Tuesday 18 August 2009

All quiet here !


I have noticed a lack of blogging by me over the past few weeks. I must confess to not having much to report about, although time is ticking by nicely. The ladies are starting to look decidedly rotund, as we have just passed the one month to go marker. Many regular readers will remember that my crias are all due around the 17th September, all being well.

My parents were visiting last week and we managed to get most of the jobs on the wish list sorted.

I have noticed a definite Autumnal feel to the nights, also that we are starting to get a little darker sooner, its now around 9pm ish, a couple of weeks ago it was around 10pm ish. So it looks like the seasons are starting to change.

We still have a couple of pairs of Swallows feeding their second clutches of babies, its hard to believe that in less than a matter of a month or so, these little marvels will be preparing to leave us for the winter.

I am always a little sad when the swallows leave, usually in September, last year they left on the 13th, they all lined up on the telephone wires and there were a sight to be seen. I wished them all a safe journey and good luck for their flight.

The only nice thing when the Swallows leave is I then look forward to seeing the Canada Geese coming over to visit for the winter. It is a marvellous sight to behold when you see them flying in their 'V ' format. I usually hear them long before I manage to see them in the sky.

As we are late this year with our cria arrivals. I have decided not to re-mate the girls this year, as I want to change their breeding months to spring. So we will hopefully move the breeding dates to sometime around May. I hope to then have spring-time babies, in future.

2 comments:

Debbie, Barnacre Alpacas said...

All our swallows are now gathering ready for their departure. They all used to site on the electricity cable that crossed our little lane, but the wires have now gone underground so they are lining up on our roof.

Rob @ Wellground said...

Hi Jayne,

Moving birth to spring is really advantageous. We have done that where we can.

It will depend on your circumstances and facilities. But we now have the first births arriving in late February/early March. It sounds a bit extreme at first, but if you can get away with that, the cria do so well on the spring rush of grass when it arrives. The cria grow so much better and the dams produce better milk when it's most needed by the growing cria.

Good luck with it.

Rob