HOCUS POCUS

The weather is awful - rain, windy miserable, forecast to get worse and not in the slightest bit like June. This morning I spent a stupid amount of time trying to send off emails requesting sponsorship for the Romsey Show, a task which always makes me feel uncomfortable anyway, and I say trying because our internet goes off more than it's on, which I find enormously frustrating and puts me in a foul mood - I may have to explore a dongle - whatever that is?! Of course at very regular intervals I was watching  the due females from the window ...  they kept going out of sight in search of shelter just down the dip, which meant I had to keep going outside in the rain  or go upstairs and look out of the bedroom window, but all quiet, no-one was doing anything.

About 12.30 I was feeling very tired and bored, Peter came back from the tip, having dumped our old freezer, I declared lunch -  we decided to have some soup (yes very wintery). Nipped upstairs to look out the window ... rain all over it, so couldn't see very well, got the binoculars out and had a quick scan ... some in a huddle... counted ...  10, 11, 12, 13 ...  hang on, suddenly a little bright white face appeared out of the gloom that I didn't recognise! "We've got a cria!" I yell, instantly wide awake, no longer bored! Legged it outside armed with iodine, a towel and a cria coat.

The cria belonged to Selene, daughter of Strawberry Shortcake a grey, due on 7 June to Ardingly ... I confess I was a little disappointed, the white face is fine, just like a grey, but the rest should have been grey, not brown, and it was a boy! Oh well, someone will love him!  Rain not too heavy, I dried him off as much as possible and put a coat on him and left them to bond. Lunch watching the newbie trying to stand, and then finding his way to the milk bar.  The weather deteriorated and forecast to go on for hours and hours, so around 4pm Rebecca and I brought them in to a cosy stable.  We've been compiling a list of names and his is going to be Hocus Pocus .. seems to suit him!

Callico is doing fine - last day of her antibiotics - little Karma is a cutie, very inquisitive and bold - the rain has washed her, she had a pink tinge from her birth, she has a couple of small fawn spots and she's mainly white, but with a slightly fawn tail ... she probably won't get in the show team then! Tomorrow I'll put Selene and Hocus Pocus out with them and Karma will have a buddy to play with.

Meanwhile Bozedown Jumper is still hanging on - tomorrow she will be 365 days.

Callico & Good Karma

Weanlings looking streamlined

Check out those ears on Touchwood at the front - just like his daddy Incan King!

Callico enjoying an extra breakfast as a reward for her jab!

Doting mum - this year she knows what to do!

Hocus Pocus with milky lips!

SHEARING OVER - WELL ALMOST

Thank goodness that's over for another year... and a huge thank you to our usual team of hard workers Stuart and Allison, Donna and Lucy - couldn't have done it without you!

Calico decided to have her cria a week early, not for the first time, and on shearing day, also not for the first time!  We started with the 2 big boys, Ardingly and Goldrush, then the intermediate boys, and then the weanlings and in all this time Calico was quietly getting on with what looked like completely normal first stage labour.  Rebecca, Lucy and Jim were keeping an eye on her, as I was busy skirting and bagging fleeces as they came off.  At some point and I can't remember when Rebecca asked me to come and check her out, as she was obviously having difficulties.

The beauty of knowing your females is that you know when something isn't right, Calico's last few crias have been textbook delivery, although a few years ago she had a bad birth, again, on shearing day and it was not a good outcome for the cria.

Armed with loads of lube I had a rummage about and decided it was either a uterine torsion or a breach,   if I had thought about it more clearly it had to be a torsion as I couldn't feel the cria, but it was shearing day! Anyway, it certainly wasn't normal and beyond my skills, especially on shearing day, so I called the Vet for help. He arrived within half an hour thankfully and confirmed a torsion. We have had one of those before and so I knew what to expect. Phil, the Vet hadn't done one on an alpaca before, but plenty of cows of course. He was brilliant and with the help of Peter and Stuart, who I stole away from shearing and me holding her head, we gently rolled her over to untwist the torsion whilst he pushed down on her  belly to keep the unborn cria in her uterus in one place - if that males sense.  After warning me that the cria may not be alive and that she may not dilate fully and he might have to do a cesarian ... ever the optimist I suggested we wait a little while. Thankfully her cervix slowly dilated over 5 minutes or so, the cria was still moving and he very gently delivered the cria. He swung her from her hind legs to clear her lungs and there was loads of blood from the umbilical,  I grabbed a clamp, so relieved I had restocked on those last week, and soon it stemmed the flow. All was fine - a live birth, no cesarian and a female too. Result!

