The State of Jefferson Alpaca Association - Re:Water, Water, Everwhere

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River Mist
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Macho

Posts: 28

Water, Water, Everwhere - 2006/02/03 14:53 I realize we are all pretty much in the same boat (no pun intended), so would like to know if anyone is doing anything different in a precautionary way regarding all the water and sloppy mud where their alpacas are pastured? It just seems like it's a breeding ground for everything nasty. This is my first really wet winter having alpacas and I don't want to miss something. Since the 20th of December we've had over 34 inches of rain and there just isn't anywhere else for the water to go. Every little dip in the ground is a puddle an inch deep.
Diana

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Gateway Farm
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Admin

Posts: 100

Re:Water, Water, Everwhere - 2006/02/03 22:04 We do the best we can. My critters on are the driest paddock we have right now. (I let them out of the sacrifice area.) Even so, they spen the majority of their time in the barn where it is dry. We have had at least some rain almost every day for the past two months.

The ground is just mush up this way. Our water table is only a couple of feet down in some places at the end of summer. You can imagine what it is like right now.

We were worried a bit about flooding a couple of weeks ago. We have a creek about 75 feet off our back deck. It made it to 16 feet deep, which is right at the top of the bank.

Of course, we have seen it rise over 9 feet in 24 hours before, which is pretty eye catching. It can drop just as fast. Just hadn't seen it get to 16 feet until this year. That is a lot of water, and even more impressive when 40 ft trees complete with root wad are floating down the middle of it.

John Merrell
Gateway Farm Alpacas
http://www.gateway-alpacas.com
Alpaca, a natural elegance... John Merrell
Gateway Farm Alpacas
Alpaca, a natural elegance...

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AnchorRanch
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Hembra

Posts: 11

Re:Water, Water, Everwhere - 2006/02/07 09:16 As with John, our pastures have been a swamp. The alpacas stayed inside for about 72 hours during the worst part of the rain and sometimes even stepped outside to do their business. They were muddy up to their bellies.
Thank God for the sun this week and a chance for the water to run off the upper pastures. We just keep rotating the herd to the least muddy pasture to give each a chance to drain. Drying is not an option at this point.
As far as trying to prevent any health problems, just try to give the animals a place to rest and dry their feet.
Sharon at Anchor Ranch

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