Mixed times

Things have generally been going well , apart from the weather of course ! So I committed the unforgivable sin of thinking to myself ' things are going well considering the weather ' - what has happened , well of course it is not going well now !
For several weeks I have been bringing Veronica and her cria Ewart , in for the night along with Esti , my bottle baby. Veronica is my oldest alpaca , at 13 she should still have a long life ahead of her , but this weather has proved that she really is getting old . She started to loose condition well before Christmas , hence the barn overnight , with extra supplies of alpha pellets and sugar beet . On Christmas eve she was struggling to stand - just the xmas present I needed- and I really thought that the time had come . With trepidation I went out on Christmas morn to find her knooshing happily. Since then she seems to have turned a corner and has steadily gained condition and is happily out for most of the day , unless it is raining  with the rest of the herd. Last Wednesday night , her cria looked unhappy , nothing specific, just unhappy. Thursday morning he struggled to stand and was not eating . Vet visit - we seem to be boosting their coffers very nicely this week- and a general view that whilst there was nothing obvious , he was not well. He had no temp , nothing specific, but off to the vet he went for blood tests and a drip . Sadly , later that day he died . As usual , he was a cracker , always a little on the small side , but never a concern. The pm result showed nothing! No worms of any kind , no fluke , no gut problems ,  nothing , just a failure to thrive. Veronica is upset , but has got used to Esti , and now the pair are inseparable , she bears all the hallmarks of an old lady- very alert , but slower than the others , still warding them away from anything she chooses to eat , but happy to sit by the hay racks and gently nibble . I think we have to accept that we might be lucky to get through to the spring , but she seems pretty happy and is not in any pain , just old. Scarily Veronica has started tipping over occasionally when she is in a cush, this has given us all heart failure since we looked out to see her seemingly dead in the field and also in the barn , but a gentle push back to cushing and she is up and away.
The rest of the herd are all doing well - there, I've done it again- and although thoroughly sick of the weather seem quite content with the continuing rounds of sugarbeet and hard feed.

Always room for one more surprise

As the nights draw in , and the days get colder , we are all looking to our winter husbandry regime . Hay is being munched at a greater rate , how glad I am that we had a good crop this year , sugar beet made with hot water is not far away , and of course Vit A D & E to be administered. We have always used injectable vits , but i am considering ingestible as well - any views or experience ? Can one mix them , since we have already done one round of injectable ....
Anyway, the surprise relates to Esti . Since we have raised her on a bottle she is something of a favourite! Gradually we have weaned her , currently she is almost bottle free , the impediment is me - I do enjoy that small moment of contact once a day, and the secuere knowledge that she has a hot meal in her belly. Honestly she is becoming a bit of a porker , but I would rather that as we go into winter  . For the last 2 days I have observed the strangest thing - as the temp has dropped over night I have seen Esti snuggled up with ..... her mother ! That is really strange , Artemis has paid no attention except for the odd spit , scream or even kick , since the day Esti was born , but now they sit together almost happily . I still detect a slight froideur from Artemis , but she IS snuggling !? Alpacas can be so odd !

Up dates

As you may have noticed , my blogging has become less frequent . In lots of ways this is positive - oh yes it is - because it means that the things I blog about are all going well , and there is little drama to report. Having said that , not all drama is bad news , and we have had plenty of drama recently.Firstly , the hay is ALL cut and put away, and we got more than last year, it smells great and I can sleep more easily knowing that there is no stress related to winter feed! Grateful thanks to our belgian visitors who helped with the physical putting away , very different from what I think they thought they'd be doing on a weeks holiday in the Brecon Beacons !

And now the fun bits . Well true to expectation , all the alpaca girls have delivered happy healthy cria in the predicted time span- to the day!! Not quite in right order I must confess , but still within the dates I hoped for .Since my last update we have now got the full complement of 9! Six boys , 3 girls . 3 black, 3 choc, 2 mid fawn and 1 white!! Isn't alpaca genetics fascinating , all from the same sire , Teifi Magic , himself a blue black , out of mums varying in colour from black to white . 2 of the black cria are from black mums , the third is from a light fawn ? The only white is from a light fawn , and all the white mums had choc babies - it s a bit of a logic puzzle , which I have given up trying to solve , lets see what next year brings.

Elf , who had ' inside out ' ears at birth , no longer has 'inside out ' ears . Interestingly this is due to 2 things , initially I did nothing ,then at 2 weeks old I vet wrapped both ears , one bandage came of within hours the other stayed put for a couple of days = one fine ear , one dodgy ear . Poor little thing looked even weirder , but was easy to pick out in a crowd! Gradually the other ear straightened all by itself , and now I struggle to tell the difference between her and Enzo. Ain't nature clever.

The final four arrived in a fairly civilised manner, Veronica gave birth to Ewart on my dads birthday which was a week earlier then predicted , especially after last year when she was very late. He is a real beauty, with the most fantastically tight curls which are growing out to show amazing crimp, fingers crossed. Currently he is still a bit small , but she is an experienced mum and he seems full of the joys , so we will watch and wait.

