Fingers crossed Nina is looking much better. She has returned to the main herd as she seems quite unhappy without all her friends and relations. Her Mum and her daughter are both still on the farm so they remain attached to each other.
Managed to get the VAT return done today with only a day to spare before the dreaded cut off/fine is incurred.
Even though we have not had many visitors it is surprising how much money the shop has actually taken. The new wool is going very well with about 30 skeins being sold already. Bearing in mind we dont adertise and the gates are only open two half days at the moment that is not bad going. We have some adverts coming out pre Christmas so hope they will produce some good sales.
Mike is off the garage tomorrow to work for the day and collect some roofing that is being stored there as he is going to make some more field shelters before the winter sets in. The kids need a better shelter so they can eat under cover when it rains and some of the home paddocks have no shelter at all.
The Chardstock 6 are grasing the drive for us at the moment. Gives them some more grub and saves the lawnmower petrol. Mike has netted off his precious apple and pear trees.
Wednesday, 29 September 2010
Tuesday, 28 September 2010
Getting fleeced
This morning we got up extra early as we were expecting Nick at 8 a.m. as usual on a Tuesday. I was also expecting Lynsey (alpaca friend) to come and help sort fleece as we are combining our fleece to get a big enough quantity to send to the mill.
Our last faecal worm egg count showed that the alpacas were clear of worms, the adult goats were at an acceptable level but the kids needed a wormer, so I wanted Nick to help me with this and also confirm that the kids are otberwise in good condition. He confirmed that they are still doing well and we gave them each a needle in the bottom much to their bleating indignation. Mike and Nick have made a start on building a permanent shelter for the kids as the converted pig ark is OK this time of year but does not allow them to feed indoors if the weather is very bad.
After sorting fleece I took Lynsey down to look at the herd and have a look at this year's cria. Whilst putting the males back into their paddock I noticed that Nina (a lovely fawn girl who belongs to my friend Pauline) was looking quite unhappy. She was lying down but not in a good way. We had to bring the whole herd up again and Nick and I separated and brought Nina and her cria into the barn for observation over night. We took her temperature which was normal and then gave her some liquid paraffin as she seems to be straining to go to the toilet. Best case scenario she will dung over night and get things moving. Another possibility is that she is aborting her cria. Fingers crossed it is just a bit of constipation and/or colic.
Strange as everyone else in the herd has a tendency to be looser than usual at the moment as the grass has suddenly improved and is very rich.
The weather has changed again and it is drizzling and looks like it is set in for the evening.
Our last faecal worm egg count showed that the alpacas were clear of worms, the adult goats were at an acceptable level but the kids needed a wormer, so I wanted Nick to help me with this and also confirm that the kids are otberwise in good condition. He confirmed that they are still doing well and we gave them each a needle in the bottom much to their bleating indignation. Mike and Nick have made a start on building a permanent shelter for the kids as the converted pig ark is OK this time of year but does not allow them to feed indoors if the weather is very bad.
After sorting fleece I took Lynsey down to look at the herd and have a look at this year's cria. Whilst putting the males back into their paddock I noticed that Nina (a lovely fawn girl who belongs to my friend Pauline) was looking quite unhappy. She was lying down but not in a good way. We had to bring the whole herd up again and Nick and I separated and brought Nina and her cria into the barn for observation over night. We took her temperature which was normal and then gave her some liquid paraffin as she seems to be straining to go to the toilet. Best case scenario she will dung over night and get things moving. Another possibility is that she is aborting her cria. Fingers crossed it is just a bit of constipation and/or colic.
Strange as everyone else in the herd has a tendency to be looser than usual at the moment as the grass has suddenly improved and is very rich.
The weather has changed again and it is drizzling and looks like it is set in for the evening.
Monday, 27 September 2010
Scanning for 2011
We went to Honiton Agility Show yesterday and Charlie our young collie did his first round of jumping. I was really worried as at the last show we went to he ran away whilst we were on a walk and ran through all the rings before being enticed to the Secretary's tent with a ball.
I was Managing a Ring and nearly missed my runs in the Collie Jumping but I managed to squeeze in with Romie - who carried out a demolition job on the jumps on the course and when I got there with Charlie there were only a couple of dogs before us so he did not get too excited. He waited at the start and performed a reasonable imitation of completing the course properly. He missed a couple of jumps and at the end I sent him straight on rather than risk the tricky right and left which might have given him the opportunity to notice the other rings and run off to investigate. I think if I had felt more confident I would have handled him better and we would have had a better result, but I am so pleased that he stayed with me which was my major worry.
