Prehistoric Llama

Well we are already into April, Spring has come and probably gone looking at the black clouds building up tonight and it is cold, the wood burner has been lit.
We have had a busy time doing jobs around the farm, the female Alpacas were moved from they paddocks onto fresh grass and these have now been hoovered and Steve has used the topper to remove the dead stalks of the Chicory which is abundant amongst the grasses in these fields. They were reseeded a couple of years ago with a special grass mix made up at our local seed merchants, the mix contains lots of grasses and herbs which are deep routed and draw up the minerals.  We were hoping to get them harrowed and rolled as well.
The show team have continued their training, the grandchildren have been helping!

We have also been very busy with our Llama Walks, the weather has been great and we have done some lovely walks and eaten lunches and cream teas on the tops of tors, not something we usually do much of in March.

Polo & Murphy

Prehistoric Llama

We couldn't resist taking a picture of Murphy sitting down chewing the cud at lunchtime on one of our walks, he looks a bit of a dinosaur
At the moment I am beginning to panic, we decided to hold a small open day and the date was set for Easter Monday, at the time it seemed a long way off, then all of a sudden it's next Monday.  We need a Plan!  and quick.  So I have done the adverts, made the signs, baked some cakes, sorted out the raffle,  still to do - decide where everything is going, organise some helpers, check out the parking is available.  We have decide to keep it small as I like to be able to spend time with people instead of running round like a headless chicken.
After the Open day we only have a few days before we are attending the Spring Show at the Hand Equestrian Centre.  Oh no I still haven't booked the Hotel, best get on with it.

Couldn't wait any longer

Caramel

It's been along time since I have blogged, not because there hasn't been anything happening, far from it.  We decided to have a craft stall at the British Futurity which meant we need some more stock and I can only knit so much.  So I enlisted the help of our local Knit & Chat group who have produced some lovely knitwear.  I wasn't expecting to sell a lot as a craft stall selling Alpaca yarns and knitwear at an Alpaca show full of people with lots of Alpacas, their own yarns and knitwear probably wasn't the best idea but we were going to go anyway and it gave us a chance to meet and chat to friends old and new. The NEC was definitely the best venue so far for the Futurity and we have been to all of them so far.  There was lots more general public than before and we did sell a fair amount of yarn and some knitwear.  I had taken our Llama walking leaflets and Holiday Cottage information as well so you never know we may get a booking or two from it.

I also brought a Drum Carder or rather Liz Brooks and I brought a Drum Carder, we had a Louet Carder which we found a little rough with the Alpaca fleece so we have made an investment in a Classic Carder.  I happened to mention to a customer that we were selling our Louet Carder and she took our details, emailed the day after the show and has now purchased it.  So one sale already.

Summer

There seemed to be a lot of interested people talking about owning Alpacas and although we are not in the Midlands one couple did say they would come and see us when they are ready to start selecting their animals.  We will have to wait and see.

Since we have been back we have got stuck into the usual round of husbandry,  The West Webburn Watchers group have had their monthly meeting, they do make me laugh as they line up waiting to take their turn on the scales, I am pleased to report that they are all fine and have come through the winter having not lost any condition.

It is that time of the year when you get to wondering which of the females has held their pregnancies through the winter.  We have been putting off running them past the male as it is too early to start matings, any way today we couldn't wait any longer, it was a beautiful day and we needed to move the main female herd onto fresh grass which meant it would not be so easy to run them past Caliban (it was his turn).  So decision made, pens erected, females in yard, show team split out and returned to their paddock.  I have had my doubts about a few of the younger girls so with fingers crossed we put each female into the pen with Caliban, he really thought his luck was in.  Poor boy, nine females, five really spit offs, four running around pen trying to get under, over or through the hurdles, so we are hope full that all nine are pregnant including our Champion Black female who has been very difficult to get pregnant, she was one who I was doubtful about, she didn't spit but she would sit either so fingers crossed.

So the females have got lots of fresh Grass, Caliban is back in his Paddock not at all pleased about his afternoon out.

I thought I would share a couple of pictures of the Grandsons extreme reading for Book Week at School.

Charlie and Caramel

Josh on the Digger

A Decision

It is that time of the year when you can feel yourself wishing the time away, can't wait for this years cria to be born, some of the females are starting to look a little rotunda and some of them are definitely getting stroppy. They are all in good condition, nobody losing condition which is unusual for this time of year. In fact we have been weighing every couple of weeks and their weights are very stable, it’s a bit like weight watchers as they all take their turn on the scales!
So to give us something to focus on we have decided to name the day for our open day which this year is going to be on the 9th April Easter Monday. We would usually wait until there is some cria on the ground but our are a bit later this year and to be honest we would just put it off and it would never happen.
So now all I have to do is get all the knitwear ready to go to the Futurity in a couple of weeks, carry on training the Show team to behave in the show ring ready for the SWAG show and make all the arrangement for the open day.
Better get on with it then!

A really scary Alpaca

It's been a quiet time around here just the usual round of feeding, poo picking and general husbandry tasks. We have escaped from the worst of the snow, it has been cold and we had to break ice on the troughs for several days but the warmer weather has returned.

