During the day the llamas are laying down all stretched out, soaking up the sun and sleeping. Ever so often they get up and graze on the leftover hay bits in the main corral. In the evening right before feeding time the llamas put on quite a show. The llamas breakout into a wild frenzy, and running, springing up and down on all fours (pronging) Boing* Boing *. Wulfie calls out his shrill alarm sound and leads the herd in their ceremonious dance in, out and around the two corrals.The new pasture offers lots of room for the late afternoon romp.
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Our new pasture is a result of learning from our mistakes. We tried many times to plant this area with grass with little luck. Once we cleared the tumble weeds and bind weed, the dirt was barren. When wet we sunk to our knees and when dry it was rock hard. Nothing would grow in it except for bind weed which kept poking up through the ground. Paul decided to go to Southern Utah University to get a truck load of manure from their agriculture department. He also mixed in the llama manure we had in the compost bin. Out came the tractor and the manure was applied and the ground was leveled. Paul purchased pasture grass seed from our local Ace Hardware and broadcast the little seeds evenly in the narrow rows. We watered faithfully and like magic, the seed began to sprout in just a few days! The pasture grass continued to flourish. When the pasture grass was well established we discussed plans to fence it with corral railing.
As luck would have it, Paul spotted some fencing rails leaning against a fence on a drive out of town. We decided to drive on through the open gate and talked to the 3 men working there on a rusty water drill. Turns out they were for sale at half the price of new ones. We were told there were other stacks of railings on the property so we found a stack we liked and began sorting and selecting the rails we wanted. Some of them were bent or rusted. We ended up with 22 very nice 12' long by 5' high rails and a matching gate!
The owner of the property drove in with his truck and let us know that the rails were once a part of the ostrich farm he and his family had up on the hill. He motioned with his hand towards the southwest range of juniper and red clay. It gave the rails a history and we eagerly loaded them up and took them to our little farm.
Once the rails were home, Paul applied a few coats of silver spray paint until every rail looked shiny and new. The railings were assembled in less than 30 minutes. My husband is so good at fixing, building and creating, designing and improving our property. He is amazing. This project completed our whole acre somehow. It looks beautiful and the llamas really enjoy the grass and extra room.
Watch Video
Our new pasture is a result of learning from our mistakes. We tried many times to plant this area with grass with little luck. Once we cleared the tumble weeds and bind weed, the dirt was barren. When wet we sunk to our knees and when dry it was rock hard. Nothing would grow in it except for bind weed which kept poking up through the ground. Paul decided to go to Southern Utah University to get a truck load of manure from their agriculture department. He also mixed in the llama manure we had in the compost bin. Out came the tractor and the manure was applied and the ground was leveled. Paul purchased pasture grass seed from our local Ace Hardware and broadcast the little seeds evenly in the narrow rows. We watered faithfully and like magic, the seed began to sprout in just a few days! The pasture grass continued to flourish. When the pasture grass was well established we discussed plans to fence it with corral railing.
As luck would have it, Paul spotted some fencing rails leaning against a fence on a drive out of town. We decided to drive on through the open gate and talked to the 3 men working there on a rusty water drill. Turns out they were for sale at half the price of new ones. We were told there were other stacks of railings on the property so we found a stack we liked and began sorting and selecting the rails we wanted. Some of them were bent or rusted. We ended up with 22 very nice 12' long by 5' high rails and a matching gate!
The owner of the property drove in with his truck and let us know that the rails were once a part of the ostrich farm he and his family had up on the hill. He motioned with his hand towards the southwest range of juniper and red clay. It gave the rails a history and we eagerly loaded them up and took them to our little farm.
Once the rails were home, Paul applied a few coats of silver spray paint until every rail looked shiny and new. The railings were assembled in less than 30 minutes. My husband is so good at fixing, building and creating, designing and improving our property. He is amazing. This project completed our whole acre somehow. It looks beautiful and the llamas really enjoy the grass and extra room.
