Very Spring like.

It has been very spring like here on Dartmoor this last week, I found this Periwinkle in full flower on the garden bank along with Daffodils.  The Azaleas and Clematis are starting to bud up as well.

The Shepherds Hut is progressing well, photos are in short supply as I have not been well again which means I have missed 3 out of 7 days of working on the hut.  Being ill is really frustrating as all I wanted to do was get on with painting the window and door frames as well as helping Steve with some of the heavy stuff like the boarding, all I could do was stay in bed in a darkened room.

Anyway today I have felt much better and we have managed to put all the waterproof membrane on the hut, the roof sheets are placed on top ready for Steve to fix them tomorrow.

The site for the Hut has been dug out and landscaped.  So as soon as the roof is fixed on we can move the Hut to its final resting place and complete it on site.

I would like to have the inside a bit like a Alpine Chalet which is a bit of a departure from the Shepherds theme, so we have left the pine boards unpainted on the ceiling and these will be waxed later.  We have some rather snazzy LED lights to go in, so the wiring is in place for these.  Just need to wire in for the electric sockets before we can put the internal insulation and cladding in.

I am having to leave Steve on his own tomorrow as I have promised the Grandsons I will watch there Hockey matches at the Regional Finals in Exeter.

Our two new Llamas have had a very relaxed winter so it is time to pick up their training before they join the older boys in the trekking team.  Here is Mr Magee with a full pack on for the first time, little Leo is a bit further behind.  We went for a short walk up the lane and Leo decided that the sheep which live in the field next door were just too scary to walk past, so a little more work required there.

On a Alpaca note I need to do the entries for Devon County Show and I can remember when the closing date is.  I have delayed doing them as I wanted to have a good fleece rummage with the youngsters as they change so quickly.  Hopefully I can do that tomorrow afternoon and get the entries done after that.

With all this dry weather all the Alpacas are looking lovely and fluffy and remarkably clean, even the cria which is unusual.

 Here is Zanti who always likes her Photo being taken but she does insist on doing it on here terms which means I kept getting the shadow in the picture as well.

Thought it was time to update......

Well it has been awhile since I blogged and I have been nagged at for not keeping up to date with everything that is happening here on Dartmoor.
In the last two weeks we have been very busy starting with a deliver of a bright red shiny new paddock cleaner which we purchased whilst at the futurity, very exciting, Steve took the day off as we also had the vet coming to do a vet certificate and some castrations........ more about that later.  Any way delivery went like clockwork even the driver remembered to ring about an hour before arrival so we could be ready waiting for him.  Lorry arrived, large pallet on back of truck with no tail lift, driver had been told he didn't need one!  Luckily we had the tractor with link box on had so we slid the pallet into the link box and lifted it down, signed deliver note after a quick check over .......... bye bye driver!  We quickly removed the wrapping ready to hitch up to the tractor.............. never been so excited about picking up poo.   Steve being more technically minded instantly noticed that although the wheels were on the machine they weren't actually fixed on ...... something about split pins!  How b.....y infuriating.  A phone call to the parts department resulted in the said split pins arriving the next day............... no apology though.  any way not to be beaten a couple of large washers and two nails later and we are picking up poo.  Not a bad job as I got to drive the tractor whilst Steve did the poo sucking............ funny he isn't as keen on using the hoover at home.  We now have lovely spanking clean fields and the veg garden has a good load of manure ready to be rotovated in.

The same morning as our exciting delivery Richard our vet came to  vet check Titan and castrate Felspar, Quartz and Merlin, a little sedative and some local anesthetic and job done, all three grazing in field.  When we checked on them later in the day it was obvious that Merlin was not happy, on closer inspection we could see he was bleeding badly from his wound, his fleece was all matted so he had been bleeding for a while.  Safely in a pen I was able to wash him down and check his wound which had now stopped bleeding, sprayed him with purple spray and left him separated from his field mates in the track next to his field with Murphy as a companion.  We are not sure why he had bled so much but there was evidence of some blood on one or two of the other llamas, so whether there had been some altercations going on we don't know.  Merlin has now fully recovered from his ordeal thankfully.


Last weekend we took the llamas to Hound tour for a 60th Birthday party, we had been asked to help carry the guests picnics up to the tor.  There must have been over 60 guests there but what we didn't realise was that they all brought their dogs!  the llamas took a it of interest in all these dogs arriving but weren't that bothered.  We didn't know what to expect when all these people, dogs and llamas walked up on to the moor and I was getting worried that they would get really upset about it............ not a problem, why do I worry like this......... The llamas lead by Lenny calmly walked carrying bags of food, totally ignoring all the dogs............. I am sure that they sussed out that these were very well behaved dogs and were not going to be a threat to them.  We even had a bit of a sniff at any dog that dared to get close enough..... even young Murphy had a sniff with a spaniel.  So I now need to rethink our no dogs rule!

