do spend time out in the pasture grazing. And when we bottle feed Victor, Matthias likes to come over and nibble on Victor's ears!

I mentioned yesterday that we'll have alpaca clothing items displayed at DewHill's Gifts (and Coffeehouse) this weekend. On Friday and Saturday (November 6-7th) they will have special operating hours of 6:30 am to 3:00 pm.

I'm happy to announce that you'll have plenty of opportunities to buy our alpaca sweaters, hats and gloves all winter long at DewHill's. We will have items available there for purchase for the whole season so feel free to stop out and buy some luxuriously soft alpaca gloves and more for everyone on your Christmas shopping list! DewHill's is located on the corner of Main and Wells streets in Marinette.

DewHill's regular store hours are:
Monday - Thursday 6:30 a.m. to 4:00 p.m.
Friday 6:30 a.m. to 2:00 p.m.
Saturday 7:30 a.m. to 1:00 p.m.

Feel the warmth of alpaca this holiday season! Stop out at DewHill's Gifts & Greetings (and coffeehouse) to check out our selection of great alpaca items!

Selling alpaca garments at DewHills - Nov. 6-7th

Warm up this fall with soft, luxurious alpaca clothing -- sweaters, hats and gloves! Where can you get them, you ask?

Dewhill's Gifts & Coffeehouse, located at 1609 Main Street in Marinette, WI, has invited us to display and sell our alpaca garments this coming weekend, November 6-7th. Stop in for a delicious gourmet coffee and browse through their store for cards, gifts and alpaca garments from Hidden Pond Farm.

More details to come!

Respite from the rain

After a couple days of seemingly non-stop rain and wind, we have a nice dry breezy day. Temperatures are only in the 40's today, but at least it's not raining.

All of the alpacas and llamas are taking advantage of this opportunity to get out and graze. Most didn't like the rain and opted to stay inside and wait out the wet weather. I felt the same way, but I still had to endure the sloppy rain to get chores done. Not much planned for today, but we'll see what tomorrow holds.

Enjoy your weekend!

Protecting our investment

On Sunday, we gave Ivermectin shots to all of our female llamas and alpacas as well as a couple of boys who are inside the barn. This coming weekend, we'll finish up this round of shots with our group of older boys. We do this regularly to protect our herd from meningeal worm (sometimes called "brain worm").

Meningeal worm is a parasite that is carried by white tail deer and passed in their feces. It can be spread to alpacas and other animals by slugs that feed on the deer feces. An alpaca, llama or other animal that is grazing in the pasture may injest one of these infected slugs while eating grass. Once the parasite is inside the body, it can make its way to the brain stem and cause neurological damage to the animal. Signs to watch for are instability or wobbliness in the animal's back legs and difficulty standing up or laying down. If it isn't treated quickly, the animal will die. On the bright side, animals who are diagnosed and treated quickly can survive and be productive members of your herd. Preventive care is the best way to ensure that none of your animals will become infected.

Ivermectin is effective for about 30 to 45 days. We could also use Dectomax instead of the Ivermectin. The Dectomax is effective for 45 to 60 days. Both are given "Sub Q" which means we inject the needle just below the skin rather than into a muscle.

The main reason we use Ivermectin instead of Dectomax is that it is readily available at our local Tractor Supply Store and is usually more cost effective. However, it's easy to order Dectomax online and it's more convenient since we don't have to use it as often as the Ivermectin.

It's important to know the weight of each of your alpacas and llamas in order to give the proper dosage of any medications. We have a livestock scale in our barn and it is one of the most important tools we own as far as our animals are concerned. Be sure to consult your veterinarian for more information or for any questions regarding dosages for your animals. Also, an excellent resource that we refer to a lot is the Alpaca Field Manual from C. Norman Evans, DVM. This book has great photos and information that has been very helpful to us.

The internet has a wealth of information to help you properly care for your animals whether you are a new or experienced alpaca owner. Be sure to research all that is available to you to ensure that your animals stay healthy and productive!

What's in a name?

We recently named our newest cria, born nearly a month ago. I wanted to call him "Monster" because he's been gaining weight and growing like crazy, but I was voted down. About a week or so ago, we officially began calling him "Matthias" (pronounced muh-tee'-us). Here is the big guy above in the cria coat, hanging out with the ladies on this sunny morning in October.

Any fans of 1980's-era rock music may sense a theme with the names of some of our boys. Matthias and Nuno are both names of guitarists that we admired "back in the day." I'm not sure if we will be keeping with this theme for future alpacas born at Hidden Pond Farm. We just sort of chose these names because we like them, not to intentionally name them after musicians.

Actually, Francis Bean is also a name I borrowed from the rock music world for our huacaya female born last year. (The real Francis Bean is the daughter of the late Nirvana frontman Kurt Cobain and musician/actress Courtney Love.) I liked the name because my grandmother's name was Francis and I thought "Bean" was cute because we alpaca farmers always refer to a natural alpaca byproduct as "alpaca beans." And since I'm on the subject... our suri male HPF Iggy was actually named after our grandfather Ignatius and not after musician Iggy Pop.

