Progress

Although I have not lived up to my own high hopes of getting well ahead with the halter training so that the alpacas we show this year show themselves off to their best advantage and don't get criticised by the judge for bad behaviour (not that this has happened to us yet) I was pleased today that they each walked up the drive to the farm gates and the older ones even walked along the verge next to the road, causing much rubber necking from passing cars. They then had to walk back down the drive, which they did with much more enthusiasm, and into a fresh paddock.

Typically as soon as they were released they got their heads down and start eating again. Not too stressed out then!!

Tomorrow we are at a dog agility show all day so not much will get done on the farm but the rest of the week is fairly free so we will be able to concentrate more. Mike is going to modify our horse box to make it more alpaca friendly. At the moment there is a divider in the middle which often means that when segregating sexes there might be one or two animals with half the room and six sharing the rest. We aim to bring equality into alpaca transport at Laurel Farm.

All is well in the chicken department and we now have quite a regular demand for the eggs. Demand often exceeds supply since we only have 8 hens. We are selling eggs for £2 per dozen and whilst we will not make our fortune they are definitely covering their cost including some of the original capital outlay. They could charge an entertainment fee as well as they are very amusing.

Jake, Mike's collie, split his toe nail at training on Wednesday and on Thursday we decided to take him to the Vet. He cut it right back and sealed it. I was going to compete with him tomorrow but he will now only be able to do the jumping rounds as the agility rounds which include the contact equipment will be too much for his poorly toe.

I trim our dogs' nails regularly but these days they only run on grass and so do not get worn down and I was quite surprised at how quickly they had grown - or maybe it is just that the time since I cut them has flown by.

We have finally finished sorting out my Mother's belongings and took the last fifteen bags to a charity shop today. I took the opportunity to sort out our book case as well as hers and so we still have a few piles of books to dispose of. They will be on the next load.