Up Goes the Shelter for our Alpacas

We put up the shelter for the alpacas recently. This was quite an experience! We settled on a clearspan livestock shelter from Farmtek. It arrived via 18 wheeler. Yes, I know, Blake is a a builder, why didn't we build a traditional barn, like we did at our last farm? There are several reasons. The biggest being time, and our lack of it these days! We have so many projects going right now (trying to get both the kitchen and the store up and running to name the biggest two), we needed something fast and cost effective. The other major reason was the fact that these structures are completely movable. We haven't worked this land long enough to know exactly where we want to place things the most conveniencwe in day to day operations. This way we can try out different placements until we find just the right spot. Once we find the right spot, we can build a traditional barn there and move the shelter to another spot for another use - possibly a second barn to seperate boys and girls or maybe even a wood shed. The flexability of this type of shelter made sense. It went up in the good part of 2 days, with just Blake and I working on it. We did need the help of our daugher to pull the cover up over the peak. We are fairly happy with the outcome. You can see the additional wood boards inside Blake installed on the back end to make a place to store hay, feed and tack. Soon there will be a divider down the center going front to back to create two separate paddocks. It's almost time to wean the 2 male crias we had this year! Mommy's on one side and boys on the other in a few short weeks. The alpacas have been enjoying their new shelter, especially during rain storms. They also seem happy to have their hay box back, now that the pasture is giving it's last few blade of grass for the season. Tomorrow we go pick up the last two alpacas, who were boarded at Chase Tavern Farm while we moved. China Doll and her new son, Zeppelin. China is confirmed pregnant and ready to come to her new home and get settled for the winter. We can't wait for Zeppelin to meet his new buddy Bon Jovi. Jovi has been driving the 'adults' he lives with crazy, trying to get them to run around and play with him. They have been less than thrilled with his antics! Jovi and Zeppy will certainly provide us with much entertainment as they race around the pasture and play 'alpaca games' together!