Now stand and look sexy (though I’ll settle for your ears being up)
Just this morning I was saying to Jen that we really shouldn’t be surprised by the speed of seasonal change any more after living here for 16 years. It still takes me aback though that we could go from what felt like an almost intractable winter less that a week go to then losing 75% of our snow pack over the course of the past 72 hours. You’ve got to love that southern exposure. Yesterday afternoon, particularly coming on the heels of the last couple of months was just gorgeous. As I drove the kids home from school around 3PM the thermometer in the car claimed it actually hit 60 degrees! The sun was out and you could hear and literally see the snowmelt running down the hillside.
Inspired by that warmth, the newly exposed ground, and the wonderful afternoon light I jumped out of the car upon getting home, grabbed my camera and my barn boots (it’s still pretty mucky in the pastures) and marched up to the Main Barn. I was intent on improving on some of the rather dark pictures from January that inhabit parts of our sales listings. Back then “going outside” for the first wave of newly weaned juveniles really entailed going out single file on their beaten down trail to the outdoor hay feeders through 2.5′ of snow. Not exactly conducive to great marketing shots. A few times I got lucky but there are plenty of photos that had to be taken inside with a flash which while better than nothing at the time, isn’t really ideal.
Right now in mid March though probably 80% of the birth class of 2010 has been weaned and is now living together in two groups (one male, one female) at the Main Barn. I’ve always found that alpacas feel much safer and more confident in larger groups so the fun is really starting to ramp up. What are the chances after all that a group of 20 teenagers left to their own devices wont run a little wild? Lord of the Flies is in full session.
My first visit was to the female weaner group on the north side of the barn. They have access to a paddock that’s probably close to 2/3rds of an acre in size and now that most of the snow there is gone, they are really starting to stretch their legs. The girls seemed somewhat interested in me and came closer to check things out at first then decided that I was at best a nuisance and went running off en masse to the far corner of their paddock to chew on dead, soggy grass. It’s the thought that counts. Though I was happy that they would give me a little space to get some shots of them, they were in fact giving me bit too much. 100+ yards is way too far for a 35mm lens. A quick run back down to the house to grab my bigger zoom lens (70-300mm) though and we were back in business. The girls were mostly indifferent to my presence though they would periodically circle back around to see what the human with the long weird thing held up to his eye was doing. I was nonetheless able to get most of the shots I needed without making too big of an ass of myself hooting and whistling to get there attention and coax a pose or two out of otherwise nonchalant subjects.
The boys on the other side of the barn were not nearly as cooperative though. While they admittedly have a smaller paddock than their female counterparts, they were far more interested in me and what I was doing than they were in anything else. Its rather challenging to get good photographs when you have 10+ juvis clustered around you seemingly in a huddle. Especially with the zoom lens still on. Oh well. I also had at least one roaring case of humming and the tail flipping up, weanerspeak for “got any milk on you?” Though Magnanimous — true to form — held to his maternal line’s tradition of acting slightly sulky and disinterested (I caught him once kind of at attention when he was reacting to the hullabaloo my kids were making down at the house) most of the other boys I was able to get with a little time and patience.
Though much of my mission yesterday was about getting improved pictures on existing sales animals there are actually several critters (including the young fellow above) who have just been weaned and will be both getting listed on our site for the first time as well as joining the upcoming roster for the North American show. The forecast for tomorrow is beautiful as well so I’m sure I’ll be out there again trying to get the holdouts.
