TRIP TO HOLLAND, BREEDERS SEMINAR AND IS THIS SUMMER?

It's been quite a week and I can hardly believe where the time has gone. Last Friday I set off with my little suitcase to meet Chas & Rachel from Classical MileEnd to join them on their trip to Holland for the Dutch Show in Hapert. I was a little concerned about whether I would get car-sick on route, I'm not a great passenger, but Rachel very kindly gave up her front seat for me, bless her she had a cold too, and Chas's excellent driving along with all the straight roads proved to be no problem whatsoever. The Channel Tunnel experience was a first for me, and I think I would be brave enough to do that on my own if I had to ... very cool how the turnstile thingy knows who the driver is and welcomes them by name.... little things. Pics just in case you haven't been there...

Meeting the breeders and talking about their animals and watching the judging show was very interesting, getting to know who was who was quite taxing for my memory, which is just rubbish these days, I had too keep making notes on my catalogue ...  'bald chap who looks like pirate' and 'miserable woman/friendly man'! There were of course a few familiar faces from home too. There were plants everywhere, no tulips, and cute little hurdles all made out of wood, which looked like they wouldn't hold alpacas in... they did. There were some extremely tiny animals there too, apparently miniatures,  they could have stepped through the gaps out of the hurdles! It was held in a big equestrian indoor arena,  the surface was quite dusty, presumably they hadn't watered it to keep the humidity down, but each morning the animals were all really damp anyway from the condensation and pre-sun fog, must have been quite a challenge for the Judge.  The Hotel was very comfortable and the food for the Show Dinner excellent,  they had an amazing raffle which went on between courses with a seemingly endless supply of really good prizes. We had a lot of laughs in the bar afterwards too, with Leo and Chris, I have no idea what time I got to bed as I was so confused by all the time changes I lost track. We took our time for the trip home on Monday, via a huge Carrefour supermarket where we bought stinky cheese, lovely wine and tins of interesting french things, which I haven't opened yet.

Tuesday was spent catching up and getting organised for Nick's Breeders Seminar here yesterday, which was excellent of course, very informative and thought provoking. We all stood in the glorious hot sunshine all afternoon, examining fleeces and animals. Always good to see, feel and learn more, suris too, as well as huacayas - he brought some with him as we don't have them.  Only took the one photo just got too absorbed to think about taking more...

Today I moved a few groups around into new fields, trying to find some grass - this weather is fantastic but I am getting concerned as our hay stack is almost gone and we have so little grass growing, surely it has to rain soon?

So a whole week steeped in alpaca, well month really, I just love it, never get tired of talking about them or looking at them, they are my addiction and clearly I'm not the only one whose an addict!

FUTURITY 2012

What a brilliant weekend that was ... fantastic venue and superb organisation .. well done the Futurity team especially Chas and Rachel. Unless you've organised a show it's hard to imagine the amount of hard work that goes on to make it all happen and something on this scale must be immense. I am still recovering from the late nights and early mornings, and the hotel bill, all worth it as I had a great time with lots of laughter!

I'm really pleased with our little show team of juniors - Bond and Callista came 4th in their respective white  classes, Bobby Dazzler 4th in the fawn junior male and Eros got a very close second in the same class. Our lovely grey boy The Sorcerer won his class and then took the Reserve Champion Grey Male - the smile on my face says it all! His half brother also took Reserve Champion grey male in Brittany this weekend too - so pleased for Eve and Nigel from Bonheur Alpacas as it was their first show, both by Meon Valley Ardingly, we have a couple more females pregnant to him due in the summer and he is producing more greys than any other colour.

Rebecca came with me this weekend and she was a star, she handled in the ring really well and was great company - she looked so grown up at the Dinner too, I'm very proud of her.

The Sorcerer

Rebecca with Bond

Bozedown Protegee

Oh, and this is Bozedown Protégée who was in the auction - she seems to have found her way into our field! We bought her with Ken and Liz from Artwork Alpacas and we're all looking forward to breeding with her with our Snowmass boys in the future.