Vet gone, having leant on the gate to watch the shearing for a while - and I got back to work. I had a look about hour later and Treasure was claiming the cria as hers and not allowing the cria to suckle from Calico! So we picked up the cria and moved them into the next door paddock for a bit of privacy and quiet bonding. Another half an hour or probably more, all the time shearing going on and all that that entails, it was clear that the cria, although lively, hadn't sucked and was trying to find a teat on the tree!!  So with a bit of help from my friends we made a pen in the paddock, popped them into it and I latched the cria on. She had a really good long feed, got the hang of where the milk bar was and then we let them out of the pen.

Shearing finished - I decided Calico had been through enough for one day and we'll do her next week ourselves.

Now I'm going out again to check on them all - I won't know who's who for a couple of days and they all look so elegant and clean and tidy - I on the other hand look a real mess and I'm filthy!

We have our first cria - YAY!!!  We left Calico to be sheared another day - I reckon she didn't need it today!

Weanling whites ready and waiting - little do they know what's in store!

Ha - Donna - you'll regret making that face when you see this!!

Mike the shearer and me!

 

Mike in action and the team getting the next one ready

"What have they done to you?"

 

Topsey Turvey and his friends looking quite different!

Lots of lovely fleeces

And here she is " Meon Valley Good Karma"

WAITING FOR CRIAS

Eleven and a half months is an awfully long time to wait....  our first female, Bozedown Jumper was due on 13 May, that was her 11 month date so now she is over the average and she still doesn't look remotely interested in producing anything. There's definitely one in there, I've seen it move about... at this rate she's going to catch up with our early June girls,  Bonaventure and Selene, both 11 months on 7th, and Calico on the 14th and she is always early.

To be honest I really don't mind who does it first, as long as the cria is cooked, healthy and bonds well with mum, who of course has masses of quality milk! The waiting seems endless, I'm not known for my patience! I want some crias and I want them NOW!

Rebecca and I had a day at the Bath & West Show yesterday, not showing but watching and gossiping,  I was missing the show thing - well its been a couple of weeks since the last and its always good to talk 'paca' all day with equally alpaca-obsessed friends!

Back home and today we took some of our weanling boys to our village summer Fair. Not sure why they call it a fair, there were no rides, apart from on donkeys... it was a lovely day and a good crowd turned up and of course everyone loved our alpacas. Topsey Turvey had been to the Nationals, so it wasn't such a shock to him to go off-farm, but the other 3 didn't really know what to make of it all, what with all the dogs and little kids. The funniest bit was when the two donkeys were unloaded from their trailor and made a bee-line at speed, dragging their owners behind them, towards our pen to investigate the pacas, eee-awwing at the same time! The surprise on their faces, pacas and donkeys ... I just couldn't get my phone out quickly enough to really capture it, and I did think for a second I might have to catch a falling alpaca as it exploded skywards out of the pen -  things had calmed down a bit by the time I got my picture!

Due girls this morning - nothing happening 

 What would they say to each other?

Calico and daughter her Cassandra

Taking it easy in the shade

My screen saver for the week

Silly Moo-ers who won't Mooove out the way on our walk

Very cute and very tame 

MEONSTOKE RECEPTION CLASS ANNUAL VISIT

The weather felt more like February than mid May but the chilly rain didn't stop the fun with the Reception class of boys and girls from Meonstoke School today.

All dressed up in boots and waterproofs off we went to meet the alpacas who as usual were very pleased to see our little visitors - especially to have a look at their boots! We kept warm with the occasional race across a field and a hilarious gathering in a dust bath pretending to have a roll about! I was right in the middle of that so didn't get a picture!

