Arrived X2

The Virginia group arrived on Friday afternoon and unloaded infinitely easier than Wyoming. The girls stepped off the truck like princesses, looked around, decided the accommodations were acceptable and immediately went to go eat. Pullo came off the truck a little harder, but was still easier to get moving than Vorenus was. So everyone is home now and tucked into their separate areas. On the advice of the Virginia farm, we purchased "yak crack" which are essentially cubes of alfalfa and molasses. No idea of our yaks are addicts, as Adam is slowly working toward being able to get closer to them without spooking them or getting charged. Still no yak shaped holes in the barn, so we seem to be doing pretty well.

Arrived

The Wyoming Yaks, from Yak Daddy Ranch, safely arrived yesterday around noon. The hardest part was that the bull did NOT want to get off the truck. Absolutely not. No freaking way. In his defense, the last two times he got off the truck was at the vet's office and then at the stock yard and he was determined not to be tricked the third time. We finally did him and his girls unloaded and they are now safely in the barn.

The best-laid plans

I think that the first rule of farming is: announcing your plans is the surest way to hear the gods laugh.

Step #1: Buy a farm


Done

It should have a barn:

Ok, that'll do.

Step #2: Move into said farm

Er. Well, we'll still working on that. We had to do a bit of renovation, mostly due to the fact that the house is 130 years old and needed a little bit of help. But it's moving along. We'll say good enough.

Step #3: Procure animals
Several months ago (about fifteen minutes after our offer on the house was accepted) Adam contracted with two farms for a small starter herd of yaks. What's a yak?
This is a yak.


More specifically, that is Vorenus The Yak. Adam took to naming the yaks after characters in HBO's Rome series. He's one of the two bulls coming to live at Skirted Fleece.

Actually, he's showing up tomorrow. And that's where farm planning becomes a little joke.

Mathematical equation for you:
If the Virginia yaks are supposed to leave on Saturday morning and arrive on Saturday afternoon but are instead coming on Friday at noon and the Wyoming yaks are supposed to arrive on Saturday morning but are instead coming "sometime Thursday", what will Adam's frame of mind be when he discovers this late Sunday night?

If your answer was full out panic- you go the head of the class!

In truth, we're as prepared as we can be for people new to raising yaks. We have consulted professionals. We have two separate pens off the barn for the two separate herds coming (six yaks in total). We have a Plan A for getting the yaks off the truck and into the barn and then from the barn into the pens. We have Plan B and Plan C as well, for the inevitable failing of Plan A. We have copious amounts of coffee in stock.

I'm pretty sure that the second rule of farming is: If it's gone all to hell, it's probably right on schedule.