Hay Delivery

We had more hay delivered today. Three round bales for the cows & donkeys and 40 squares for the alpacas and goats. Depending on how cold the next two months are this maybe the last of our hay for this winter... we can hope anyway!

Water water everywhere....

and ALL of it to drink!

It was a beautifully warm winter day here and Neil and his Dad took advantage of it and finished piping the water from the barn to the four new no-freeze faucets around the farm. One is behind the barn right next to the cow's 70 gallon water tub, another is next to the shed beside my new rabbit hutches, the third is by the garage/work shop and the fourth is out in the pasture so I don't have to lug the 50 gallon drum of water out to the water tubs anymore!

Neil finished up by filling in all the ditches he dug two weeks ago and covering them with crushed rock to help with the red clay mud that got moved to the surface.

I am doing the happy dance!!

Before dinner Neil took the trailer down to Rougemont, NC and picked up two round bales of hay for the cows and 36 square bales for the alpacas and goats. It was dark when he returned so we covered the trailer with a tarp for the night as it is supposed to rain.

Neil's Dad was over bright and early this morning. He and Neil are salvaging the old French Doors that they removed from our bedroom and using them as transom windows on the back of the garage. Unfortunately, the base of the doors were so rotten that they had to dismantle those ends and mill more wood framing for them. It set them back on their day a bit.

By mid afternoon I had to steal Neil away so we could run up to our friend, and fellow alpaca owner, David's farm in Virgina. We were buying 60 bails of hay off of David and borrowing his livestock trailer for the weekend. Tomorrow is the day we are picking up our two new mini donkeys. Also, David sent along one of his alpaca studs to our farm to see if any of our girls will still be receptive to breeding.

All was going well back here on the farm with the offload... that is until I managed to find the nail in the board with the bottom of my foot! I don't know how it got anywhere near the hay trailer on a path I walk pretty much daily. It was just a small board with a single old nail in it. So small in fact it lifted up with my foot. Which means I couldn't step off of it and couldn't continue to walk to sit down. Neil came to my rescue and pulled the offending nail out. We still had 30 bales of hay to offload and loosing light so I worked until we were done and then went and soaked the foot. This is becoming an annual event... sigh.

More hay today.

Our cow hay guy called me a few days ago to let me know about some Orchard grass hay square bales he had. He knows that is what we feed our alpacas and wanted to know if we needed some more. I really didn't but it was too good of a deal to pass up. So, this morning he delivered 35 bales of it. We had just enough room out in the hay trailer to fit it.

It is not as nice as the Orchard grass hay we are currently feeding that came from up North but it will be good for supplimenting this summer's pasture, feeding the goats and rabbits and feeding to the cows on the milking stanchion.