Today we scanned all our pregnant females so we can make sure that they are all likely to give birth next year. There were one or two doubtful results which will need revisiting but on the whole we should have a nice crop of cria next year.
At the same time we checked the condition of the females and cria and found that most were coping very well, although a couple with bigger cria were starting to need a boost. All the cria are very fit and porky and their fleece is exceptionally good this year.
I was Managing a Ring and nearly missed my runs in the Collie Jumping but I managed to squeeze in with Romie - who carried out a demolition job on the jumps on the course and when I got there with Charlie there were only a couple of dogs before us so he did not get too excited. He waited at the start and performed a reasonable imitation of completing the course properly. He missed a couple of jumps and at the end I sent him straight on rather than risk the tricky right and left which might have given him the opportunity to notice the other rings and run off to investigate. I think if I had felt more confident I would have handled him better and we would have had a better result, but I am so pleased that he stayed with me which was my major worry.
Today we scanned all our pregnant females so we can make sure that they are all likely to give birth next year. There were one or two doubtful results which will need revisiting but on the whole we should have a nice crop of cria next year.
At the same time we checked the condition of the females and cria and found that most were coping very well, although a couple with bigger cria were starting to need a boost. All the cria are very fit and porky and their fleece is exceptionally good this year.
Saturday, 25 September 2010
SWAG Vet Day
Mike went to a dog show with Jake today and he was very pleased with Jake's work, although he did not achieve a clear round he was much better and we are hoping that tomorrow will be his day.
I went to the South West Alpaca Group Vet day where the speaker was Claire Whitehead a well known Camelid Vet.
I was most interested in the parasitology which was the subject of the afternoon session but also learnt one or two interesting things about Neonatal care of alpaca cria.
Although our farm management is not far off being most effective there are obviously one or two things which we could improve on, especially the method of internal parasite control. We do work on the results of faecal counts but have been using pooled samples which our Vet approves. Today, however, I decided to change to Claire's recommendations which include individual samples of 10% of the herd and rather than relying our local vet to examination the samples they will be sent away to a specialist laboratory.
We have two alpacas with persistent mange/mite problems and we have literally spent hundreds on various treatments. Today it was confirmed that Frontline is the most effective treatment for the type of mite which I think we have. We have used Frontline successfully on new cases of mite but the two in question have toughened skin and so we under the new information gleaned today we are going to soak their skin (somehow) in warm water 3 times a week and gradually remove the hardened skin, then bathe it and apply the Frontline which should then work.
We have not yet worked out the logistics of the treatment but will give it a try.
I went to the South West Alpaca Group Vet day where the speaker was Claire Whitehead a well known Camelid Vet.
I was most interested in the parasitology which was the subject of the afternoon session but also learnt one or two interesting things about Neonatal care of alpaca cria.
Although our farm management is not far off being most effective there are obviously one or two things which we could improve on, especially the method of internal parasite control. We do work on the results of faecal counts but have been using pooled samples which our Vet approves. Today, however, I decided to change to Claire's recommendations which include individual samples of 10% of the herd and rather than relying our local vet to examination the samples they will be sent away to a specialist laboratory.
We have two alpacas with persistent mange/mite problems and we have literally spent hundreds on various treatments. Today it was confirmed that Frontline is the most effective treatment for the type of mite which I think we have. We have used Frontline successfully on new cases of mite but the two in question have toughened skin and so we under the new information gleaned today we are going to soak their skin (somehow) in warm water 3 times a week and gradually remove the hardened skin, then bathe it and apply the Frontline which should then work.
We have not yet worked out the logistics of the treatment but will give it a try.
Friday, 24 September 2010
Latest
This week seems to have flown by but we are not sure where it went.
The usual farm jobs need doing every day.
Cleopatra is a female who was junior brown champion at the Bath & West Show when she was a few months old but we have not managed to breed from her yet - in fact she seems to prefer the ladies. Alario is the male who does not get on with the others, so we thought they probably deserve each other. They are now sharing a love nest in the chicken field. It has taken Cleo away from the rest of the herd where she was a disruptive influence and given Alario some company.
We have moved the herd into the last two really lush paddocks in a last ditch attempt to prepare them for the poorer grass and other challenges of winter.
