The sun shone beautifully today for our Introductory Course, quite a relief after yesterdays miserable rain and tomorrows too I think.... luck was on our side again. What a really lovely group of people, lots of questions, most I think I managed to answer, the whole day was a pleasure. The pacas behaved beautifully, of course, and the weanlings benefitted from lots of handling. I'm always a bit nervous about cooking for so many people I don't know, but the food seemed to go down ok ... but it was a bit of a squash round the table... must get on and build our lecture room.
I fancy a change of scene tomorrow, so going to take Pixie Lott, our rather old and very green campervan out for a spin, weather permitting - the roof leaks - got all inspired by One Man and His Campervan on telly this week, may even make a cup of tea in her and a bacon roll... lobster next week.. won't be doing any camping overnight in her though, not til the summer, no heating, will need my alpaca duvet even then... shame she won't pull a trailor, would be fun at the shows ....
Halter training versus website?!
1st February already and I can think of loads of excuses why I haven't been blogging - from new computer, and all the hassel that it brings, to projects on the farm, to just feeling lazy actually...
Why is it that I forget so easily what I have to do to upload images on my website? I must have spent about an hour and a half trying to do just that this morning and then suddenly I did something right and it worked ... I must write it down somewhere! We've set the date for our Open Day - 7th August, so put it in your diarys.
I've been halter training the crias as we've weaned them, most have got the hang of it. Also selected those to go to the Futurity next month, of course they're the ones that have been the most reluctant to stand still and lead quietly... always the way. I was going to do a bit with them this morning, but as its cold, grey and damp outside I decided that I would catch up in the office instead with a nice cup of coffee, biscuits missing as I'm trying to reduce the flab I collected at Christmas.
I'm also waiting for our builders to turn up to finish the shelter extension ... looks really good now. Another project that's nearly finished is the clearing of the drive... all started with a bit of pruning and I decided to be more drastic and got Dave with his digger in! Peter and I planted 3 sack fulls of daff bulbs, a fantastic bargain from SCATS, (I love that shop). The idea is to plant it all with grass and keep it mowed ... we'll see, got to be better than it was... anyway, now it provides a more noval walk for the weanlings in and out of the trees.
Why is it that I forget so easily what I have to do to upload images on my website? I must have spent about an hour and a half trying to do just that this morning and then suddenly I did something right and it worked ... I must write it down somewhere! We've set the date for our Open Day - 7th August, so put it in your diarys.
I've been halter training the crias as we've weaned them, most have got the hang of it. Also selected those to go to the Futurity next month, of course they're the ones that have been the most reluctant to stand still and lead quietly... always the way. I was going to do a bit with them this morning, but as its cold, grey and damp outside I decided that I would catch up in the office instead with a nice cup of coffee, biscuits missing as I'm trying to reduce the flab I collected at Christmas.
I'm also waiting for our builders to turn up to finish the shelter extension ... looks really good now. Another project that's nearly finished is the clearing of the drive... all started with a bit of pruning and I decided to be more drastic and got Dave with his digger in! Peter and I planted 3 sack fulls of daff bulbs, a fantastic bargain from SCATS, (I love that shop). The idea is to plant it all with grass and keep it mowed ... we'll see, got to be better than it was... anyway, now it provides a more noval walk for the weanlings in and out of the trees.
Happy Christmas
So, the pacas are all tucked up in bed for the night, extra, extra rations of hay so we don't have to do it tomorrow on Christmas Day... water tubs all topped up for the same reason. I told them to put their stockings out and they may be lucky to find a carrot or two in them tomorrow....
It's been bitterly cold the last few days, but today we had some lovely sunshine. We have ice everywhere, especially on our drive which caught me out the other evening when my usually fantastic 4 x 4 slid down the drive at an alarming pace, bounced us off one bank and ended way up the bank on the other side, only stopped by the bushes, left me sat almost on my door rather than my seat and rather shaken I have to admit- but thankfully no damage done!!
This week we've had the big shelter updated to offer even more shelter - quite a job wrestling with large sheets of clear polycarbonate in a stiff northerly wind with a chill factor of -5! But now they have windows so they can see see out but the wind and the rain shouldn't blow in... nothing but the best for my girls... if these hard winters become the trend I may have to have a barn...
The weanlings have got the hang of their new routine and now wait at the gate to come in for the night - only another 5 to wean in the New Year and then we can re-group the females til the Spring.
So signing off now to get stuck into all that food and drink we have in the fridge ... we wish you a very Merry Christmas and a happy, healthy New Year!!
It's been bitterly cold the last few days, but today we had some lovely sunshine. We have ice everywhere, especially on our drive which caught me out the other evening when my usually fantastic 4 x 4 slid down the drive at an alarming pace, bounced us off one bank and ended way up the bank on the other side, only stopped by the bushes, left me sat almost on my door rather than my seat and rather shaken I have to admit- but thankfully no damage done!!
