The boys haven't had a good day

Well today was Castration day for our two young Llamas and an Alpaca.  The Vet arrived early this morning and gave all three their sedative.

Leo first who soon dropped to the ground and was sound asleep.  The vets both young girls did an excellent job and leo was totally unaware of what happened.

The next in line was Teddy a four year old Alpaca who is going to join the llamas in the trekking team, his sedation wasn't quite as effective but we put him down on the floor and he was restrained whilst the Vets did there stuff.

Then it was Mr McGee's turn, well he had sedation but he was doing his upmost to fight it, even propping himself up on the gate whilst his back end wobbled around, but there was no way he was going down and he was still too lively to operate standing up.  So it was decided to give him some more sedative, after a few minutes he was on the floor, sound asleep.  The operation went well and we waited for him to come round, and we waited and waited.  His breathing was deep and regular but then he started to groan and his breathing was becoming shallower,  I was thinking should I be worried at this point, the vet didn't look worried.  After a few minutes the vet decided to give him the antidote for the sedative, much to my relief. After a few minutes Mr McGee was more alert and we helped him back into a cush position and then he finally got up although he was very wobbly for a while afterwards.

When we were happy that all three were OK we left them with a bale of hay, some ReadyGrass and some water in the barn until this evening when we walked them back up to their paddock.  They see none the worst for their traumatic day and we can now look forward to them joining the rest of the Trekking team.

These two Llamas are really gentle, easy to handle and I think they will be a great asset to the team.

Not much going on here

Really not much to report!

Still running around like headless chickens, still trying to find time to finish the Shepherds Hut.

We have been very busy with our Llama Walks so I though a few pictures would be good.

 These two are nearly ready to join the trekking team, they just have a visit from the Vet tomorrow before they can join there new mates

Everyone needs a hug with a Llama, this is my Grandson Josh on his first proper walk last week.

Polo can't resist gorse flowers.

 Steve has a little rest to admire the view on a walk last weekend, beautiful day but very cold.

 Halter training two weanlings ready for a show next week, they are not very good at the moment.

but they follow Zanti very well, not sure I can walk her into the ring if front of the little ones

Josh find with training easier with the help of ice-cream !

It is in place

After two weeks of solid work on the Shepherds hut it was finally time to move it into position.  It isn't finished but is water proof.  We still need to finish the painting on the outside wood and then the inside has to be fitted out.  Unfortunately Steve has to return to the day job for a couple of weeks.

The young Llamas are nearly at the end of their training.  Just a visit from the Vet at the end of this mouth and then they can join the rest of the trekking team


It has been a very busy time with the llamas as well, the Enjoy Dartmoor magazine has just been published and there is a double page spread about our Llama walks in it.  Hence we are very busy with our walks.  Today we have had a Cream Tea Walk with a very international feel, some of our customers were on holiday from Germany, the rest were of Chinese origin so there was a great mix of languages going on.

Zanti

Zahara

To continue the international feel to our week we have Italians although they live in London in one of the cottages.  The two little girls love helping with the Alpacas so this week we are going to halter train the Cria as I have willing helpers.

Bank holidays don't really feature in our lives here on the Moor, firstly we are usually working either a Llama Walk or changing over a Holiday Cottage. Secondly if we had a day off there is so much traffic around it is easier to stay home and have a day off when it is less busy.  This Easter has been a normal busy round of Llama Training, Alpaca husbandry, Llama Walk today, Cottage change over tomorrow and Steve is working with the Mini Digger for a customer. So as the weather seems to be dry and warm tomorrow I am going to finish painting the Hut, I really should be doing some Office work but I think that can wait for a wet day!

Its coming along

We have been working flat out for the last fortnight on the Shepherds hut, it has been slow at times and there is a lot of work which isn't seen.  It is now looking good and if the weather is ok tomorrow we are going to move in onto its site.


Steve spent the last few days putting the windows and door frame in then fitting the cladding on the outside of the hut.

I have been painting all the wooden bits to finish the roof and the back and front panels. All was going smoothly until I realised I had painted it all with the wrong paint.  So a quick visit to the DIY store and I managed to get the right paint in the right colour, so everything has had an extra coat.

