We're off!!

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 After quite a few hold ups directly and indirectly caused by the weather mainly, the barn conversion is now making some rapid progress.  The SIPS (structural insulated panel system) and steel joists arrived this morning and tomorrow work will commence.  When they have finished in just a few days the entire interior of the building will be completed to first fix readiness - i.e. plumbing and electrics can go in.   Our builder, Jon, will be adding the wooden cladding as soon as possible and the windows will go in.   The outside will be complete.  Not sure how long it will take to get the inside done, but at least it will look like a proper home from the outside!

We brought the female alpacas and babies up to the home paddocks so that I could take photographs for the sale page on our website.  I had gaily been removing from sale the  Mums who had female cria and had not realised that it left hardly any stock for sale.  We are going to keep them up here for a few more days in the hope that Jessica (the last pregnant female ) will give birth and then they can go back to the winter paddocks for the rest of the year.

Sadly on Monday morning when I checked the stock I found the little body of number 9 a young male goat  who had been having problems.  We had given him anti-biotics, wormed him, and treated him for cocci and  also some glucose and pro-rumen to try and stimulate his digestive processes.  We thought he was improving but unfortunately he did not make it.

We were supposed to be taking some alpacas and of course our alpaca wool and garments to a local village fete on Monday but due to the weather they cancelled the outdoors aspect and moved all the stalls in to the village hall so we did not take the boys as it would have been a bit pointless leaving them outside in the pouring rain whilst everyone else was indoors.

We had a very small table so could not display our wares very well and we were right by the gap between the small marquee and the village hall so we got the full benefit of the wind and rain that was blowing in.  Luckily it was only a couple of hours and we beat a hasty retreat as soon as the crowds died down, returning to a nice warm evening in front of the TV with a glass or two of excellent port.

On Saturday we are due to make our usual contribution to village life by having a stall and taking some alpacas to Chardstock Street Fayre.   We are really hoping for some good weather (as I am sure everyone else is) and the opportunity to sell some goods.

We have decided to hold a Christmas Market on the 1st December to sell our own products and to add some more interest by having a variety of stalls with different gift and novelty ideas.   I only sent out an email today and so far we have interest from a lady who sells vintage knitting patterns and hand made baby clothes (mainly from alpaca), a talented designer and maker of Christmas wreaths and other decorations from all natural sources,  a jam maker, hand made cards, cakes, someone who makes cakes stands (I cannot wait to see what they are like) and mulled wine.  Visitors will also have the opportunity to meet the alpacas, goats and chickens.

Lady in waiting

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Jessica is the very last female to birth this year.   Her optimum due date is today but there is no sign of any new addition so far.  The photo shows her eating for two we hope.

Anchor (pictured looking sadly over the gate) is in quarantine having returned from a stay on one of our client's farm where he has been acting as a temporary herd sire. We hope his girls will be producing some fine offspring as a result of his attentions.

We have now weaned this year's goat kids.   The Mums have been kept out of site in the barn but have now been re-introduced to the rest of the herd and the kids are staying with the bucks and sharing it with three male alpacas for the time being.   We have given up on using the top paddock because the new 4 ft stock fencing is square and not oblong gaps so that when the goats put their heads through (as they often do)  they cannot withdraw them because their horns get caught.   When the gaps are oblong they just turn sideways and slide back out.

We are going to several fayres and fetes soon so I am trying to handle and halter train three yearlings so they behave well when they go on show.   So far they are improving rapidly and getting used to walking round strange obstacles like the pile of wood at the back of the barn.  They are no longer spooked when they accidentally tread on a piece of tarpaulin and generally seem to look forward to getting in to their show pen - probably because they get a food treat once they are there.

Time Flies

Time has flown since the last update, but I am not sure where it has gone.

Really loved the Olympics, so  any indoor time was spent catching up on the latest.

I took Dolly to a dog training course run by my friend, Pauline, with John Rogerson, a well known dog trainer and behaviourist, being the speaker/instructor.   It was called CSI and although it would not qualify your dog to become a sniffer dog, it was very interesting and surprisingly most of the dogs quickly learnt how to identify scent and Dolly was ace at finding an article dropped on a track.   This was called "seek back".  Very useful if you are out walking and drop something.   You just get the dog to retrace your footsteps and find what you have lost.  We also learned how to teach the dog to identify the scent of a decomposing body (eau de rotting pork was used).  It was added to a cotton bud and hidden in one of several marked places and the dog had to identify the spot.  Following a human track was the subject of another session.

She obviously took it all on board because at a  Dog Show last weekend, I threw the green ball on a rope which Charlie, Dolly and Romie all run after and Dolly always wins and brings back to me.   On this occasion another dog came up to Dolly and she dropped it and ran off with her new friend.   The ball disappeared in the long grass and after a few minutes search I decided to write it off.    The next time we went out, however, we must have retraced our footsteps in the 20 acre (approx) field and Dolly ran over a spot and then ran back and picked up their ball.

