Grampian Country Fair

 We have been out and about ....with the boys, Zeto, Zanubis, Zerquo & Duke

 We caused lots of interest, on both side of the fence !

The boys behaved very well, to say it was their first outing

We have been out and about, spreading the 'Alpaca' word.

On Saturday it was The Grampian Country Fair, held at Fyvie Castle not far from where we live, we were asked by the Scottish Rare Breeds Society.....if we might like to attend, for a Charity Event sponsored by Inspire.

It was an early start for us all, my mam and dad were here to help and my dad had a nice display of his hand carved walking sticks.  We were hoping for an early night on the Friday evening, but true to form...that didn't happen !

On the evening when I got the boys in...I noticed that Zelqui was limping...he came hobbling into the barn, I thought I'd better have a good look at his leg, there was me thinking that it might need a good bathing and maybe a quick spray with the Terramycin spray, job done !  No chance of that one, after a close inspection, it was very clear to see that he had a massive tear across the majority of his knee, it was very deep...not a patching up job....but a stitching up job required !

Needless to say the vet was called..after a bit of a wrestle with Zelqui, he is little, but he has a big personality and he is a fidget at the best of times....he was sedated.  We managed to restrain him, to allow the vet to stitch him up ....by this time it was nearly 1am......we were eventually finished and by then....I wondered if it was actually worth going to bed !  I didn't get much sleep...and up bright and early around 6am to check and see to the animals before we left.....true to form...Zelqui escaped out of the barn...as I was taking the others out to the trailer, to say he had been injured and should be feeling under the weather, well he was not....he ran up and down the track a couple of times, he was eventually caught and put back in the barn with the others...to have a restful day !

Off, we went to the Show, the weather was typically Scottish Summer, light drizzle and eventually by the afternoon, the sun decided to make an appearance !

The alpacas were wearing their new summer look, this did not seem to detract from their crowd drawing abilities....most of the boys were well behaved, Zerquo spent most of the day humming and Duke decided to leave the pen for a brief moment, by the time I had managed to find a lead rope and imagined myself chasing him round the show ground....thankfully he had jumped back in !

We had a lovely day, meeting lots of lovely people and seeing some lovely rare-breeds and some strange breeds.......but I think it was fair to say it was a success.  Most people who know me, know I do not take my animals anywhere, however this was an exception for a very good cause. 

We got home safe and sound, the alpacas were back grazing in their field by 7pm as if nothing had happened.....everything was ok when we returned and Zelqui is doing just fine, he has been on several days of injections and pain relief and you really wouldn't know he was injured .... if you didn't know. 

It is quite exciting here as of this week..... I am awaiting the arrival of my yarn, I had a lovely conversation today with John at the Border Mill, it is in the post and might be here tomorrow !

Finally as of today....we are officially in the 'birthing window'

I wonder what tomorrow has in store.