Worming

I easily got the goats into their stall in the barn this morning for feeding and wormed them on the way out of the stall afterwards.  It was as easy as I thought it would be.  The llamas/alpacas were a bit more tricky.  Stash, Tucker and Smoky were all worm free so they needed to go into one stall and be fed just their normal kibble.  Shiraz and the two alpacas, Rascal and Scamp, needed to be a stall together so they could get their normal feed plus the pelleted wormer.  That makes the first of the two possible disasters.  But everyone went in the correct stall!  Yea for me and for Ron's help.  Husbands can be very useful.

The pelleted wormer is alfalfa based so I thought they would be willing to eat it.  This was the second potential disaster - what if they flatly refused to eat it?  Then it's grabbing them and squirting the liquid wormer in their mouths.  Initially they were a bit hesitant but since I wasn't going to let them out until they finished, how long it took them wasn't critical.  Unless it took them four days in which case it might be an issue.  I checked on them several times and at one point added some apple flavored horse treats to their feed bowls.  Sure enough after about an hour all three had cleaned their plates.  Of course, I can't verify they each got the exact amount of wormer it needed but I think it was pretty close. 

So all the morning chores are done.  Wait!  The ponies haven't been fed.  I was so wrapped up in the worming thing I forgot...

<Penny runs out and feed the ponies>

Yes, all morning chores are done.  The skunk is still here - unseen but definitely smelled. The stench wasn't enough to keep the llamas, alpacas and goats out of the barn this morning but it was there none the less.  After the animals went back out to the pasture I turned the radio back up to "STUN"  and we'll see if the skunk stays around.

I finally found some cheesecloth and strained all the hard parts out of the lichen dye bath.  It's heating now and the yarn is soaking.  I'm not expecting a lot of color since the dye bath looks pretty pale but we will see what we get.