Now it's not really for me to query ladies' bathroom habits, however, we only have just over an acre, and my girls have created seven latrines. The biggest problem with that, is that they appear to be growing in size, and we have to maximise the quality (to minimise parasites) and quantity (to cope with drought periods) of available grazing. They have been depositing around the edges of some latrines, hence they've got larger, so this weekend I took advantage of the weather, and after clearing them, I mowed them (by hand mower!) and cleared all the clippings for maximum hygene. Hopefully, they will feel able to go back to the middle, and contaminate a smaller area - time will tell...
I feel we are at the stage of herd development, where a poover and sit/ride mower are becoming necessities. The irony is, that the catalyst for starting a herd of alpacas was the suggestion by one of our sons and daughter, that I buy a sit and ride mower to cut the grass in the field so they could use a mountain board! Meantime, we've been hooked by the wonderful world of alpacas, who now require pastures of the quality that a mower will help improve - and I wouldn't have it any other way.
I think that we need a caption on that second photo Dave...what is going on?!
ReplyDeleteAs for toilet training I am only having limited success with a puppy never mind an alpaca!
We have a similar problem, Dave. The grass in the toilet areas always grows quicker, greener and richer - for obvious reasons. We put the mower over these areas a couple of weeks ago and they ended up looking like crop circles! Don't know what the neighbours thought! We tend to leave the main poo piles until the boys change paddocks, but clear up all the collateral damage. Take care.
ReplyDeleteBarbara, I was holding out a handful of hay, when Autumn Gold decided to have a peek under my arm, and I held out the camera, one-handed, hence the even-weirder angle.
ReplyDeleteIf it makes you feel any better...I have acres..and the poo piles..get wider and wider...I think we need to build a walled toilet training area..to keep them contained, however I suspect that they would only go on the outside..so we all have these creeping poo pile problems...someone has even decided to do it in the fieldshelter.....:-(..thats not the idea !!...Jayne
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