The weather today has been foul, we had a Llama walk planned for this afternoon but the wind was terrible and the rain horizontal so we had to cancel.  As it was for a surprise birthday present and I knew it would be too late to organise anything to replace the walk, we invited the couple to come and visit the llamas and Alpacas for a short while and they are going to do their walk in a couple of weeks.  The Alpacas as usual behaved impeccably, they cam over had a look at the visitors, had a couple of handfuls of food and left when it had all gone.  We went up to visit our two young llamas who are currently being trained to join the trekking team.  Visitors are away welcome as it gives them a chance to experience different people touching them.  they get very used to us handling them but when they go into the team and go out on walks they will be handed over to total strangers so they need to have these experiences.  These two young llamas came from the Watertown herd in North Devon and are absolute stars, they are so calm and easy to handle.  We have now got them take a pack system and walk with it.  Mr McGee (brown & white) is much more confidant Leo (Fawn) takes a little longer, I think he has to watch Mr McGee first then as he hasn't been hurt or scared it is OK for him to have a go.

The two young llamas have to be castrated before they can join the trekking team for two reasons, firstly we have a couple of females in the team and don't need the aggravation that would ensue if we introduced three entire males.  Secondly young llamas like to see who is top dog, not helpful if we are stood on top of a Tor on Dartmoor and one of them decides this is the time to push one of the other off, not good for business.

Once our guests had left, Steve managed to complete the outside cladding with the hut still in a very narrow bay in the barn, it was a bit dingy and dark but as usual he managed.  He's a star really.

Lets hope that the weather isn't two bad tomorrow and we can get the hut on site, then the work on the inside can begin, except Steve has to go back to work next week! but then the clocks go forward tonight, extra hour of daylight!

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.

Today didn't start well either

Today was supposed to be the day when we cracked on with putting the frame together for the hut.  Well I woke up  feeling like s--t with a migraine which when I get a bad one usually means I am sick and can even get out of bed.  So I took one of my migraine tablets and went back to bed whilst Steve did all the feeding up.

By lunch time I felt well enough to get up and at least look willing, even managed a piece of toast. I ventured up to the barn and between us we managed to get the floor onto the chassis.  Steve bolted this down and then we were onto the frame, these were much lighter so Steve could lift them up whilst I steadied them until they were clamped together ready for the fixings.
It all looks different now, actually can see what it is supposed to be.

Tomorrow it is the roof, this is in two sections so shouldn't be too heavy, problem is I am only 5'2" and can not reach the top of the walls never mind lift the roof on.  So I now I have some steps! so I can stand on them inside the frame while Steve lifts the roof sections on, I am hoping we get some volunteers to help tomorrow.

Steve decided he may need some new tools to help with the build so I now have this in the lounge.  It hasn't done any work as yet and I do hope it isn't going to stay here to long.  apparently there is more arriving!  I need to check he isn't including them in the cost of the build as I do have a budget and if so he has just blown it.

The Day Job

Yesterday we spent the day at Widecombe fair,  the day started very early in typical Widecombe fair Dartmoor drizzle.  We loaded Lenny, Murphy, Merlin and Logan into the trailer and set off for the fair ground.  There is a one way system around the lanes on fair day so we need to get to Widecombe before this came into play.  Once set up we were surrounded by crowds for most of the day, lots of questions and the usual "they spit  don't they" comments.  Our knitwear, yarns and socks proved very popular and we had the most successful day to so far.  We didn't have time to leave the stand apart form quick dashes to the refreshment tent for supplies.  So we missed the Pantomime horse derby, Bale tossing and large straw bale rolling competitions.  I did manage to catch a glimpse of the Grandsons in the Hill Pony Display though, Josh had a hugh grin on his face all through it and Charlie fell of twice but got back on his pony to a round of applause from the crowd.  

As usual I forgot to take the camera, so no pictures again!

Today it was back to the day job

Thought I would share a few pictures of what we call work.

Steve and Merlin

Murphy and friend on Corndon tor

Break time

Don't look now but someone is creeping up on us!

Meet the locals

Amazing Views

Homeward Bound


Sometimes we have to remind ourselves we are at work!

Why have I never got a camera!

Yesterday we finally got around to doing our spit offs, we should have done them on Friday but it had been so busy over the weekend and next door had a wedding with lots of guests around so orgling Stud Males may not have been appropriate.  We had seven females to test and at the moment 6 out of the 7 spat off just leaving Midnight again not pregnant.  Not sure what to do with her now we tried mating her at the end of last year, she spat off one week then sat so mated again, same thing happened.  so left her to this spring and she is still sitting one week, spitting off for one or two weeks then sitting again.  Her grandmother was much the same but once she actually got pregnant she has been very reliable since.