Last sunday was my Birthday so we had the day off, drove down to the coast, had lunch and walked along the coast path at East Prawle and then had some dinner before we came home, so nice not to have to cook!

On Wednesday we held our Spinning course, Jean Field came and gave us some excellent instruction, our friend Norma provided a lovely lunch including some very nice cake.  I have now spun quite a bit of Titans fleece and now need to decide what to knit with it.

Yesterday we had  a llama visit from a local hospital OT Dept, it was too windy to go up on the moor so we had a walk along the lanes and had tea on the patio of our holiday cottage.  We really enjoy these group visits as everyone seems to get so much out of the experience.

Finally today we delivered the five Alpaca boys to Cornwall, Titan and Calypso to join Carpalla Herd, we unloaded them into a six acre field which is great but it was misty and after a few minutes they disappeared into the mist.  They are going to be very busy boys as the girls were in the field on the opposite side of the track and they all looked very ready and eager to meet the boys........... a lot of flirting going on along the fence line!  I think Nigel and Margaret are going to be very busy over the next few weeks as well and we can't wait to see the results next year.  Good Luck to you both.
Felspar, Quartz and Stephano have landed on their feet, they have gone to live near Fowey where they have holiday cottages.  We unloaded and settled them into their new paddocks which had so much grass,  at least 6 inches high and really lush and green.  After some basic instruction on how to handle them, put halters on etc we left them just munching away, they didn't even look up, not sure they notice we had gone! that gratitude for you!  I will really miss this group of boys in the morning when I go to feed up, they were such a lovely group. Now we just have Atlas and Prospect who when we returned with the trailer were a bit bemused that their friends had not returned as well.

Felspar & Quartz

So as you can see it has been busy here, tomorrow as a birthday treat! I am having a foot massage and something which involves little fish ............... not sure what thats all about!

Some days............

You know some days you really think that something is working against you! I have had two enquiries for Llama walks both on days when we aren't available to do them, one is Devon county show time and the other on a day we have arranged to do some breedings. then I get home and listen to the answer machine and there was two enquires for holiday cottages and guess what!......we're fully booked for the dates they wanted.............which is good but frustrating.

Then I look at the weather forecast for tomorrow and it gives some rain, which we really need but we have a Llama walk booked in..............it's been dry for at least 18 days why couldn't it wait just one more! We had a spectacular walk planned but it needs to be a really good day, clear and not windy as it it very exposed, not much chance to shelter from the rain. So we need a plan B...............and possibly C.

I was watching the late pregnant Alpacas this afternoon and Marietta who is due in early June is already huge, she is a very compact girl anyway but now she is almost as wide as she is tall.

Last years cria arrived right on 11.5 months.....thats a good seven weeks away. all of the girls are spending a lot of time sitting down chewing the cud...........but then what else is there to do in this lovely weather..............Not a bad life!

I hate to say this but we need some rain

I really do hate to say it but we really could do with some rain, it has been lovely and sunny here on Dartmoor for a few weeks now and our grass is still not really growing. We were out on the moor on Monday for a llama walk and the grass up there is still very dry and brown, even our field which we reseeded last autumn is starting to look very dry and yellow, not good it should be romping away at this time of the year. We spread some fertilizer on it this evening hoping that this will help get it going. i just wish we could arrange for a little rain to fall after about 9pm and finish about 6am so it can dry up before I need to get out for work.

Last September we ordered some Gloucester old spot weaners which were due to arrive early spring but alas we have heard nothing from the breeder and I have not received any replies to my e.mails, so I am now assuming that they will not be arriving. So after several phone calls and e.mails I have now managed to secure 3 Berkshire weaners which will be ready at the end of May. We have had pigs in the past and we really enjoyed having them, they are so intelligent and I can see how you could get attached to them, I thought I may have problems when it came to eating them but our local abattoir did a very good job in sending them back looking like they had come from a supermarket - vac packed and labeled. We did sell some of the meat to cover the costs and we had some very good comments about the quality and flavour of the meat. So we are really looking forward to having pigs again - they don't get names though!

We have been giving our Alpaca breeding program some thought over the past week and I think we have decided on which males are going over which females ... but this may change as we see this years cria on the ground, these will be the first cria from our herd sires - Golden Nugget and Caliban, really looking forward to June when the first girls are due. We are bringing the males down from Lakeham Alpacas where they have been for the winter on Friday to start matings on some of the females which have been empty over the winter, this should give us some early April births next year.