The last birth was quite interesting- I have been waiting for Cerys to produce since the 22 June , at shearing the shearers agreed that she was pregnant , I sat back and waited , and waited and waited .... nothing happened , and some days she did look pregnant and other days I couldn't really tell. I couldn't feel a cria ' bounce' and she bagged up a long time ago - the signs were highly confusing! Anyway , on Aug 1st I put her mum , Boz Bijou , into the mating pen with Teifi Magic , and lo and behold Cerys insisted in going in too . I was pretty exasperated - only a week before she was spitting like mad over the fence at him .I felt pretty peeved that she had finally

decided to reveal her open state after all the weeks I

have watched and worried , but at least I knew for definite as she sat sedately next to the mating pair waiting for her turn.

And then I saw a foot , actually 2 feet appear and disappear with regular contractions ! Clearly the old adages are true - sex does have an effect on a pregnant creature , just not the one I expected . Fairly quickly after that she stood up , I let her out of the pen , and within 10 mins she had produced a gorgeous black boy, all fit and healthy and up and away within all the predicted time limits .

He goes from strength to strength , despite the fact he has no name . I know , its shocking , but true , he is nameless.

And so the herd is complete for this year .

Matings have taken place at the appropriate times , and Andaw Czars Aberlour has started his career as a sire of prize winners - we hope !

Lots to report!!

Esti

Well, since our first cria , now named Estrella (swedish for star , Esti for short ) we have had a few more additions. But first Esti, she is a super star , hence the name . I am feeding her 6 or 7 times a day and she is a dream, needless to say she is growing fast and very friendly . I am slightly cautios about the 'friendly' bit, I know it can be a bad thing later , but for now we are all enjoying her . She comes when called and the boys love racing around with her , of course Esti never gets out of second gear but they all seem to enjoy themselves .

Next to arrive is another light brown female , as yet unnamed , who has slightly bent ears . She is a beauty with a great fleece , and the ears give her a very elfish look, I know that they need to be dealt with , but I have not yet manged to catch her and wrap them , her mum is super protective and will not let me near. DH thinks they look cute , however, they should be straight and thats how they will be - eventually ! When she was born, her ears were wrapped around the back of her head like cabbage leaves , each day they look a little straighter ..........

'Elf'

On Tues arrived our first male of the season , a dark fawn with a fab curl. He is the smallest of

the lot to date , but none the less up and away without any help and doing really well. His mum , Cressida, is really a teenage mum , being only just 2 herslef and on the petite side , but her cria is great , also unnamed , but I am leaning toward Evan .

Yesterday( Wed) we had a giant delivered. Elvis is Bijou's 5th cria for us , and a corker! He is huge , at least as big as Esti if not a bit taller, certainly heavier! and a fantastic blue black like his parents.

Elvis ( 4 hrs old ) and Bijou

Today saw Hermione produce a white female , who is called Elizabeth the Third ! for obvious reasons. Again a tall cria , she is safely tucked up in a stable with mum for the night , just to make sure the bond is strong , and feeding is going well .

Elizabeth III with Elf in the background

Thats all folks .... for today , still 4 more due this week!

Elderflower cordial

Well , I have to say that I am feeling quite pleased with myself - for once nothing animal related , I have made elderflower cordial! It is remarkably easy , and yet I have never done it before. The elderflowers are just coming into their own, so there may be plenty more to come, but for now I am freezing it ! Alpaca news to follow , and yes we have another cria , but details will be later!! Meantime , my turkey has gone broody again, but I cannot find where! Periodically she reappears for food , but I have not had the time or luck to find her nest , safe to say the fox hasn't either , yet .

Finally!

A new addition to the herd. On Wednesday lunchtime Artemis gave birth to a female , chocolate brown suri cria. She is absolutely beautiful , but sadly her mum doesn't think so, hence the lack of blog ! i saw mum giving birth , and the labour was a little slow and obviously painful , so a gentle tug and everything was OK. Artemis looked genuinely shocked by the birth , and as a first time mum was completely stunned by her newborn . The cria - yet to be named - was fantastic , cushed in 5 mins , standing in 20 and nursing within 45 mins - perfect. Gradually , as the initial euphoria wore off , it became evident that Artemis was less than thrilled . She let the baby nurse for the first couple of hours and then began to reject her. I have tried everything - confinement in the barn for a day or 2 with a companion , check over by the vet , mild sedative, pain killers , even lavender oil on them both , but to no avail . Quite simply mum is not remotely interested , and whilst not aggressive , will not let her cria within feet of her . So , I have a bottle baby! Luckily she is easy to feed and doing really well, gaining weight , and out with the rest of the herd today now that the weather is better. My one big concern is that she identifies with the other alpaca, currently she is very happy to follow me and stick by me , I am keeping my distance and gradually one of my maiden females seems to be taking an interest , fingers crossed.

Never cease to surprise

No not the alpacas on this occasion , but the hens! One of my broody hens has abandoned her chicks and returned to the more glamorous world of the chicken house , and amazingly the other hen has adopted her chicks !! I have never seen this before , and I am amazed - I really didn't think they would do that .

On the alpaca front , nothing! Just nothing. The pregnant girls are all looking very pregnant , and some are beginning to bag up , but other than that , nothing . DH has been on birth alert , and in all honesty I am glad nothing has happened on his watch, I really want to be around when the cria are born , there's a silver lining etc , good chance I may be here. On Friday we are shearing , we have never sheared with animals who are so close to giving birth , one year the only female due around shearing gave birth just before the shearers arrived.... so I am a little anxious , but the shearers are experienced so we are all in good hands.

Any news will be swiftly reported I promise