We had a llama walk today which should have been yesterday but the weather was so bad we postponed it,  the rain stayed away for most of the time.  We had a lovely walk, took Polo, Blackjack, Logan, Merlin and Murphy, four customers, Steve and myself, lunch was served sitting on top of Yar tor, stunning view and the sun was shining.  Not a bad days work!
Anyway when we got back to the Alpaca field we check on the girls and cria, little Lalique was sat down next to her mum and next to her was her half brother Salvador who is huge at only just over two months. He was nuzzling her and licking her face, something I have never seen before, they sat there for quite awhile before Salvador decided it was time to continue to terrorise the rest of the herd closely followed by Carmel who has now taken on the role as his wing man.
We had a quick look at Lalique's fleece because when she was born her fleece was so shiny but seemed to be very straight and not a lot of it which is very unusual for Marietta's cria and we were wondering if this had something to do with her illness but today on further examination it is much better.  Not that you can tell to much at this age. This is the first female from Marietta her previous three boys have all won prizes when we have shown them, so we have high hopes for Lalique.

Still waiting

We are still waiting for Phoebe (252 days) to have her cria, we seem to have been watching her for weeks now, at least since we were in Stoneleigh for the Futurity, thank goodness for Alpaca cam.
The camera in the birthing field really enables us to get on with work and other things and when we can't be sure that we can log on to it we can get someone else to keep watch and ring us if there is something happening.
With this in place we went to the spring Show last weekend, really enjoyed meeting up with everyone and the weather was really good, breakfast on the decking at the Hand centre on Saturday morning, great facility.
No rosettes for us this time, but with our show team of two fawn males up against such fantastic quality animals in very large classes, we were not surprised. It was good to see some other smaller breeders doing so well though.
Well it was back to work this week, very busy with our gardening work, holiday cottages are starting to get busy as well now so I have to get back into the swing of change overs etc and at this time of the year it is short breaks, so more change overs than usual.  The holiday bookings are definitely different this year, starting much earlier than last year and more last minute, which means we still have a few weeks left in the summer season which was full by this time last year, so who knows, very difficult to predict what is happening!
We went on a lovely Cream Tea walk this afternoon, we weren't sure if it was going ahead when we got up this morning it was thick mist and drizzle but it turned out fine in the end and it was great to get out on the moor again.

Llama walking

We went out on the moor with the llamas for our first walk of the year, it was cold, windy and occasionally wet but the customers enjoyed it and we managed to find a sheltered spot on Yar tor to stop for our cream tea.
Murphy and Merlin came along for the walk whilst Polo carried the tea.  It was Murphy's first time out on the moor and as usual he took it all in his stride, he really is a very laid back llama!
I really hope we don't have too much more of this wet weather as we have several walks booked over the next few weeks and it is much more fun when the sun shines!

We have had the confirmation that we have got the new land we were after for the next two years at least, we can now make plans for the fencing we will need to divide it up.  The field is seven acres and is a very strange shape, wide at both ends narrowing in the middle which lends itself to being split into three paddocks.  With bio security in mind we will also put a catch pen at the gate end to not only give us an area to use for husbandry but giving us a good barrier between our animals and the livestock on the common land as this gate gives direct access to open moorland. Luckily all the fences have a good thick hedge so there can be no contact with any other stock.

Long time no Blog

It's been a long time since I have written anything on the blog, mainly due to having a bit of a rough time of it lately.

Steve's Dad had been ill for some time and had been in a care home for a while, he was taken ill a couple of weeks ago and past away very shortly after.  The funeral was on Tuesday and everything went well despite it being very cold at least it wasn't snowing.

Obviously we haven't done much work over the past few weeks just the essentials, feeding, poo picking, general husbandry, we are nearly up to date with the ADE and Fasinex treatment just the Llama team to go, hopefully tomorrow.

We had a little bit of snow yesterday and as our roads don't get treated we have a treacherous journey to our fields each morning, nothing like you guys up north though.  We live on a hill and have to go both directions, the decision each morning is either up hill or down either way it is icy.

The Alpacas and llamas are all looking good they don't seem to mind this cold dry weather, they are eating a good deal of hay and what with their mix of concentrate and Alfalfa which is very dry they are drinking a good deal of water, which seems to be freezing up as soon as it is in the bucket.

Murphy and his Mum Jazz

A couple of weeks ago I was driving up to the fields to put the chickens away just as the sun was setting, I drove up onto the moor and got a couple of pictures.  I also managed to get some of our Llama cria Murphy who is growing into a fine you llama, he has such a lovely nature and I am sure he is going to be easy to train
.


