Herd health day

Monday was herd health day at the farm. Time to brush off those winter blahs, and possible parasite problems, by checking everybody out.

Tammy and Bruce came with their crew: Wade, Jeff and Dustin; Krista, Amanda (manning the clipboard) and Becca were our "cast of characters" to help catch everybody.

We dewormed, (when I say we I mean Bruce) trimmed toenails, pulled blood for DNA card, trimmed teeth, did overall health assessment and inserted microchips. There were even a few that got "touch up" haircuts.

The temps started the morning at 48 degrees - but by mid-afternoon it was breezing through the barn in the 20s (not counting wind chills). It got COLD!

That little Becca is something else. There were two crias that we hadn't managed to catch in the morning. Becca announced that she was going out to get them. "You'll never be able to catch them," the nonbeliever (me) told her.

Sure enough. She caught both Nellie Knee Sox AND Bonita and got them into the barn. Wow. Just wow. Guess she's better trained than I thought!

That left only Peppy (an alpaca girl) left. The crew went outside and caught her in a short time -- and she was dewormed and toenails checked. Then we were DONE! (Except for Denise and Gary's animals. . . and Mighty and Rocket. Bruce kept telling me "you keep saying we're done -- and then you say, 'except for' . . .)

It was a great feeling knowing that at least for now -- everyone is up to date and appears healthy.

Thanks to Bruce, Tammy and crew -- and to Becca, Krista and Amanda for such a productive herd health day.