Oops I've done it again !

...camping that is ! We went camping on Monday and stayed until Wed , throu' torrential rain and flooding , but the boys loved it . The first day was OK , the weather was sunny but windy and bearable , I managed to get the tent up all by myself and it was all fine . DH arrived after work , having fed the baby alpaca( well tried anyway) and fed all the other animals , and I went home to feed the baby alpaca since he hadn't taken much from DH but drank all of it from me . Tues was WET , and the enjoyment factor declined in a direct correlation with the length of time it had been raining. Eventually the camp site was completely sodden and patches of standing water began to appear . After a night of torrential rain coupled with hurricane force winds , I packed up as soon as we got up and CAME HOME!



Berlioz is doing OK , he always looks a little dejected to me , but that is just me personalising him , but he is taking his bottle well ,and guzzling in excess of 1200ml a day so he is doing fine . Soon he will be off to West Wales for his hols , I hope to see a big change when I get back . AS far as his mother goes , I shall give her one more chance - she gets mated again and then if she cannot feed her cria next year I will sell her as a non-breeder. I am concerned about the condition being genetic, and I shall see whether her daughter has the same problem before making a final decision .

The alpaca have spent most of the day in the back garden today, freaks the postman out ! - keeping the lawn down and making cutting a bit easier for me - the weather has been sunnier and the grass is growing like mad , if we could get 4 good days we could make our final fields of hay and be ready for winter - fingers crossed .

Four out of five of this years cria

So busy , so little time !

Well , the vets came on Friday , after the plasma arrived , and we managed to get the plasma into Berlioz without too much fuss . Of course , he wasn't thrilled at me holding him still for the best part of an hour , but I'm sure it's worth it . Today he is bounding around with the other cria and is still taking his bottle very nicely , he even let DH feed him yesterday!

On Friday night we had TORRENTIAL rain , which caused the cattle grids to block up and the water to rush past the front door in am alarmingly high level . Cue DH me and some of the boys feverishly clearing cattle grids and diverting water pouring from the fields into them . I have never seen rain like it , and the fields are already waterlogged - and it's only July !?

Saturday was chicken house cleaning day . We have fallen victim to the dreaded red mite , and it is almost a full time job keeping them at bay. Most mornings I go out with a flame torch and burn all the little beggars I can see - it is a truly cathartic process ! But at the weekends I take apart a house and blitz it with a pressure hose and then spray liberally with Jeyes fluid , that keeps them at bay for a couple of days and by the next weekend we do it again ,which seems to keep them at acceptable ( I use the word loosely) levels for the hens .

Also managed to get rid of 2 cockerels to good homes, one to the electrician and one to the vet . 2 down 5 to go!

Hiccup

A hitch in posting , means that the plasma won't now be here until Friday, but Berlioz seems to be doing well . I am trying to be careful about not getting too friendly - we don't want a 'berserk alpaca' in the future - but he is so sweet and so smart , he has already cottoned on to the fact that me + bottle = feed , and he comes over to me without too much hesitation . Riva helps , she seems to know that I am feeding him to keep him alive , and so she comes and stands nearby when I feed him and he always goes straight back to her when he has finished his bottle and has a quick suckle with mum . He is smarter than his sister Artemis who took several weeks to realise that I was on her side .

I think I have solved part of the riddle of why the girls are spitting and then sitting in a slightly random fashion , well Athena is anyway , today I have caught our gelding , Woden , trying to mate with Athena , who seems quite comfortable cushing and letting him get on with it . Tomorrow I will separate him off into a field with girls I believe to be pregnant and who will have none of this fuss . Woden is a slight oddity in that he goes mad if he is separated from Bijou ! I think it's because he is the only black gelding and the fawn ones all sit together and exclude him - have you noticed how they tend to sit in colour groups ? Anyway, Woden is much more comfortable with the black girls , but this simulated mating thing could be a problem , may even induce ovulation which will really muck up my mating schedule !

Berlioz ...

bad news from the vet today , it appears that after an IgG test ( levels of immunity) Berlioz has not got a sufficiently high level and will need a plasma transfer . This is due to his mother not producing enough colostrum , and whilst we can produce our own colostrum it is tricky and needs a spinner , which neither our vets nor us possess. Thankfully , Mary-Jo has a supply of frozen colostrum which can be couriered to us for Thursday , the vet is on standby to come and do the transfusion , and I am stressed !

Royal Welsh

Yesterday was a day out for me minus kids - hurray!

Amanda and I went to the Royal Welsh Show near Builth Wells , the largest agricultural show in Europe allegedly , and an annual trip for the pair of us . We had a fab day , with great weather and some great stuff to look at , the horse events were brilliant especially the Inter-hunt relay , nerve racking and so exciting to see all the these horses competing against each other and the clock , and the commentator was hilarious.
Sadly , no alpacas at the Welsh , but huge numbers of beautiful cows and pigs , thousands of sheep ( yawn) and cute curly goats . I was also very tempted by a new mini tractor , DH says we can manage until next year ( boo ) but it was pretty cool to be trying out a tractor - who would have thought that Peter Jones could lead to this !

Berlioz is taking to 2 bottles a day well , and the newest cria , as yet unnamed , is doing really well, shame about the weather .

Quick house update - the roof is on , the stud walls are up , the plumbing is going in as we speak and the electrics start at the weekend.

Fifth and final!

Today at 11am Veronica had her cria ! I had a feeling that she was going to produce today when I saw her at breakfast , and sure enough she did , althou' we had a few tense moments when a head but no legs appeared , and when they finally did appear they were in the wrong position , but everything finally slotted into place and our latest and last edition arrived - a girl ! As yet unnamed , but very bonny and big and strong , up and feeding easily - a corker .
Veronica is quite the reverse of most of my girls , who become sweet and loving for 24hrs after giving birth and will let you stroke and cuddle them when they would normally run a mile - Veronica becomes quite savage when she is in labour , and chased me out of the field , having done something I have never heard of before - she bit me ! quite hard on the back of the arm , and it hurt !! Now she is calm , but not friendly , baby is feeding well and we are all at peace with the world .




Berlioz is another matter ! Riva is clearly not producing enough milk and I have deceided , on vets advice , to supplement twice a day . As I have said this presents me with a problem whilst we are away on holiday, but during a conversation with my dear friend Sue , the answer appeared ! I shall take 2 of my studs to her along with Riva and Berlioz and she is happy to feed him twice a day . Thank you Sue . We are both caught in the bTB problem , Rules are different in Wales and only the state vet can do the test , which means they are not prepared to come out for one animal but to do the whole herd . The theory is good but the practice is flawed and that makes me nervous .

Slowly

.. we had a small weight gain since yesterday morning, 300gms , but better by far than I had anticipated , seems like I might get away with one top up a day after all . Will keep you posted .
The name game continues , I fancy Berlioz and the kids fancy Biscuit - good , since that is exactly his colouring , and DH gets to vote for Bossanova ...... will let you know !

The weather is foul , so he is wearing our very fetching cria coat in bright red - makes it so much easier to spot him in the field , and my resident farming expert says we have enough grass to cut for hay , if the sun ever shines again !