The Alpacas Go To The Dentist

Whew! What a day. We took all six alpacas to the dentist! Well, the vet actually did the work, but it took almost a month to get an appointment, and even then, we had to take the alpacas to Feederbrook Farm to have the vet come. Our location seems to be too far for any of the area vets to travel to.

Danielle went out early and Karen worked on laundry, dropped packages by UPS, got cash for the Conference (see details of the Energy Kinesiology Conference at www.mdkwi.com), filled the minivan with gas, and finally showed up at the farm. Danielle had already gotten the sheep and Cocoa out to the sheep pasture, and fed and watered the rest of the goats. Nana was bleating very loudly to let us know she wanted out, but we couldn't let her out with the babies until we'd gotten the alpacas through the front barn yard.

We shook a bucket of sweet feed at the alpacas and got them into the barnyard. Then we did the same thing to get them into the barn. We had to catch each one, put on it's halter, and tie the lead ropes to the barn walls and posts. One by one, we led them out to the waiting truck and van.

Oh my goodness, what a trick it was to get them up into the truckbed. Lift the front feet, make them bend, lift their tush and push and hope they hop up. Those guys weigh a LOT.
We finally got three of them into the truck, which had been outfitted with fencing to keep them in like a cage. And then we got the other three into the minivan. Danielle drove the truck, which is a stick shift, and we thank Mordechai for loaning it to us. Karen drove the automatic minivan (thanks Mom and Dad).

We started out down the driveway, and down the main street, but pulled off and decided to put twine across the top of the truck. We also unhooked the alpacas lead ropes, as we were afraid that they would break their necks if they fell. Then we started for the beltway down Liberty Road. You can imagine the looks we got from people we passed. We stopped at a red light, and an young man sitting on a bench at the bus stop looked up and started to laugh. Someone came up to the truck window to ask questions. People were pointing. It was fun.

Then we drove on the interstate below the speed limit with our blinkers on both vehicles all the way up to Feederbrook Farm, which is not far from the Pennsylvania State Line. Have you ever seen an alpaca jump OUT of a truck?

The rest of the day went well. The alpacas got sedated, got their bottom front teeth dremeled down, got their fighting teeth sawed down, and got checked by the vet. All of this because "someone" took a bite out of Trademarks' neck. We're not sure who the "someone" is. By the way, the alpacas came to us already named, so don't laugh at us for their nomenclature. Besides Trademark, who actually belongs to Jacob, and is actually the only animal on his farm that is his, the other alpacas are Senator, Led Zepplin, White Knight, Enapay, and Lallapalooza, whom we call Lolly, or Lalapooey, or "bad name" when he is being naughty.

Karen came home from Feederbrook earlier than Danielle to continue getting ready for the Conference tomorrow. Danielle stayed to help Lisa with her animals, and to help move Lisa's llamas to visit her sheep, so as to allow our guest alpacas to have the run of the llama field. Lisa has two neutered male alpacas, and one female. All our alpacas are intact males. Llamas and alpacas can interbreed, so we have to keep them separate. We are very fortunate to have Lisa as a friend. She is extremely generous with her knowlege, her time, her farm and her resources. We send her gratitude and blessings for this incredible gift of hostessing our "boys" on her farm during the week we're away at the conference.

Speaking of which, we were supposed to leave tonight to go down, but neither of us had enough energy to drive. So we're going down VERY early Wednesday, and Danielle, who is not in a Board meeting during the day, will come back and pack everything and come back down tomorrow evening. We figure a safe trip is better than an accident waiting to happen!

Our gratitude to Jacob, and to our friend Susan, for taking care of the goats, sheep, and chickens during our absense. Have a wonderful week!