There really is no rhyme or reason as to what we name each alpaca born at our farm. I tried to be creative in the beginning, but now we all kind of brainstorm and try to find a name that everyone likes. If it takes three weeks or more to choose the name we all feel is right for that cria, then so be it. Each and every one of our alpacas is unique and their personalities are very different. We try to select a name that each one of them will be happy living with for the rest of their lives. They all seem to be very happy so far, so I guess we're doing alright.

Have a great day everyone!

A snowy fall morning

So on Monday I wrote that we were getting some snow flurries. After I posted the blog, the weather started looking a lot more snowy and wet! Here is a photo of Rico and Nuno checking out the snow on the ground on Tuesday morning. In the background you can see that the leaves on the trees are still working on changing colors.

Normal temperatures for us this time of year should be around the 60's, although last year at this time we had temps around 80 according to last night's weather report. This week, we've been waking up with temps in the 30's and then warming up to the 40's during the day. So much for global warming!

All the snow you see in the photo was melted by this afternoon, but there is more rain and snow forecasted for the rest of this week. The alpacas were busy grazing today to make sure they get their fill of green grass before winter sets in. There were sunbathers, too, taking advantage of the sunny afternoon now that the days are getting shorter.

Have a great day!

Winter preparation

We've started having snow flurries here in Marinette over the last few days. Not any "real snow" but just a few little snowflakes to let us know that winter is on it's way.

All of our alpaca and llama girls are in the barn so there's no big change for the winter except for spreading straw bedding around to keep them warmer on the barn's cement floor. The boys, however, are a different story. We have two pastures and shelters for our alpaca boys and the shelters need to be "winterized".

Winterizing the boys' shelters is not a very big deal. The older boys have wall panels that need to be put up. In the spring, we remove a couple panels on either side of the shelter to allow better air flow. Now it's time to put the panels back up to keep it cozy and warm inside.

The younger boys' shelter is a little different. We have an overhang that provides shade in the summer. In the winter, we hang tarps on two sides of the overhang to provide extra protection from the strong winter winds and all of the snow. This also creates an extra "room" for the shelter so the boys won't feel too crowded inside when it's cold and nobody will get left outside.

Fortunately, the alpacas are growing nice thick fiber to keep themselves warm in addition to the extra straw bedding and winter preparations that we do at the farm.

Mixing of the machos

We're starting to prepare for winter at the farm. One of the most difficult things about winter at our farm is keeping water from freezing and caring for animals in several pastures. Now that Leroy and Lucas are both over one year old, we decided to move them into a pasture with several older boys. This usually causes my motherly instincts to kick in and I worry about the safety of the little boys as they are introduced to the older boys' pasture. If you own alpacas, you'll understand what I'm talking about.

Male alpacas (called "machos") have to establish the pecking order in their pasture whenever a new male is introduced. We've seen over and over how the dominant males will clash and fight and the whole herd will chase the "new guy" around the pen. There is usually a lot of noise, including squealing and grunting, from several of the males involved in the chaos.

Fortunately, there was none of that at all this weekend. Leroy and Lucas have been living in the pasture adjoining the older boys' pasture for several months and they've all grown used to each other through the fence. As a matter of fact, Iggy, Rico and Nuno all stood together at one end of the pasture while Leroy and Lucas explored their new home. Later in the day, it started raining and all five boys laid down together inside their shelter and waited for dinner.

At feeding time, I was somewhat surprised to see that the youngest boys in the group took the first dinner dishes I put down while the oldest two boys waited patiently for me to set down the last two dishes for them to eat. This was the easiest transition we've ever had putting young males in with older males.

Prior to putting the males together on Sunday, we gave them all ivermectin shots. Although the weather is getting cooler, we'll still need to keep up our worming program to protect our alpacas and llamas from meningeal worm and other parasites. We'll complete our ivermectin shots on the rest of the herd next weekend.

In the meantime, we've been bundling up outside. Lots of rain and wind today! I miss the warmth of our short summer...

Misty's big baby!

It wasn't easy taking this photo of our newest cria this morning. The girls all crowded around him and protected him from the camera as soon as I took his jacket off for the pictures.

We've haven't decided on a name yet -- last weekend we were calling him "Charlie" -- but I'm now thinking of calling him "Monster" because he's getting so big. I weighed him yesterday afternoon and he's gained FIVE POUNDS at only one week old. He was 14.8 pounds the day he was born and yesterday he weighed an even 20 pounds!

Our little monster is such a sweet, inquisitive and energetic cria and his suri fiber looks great so far.

This second photo shows all the alpaca and llama ladies crowding around "Monster" as I tried to take his picture. Seriously, he's in the middle of that crowd -- they even managed to hide his legs from me!

While I was out taking pictures, I checked out a couple of the girls to see how long their fiber has grown since shearing them this spring. It's amazing to see how fast that fiber grows out. They are all ready for the cool temperatures of the fall and will have even longer fiber by the time winter sets in. Nature really does take care of these beautiful animals.