Ahhh!

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I was intending to go to the Severnside Dog Agility Competition with Dolly and Charlie on Bank Holiday Monday.  Everything was going to plan.  I was ready to leave on time.  I drove up to the gate and was about to leave when I had a pang on concience and decided to have a last minute check on the ewes and lambs.

A fatal mistake - I found the last ewe to lamb had produced triplets.  If it had been twins I would probably have gone ahead but in all fairness I could not go and leave Mike with three to look after.  Having dealt with alpacas for so many years we are only used to singletons and it is a bit of a culture shock having twins and triplets.

They are all doing well now and are out all day playing and giving their mother a hard time.   We are keeping the triplets inside for another day or so as they are a little small.  All three are ram lambs so we have four of each sex.  

Bad Day

Sadly I had to deliver a still born cria this morning.   The dam was Nina, who belongs to my friend, Pauline.  She has been at livery with us for many years.  We had noticed that she was not herself a few days ago and I was concerned that with only a month to go in her pregnancy there was no sign of movement.  I gave her some antibiotic and kept her in the barn overnight with her yearling cria for company but last night we left her out because she seemed a little better and she had been  quite stressed being shut in when the rest of the herd went outside.

When I looked out of our bedroom window this morning I realised that she was giving birth and threw on some clothes quickly so that I could get out and attend to her.   I soon realised that she had stopped her contractions and that the cria was dead.  I won't go into any more detail.

She is still looking lost and trying to find her little cria, but she has steadily returned to normal as the day goes by.  Obviously we will be keeping a close eye on her for the next few days.

Nicko, the only male cria from last year is starting to take an interest in the ladies he lives with so this afternoon Nick and I took him down to join the rest of the males in the "Winter"paddocks. We sprayed him with vinegar which helps to cover his natural scent and make him more acceptable to the other males.  As we have a much smaller herd, he was the only male to join the batchelor herd.   In past years there have always been several so they were able to start off in their own mini herd before joining the big boys.

On a happier note, the four lambs are doing well and getting into lots of mischief.   Still waiting for the other two ewes to give birth.

New Arrivals at Laurel Farm

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Our first Gotland lambs have arrived.   On Monday we had twin boy and girl and this morning when I went to check on the ewes at about 5.30 a.m. I was just in time to catch the birth of the second girl of twins.   Two more ewes go go!!

Ladies in Waiting

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The ewes are nearly ready to pop!!  It is exciting and worrying.   We have birthed alpacas for years, but we have had no experience with sheep,so fingers crossed all will go well.

This is my first attempt at the blog since buying a new PC.  This one does not take half an hour to boot up and is really wizzy, although some things seem a little strange and I keep losing files which pop up later in unexpected places.   On the whole, though I like it.  Windows 8 is a very big upgrade for me - I think I missed quite a few rungs on the ladder!

Sadly the sick hen had to be despatched as she seemed to be in pain and we had tried everything we could think to try and help her.  Nick thinks something fell on her and injured her neck, although I cannot think what it could have been.

Poorly Hen

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One morning recently I found one of our hens lying on her side and apparently unable to rise.   On examination she appeared to be injured but it was hard to tell where or by what as she had been in the clay mud that prevails here and her feathers were very matted.

Eventually Mike held her flat on our picnic table to enable me to examine her properly.  She had a strange congealed wound, a swelling and her wing feathers on one side were broken (possibly by attacks from other chickens.  They are not kind to the sick or dying.)  I cleaned her up, removed what I could and treated the wound area with anti-biotic spray.  She is now recuperating in the farm office and I give her physio during the day which means that I hold her up whilst she walks around the grass outside the back door.    She falls over if I let go.

I am hoping that it is just a matter of balance and that if and when her wing feathers grow back properly she will return to normal

Every morning when I come downstairs I am expecting to find that she has gone to the great hen coup in the sky, but she seems more lively and chortles when she hears me come in, which is sweet.

Obviously if I was a serious chicken farmer it would have been curtains for her straight away as it is not cost effective to treat a hen in this way, but hay ho - they are pets to us and they pay for themselves and provide us with lovely eggs so it does not hurt to give a little extra time occasionally.

The shop is still going well and our lovely colourful alpaca socks are still really popular.   We also sell them online, so it is worth a look, even if you cannot make it to the shop.

Hedgerow Deadline

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Nick and Mike have been busy tidying up hedges.  Nick is a traditional hedge layer and is making a beautiful job.  All work has to stop at the end of March to allow all the birds and small animals to nest, and reproduce.

We have also started on another leg of building works.   We now have a patio and at last the water feature which my friend, Pauline, gave us as a house warming present about 18 months ago, has been installed.  Unfortunately there is no electricity yet so the water pump does not work!!!

We are now trying to work out a way to keep the alpacas off it whilst still allowing them to free range - which we love to see.   In the past they have chosen to spend the night in front of our french windows.

The website revamp is now complete and apart from adding a few more products, is looking good.   Our excellent Alpaca Walking socks have been reduced to £12 per pair.   They are ideal for walking and hiking at all times of the year.   They have cushion soles which help to preven blisters and sore, tired feet.

Back to Normal

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I have been involved in having the websites revamped.   Take a look at our our new image websites!

Mike and Nick have nearly finished removing the rotten fencing and the farm looks much more open now. We have a much reduced herd and so do not need the smaller paddocks any more.

The Christmas period was very busy in the shop so we are busy getting stocks up to normal levels again.  Socks are still selling well.