Whilst we were in the cold snap our oldest female alpaca was feeling the chill, she doesn't grow much fleece and we usually shear her every other year, which was last summer.  Anyway we have a coat for her to wear when it is really cold and I decided she would appreciate her winter coat for a few days.  She wasn't very impressed with the fitting process and splattered the sides of the field shelter with the green stuff.  Once fitted I let her back out with the rest of the herd, they were not impressed at all with this new but very scary sight of Carla with her blue coat on and headed off down the field with Carla in pursuit which just made them run faster, it was a very funny sight to watch but I did feel sorry for Carla who really couldn't understand why everyone was running away from her.  They would stand in a group hug watching her until she started to approach then turn tail and run off. Even after three days they were still being curious.  It is much warmer today so the coat has come off and all is calm again.

The group 'what is that!'

One really scary Alpaca

This morning we got all the girls and weaned cria to give them a shot of ADE and a pedicure, then some halter training for the cria who are all doing really well, they do walk better on the outward journey than on the homeward stretch but I think this will improve with practice.  I am hoping to start some more intensive show ring training next week, always a good idea, then I can at least go into the ring knowing that they do know what is going to happen even if they seem to forget all that they have learnt when they have their turn in the ring.
I am busy knitting stock for our table at the Futurity, only six weeks ish,  I have booked the hotel so we are definitely going, couldn't believe the cost of some of the hotels around the NEC but managed to find one which is reasonably close and not to bad a price.
Think I will start to decide which shows we are going to enter animals in and work out when I need to get the entries in.

I have been out practising with the camera so heres a couple of pics from my walk home each morning, something I am trying to do even though I can now drive.

A little bit of snow on Hambledown

Finally I managed to get a picture of Murphy our young llama who is now 18 months old, he really has grown into a very handsome llama with a great temperament ( he has an appointment with the vet very soon but I haven't told him yet)

efficient or what

Not that I am blowing my own trumpet here but I have to say I have achieved a lot today!  starting with feeding up then a quick trip to Ashburton via Bovey Tracey with daughters car which needed two tyres for MOT,(why don't they think to check before sending it for testing)  Then down to it ............... accounts for our branch of Devon Farms as it is the AGM tomorrow and I needed to get something on paper as I am the treasurer................ took a holiday cottage booking, received deposit and sent the confirmation, answered several e.mails, printed off confirmations and directions and sent them of to two llama walk customers, wrote some cheques out for some bills, updated the cottages website, filled in a form for a one day show this summer, had a cup of tea and now I am writing this, not a bad day.

We had a bit of snow last night, looks nice but I was glad it had rained and was disappearing fast this morning.  The females who were all looking clean and fluffy yesterday are now damp and muddy except for Carla who is hogging the field shelter and obviously had not been outside until breakfast arrived!

Yesterday we had planned a day off, we were going to get up later, spend some leisurely time with the Alpacas, pick up a paper and have a lazy afternoon ................ didn't quite work out that way but it wasn't to bad, grandchildren and daughter turned up for a bit which was good, nice to see them but meant I had to take them home as car was being left ready for MOT.  On the way home daughter said could we just call into Trago Mills (very large discount retail establishment, ) not somewhere I would chose to go on a Sunday which is also one of their sales days.  Just wanted to pick up a rug for her front room.  So that took about an hour by the time we had parked and got rug, then queued to pay, then took them home.  The rest of the afternoon was good though, I got the old sewing machine out and mended a whole pile of stuff which has been sat around for ages waiting for the day I had time to do it!  I also mad some cushion covers......... Cow print fabric which is quite fun, brown and white, brought in a rash moment of madness, they look good though. (don't think Steve agrees)  Front room always resembles a bomb site when I get the sewing machine out!  Off out to feed the animals and collect the eggs then once finished we had a nice roast dinner, our own pork, veg from garden, sat in front of TV for the rest of the evening, I was knitting though, can't just sit there doing nothing.
So nearly a whole day off.

Better get off now and get some dinner, Steve is feeding up this evening, it is horrible out there. grey cold and wet.  Then I am going to get some invoices done!

Fantasic

All I am going to say is I can now Drive, it has been very frustrating having the car there and not being able to use it.  Off out tomorrow!

Decisions, Decisions.

I have obviously got to much time on my hands at the moment because after spending the morning trying to sort out my car insurance, which is very time consuming and very fustrating.

Golden Nugget

Caliban

I then spent the afternoon looking at expected birth dates for our females and that got me thinking of which studs to use after said females had given birth.  Poor things, most of them aren't due to give birth until late summer and I am already planning the next one.  This year we used a couple of outside studs and I have one outstanding breeding already paid for.

The main decision is whether to use Caliban again, he has given us some lovely cria, especially Calico who is now at Pippin Alpacas or do we look for another stud male to bring in, then there is Golden Nugget who also has produced some lovely looking cria with great fleece.  We have given young Atlas a couple of females this year so it will be interesting to see what he can do, he comes from my very favourite female 'Marietta' she has had 4 cria for us and her
 first three boys all did well in the show ring, she had a female this year who will be shown this spring.
I am sure we will have may decisions over the next few months on this subject and what ever I decide now may well change several times before the females are ready.

I have done a lot of knitting over the last few weeks, tried out some new patterns and used some great beaded luxury yarns to trim our own Alpaca yarns but I think the most unusual request I have had was to knit a jumper for a Chihuahua, a very small one at that.  I was amazed to find so many patterns on the internet for dog coats, I drew the line if knitting it in alpaca so brought some basic acrylic yarn, actually ended up knitting a dress with frills.......must get a photo with the dog modelling it!

Atlas

The other decision to be taken is which shows and fairs are we taking our stand to this summer, last year we did a lot of shows in August which were very good but hard work, we said that if we did them again we would not try to work as well, so we need to make a decision before we get too much work booked in and then I must get knitting!