All Done & Dusted !

The weanies.....growing up !

Zoretah, Wellground Vital Spark and Wellground Stravinsky, eating carrots !!

This is the view from the alpaca side of the barn....now all cleaned out and fit for a King !

The barn looks good enough to have a snooze in....now ready for the Spring !

I have been busy this week....finishing off the mucking out of the big barn !

We are all done and dusted, earlier this week I managed to get the rest of the barn mucked out, this is where the girls the weanies are along with the Nick Nacks.....

It has all been cleared and re-bedded down....I don't usually turn the alpacas out until the weather improves, so they come in every night for bed at the moment, its usually around April when they get their marching orders...!

I took a photo after the big Spring clean, you can see that the horses are on the other side of the partition.....eating the haylage, as usual !

It is a big weekend...for Zirrius and Rufus, this is their time to be weaned, the baby girls will move back with the adult females and that is the way it will remain.....preparation for the summer and the pending new arrivals.

Zirrius, Rufus and Max will join the Nick Nacks who will remain in the small birthing paddock, until I manage to get a bit of fencing done. I intend to make another paddock in my 10 acre field. This is where the younger boys will remain, until they are old enough to join the 'Big Boys' I normally introduce the younger boys when they are at least 2yrs old. I have found that any sooner can cause problems within the group, however it really does depend on the temperament and personality of the youngsters, often some grow up much more quickly than others and can stand up for themselves within the adult group.

Most of my introductions are a success, however in the early days it did take me five attempts to introduce Zeuss to the main boy group.....thankfully the others have been no problem !

I often feed carrots to my alpacas and they just love them especially in the winter time when there is less grass to choose from. The other day I scattered some out for the babies to eat, most of them are used to carrots, however I do have one little boy who shows no interest in the hard feed or the carrots, I have taken to giving him some liquid molasses on an evening when they come in for bed...to try and broaden his taste for new food...I'm hoping that he will get to like the taste and move onto the feed...soon. He often stands licking his lips afterwards but has not managed to make the big move.....onto eating the feed.

I have also been supplement him with Multi-Vit paste and injections to help support him through the winter months when the vitamin and mineral levels are greatly reduced due to the lack of grazing, mind you he loves the haylage....despite the lack of interest in the feed, he is in overall good condition, but I can't help thinking he is not as bright as the others.

I'm sure it will just take time to get him going on the feed.....he is lacking behind the others at the moment, Rufus who is 3 months younger was eating the feed months ago.

So this is the end of the weaning for 2012....we are making arrangements for the months ahead, all the girls have done a fantastic job, at looking after their babies...so its time to hand them over to me....for a bit of growing up time....halter training and obviously...lots of delicious cuddles....are on the adult agenda !

It is approx 4 months now until the new Zanzibah babies start to arrive.

I'm already excited to see what delights we are presented with......I just hope that we have no problems and that they all arrive safe and sound......we had a great year last year, 5 babies in total.....4 girls and one boy !

I wonder what we get this year !!!