I only stayed for two of the four days and returned to the farm on Saturday morning to help Mike catch up before we left for another four day dog show. Mike only came for two days (Sunday and Wednesday)  because he had to stay home whilst the Gas installers continued their search for the gas pipe to connect us!!

They finally sorted it out on Wednesday but they had to dig up some of the road so we still have the yellow fencing out front.  Then on Thursday we were off to the KC International Dog Show at Rockingham Castle in Leicestershire.

It was a fantastic venue and the weather was kind.  Dolly is still chasing the elusive Grade 3 win she needs to move up the grades.   She has won a steeplechase, and a jumping and had several places in agility and jumping but we seem to be jinxed with the odd pole down (5 faults) or handler error (me)!

Normal service was resumed on Monday and on Tuesday Nick and I caught up with cria vaccinations and gave all the cria and Mums a dose of ADE to ensure that their Vitamin D levels were maintained given the lack of much sunshine this summer.  

We trimmed the toe nails of all the goats, and, sadly, separated this year's kids from their Mums.   We are keeping the Does in the barn for a few days whilst their milk dries up.    We were expecting a lot of noise as goats are quite vocal, but in fact there was very little.  In fact I think the Mums are quite pleased to have a break from parenthood and just chill with each other and the youngsters still have their siblings from last year and the year before so they have plenty of company.

Now the rain has returned with a vengeance, so I took the opportunity to bath the dogs as they were wet anyway!!

Leaving Us

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Santiago, Santos and Vidal just off to their new home.      They have never been loaded into a trailer before, but after a small question as to whether it was their best option,   they went in quite happily.  

They are going to live in a very smart paddock and when they arrived they remained lying in the kush position in the trailer for a few moments before casually leaving the trailer to explore their new abode.

They have been living with all our other males since they were weaned last year and so for the past week or so we separated them from their usual companions to get them used to being a smaller herd of three.   They have adjusted very well and we took the opportunity to remind them how to walk nicely on a halter and also to being held more often than we actually needed to.  Within a couple of days they were completely relaxed so that when we trimmed their toe nails and gave them a worming injection before departure they more or less just shrugged their shoulders and said OK get on with it!!

Not Going Right

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Yesterday Nick and I  got together to carry out fairly basic husbandry - mainly vaccinating, microchipping and tagging cria.  First of all we selected Ginger's cria.  We did not tag or chip her last week as we felt she was a little small.   She trotted into the catch pen with her Mum and we shooed Ginger through so that they could see each other but giving us easy access to the cria without Ginger interfering.  I had prepared the microchip and Nick set up the tagger with ear tag.  Whilst he held the cria I thought I would check that the needle which holds the chip was secure on the dispenser.  Somehow I knocked the protective cover off  and managed to gouge the top of my left index finger.   It just would not stop bleeding, so Nick had to get a plaster from the first aid box so that we could continue. 

When he came to hold Valentine (we are nearly at the end of the Shakespearian heroines when naming the newborn) - she was extremely stressed and worried about being kept away from her mother for so long, so we decided to tag her and leave the microchipping for another day.   At least we can identify her even if she gets separated from her mother.  We decided to do the same with the other cria too as they are all a little small and there is no rush as they will be on the farm for at least another few months.

Vaccinating is normally subcutaneous (under the skin) and you make a tent with loose skin, usually just in front of the front shoulder, so that the vaccine goes into the cavity created.  I am usually pretty accurate and quick at this, but of course it went wrong with one of the littlies yesterday and the needle came out the other side of the "tent" and squirted the vaccine on the floor, so the poor thing had to have a second one, which went to plan.

Earlier in the day we had put Chale back in with the working males including Pedro who can be quite a full on bully at times.  I forgot that Mike had shut the gates across the bottom of the race so when I took the Mums and babies back down there was a bit of a mix up when they could not get through and the males realised that they were there.   Chale and Pedro started to fight (females have this effect on them).  Jake, Mike's dog, normally breaks up such fights by running in and barking at them.  It is usually very quick and effective and he stops as soon as the males give up.  There were, however, added complications.   Mike did not realise that Jake had decided to act without instructions and so was blissfully unaware of what was going on and continued to tend his bonfire.  In the meantime I opened the gate in the hope that I could rush the girls through before the males realised what was happening.


It was not be be.   The top wire of the fence has been waiting to be added  for quite a while and in the excitement of trying to get to the girls and away from Pedro it looked as if Chale was going to jump out.  Luckily Mike arrived on the scene and chased him back, but Pedro saw his opportunity and jumped out to join the girls.   They all galloped off into the paddock and we just managed to shut Chale out.

