Just another day

Saphire and her new cria, Laurel's Lady Olivia, enjoying some April sunshine. We are still bringing them into the barn at night in case of unexpected harsh weather conditions, but trying to get the little one into the fresh air and sunlight as much as possible.

Today we have been catching up with the shopping and having a good clear up in the yard and barn. The tempation in the winter is to just dump things down and gradually the place gets very untidy and nothing is where it should be.

We are planning a vegetable patch and have ordered 6 chickens to enhance "the good life" at Laurel Farm. To this end we have planted lots of seeds in a rather flimsy frame which is covered in polythene. Unfortunately last night the wind decided to change directions and wrecked our new enterprise completely!! The frame ended up on the ground with all the trays of seedlings mixed up together. We have sorted it out as far as possible and hope that with a little luck, some sunshine and remembering to water them, all with turn out alright in the end. I expect we have mixed up carrots with onions and all sorts of things, but it will make the garden an enjoyable surprise every day!!

The holiday visitors have started to arrive and today I showed two couples round the farm. Did not sell them anything, but both have vowed to return later in the year with their cheque books to buy a jumper or at least a hat!! They loved feeding the alpacas and I swear they (the alpacas) are learning to play to an audience.

We still have 5 girls in the paddock nearest the house and they go into the barn at night or if the weather is bad. They are imminently due to give birth so we rarely leave the farm together and if we do it is for a minimum amount of time.

I am off to Carn Brae in Cornwall tomorrow with my two collies in the hope of winning an agility competition. The weather forecast is not good, so fingers crossed it will be worth while.

I have been charging the batteries on the clippers today and plan to trim top knots (the fleece on top of the alpacas heads) on Monday. If the top knot grows too long they cannot see properly and this is not good for their eye sight and also makes them nervous when being handled as they cannot see what it going on. Mike and I will do this together. One of us holds the animal whilst the other does the trimming. The holding is most important as a buck in mid cut can cause some strange hair cuts.