Weeds, Cats and Seminars

Well the boys have been diligently mowing for me. Brian set up panels so they would stay in the front area where the weeds where the highest. This weekend we will be ready to move the panels to the back yard and get that cleaned up.
This time of year is when we start really watching the alpacas for heat stress. The next six weeks will be the toughest on them. Heat stress is cumulative, what the animals could tolerate earlier in the season may be too much for them later. I find now the alpacas are spending more time in the barns in front of the fans and cools. One thing we do to help them along through the summer is place additional water buckets in the barns themselves. (most of the water buckets are out in the fields) We place the buckets right in front of the swamp coolers where the cooled air will flow right over the top of them. Now the alpacas don't just have water, they have CHILLED water. Right now, between me and Dot, we're filling two five gallon buckets, one for the girls, one for the big boys, four times a day. The little boys have a water bucket in their barn year round, so they always have cool water. Luck of the draw there.
We're doing the "great cat trap" this week. I'll be picking up the traps Weds and setting them out Weds night. The poor feral cats should be good and hungry by then, as we were instructed to pick up all the feeding dishes as of this morning. Apparently well fed cats are not overly inclined to walk into a trap. Thursday I get to do all the running around, bring whatever cats we get up to the vet for their spay/neuter, bringing unused traps back to the depot, and then picking cats back up after surgery. We'll let the cats hang out in the relative coolness of the barn until they are ready to be released. I'm sure they will be thrilled about the whole thing. The feral cat colony needs to be reigned in before they eat us out of house and home. Besides, altered cats stick around longer so they don't have to keep replacing themselves. Kittens are cute, but thirteen this last spring got to be a bit much.
Finally, Brian and I went up to Gordon Teele Farm this past weekend. They were hosting a beginners alpaca seminar and asked if I would talk a little bit about fiber and what you can do with it. It was nice to be out of the heat for a little while, and they fed us very well!