Farm walk finished and we took shelter in the stable to look at alpaca food and fleece. A quick snack - a brilliant surprise for me of little cheesy nibbles.... and then all the boys and girls painted pictures. The finale was the whole class singing to me "Mrs Oglesby had a Farm ..... " to the tune of Old MacDonald!  Lovely!

All the Juniors meeting the Juniors!

A race to look at the Llama

Very good listening ears!

How cool are these snacks !

Tasty little llamas - I think they look more like alpacas!

Great picture - love it!

Artists at work

Wow - a whole herd!

Love the blue sky - not much of it around this morning!

This lady keen on multi's I think

Time for a song - complete with Hummmm!

BAS NATIONALS 2013

Another busy weekend - this time at the BAS Nationals near Leighton Buzzard. I really haven't spent much time in Bedfordshire before and being Friday thought it best to avoid the M25 and go cross-country to the show. The little man in my phone, who speaks English in a foreign accent, often the cause of much hilarity from me and Rebecca, took us through some really beautiful villages with views across to the Chiltern Hills which made it a very pleasant journey.  With animals settled in and voting done at the AGM we checked in at our Hotel - the hub of nightlife in Leighton Buzzard it seems, complete with bouncers on the door! However, our room was up the quiet end and very comfortable with lovely duvets too.  What I hadn't realised when booking it was that the Saturday Market would be set up at 4.45am just outside our Hotel, which took a couple of hours and involved what sounded like a lorry load of metal poles being dropped and rolled onto the tarmac ....

This was an Age Championship show, so the running order is completely different from the Colour Championship shows of the rest of the year, it took me a while to get my head round what was going on.  I prefer the Colour Championship shows, it just seems to make more sense to me. My frequent  trips to the penning in a different building to bring members of our show team to the ring, was a bit of a nightmare at times, thanks largely to members of the public complete with their dogs and toddlers oblivious to the dangers of frightened alpacas potentially kicking out at toddler-head height, blocking up the walkways from the penning shed.

The first mornings showing for us was our 5 junior females and all of them were placed with Bonnie winning her Light class and Macy Grey and Enigma coming 2nd in their grey and black classes.  The afternoon was the turn of our 4 intermediate boys, again all placed.  Eros and The Sorcerer both clear winners in their classes.

The Gala Dinner was a great success - a bit chilly but great fun with very good food. There was a pair a ridden camels, one of them moving as gracefully as possible given it's conformation and gait, and in complete harmony with his rider performing quite tidy flying changes - I would love to have had a 'go' on him - never ridden a camel! The pony scurry racing, would like a go at that too, and dog agility were both very entertaining.  Our taxi driver was very considerate and parked right outside the door so thankfully we didn't have to plough our way through all the strange smelling black mud in the car park.

On Sunday Topsey Turvey came 2nd in his multi class. Last in for us was Bonami, who won his Adult fawn class and then went on to win reserve Champion Adult Male,  I couldn't have been more surprised given the line-up of whites in that Championship - the Judge praised him for his fineness, great density and very low transition line.

New to the Nationals this year the Regional Groups were in competition for points across everything in the show and our own Southern Regional Group won the massive trophy which I was presented with as it's Chairman and I must say well done to all our Members!

So that's it for shows for  us for a few months. Now it's cria time and our first "Jumper"  is due today, on eleven months - she doesn't look ready yet.

Rebecca and Marah having a go at the agility course

Macy Grey and Enigma

Rebecca in the middle with Topsey Turvey

Bonnie , Bonami and Eros 

NORTH SOMERSET SHOW - IN THE SUNSHINE

The alarm went off at 5am ... bit of a shock, but more for Rebecca than me! The promise of a sunny day had dawned very foggy, and quite chilly and I did wonder whether packing T-shirts and SPF 30 might be a tad optimistic, but as it turned out we needed both.

Originally from Somerset, I was vaguely aware of where I had to go, but having never been to this show before I was very relieved when my sat-nav got us there on time and without any wrong turns.

