Second Kill

The day after the mouse incident the dogs put up a rabbit on our morning walk round the farm and all of them, including the old girls, chased the poor thing around the field. I did not bother to shout as it was obvious that they were acting as a pack and because I was a bit slow in reacting they were already in full pursuit when I realised what was going on.

I had made up my mind that if they did kill it I would take it back to the house and it would either be the dogs' dinner or ours, but at the last moment it found a way through the fence and disappeared. I hope it recovered but I have a feeling that it might have been too traumatised to survive. Still no major incidents since then.

We have four females who are either about to give birth or should already have done so but although one of them looks fit to bust there is no sign of any action.

When I was at the SWAG Alpaca Show in Bristol I bought an alpaca Easy Pen which is a very simple but effective crush for alpacas. It works with a gate and makes it really easy to deal with an alpaca without it being a two handed job. I did not have room to bring it home and so collected it from the nearby alpaca farm where they are made last week. Mike put it up in the barn and we immediately used it to condition check the whole herd. It was a very quick and easy way to operate.

We have brought the whole herd up into the top paddocks now and so we are surrounded by alpacas which looks lovely against the background of the beautiful hills and Devon countryside.