Diggerman strikes again

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Mike is finding lots to do with his digger these days.  He and Nick (when he is working here) are clearing the boundaries and digging out the ditches and Mike has also started on the sunken garden at the back of the house.

He assures me that it is not hard work, although he is quite tired by the end of the day. 

We now have quite a flock of sheep but I have decided that, fun though they are, they are not really for me and they are up for sale.  We had 4 ewes and they had 4 ewe lambs and 4 ram lambs between them. 

I am really enjoying the alpacas again and after downsizing we now have a lovely young herd and so far 5 cria this year, so it will not take long to get back to a commercial quantity.   We downsized partly to help finance the barn conversion and also because of Mike's health and our age, but hey, we have to graze the land (too much for the lawn-mower) and we do not fancy renting it out and having to worry about the dogs and giving access to a tenant all the time.

New Life

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Whilst all the recently born cria are running around enjoying their new little lives, we have started mating the lovely young adult females who now comprise our herd and are looking forward to more delightful youngsters next year.

The ewes are coping well with the growing lambs, although the one with triplets is looking a  little world weary.   We are expecting some rain over night which,  combined with sunshine should reinvigorate the pastuire and give all the grazers a boost.

We set up another handling area in the sheep paddock and Mike took the tractor over to transport some hurdles.   As soon as he stopped the lambs jumped on the topper he was towing and started playing noisily - jumping on and off and chasing each other around.

Who'd have thought it?

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Regan who is a beautiful very dark brown female is usually very nervous and even shakes when we catch her to trim her nails or carry out any other husbandry but this morning she really surprised me.
Two of my friends from the village, Nicky and Lynne, had asked if they could come and see the cria and we arranged for them to come this morning at about 11 a.m.

They were enchanted and all the mums behaved nicely and did not try to rush away.   Whilst chatting I noticed that Regan was looking very uncomfortable and I mentioned (out loud apparently) that she looked about to give birth.  Of course Nicky and Lynne wanted to stay and watch.  Luckily it all went very smoothly.  Regan, although a maiden, bonded immediately with her newborn and later when he was trying to suckle she even let me test that she had milk.  She just looked strangely at me and continued caressing her new baby.  No shaking or nerves at all.

The new cria, black male, called Cusi (Inca for Joy) was soon suckling and having been investigated by all his new aunties,the other alpaca mums, settled down for a calm introduction to life from his lovelyYummy Mummy.

Fleeced

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The alpacas were shorn today.   Luckily, although it started out as a very chilly morning, by the time they had lost their fleece the sun had come out.

It took a while for the cria to work out which mum was which, but it looks as though they have sorted it out now.

Whilst I was with the shearer and his assistant keeping things tidy and making a rough grading of the fleece, Mike did all the day to day jobs indoors as well as his regular one of cleaning out and feeding the hens in the morning.

More New Arrivals

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The day before yesterday Perdita gave birth to a pretty little light fawn female and at 7 p.m. (very late for a typical alpaca birth) Valentine also gave birth to a female - this time really white.

First of the Few

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Pauline and I went to River Cottage last weekend with three of our male alpacas and asome of our UK and Peruvian stock of garments and gifts.  We had a great weekend and the weather was kind this time.

The day before yesterday Silvia ( a large brown female) gave birth to a lovely black cria by Pedro.  He needed quite a lot of care and attention at first.   I noticed some movement in the long grass and realised that she had given birth.  His neck was twisted and he was unusally floppy.  I patted and moved him around but it was several hours later and a shot of glucose followed by some artificial colostrum which revived him enough to start acting like a normal cria and suckiling from his Mum.  This morning he is running around so fingers crossed he is past the crisis.

In contrast I went to fetch the paper and some milk this morning and when I got back Viola had given birth to a brown female cria, also by Pedro.   In a very short time she was up and around.  Mike had already cleared her airway and sprayed her navel and as soon as her Mum's afterbirth came away, she was trying to suckle.   Girls Rule OK.

Bottle Feeding

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I noticed that one of the sheep  triplets was looking a bit out of condition and Nick agreed and suggested bottle feeding him to give him a boost for a while.

On the first morning he was keen to escape being caught but once I was holding him and offering the bottle he decided (after spitting out a couple of times) that it was quite nice.  Today is his third day and he is still hard to catch, but once caught latches on immediately.  He drank twice as much as on the first day.

All the animals are enjoying the lovely weather and are looking good.

Tomorrow we are off to River cottage to set up the pens for  the alpacas we are taking along to their wweekend Food Fair (not to be eaten - just as an attraction).  We will also be taking some of our products, and my friend, Pauline will be coming along to help.