Counting down

It seems as though the time has just flown by lately. Between getting ready for the upcoming fall event season — which kicked off for us last weekend with Alpaca Farm Days but which starts in earnest next week in Syracuse, NY at the Empire show — and shuttling our kids to and from school and soccer practices, the past couple of weeks have frankly been a blur. I’ve been watching the leaves of the medium-sized maple tree (probably 30 to 50 years old…kinda like me!) off the back of our house from my office window slowly turn from green to a fiery orange-red. Beautiful but fleeting. It’s that time year, when you unquestionably start to feel the natural world repositioning itself for the months of winter dormancy ahead. The fleeces on the vast majority of the herd are at 2+” of growth and only 16 expectant females remain in the greater 2012 CCNF maternity ward. As Kimmy pointed out the other day with undisguised glee in her eye, there will be no whacky December or January births this time around. With a little luck Ms. Opal, who is the grand finale this fall after being a bit of a reproductive problem child last year, will get her business done by the middle of November. For all the ups and downs we go through in a given birthing and breeding season, 2012 has been good to us, though nonetheless I’d be lying if I didn’t admit that the offseason beckons just a bit.

The Alpaca Farm Days this past Saturday and Sunday were 48 hours well spent even if it did rain cats and dogs virtually the entire time. Kim, Sam, and myself held court at the Arena throughout, answering questions and showing folks the newborn King of the Ladies cria that had just been conveniently born (make that found) on Saturday morning. For her part, Jen tended to the temporarily reconstituted farm store just outside her office down at the Main Barn. She was of course also assisted by the 10 ever helpful CCNF Guard Chickens who call the Main Barn and it’s immediate vicinity their home from May through October. All told we got perhaps 60 visitors, which while by no means anything to sneeze at, pales compared to the 300+ people we’ve had on open house weekends in the past that were organized just by us — as opposed to being part of some nation-wide event — and therefore with more concentrated energy. It also probably didn’t help that some 40 miles north of us was the annual Vermont Sheep and Wool Festival, an event that ironically 18 years ago introduced alpacas to a couple of (as yet unmarried) 22 year old kids. The rest, as they say, is history!

The final tune-ups on the rookie show animals have been taking place over the past few days, squeezed in between the diagnosis and treatment of a nasty respiratory bug that’s been making its way through some of the crias up the Arena. It was just last week in fact as I was headed home from a delivery run to CT that Jen called me with panic in her voice telling me that one of our young females had been found crashed and limp with a temp of almost 104. Of course it had to be Tessora. You know: arguably the best cria born on this farm in 2012. Did you know that it’s a scientifically proven fact that only the really great ones find creative ways to try to die? Their pet-quality peers meanwhile could be run over by the farm tractor, get up and shake it off as if it’s just something that happens on a daily basis. It never ceases to amaze me. As it was, it was Tess’s adopted twin brother that alerted Jennifer that something was amiss and in so doing, helped save his sister’s life. Long story short: Tessora had bounced back by that evening and there will now be a CCNF show animal next spring with a small shaved patch on her neck from where Jen had to put an IV catheter in.

So 10 days or so now to the Empire show (yeah, I know: the Trifecta…sorry, it just doesn’t roll off the tongue) though before that the Mrs. and I are headed out to Magical Farms in Ohio for their little annual soiree this coming weekend. Should be fun, we hope to see some of you out there!