The venue was idyllic - a very English Country scene and soon the show ground was packed to bursting point.  Why don't they put more loos about and more ice-cream stalls too, like right next to our ring for instance?  There was a 'foodie' van selling all sorts of weird stuff like dried worm crisps and exotic meats, such as zebra, crocodile and ALPACA burgers.  An unfortunate pitch choice I thought, maybe the organisers thought watch alpacas - eat alpacas! Not that I'm adverse to people eating alpacas as long as they've had a good life and a humane death ... sorry to upset some of you!  I'm certain there will be a meat market here in the future. (Discussion for another day!) I haven't tried it yet and apparently it is delicious and I will one day - I have threatened one in the past, but found a home for him! They were our nearest 'food' but being first thing in the morning we went for the safe option of their bacon roll, which was fairly disgusting and so I decided not to go for the 'burger' at lunchtime and had a rather lovely ice cream instead, and then another one later too!

Anyway, I digress, so back to the show. We took 5 in the end, Eros had rubbed all the fleece off his ears because of the midges and so we didn't take him.

Now comes the horribly braggy bit, please skip straight to the photos unless you really want to know how we did!

Macy Grey was first in the ring - there weren't many grey females but she was placed first and then went on to win Champion Grey Female. Good.

The Sorcerer was next - he always behaves so badly in the ring, he's quite angelic at home honestly! The Judge Dominic Lane (now with bruised shins - not just from TS) has a special interest in greys, well he just loved him. He praised him in every way possible, but the one word which has stuck in my mind was "Wow.  He won his class and then went on to win Champion Grey Male. Excellent - really, really good. I'm very happy.

Then it was Enigma's turn - Rebecca took her in, a half sister to The Sorcerer - same sire -Meon Valley Ardingly.  A class of 6 and she took 1st and then went on to win Reserve Champion Black Female. Really good - very pleased.

Bonami - fawn adult male - 1st and then Champion Fawn Male - he did it again bless him! Excellent. Even happier!

Bonnie - Beige Junior Female, she is a sweetie and my favourite of our little girls.  1st and Reserve Champion!

What a result! And to top it all Dominic said that The Sorcerer was very much in the running for the Supreme! We really enjoyed the show, relaxed and friendly with plenty of time to chat and eat ice cream! Thank you Garry and team for organising it and to the Judge for some great comments and results - pay you later - JOKE!!! (not that he reads this drivel I'm sure!) Nationals next - bigger show altogether and don't expect to do anything like as well!

Sorry - so much excitement I kept forgetting to take pictures! Here are the girls going back to their field this morning...

Bonnie, Enigma and Macy Grey


Sorry can't show you any more pictures tonight - our internet is desperately slow and won't upload the photos - only 3 more anyway - will add them tomorrow!

FOND FAREWELLS

Three of our boys went off to new homes this week. Meonstoke has gone to live with our retired stud boys Grayling, Ocho and Sir G and I gather there has been a few punch-ups whilst they're all sorting out whose going to be boss, but as they're old buddies and there's no females about I'm sure they'll sort it out soon. They're only a couple of miles away and so I see them quite often when I drive past their field which is lovely.

This morning Bobby Dazzler and Midlington were delivered to their new owners, who also live not far away.  They're going keep another two wethers company, along with a couple of jacob sheep and some chickens. They were very unsure of themselves when we put them in the paddock - their faces were a picture as they were approached by the sheep. I held my breath whilst the chickens pecked about near their feet ... the thought of a startled kick sending a ball of feathers skyward being a strong image in my mind, but thankfully they stood stock still!  I'll particularly miss Bobby D' as he's such a gentle soul and usually walks beside me in the mornings to the feed trough with my hand on his back.  Their new owners have grand children and I'm sure they'll have fun with them when they visit.

This weekend we're off the The North Somerset Show .. leaving home at 5.30am, which means I won't sleep a wink for fear of not hearing the alarm, but it's either that or sleeping in a tent and I'm not that hardy anymore! We're were only allowed to enter 6, so choosing the team was tricky. Should be fun though and I'll report back when I've caught up on my sleep in the week!

Midlington and Bobby Dazzler about to leave home

"What is this woolly thing!"

"If we hide our faces no-one will see us!!"