Really fed up now!

I have been meaning to update for a few days but have been so busy and this wet weather is really beginning to get on my nerves now.
We have had a busy March with the Llama walks, the Futurity as well as everyday stuff.  April has been such a wet month but we have managed to harrow and roll the fields, move the Alpacas onto fresh Grass after they had been wormed and fluked,  so it is not that bad.

We had a couple of days at Alpaca 2012 AKA Swag Show and very enjoyable it was too, having the Alpacas in the main building was much better then last year.  We spent more time watching the judging then we did at the Futurity.  We had five animals in our Show team, mainly because we couldn't leave a single animal in the paddock at home.  Any way the competition was tough with some very big breeders from the other side of the country entering.  First up was Caramel she was in a very tough class of 12 with 3 entries from one very big breeder, we were the only small breeder in that class so I was absolutely amazed to get a 5th place ribbon, now usually I would have been very disappointed with this but it was pointed out that I needed to look at who we had beaten to realise that we had done very well.  Caramel is out of our oldest Female, a 96 import and her sire is Catons Golden Nugget, she is the image of her dad.

I am afraid that the rest crashed and burned but I did come away laughing at the judges comment when he judge Ivory who is just 12months old and huge, we were 4th in the line up of four when the Judge came to summing up he said that "This Alpaca has never missed a meal" it made me and everyone else laugh, ironic really as Ivory very rarely eats concentrate and was over 50 kgs when she was weaned ! he also commended her for the amount of fleece she had and the length of the staple.  so not all bad.
To sum it up we had a great weekend, we had one result and we had a laugh, I would much sooner come 5th in a class of 12 then 4th out of 4th.


On a sadder note, we went to feed up this morning and found a cria dead in the field,  we are not sure who's it is year as we have nothing due for another month and those three suspects still look OK, we brought a couple of females last year which due dates later this summer but we can't be sure it wasn't one of them as when I looked at one she looks like she has a udder.  We will get them in tonight and check them all over, none of them seemed distressed and the cria looks full term, it was a huge black girl, such a shame and we would have been moving the females back to the birthing paddocks this weekend and we would have had the camera on them there.  So disappointing but there is nothing we can do about it now.

I am determined to finish on a happier note Congratulations to Andy and Sue at Pippin Alpacas on their first cria, so glad everything went well, good to talk to you this morning.

Plan B or C now

We'll the weather forecast is still saying it is going to be wet on Monday but now they have added a gale just to make things even more difficult for the Open Day.  So now we are on plan B or maybe C I can't remember.

I think we can get most it under cover, luckily both of our Holiday Cottages will be empty on Monday, both sets of guests will have left by then.  So with a bit of furniture re arranging we can use one for refreshments and one for our Alpaca knitwear, yarns etc.  The llamas can go in the Big Barn which we rent from next door and the Alpacas can be in the field shelter and yard which means they will all be in the yard and getting soggy.  I don't expect many people will venture out but we will be prepared for the ones that do.  Any way there will be plenty of tea and cake.

So today Steve has tidied all his stuff away and we have made a big pen in the Barn.  We had a bonfire to get rid of lots of hedge trimmings which were sat on the Veg garden, I can't see anyone venturing up there but at least it is done.  I have spent most of the evening printing out signs and laminating them ready to put up tomorrow.

So we are as organised as we are going to be so far.

Open day plans

The planning stages for our open day now seem to be agreed, helpers briefed, car parking sorted, tables , cups & saucers and gazebos borrowed.  Everything was looking good then we heard the Weather Forecast.............. Sunday drizzle, turning into heavy rain, Monday, torrential rain, we can only hope they are wrong............to late to cancel and anyway if we did you can guarantee it would be bright and sunny.
Anyway a fews days to go before the day, things could change.

We had a llama walk today, we loaded up got onto the moor, it was freezing, blowing a gale and then it rained.  We agreed to postpone until tomorrow. So hopefully it will be better, can't believe it was warm and sunny last weekend, sat on the moors in a tee shirt.

I have finally sorted animal cover for the following weekend when we are going to the Spring show at Bristol, I had postponed booking the hotel until everything was sorted, tied to book it today and they are fully booked so back to the holiday village again, very comfortable but I was looking forward to a bit of luxury.  We have just collected the new sign for the back of the trailer, hopefully it will be fixed before we leave.
The show team are already to go, actually look fairly clean.  Training has gone well, they all walk nicely, standing still is still a little bit of a mystery to them so we will see how they behave on the day.

Planning something

Right better go and make a batch of scones.

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)