While I was working away at our new fence over the weekend the hubby was working on our driveway drainage issue. The resolution seemed simple enough, dig a trench, lay in the pipe, fill the trench back in.
Well it turns out that our water abundant property gave us an unexpected surprise, a new pond! The collection basin that M. dug tapped into one of our many springs and filled up! It happily flows through the pipe under the driveway and catches up on the other side where the spring naturally percolates out of the ground.
M. will grade off the edges, we’ll add some stone, landscape fabric and plants for a nice finished look!
One thing we never run out of here at Dutch Hollow is fresh clean beautiful spring water.
Looks like we now have a small pond.
Water is crystal clear!
Our barn cat Peaches checking things out.
Other side of the pipe.
This is the natural spring. It bubbles out of the ground at a pretty good rate.
Like most ranchers I’m sure we spent our Labor Day weekend hard at work. With a new cria due any week now it was long past due to put in field fence. The last thing I’d want is for a healthy cria to be born just to sneak under the fence and into the horse paddock!
While I worked on taking down the old and installing the new the girls got to enjoy a temporary graze on my “lawn”. I used, SunGuard II Fiberglass step in posts, Kencove electric twine and a nice wheel winder to make it easier to handle the twine. Oh, mental note; when using the winding wheels they are fully insulated so if you don’t use all the 800 feet of twine just keep the rest on the wheel, hand the wheel on a nail or something and electrify the fence! Saves the hassle of cutting your twine just to want it longer the next time you put up a temp paddock.
Tractor Supply had a great sale on field fence. Red Brand Field Fence, some t-post clips, and a few wedge-loc diagonal brace kits and I was ready to go. We decided to take out the old fence totally, grade out the area to level it off and re pound all the t-posts. I opted to use t-posts instead of wood because our barn is old and located in a bad spot so some day it’ll have to come down and all the fence will have to be moved again.
I’m very happy with the finished look. The field fence is 47” high and we topped it off with a strand of hot rope. This way my nosy horses keep their heads on their side of the fence and feet off of it too.
If any of you moved into an old farm and had to work with what was left over after years of neglect you’ll appreciate the first few photos.
Girls enjoying my lush lawn.
Condition of our fence when we 1st bought the farm.
What the fence looked like just before we took it down.
Our new fence!
Nice straight line, no ‘S’ curves.
Ahh, job well done. Now to plant some grass for a finishing touch.
I was inspired by Alpaca Farm Girl’s Amigurumi Fiber Arts Friday and had to try it out for myself. I have a short attention span so I ended up making small things for my cats and dogs to play with.
Cat toys are stuffed with a bell, catnip and some alpaca as filler.
Dog toys are stuffed with alpaca of course and a squeaker.
6 mice lined up wondering when the cat is coming to get them.
Close up of 1 mouse
Filled with a bell, catnip and alpaca fiber.
Hello, don’t eat me.
MINE! Cassie our Boxer/Pit just LOVES her new toy.
Ball on left is filled with beads (Hackysack) Ball on Right is a dog toy, filled with alpaca and a squeaker.
At all the alpaca farms I visited everyone had a different method of feeding their animals hay. The general consensus was that alpacas (like any other livestock) will make a total mess of hay and instead of eating all of it will make it into a bed, poop or pee on it. All not good for your hard earned $ that is supposed to be food, not bedding.
I’ve seen folks who just toss out the flakes of hay and let the animals have at it, others who make fancy wooden boxes with cattle panels weighing it down, overhead feeders, and hay nets.
My first year I just threw it on the ground and had a lot of waste so this year I had to think of something else to help save $ on hay. I really didn’t feel like sawing, nailing, screwing, cutting yadda yadda yadda to make a hay bin, nor did I feel like spending that kind of $$$ to make one either. My solution had to come from items I had already in the house or barn with minimal out of pocket expense.
The solution? Rubbermaid pink tote hay bins! Who doesn’t have a ton of Rubbermaid bins hanging around the house? It turns out 2-3 flakes of hay fit beautifully into these tubs and you can still put the lid on.
COOL!
Trials:
1. Put hay in bins without lids. – Resulted in just as much hay waste, the alpacas thought it was a game to dig all the hay out of the bin. The bin also became a toy and was kicked around.
2. Secure bins to stall wall with screws and washers. – This solved the kicking around the bins but didn’t slow the hay waste down.
3.Cut a hole in bin cover and line the opening with duck tape (hole size ~10”x~12”. Voila! – The alpacas can easily get their head in the bin and the lid provided a lip so they couldn’t rake all the hay out of the bin with one mouthful.
Total out of pocket cost? $0! I had everything laying around that I needed. However I’m sure I’m now going to want 2 more bins for something else but at $5 ea. I think I can manage that cost.
I know what you’re thinking, but their heads will get stuck! Actually, it hasn’t been a problem. Because the bin is screwed into the wall it’s not moving anywhere and the lids snap on pretty tight. I guess the worst case scenario would be an alpaca manages to pop the top off while they pull their head out of the bin. In that case, they will be wearing an interesting necklace until you catch them and take it off. I’ve been monitoring mine via AlpacaCam and so far no one has even struggled getting their head in or out of the box. 2 alpacas seem pretty comfortable eating out of one box too.
Alpaca enjoying their new hay bins
Some other cool things about these hay bins. Easy to load, pop the top off add 2 flakes of hay and snap the top back on. Should they get really dirty on the inside, 2 screws/washers hold them to the wall. Unscrew, hose out, dry, and screw back onto the wall.