BEGINNERS COURSE

What a lovely group of people we had today on our Alpacas for Beginners Course, I just know that they're all going to love keeping alpacas. We were so lucky with the weather again, just a brief shower before they arrived,  Peter and I had hastily got the weanling females in to play with this afternoon, but actually we needn't have worried 'cos there was a good drying breeze and the sun came out. All seemed to enjoy the course hugely and went home full of enthusiasm (or in Alistairs's case at least converted!) - which means I achieved what I set out to do, which makes me happy:) Big blunder and momentary panic, was to leave the cottage pie unattended in the oven whilst doing the farm walk with everyone, came back to a charred potato crust, thank heavens Greg and John (Masterchef) weren't on the course - blimey could you imagine that?! Scraped off the black bits and everyone was very polite and ate it... so I think I got away with it!!

Hmmm paddock condition!

Frog spawn

Enjoying a cuddle

A natural alpaca handler Alistair - that's a big smile!

Sue, Don, Alistair and Charlotte all enjoying the pacas

VISITORS AND HALTER TRAINING

We had a visit today from a group of 22,  year 10 students from the South Downs College. They were all very attentive, as were the alpacas, the weanling boys were proper little show-offs and gave a wonderful display of "boys" behaving badly with lots of orgling and frisky laddish behaviour, the students thought it was really funny, which it was - I have a feeling there may be a few little videos appearing on youtube soon. We had some great feedback from them ... hopefully some of them will be inspired to become alpaca breeders for the future.

Showing teeth

Spring is continuing to slowly emerge, we have frogspawn in the pond, in fact I can hear frogs or toads outside now and we have leaves on the elder bushes. The grass has grown a tiny bit in the last week, certainly greener, though most of our fields look a bit sad, we desperately need some rain, everything is so dry, but at least the pacas are lovely and clean.

The fencing has been finished and the hedges trimmed back so the boundary looks very tidy. Peter has harrowed the big field that we've been using since december, we have loads of moss which gets pulled up with the harrows which makes room for new grass -  now it looks completely trashed, but it will recover quite quickly and be lovely after a couple of months rest.  The birds love all the moss for their nests. If we have just a bit of rain we can roll the fields and get some fertiliser on them.

The halter training is going fairly well, just a couple of slow learners who are taking a bit longer, I have discovered that chatting to people on the phone whilst moving very slowly across a field with the reluctant ones on the end of the lead works rather well ... they walk back beautifully after listening to all that gobbledygook....

The boys penned up ready for halter training

FENCING

What's been going on here then, well half term stuff which was fun, lots of lovely walks, Rebecca and I try and do a different one every day, which we did, we had one beach walk on a very sunny day, but which was absolutely freezing and we just had to go and have coffee and a cake to warm up (any excuse!). We've been halter training ready for the Futurity ... we've added 3 more to our show team, and they of course are the ones who are not so great on the halter.  Top knots were trimmed yesterday which reminds me I must deal with the fleece I was wearing which now looks like a fluff magnet.  It's been so lovely and dry that they're all looking very smart, hmm probably shouldn't have said that..

At the weekend we had to move everyone to be ready for the fencing which started yesterday,  a lot of our fencing is very wobbly, most of the boundary fence is over 40 years old and whilst the alpacas are very gentle on it, we felt that it should now be replaced, rather than propped up yet again, we can't run to the same oak posts and 3 rails, but at least the new fence will be secure and easy to maintain, but sadly not very pretty, actually I don't like it at all between you and me, but I'll get used to it, have to!

Old fence down in no time

I rather like the fields naked

Horse field in a bit of a state - the pacas don't allow all this growth to poke through their fences,  they eat it, so we'll be rotating them with the horse from now on.

Hedge trimmer works wonders in just minutes

Rebecca with Bliss, not in the show team but one of her favourites

Jazz on the beach 

I know - not pictures of alpacas - but Spring is on the Way - Yey!!