None of the females are pregnant because we are not mating them this year.  They will all be covered in the Spring so that the following year we can condense the birthing season.  This meant that Pedro thought he had died and gone to heaven.  We tried to herd Pedro out but he was too excited.   Eventually Mike caught him by the tail and I managed to get to him in time to hold him properly.   Mike then took over whilst I herded the girls into their nice peaceful paddock with the babbling brook.

I made a makeshift halter for Pedro with an old dog lead which we use to pin the gate back and he was put into solitary confirnement to calm down.  Nick and Mike rapidly installed the top wire of the fencing.

What had started out as a routine day with easy jobs turned into a wild (south) west show!!

On a calmer note - the gas men came today and laid the pipe for the supply to our new house.   They, amazingly, could not tell us exactly where the mains pipe is, so we have been unable to dig to it so far.  We now have to get our builder to hand dig the last few metres with very vague guidelines from The utility company.   Apparently they cannot trace plastic pipes like the good old fashioned metal ones!!  You would think they would have a really detailed map so they can find all their pipelines easily, especially with such a dangerous thing as gas!!  Scary isn't it?  The picture just shows the trench, but it is a lovely trench!!

The other photos are of the alpacas relaxing in the shade this afternoon.  Nice work if you can get it in this heat.   Not complaining, honest.

Water Baby

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Mariana is a very attractive young female and unfortunately she gave birth to her first cria yesterday on a damp, miserable morning (just a normal summer day this year).  He was quite small but was soon up and suckling so we had no worries apart from the weather.   Some of his Aunties came to welcome him to the herd and have a good sniff so they remember him.

 The forecast locally was for some showers but brighter later.  This did not happen and it looked like the cria was never going to get dry.  I towelled him off when he was born and when the drizzle persisted went back again.   He was wet down to his skin and starting to shiver a little.  I towelled him again and gave him a couple of shots of  Vitaboost which is a glucose/colostrum paste to give him a bit of energy and we quickly prepared the barn so we could get all the alpacas back in once more.

With some alpacas you can just persuade the mother and cria to come inside by carrying the cria to entice the mother in, but Mariana is a bit flighty at the best of times so we thought it would be too stressful for her without the company of the others.

All the females and the 16 cria were happy to go back in the barn.   When I checked later the new cria had managed to find the coldest part  where the straw had been pushed back and so was lying on concrete.  I moved him into the middle with his anxious Mum swearing at me, but they soon settled and this morning he was lovely and dry and playing with the other cria.   They have been out all day today but we have left the barn doors open so they can drift in if they want to.   Quite a few of them have got in the habit of drifting in even if it is not raining.  We have never known them be so keen to find shelter.  I think they are just as fed up as we are with the rain.

'Nother Newby

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Adriana was one of two black females we took to a well known breeder of black alpacas for stud services.  Both she and Jacquenetta, another black female,  failed to conceive the first year and had to have a couple more attempts the second year.  It was poor Mike's job to load them in the trailer and take them back for remating and he was complaining that we  would soon have spent nearly as much on fuel for the truck as for the matings.  Anyway, they finally got pregnant and Jacquenetta had a very nice black female cria and now Adriana has had another nice cria, this time a male.   Still at least we have now got our money's worth, albeit two years later.

We have decided not to use outside stud services again unless it is by swapping with another breeder and letting them use one of our males, because the cost of travelling to and fro for a mating when you might end up with a male which would not even cover the stud fee is just not cost effective.  It is a bit like losing money in a fruit machine.

In the first photo Caquiningora, the Inca name for a type of bird, has only just been born.  (He will probably be called Kacky for short!!)  In the second Adriana is proving how strong the maternal instinct is.  She has just had her very first cria and yet she is immediately protective of the newborn.   She tolerated me towelling the cria dry and spraying his navel, mainly because she was still recovering from the shock of the arrival of the little stranger who dropped out behind her back, but very shortly afterwards she was ready to defend him against all comers and Dolly, who normally herds the alpacas with their reluctant consent, realised that she was not welcome, as you can see from the change in her body language between photo 2 and 3.

In photo 4 all the "aunties" have come to visit.   This nearly always happens when there is a birth.  It is probably so that they register a new herd member.   Shortly after this ( I had taken the camera indoors)  quite a few of the cria gathered round for an introduction as well, but Mum quickly shooed them away, which saved me doing it.  Occasionally older cria can steal the new Mother's colostrum which is vital for her own cria's wellbeing, passing on her immunity to disease and helping to stimulate his immune system.

We have had some poulry netting around our agility training area to keep the grazing animals out, but in the last few days two of the cria have managed to get themselves caught up in it.    We have been careful not to go out and leave them unattended in that area, but decided that even if we are here a youngster could be trapped and even injured before we noticed, so we have taken it down.   The result seems to be that this is now the favourite place for all of them.    Perhaps because they have been kept out, the grass is sweeter.  They are going to have to move on soon so that we can use the area ouselves, but I do not think we will be popular.