Getting Ready For the Devon Show

Well I got that wrong!! The weather forecast for this area was for some rain but I was not expecting the torrential rainfall over night. If I had I would have brought the alpacas that we are taking to the show into the barn but it's too late now, they are absolutely soaked.

I left them out until about 4 p.m. this afternoon since they were already wet and the atmosphere was very damp and then got them inside where they instantly lay down in the straw which has stuck to their wet fleece. Pity there is not a novelty class - they could all go as Worzel Gummage look alikes!! Shame I have not got the camera because they look quite funny really.

Still they have got a few hours to dry out so fingers crossed that they will look at least normal again by the morning.

David is coming down this evening and coming to the show with me tomorrow as Mike cannot do it. We still have two girls whose cria are overdue so mother is on alpaca watch with the phone number of a local shepherd who has agreed to come in if needed.

I am not expecting very good results tomorrow because their fleeces have blown i.e grown too long which pulls out some of the crimp and generally does not look so good. Still it is good to have a presence at the shows and it is a good place to meet people and keep up with the latest information. Luckily the Blue Tongue zone has not caught up with us yet so we are still able to travel to shows in this area - some which are in the Blue Tongue Protection Zone are not open to us because we are in the surveillance zone.