That sinking feeling

http://www.alpacas-for-sale.co.uk/

Mike has just gone down to the winter paddocks so I am not sure when I will see him again.   Yesterday he went down there to do some topping (mowing) and I was surprised when after an hour or so I saw him tramping up towards the house.   He suggested we had an early lunch so that I could go back down with him in the landrover afterwards and operate the winch to pull him out of the mud in which he was stuck.

He had tested the ground and thought it would be Ok but unfortunately the tractor had sunk down quite deep on the offside rear and he could not move.    The old landrover is in a terrible state really but it is one of the most useful vehicles you could have on the farm.   It is virutally an all terraine vehicle and because it is not licenced to go on the road only requires the most basic of maintenance.    The seats inside are torn and covered in mud as all the dogs love a trip in it if only a few yards.   I have been known to have four dogs on the front seat and Jake is always ready to jump in beside Mike.

Anyway there is a very meaty winch on the front of the landrover and my job was to sit in and operated the winch whilst Mike started up the tractor  ready to move as soon as he had traction.   I had to put my foot hard on the foot brake to prevent the landrover being dragged forward.  If it was a film we would have been flipped up in the air and over the tractor, but in real life it worked well with only a little movement.

No more births to report but so far all the cria are looking good.

Nick is not coming in today because he has a migraine.   I know how awful he feels as I used to get them.  Luckily I seem to have aged out of them.  Maybe because I don't do so much socialising as I used to.  Oh no that's a hangover isn't it?

The weather at last has improved and we can catch up with all the jobs that have to be left because of the rain.  The pregnant females no longer need to go into the barn overnight although we are leaving them access in case they want to go in.  

We are only going to mate the females who have recently given birth this year as we want to reduce the birthing season so they all give birth in the same month, like goats and sheep do.   This means that we will not have many cria next year, but it is probably not a bad thing for the girls to rest anyway.

Not much progess on the building front but we are hoping to get everything underway again shortly.