Merlin has also been on a few walks and is doing very well, he has had a break from training over the past few weeks so this afternoon we put him into a catch pen, haltered him, he now tries to put his nose into the halter (his aim is a bit hit and miss) he had a small blanket on his back and we put a strap under his belly..... he wasn't to sure about that bit.

Merlin and Steve

The weather is causing chaos with our Christmas sales, Village Market in Widecombe last Saturday it was so cold and dull nobody much about, Leusdon Coffee morning on Wednesday was much better almost three times as much sold and tomorrows Christmas fair at Buckland has been canceled.  so thats all of our sales opportunities gone for this year.  No doubt we will have several phone calls asking for socks and yarn for pressies before Christmas but we won't sell the normal volume of stock.

Steve and I have something special coming up next week which I may tell you about later, so I am desperately trying to get ready for Christmas before that.  I have written and posted all the business Christmas cards, written most of the personal cards, some of the presents have been bought but not wrapped yet, food shopping list is started..... not sure when the actual shopping is going to be scheduled in! Menu's are in the planning stage, we have a big family gathering on the 27th so that needs to be catered for as well and just to keep us busy we took all the tiles of the wall in one of the cottages today so that needs to be retiled next week......... can't think why we did that!.  

A bit of a odd week.

It has been a bit of an odd week really, not much to report on the Alpaca/Llama front really.

Monday weather forecast was terrible but it turned out not too bad, but as we had listen to the forecast, put off any work we had planned, Merlin and Blackjack got a bit of training, we went to town and caught up with lots of banking stuff.  We took the opportunity to have lunch out, visit friends and pick up animal feeds, visit more friends and had dinner out!.
Tuesday Steve had a recall appointment about his hip resurfacing operation, they wanted to discuss blood results from some tests that they hadn't actually done yet !  good old NHS we went all the way to Plymouth for a blood test that could have been done in our local surgery. As we were in Plymouth we had time to visit an old friend which meant we had lunch out............. think there is some sort of pattern here.
Wednesday actually a very nice day here on Dartmoor, Steve had work all day (good job one of had) and helping administer some wormer and ADE to his customers Alpacas,  they were animals we sold earlier this year and we offer help with husbandry as part of our ongoing support.  I managed a couple of hours of work in the morning then went to a spinning workshop ........ needed to start using some of the fleeces I have left.
Today again the weather forecast was bad, but they were right this time, wind has been terrible, wet first thing but better later, Steve has been replacing the heated towel rail in one of the cottages and tried to organise the materials ready for putting in the services for our new camera system in the birthing paddock and shelter.
I have spent the day attending a meeting of Devon farms,  who we advertise our holiday cottages with, they hare launching an online booking system and I was involved with training some of the members to use the new system............. now my brain hurts, it is not used to so much work!
We have Llama walks booked in over the weekend and the forecast does not look too could so fingers crossed they are wrong!!

Over for another year

Well that's Widecombe fair over for another year.  It was a pretty miserable day, typical Dartmoor weather, mist and drizzle.  We had set up the stall on Monday evening so it was just a matter of installing the animals in their pen and putting out the knitwear, yarns and socks.  The crowds were well down on last year and we can put that down to the weather.

Once set up there was time for a spot of breakfast.

The boys settled down very nicely, only Lenny the Llama had been to the show before, the Alpacas are all last years crop of boys.  They drew a good crowd during the day prompting all the usual questions, we are lucky in the fact that we are the only Alpacas/Llamas at the show.

My daughter and grandchildren came along for the day and Josh is pictured below taking part in the Dartmoor Hill Pony display, I think he is supposed to be a miner showing that the Dartmoor pony was once use down the mines.

As you can see he is thoroughly enjoying himself and he has only been on a pony once before!

The worst part of going to shows where the weather is wet is the packing up and getting everything dry, as you can imagine I now have all the stock off the stand spread all over the spare room.

While I had the camera handy, something I don't do often enough, I took some pictures of Steve's latest work project. Since giving up being employed Steve has returned to Landscaping all be it part time.
He gets to do a large range of jobs but I think some of his walling is the best.

Today I moved the pregnant females to a clean paddock they had been getting a little short of grass as we were waiting for a late crop of hay to be pick up.  They are so easy to move as there is a drift between the two paddocks so I could just open up all the gates and just let them run from one, down the drift and into the next.  As the hay had only just been picked up they have plenty of long grass around the edges of the fields and in some of the less accessible corners.  They clearly were impressed by having something decent to eat that they didn't bother with the concentrate I offered them or rather bribed them with.