We had a worm egg count carried out today - that is we take dung samples from each group of animals and they are examined under a microscope at the Vet's. If worm eggs are spotted it is a cue for us to deliver medication to flush the little critters out.
Strangely only the goat kids showed any sign of worm which is even more surprising because they had lice a few weeks ago and the treatment included a wormer. Good news that there are no other problem areas though. Poor kids will have the needle on Monday!!
The usual farm jobs need doing every day.
Cleopatra is a female who was junior brown champion at the Bath & West Show when she was a few months old but we have not managed to breed from her yet - in fact she seems to prefer the ladies. Alario is the male who does not get on with the others, so we thought they probably deserve each other. They are now sharing a love nest in the chicken field. It has taken Cleo away from the rest of the herd where she was a disruptive influence and given Alario some company.
We have moved the herd into the last two really lush paddocks in a last ditch attempt to prepare them for the poorer grass and other challenges of winter.
We had a worm egg count carried out today - that is we take dung samples from each group of animals and they are examined under a microscope at the Vet's. If worm eggs are spotted it is a cue for us to deliver medication to flush the little critters out.
Strangely only the goat kids showed any sign of worm which is even more surprising because they had lice a few weeks ago and the treatment included a wormer. Good news that there are no other problem areas though. Poor kids will have the needle on Monday!!
Tuesday, 21 September 2010
We hate brambles but......
We hate brambles and complain when the alpacas get caught on them but we love blackberries and we have been picking lots. They are very tasty and I have frozen some to go with the apples we have been given so Mike can have his apple and blackberry pie - one day.
Today Nick fenced off an area at the back of the barn and round the trenches which were dug behind the barn earlier in the year and he also put a fence round my vegetable plot, which at the moment consists of two small raised beds with about ten cabbage and curly kale plants the leaves of which the slugs have made into a rather fetching lacy pattern. Nevertheless I am hoeing it and keeping it weed free and have put lots of eggshells round them which are supposed to keep slugs and snails away. Might have to use slug pellets in the end though.
Anyway this gives us a little more grazing.
Mike fetched his new tractor today. He is very please with it and it has lots of original features - if you know what I mean!!
He is returning the trailer to Wilton this evening and delivering a box of wool to our knitters who are based in Trowbridge, so I don't suppose I will see him until late into the evening, but at least it means that tomorrow will be a free day to catch up before the weekend. I am hoping we can scan all the females in the herd so we can make decisions about remating any who have not carried their pregnancy through.
Monday, 20 September 2010
New Website
Our new website for the alpaca wool and clothing is making progress and I have taken some photos of the shop to go on it. If I can get all the details entered it should be up and running quite soon.
It has been a lovely day here today. Mike is owrking at the garage in Wilton today. He usually goes up once a month to keep in touch and does a day's work whilst he is there, which helps our budget too. I set the alarm for 6 o'clock but apparently it should have been 6.30 a.m. so he got away nice and early - although he did not really appreciate being woken half an hour too early.
We had a discussion about the goat kids as they are becoming a nuisance in the barn as we cannot use it to anything else, such as vehicle maintenance, alpaca husbandry etc: so we have decided to put them in the small paddock which is always referred to as the pig pen because it was intended for our kune kune pigs who went to a new home before we came down to Devon in the end. Up to now it has been used for isolating small groups or for Alario our feisty male who fights the other boys.
We have a converted pig ark which can be moved down to the paddock as a shelter and they can get out in the fresh air again and we will have full use of the barn. This is on the menu for tomorrow when Nick comes, weather permitting.
It has been a lovely day here today. Mike is owrking at the garage in Wilton today. He usually goes up once a month to keep in touch and does a day's work whilst he is there, which helps our budget too. I set the alarm for 6 o'clock but apparently it should have been 6.30 a.m. so he got away nice and early - although he did not really appreciate being woken half an hour too early.
We had a discussion about the goat kids as they are becoming a nuisance in the barn as we cannot use it to anything else, such as vehicle maintenance, alpaca husbandry etc: so we have decided to put them in the small paddock which is always referred to as the pig pen because it was intended for our kune kune pigs who went to a new home before we came down to Devon in the end. Up to now it has been used for isolating small groups or for Alario our feisty male who fights the other boys.
We have a converted pig ark which can be moved down to the paddock as a shelter and they can get out in the fresh air again and we will have full use of the barn. This is on the menu for tomorrow when Nick comes, weather permitting.
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