Hosed Down!

It's getting hot in Texas!  I am happy to say that it stayed cooler this year than it has for the past few years, but those cool days are gone and the boys are thankful that they are sheared.  It is already growing out and I can only imagine how they will feel in September, but for now we will do all we can to keep them comfortable.

We have two primary ways of treating them to a cooler day and and night - one is a fan blowing all of the time and the other is hosing their legs and tummies!

We turned the fans on a couple of weeks ago during the day, but it's now on full time.  They go out to the pasture and graze and come back to the cool concrete to rest in front of the fan.  Sam is definitely the fan hog and so we will probably be adding still another one soon.

The spraying of their tummies and legs had me concerned, remember they don't always like what I do to them and so I emailed Laurence with my concerns.  His reply - just turn on the hose and aim at their legs - they may even remember it from last year!

A few days later we had 20 new trees (twigs) put in the ground.  We put along side of them to protect them from the pacas and I decided I should water them in really well.  I stretched three water hoses across the pasture and  turned them on.  Suddenly I knew there was someone (thing) behind me and there they stood!  I turned around and turned the hose on Sammy's legs - he reared up and then came down turning each side to side to be sure all legs got the water.  The other two were a little more shy, but came toward the hose.

Pancho cushes down the minute the water hits his legs and wants the water right under his stomach creating a cool puddle.  He's the one that loves puddles when it rains and Lefty goes back and forth from standing and cushing.  Funny boys.











As I stood there with the water hose Sammy put his mouth to the stream of water and began to drink. We have been doing this now for about a week and the other two are now drinking from the hose, too. Pancho just learned yesterday.  He's been watching the other two and finally gave it a try.  He stuck his nose in and shook the water off!  He did that several times, but finally got the hang of it and looked so proud of himself.

The funniest part is watching them discover that the water has been turned on.  They put their heads down and get in their fastest running position and run as fast as they can to be first in line.

Now the fun part will come soon as Bill is the one to take care of them for five days!  I leave a week from today for Bend, Oregon for alpaca handling training and "cool" weather.  Bill will open the gates to the big pasture each morning and give them their treats and "bath" each evening.  He will be glad when I get back home!