This afternoon we had a Llama walk with a cream tea, it was only two people so we took the opportunity to take one of the younger Alpacas with us.  We are always amazed when we take the out for the first time, it doesn't seem to faze them.  Today it was the turn of Quartz or it could have been Felspar as we still can't tell them a part, he walked really well didn't jump about and even allowed cuddles during the walk.  A great trekking Alpaca in the making!

A face full of spit!

As usual it has been a bit hectic what with holiday makers , work and the animals.  Last Sunday we got all the female alpacas in weighed them and checked for any mite, trimmed any toe nails which needed to be done before putting them all past the males for a final spit off  before taking them over to Widecombe for some fresh grass.  Thankfully everyone we expected to spit off did, which is great as they are well and truly pregnant now, the first one due at the end of March next year.  Demeter (96 import with attitude) jumped the hurdles last time we put her in with the male, this time she looked at him------- he stood in the corner looking the other way, she looked at me as I was guarding one side of the pen in anticipation of her jumping out again and gave me a full blown mouth full of the smelliest, greenest spit ever seen------------I think she may be pregnant!
We then loaded most of them into the trailer for the short journey to Widecombe where they will stay until spring.  They are in a field which has been cut for hay several weeks ago and it now has a lovely lot of fresh grass.  We held back a couple of Alpacas as they needed one more spit off,  the two female llamas and of course Murphy, just because I don't want him to go just yet as he is growing so fast and is such a character.
In the afternoon we had a visit from my Mum & Dad, Sister and family, daughter and family and younger daughter, funny you don't see anyone for weeks and then they all turn up.  It was a lovely afternoon and we went and introduce them to the llamas, alpacas, pigs and chickens before having a picnic in the field.  Just what Sundays should be like.
We had to cancel a llama walk this morning as the weather was so foul, thick mist, rain and a howling gale not what you need for an enjoyable walk on Dartmoor.  hopefully it will be better by Monday as we have a half day walk booked.
Merlin our young llama in training is coming along nicely, he is very calm and walks around the field very well now.  It won't be long before he can be introduced to the trekking team and will start to come on short walks with us.  Over the winter he will get lots of training on the moor where he will meet all sorts of new things and by next spring hopefully he will able to be part of the team, but not carry a pack until he is at least two years old.

We've had a great weekend as well!

We have had a great weekend here in sunny Devon, starting with a lovely walk on Friday with the llamas. We had a friend come to see us on Friday to go out for a llama walk so we decided to go to Hammeldown which is just above Widecombe in the moor and the views from there are spectacular, it is a great walk as it is mostly flat or gentle slopes, easy walking with views to either side of the ridge. We packed up a ploughmans lunch, some tea or coffee and homemade cake and off we went, lovely sunny day, bit of a breeze .....what could be better! It was so good we were over an hour late getting back and we had arranged to go up to Dorset for a charity event as it was we arrived just to hear the last five minutes of the talk which was followed by a "ploughmans" supper and some very nice Dorset Apple cake.

Saturday was another lovely day, quite hot in the afternoon so after turning one of the holiday cottages around ready for the next guests I went to see Tania at Caton Alpacas to do a bit of fleece skirting. I am going to enter some of our fleeces into the North Devon show, this will be the first time and although I have do some fleece judging and scoring on Alpaca assessment courses, I had never prepared a fleece for a show. We did two of my fleeces and two of Tania's and I think we may do a few more next week. All I need to do now is actually remember to send the entry form off !

Last night I had a very strange experience, I went to a school reunion, it was for my year at secondary school who have or will be having a rather large birthday in this school year. Well I hardly recognized anyone but by the end of the evening I had managed to work out who most of them were or at least recognized their names.

Today, yet another warm and sunny day we had the grandsons helping with the morning feeding, so that took twice as long as usual. Charlie wants to help with everything and Josh wants to sleep with the pigs! not sure why.

This afternoon we had a booking for a cream tea walk, so we took Lenny, Polo and Logan out and we had a great walk, lovely people, good conversation. We went to our favorite place for a cream tea on Yar Tor which sits above Dartmeet, it is so quiet up there, the view is great and the skylarks were singing away, what could be better, I really must remember to take the camera with me next time. After the walk we all went back to the Alpaca field to see the little cria born last week which has now been named Stephano, his sire is Langaton Caliban so we have followed on the 'The Tempest' theme! , we are still waiting for Marietta to give birth she is now 333 days and is looking very heavy, spending a lot of time sitting down.