Winter preparations - part 2

It is officially cold!  

The windows are closed and the heat is on.  We try to wait as long as possible before we turn up the thermostat, but there's definitely a chill in the air that prompts us not to tough it out any longer.

Seeing the frost coating the pasture every morning tells us it's time to give it a rest, and so the herd enjoyed their last day in the field this week.

While they were enjoying their last opportunity for open grazing this season, we took advantage of them being out of the way and finished winterizing the barn, relocated hay racks, installed solar lighting, plugged in heated water buckets for the alpacas, and installed weather panels on the chicken coop.

Summer posing in front of the barn, now winterized

Genny, Tia, Olly, & Melody enjoying the solar lights ambiance

The chicken coop is ready for winter

It's around this time that herd usually vocalizes their complaints as they look over the paddock fence longingly at the field. but they have been relatively quiet....so far.   

It might be because we decided to move the boys closer to the barn (since there are just two of them) and given the girls the larger paddock space with the shelter we set up for the boys.  

Baxter in the foreground & the girls in the larger paddock

Who knows for sure, but we can tell by their happy interactions with us that they're content with their circumstances.