This week we've had the big shelter updated to offer even more shelter - quite a job wrestling with large sheets of clear polycarbonate in a stiff northerly wind with a chill factor of -5! But now they have windows so they can see see out but the wind and the rain shouldn't blow in... nothing but the best for my girls... if these hard winters become the trend I may have to have a barn...
The weanlings have got the hang of their new routine and now wait at the gate to come in for the night - only another 5 to wean in the New Year and then we can re-group the females til the Spring.
So signing off now to get stuck into all that food and drink we have in the fridge ... we wish you a very Merry Christmas and a happy, healthy New Year!!
MORE SNOW!
I'm so pleased I work from home ... I was even more ready for it this time ... remembered to put all the feed troughs upside down one end up on the fence, that alone saved me about half an hour this morning! Plus I took masses of hay out yesterday, so only feeding and ice breaking this morning. The weanings are cosy in their stables and everyone else making good use of the shelters. I can never resist taking masses of snow pictures, when I come to look at them on the laptop they're remarkably similar to the ones I took last time! I do love the trees - its as if they're ready to go to the ball!
Centaur, Bettina, Akela and Andromeda
Centaur, Bettina, Akela and Andromeda
Snow
So - here we are again surrounded my the white stuff. For a moment there I thought we wouldn't get any - a sprinkle on Wenesday and then woke the next morning to almost a foot of beautiful dry powdery fine snow, perfectly coating all the trees and furnishing the outdoor benches with perfect white cushions - so beautiful, I love it .... it does make life a little difficult I know and I feel very lucky that I don't have to drive to work.
The pacas have been fine, still wearing the bit of snow that they haven't shaken off, they're so well insulated with their fleece ... they're all on double rations of alfalfa nuts with sugar beat, peas and oats for the cria group - getting up to half a kilo each of hard feed and ad lib hay of course. The water troughs need de-icing 3 times a day as it hasn't managed to get above freezing for days. Just come in now and the high for today has been -1.5 mad!!
Filming and lunching
We had an interesting day yesterday ... we were approached by a Masters degree media student who wanted to come and film a short article on an alpaca business and how it was faring in the recesssion ..... thankfully it was the most perfect day, sunny and still, first for a while, and the alpacas behaved impeccably, bribed most of the time by food! Our clients Ken and Liz also kindly came and were interviewed on their views as new owners. We're looking forward to seeing the end result, if its not too embarrassing I'll post it on the website.
I've joined the Hampshire Farm Womens Club, they came to us on a visit to learn about alpacas a couple of months ago. It's very interesting to talk to these ladies - many have been farming all their lives. They meet once a month and go to all sorts of different venues, today we had a christmas cookery demonstration and then tasted it all, yummy and such a complete change for me I actually found it very relaxing... I may even try out the recipes at home - I'm looking forward to the vineyard visit!!
I've joined the Hampshire Farm Womens Club, they came to us on a visit to learn about alpacas a couple of months ago. It's very interesting to talk to these ladies - many have been farming all their lives. They meet once a month and go to all sorts of different venues, today we had a christmas cookery demonstration and then tasted it all, yummy and such a complete change for me I actually found it very relaxing... I may even try out the recipes at home - I'm looking forward to the vineyard visit!!
Very wild weather
For the second morning in a row we have woken to torrential rain and strong winds ... most of our trees are now bare of their stunningly colourful leaves, the best I can remember in years, and it feels really cold in the wind too. The pacas were all hunkered down in the middle of the fields when I looked out at them first thing - do they think the shelter is going to blow down maybe?! We can always tell how much rain we've had by how flooded our lunge ring is - looked like a duck pond this morning - 27 mm last 24 hours! They haven't wanted much hay the last few weeks, the grass is still lovely and although not as nutritious as spring grass it seems to have kept them all in peak condition, even fat in some cases. However, with all this wet stuff arriving I am offering them all extra hay as they need the dry matter, (remember to renew it every 3/4 days - think of it as bread - it goes stale) and of course their daily ration of camelibra. The lactating females are also getting alfalfa pellets and as soon as the frosts start to arrive some sugar beet too, this really helps with milk production and helps keep them warm. The crias love it too and as some of them will be weaned soon its good to get them all eating the hard feed.
Really noticing the dark evenings now - short days means I have to be more organised to get it all done, not a bad thing and rainy days means I can catch up in the office and surf ebay looking for VW Campervans!!
Really noticing the dark evenings now - short days means I have to be more organised to get it all done, not a bad thing and rainy days means I can catch up in the office and surf ebay looking for VW Campervans!!
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