Happy St Valentines

Hi, the sun is out today, but the paddocks are still not dry enough for working on. The alpacas were all pleased to see us this morning we fed their supplementary feed and topped up the hay, thankfully the water troughs are all clear of frozen water now. The barn is looking much better for the clearing out, hay delivery tomorrow to top us up, spring is just around the corner now !! Hope that you have a lovely St Valentines Day. I am off for a coffee now.

Show Entries

Just completed our entries to The Futurity Show, it was a difficult decision but decided against taking any alpacas to the halter classes, instead giving the fleece show a go this year. Then the difficult decisions on which fleece to choose, with so many good alpacas to pick from after much discussion and handling we narrowed it down to two whites. We had plenty of free time over the week end as the ground was covered with snow so no paddock cleaning possible, hoping to catch up today, but although the snow has now gone, the ground is too wet for working on. Roll on tomorrow, but for today it is cleaning out the barn and taking a trip to the tip.

Snow or No Snow ?

All the hatches are battened down, just in case !! We have finished the re-roofing of the field shelters and all the alpacas have their hay rations. It is very cold but so far no snow or rain. I have some spinning to keep me busy this afternoon.

To the New Year, and beyond

Hi, belated Happy New Year to you all. Lovely sunny day today, took some alpaca pictures for the blog. It is a joy to be out with them all when the weather is so amazing. Busy with knitting to orders, just finished some alpaca mittens took a photo which when I saw the picture it looks just like an alpaca face (if you screw your eyes up a bit !).

Alpaca face, what do you think ?

 

 

 

Islay for comparison

Our next picture is of our star alpaca of 2011, CWL Tangaroa, Supreme Champion at the Heart of England Fleece Show and then Reserve Champion at the Scottish Fleece Show. We have spent the holidays deciding who will be his first mating partner. We are also hoping that his dam is holding her pregnancy to CWL Woody which will bring similar genetics to the pairing, fingers crossed for an enjoyable summer of alpaca cria (babies).

Tango, our Supreme Champion

After Christmas Weaning

Well hope that you all had a wonderful Christmas, we had a great time with the alpacas and family and friends.
This year the weather has been kind, the wind has dried the ground and clearing the dung has been much quicker because of this, shame that the sun has been hiding away. The youngsters are being weaned as their dates and weights allow, some of the boys have missed their mums and for a little while told us by calling out in their "Sweep" voices, but all is going well, and they have settled very quickly into the new way of life, grazing happily and eating hard feed. Pictures are so dull at present, hopefully the sun will put in an appearance and I can add some illustrations to my words. I mean the weather is dull not the alpacas !! They are always fun.

Routine Tests

It has been busy on the farm with routine tasks getting all the alpacas ready for winter. We have recently had alpaca samples checked for worms and coccidia this checks out that our husbandry is working and the correct doses are being administered. All came back fine, so after checking in with our vet, Keith, we know that our all the alpacas are free from any routine intervention until the spring. We will of course monitor them throughout the winter for any additional needs, and we are still giving a course of A,D & E injections where needed but especially to the 2011 cria, who are all growing up quickly now, a few have been weaned already and some are due to wean any day soon.
Aside from farm work which is a pleasure when the weather is so good, we are busy with orders for hand knitted hats, gloves and scarves using our own alpaca fleece which is so lovely in the natural colours and so soft to touch. It is a joy to knit with and a pleasure to wear.

Mushroom foraging

We have been foraging for mushrooms this morning. When we went down to feed the alpacas first thing there were some lovely fairy circles of mushrooms that had popped up overnight in a paddock that is being rested. It is a perfect autumnal day today, lots of sunshine and such colourful hedgerows and trees. Back off outside to finish toenail clipping the alpacas, the last few left now.