ICY COLD

Saturday morning we woke to minus 8 degrees and a forecast of snow coming in by late afternoon, and this was the day of our BAS Alpaca Evaluation Seminar with Liz Barlow ..  heating was turned right up in The Den so everyone would be cosy, unfortunately we hadn't bargained for the water supply freezing so there was much cursing and last minute defrosting of pipes with a blow heater, which worked as far as the downstairs loo, so at least our visitors didn't have to keep running up to the house.  Liz gave us a brilliant day and everyone thoroughly enjoyed it and learnt lots. We finished in good time and they all made it home safely before the snow really got going.  I love snow, being big kid, so was hugely disappointed when we got rain, especially when I heard how much of the white stuff was about not far from us. Oh well, I'm sure there's enough time left to get some yet.

The next day it thawed and the mud was just awful, everyone looked a bedraggled mess and it was far too grey, damp and miserable to do anything more than was absolutely necessary, so I spent much of day watching telly in front of the log burner - haven't done that for ages and it was just what I needed.

Once again we are gripped by the icy temperatures, I really don't mind 'cos it's dry and the muds frozen. As long as I can keep busy enough to stay warm and I have all the right layers on -  years ago when I worked with horses,  I used to get horrendous black chilblains on my hands, feet and legs - very attractive - doctor told me to get an office job!

Halter training can only be done in the dry weather or my hands just freeze up and I just hate that ... today I spent half an hour or so leading our Futurity show team of 4 weanling boys up our little woodland path. I had stored up a bit of warmth from my dog walk and feed rounds, which lasted just about enough time to get 2 lots of 2 led up to the top of the path and back. They loved it actually, especially Bobby Dazzler and Baylee, who was on the halter for just the second time, and has been a dream to train. Bobby decided that rather than go through the gap cut into a fallen tree trunk that he rather fancied climbing over it instead ... he even did it again so I could take his picture to show you.

Baylee & Eros 

The Sorcerer

Bobby Dazzler

AN ODE TO A TREE

Well, the deed is done, the beautiful beech tree at the top of our farm has been felled. For maybe 150 years it has grown and become part of the landscape, overlooking our farm and the valley. In just two days it has been reduced to a stump. It was diseased, had to come down, but as you can probably tell, I feel sad and rather guilty about ending it's life, especially in such a brutal manner. Had it not been so close to a road we would have left it to nature.  Now there is just a huge void where it stood. The buzzards who have always used it as their lookout perch will have to find another high place - I hope they don't go too far away. Amazing to think of everything that this tree has witnessed.

Before

During

I was hoping to be able to make a picnic table, with seats, in a very rustic kind of fashion, but apparently the wood will quickly rot away - heck, I'm still going to do it ... I'll put cuprinol on it!   This event has led me to reading poems and Odes to trees and I have added a couple here.  Now I need to blow my nose and have a stiff drink!

End of day one

Gone

View of the farm from the top of the tree - I wasn't holding the camera!

An Ode to a Tree
I think that I shall never see
A poem lovely as a tree.
A tree whose hungry mouth is prest
Against the earth's sweet flowing breast;
A tree that looks at God all day
And lifts her leafy arms to pray;
A tree that may in Summer wear
A nest of robins in her hair;
Upon whose bosom snow has lain;
Who intimately lives with rain.
Poems are made by fools like me,
But only God can make a tree.

~ Joyce Kilmer, "Trees," 1914 ~  

Think Like a Tree

by Karen I. Shragg

Soak up the sun
Affirm life's magic
Be graceful in the wind
Stand tall after a storm
Feel refreshed after it rains
Grow strong without notice
Be prepared for each season
Provide shelter to strangers
Hang tough through a cold spell
Emerge renewed at the first signs of spring
Stay deeply rooted while reaching for the sky
Be still long enough to
hear your own leaves rustling.

Some hours later .... not believing this state of mind to be healthy, I phoned our neighbours to invite them for a spur of the moment 'toast' to the tree, to celebrate it's long life, with a glass of red, round the bonfire that the tree surgeons had left burning away in the darkness,  they readily accepted..  of course, we know our neighbours well - they're a good bunch... even brought the crisps and nibbles with them.  Negotiating styles and climbing fences in pitch black not a problem, working our way through the debris of tree felling perhaps a little more tricky, but fun was had by all and we finished up the evening sharing a very lovely chinese meal. Good old tree!! Bless her!