No snow - yet!
The polytunnel is holding up following temporary repairs with Gorrilla tape at the weekend. The girls were so interested I let them in the garden to have a look and have not seen such excited alpacas for a while - particularly when they found the remains of the beetroot!
The garden is a mess at the moment and needs a serious bit of attention but time keeps running away with me. Pouring with rain and a touch of hail. I got soaked as a rather large quantity of ewes wanted to use me as a rubbing post but, despite that, it was brilliant! My Monster is just so much fun! A fabulous doughnut at the bottim of second and then we powered out gently and completed the feed run to the sound of Neil Sedaka - fantastic!
The day is now about to take a turn for the worst as I am preparing for the dentist.
Rosemary - I was interested to read that you feed your alpaca's beetroot leaves. Do they eat the actual vegetable? What other veggies do you allow them to eat.? We have only given ours grated carrot (and the leaves) thus far...
ReplyDeleteDid they try to make a midden in the tunnel? Would be very easy to mix their beans into the soil :)
Hi Dani
DeleteThey love the leaves - about half of them love the beetroot itself - I cut it up into little chunks. When it is very wet and miserable here - or there is snow on the ground - they have shredded beet which I buy in bags or pellets which I soak in water first. Fresh beet is very popular with some but it does make them look like they are wearing lipstick for a while afterwards! They also like runner beans, strawberries they go mad for - and carrots. They don't like parsnip at all! They were not supposed to actually go inside the tunnel!
Hope the dentist went ok Rosemary...at least, hopefully, it's over now!!
ReplyDeleteInteresting that your alpacas don't like parsnip...ours only get the peelings and tops as they're too precious over here (as not so many), but they love them! We feed forage beet during winter but it's more like a turnip under a red skin! Maybe it's actually the "lipstick" effect they're after...lets have a photo!!! Yep, ours too adore carrots but never tried strawberries...but the hens love them and raspberries too!
Rosemary - Thanks for the info :) I can see we're going to have very happy alpacas lol
ReplyDeleteI don't know shredded beets - beetroot?
Do they eat the whole strawberry? Or only the leaves? The same with runner beans?
I reckon that alpacas will always try and get into what they shouldn't - especially if food is involved!!