The Night Time Queue at the Gate !!

Yes you have guessed it............there was a night time queue at the gate this evening....I felt guilty !!.............I have resisted the temptation to bring them in for bed-time....so there all kicked out !!.......I'm nasty I know, however some people would say I'm a bit 'bonkers' not to mention any names !!

Zaninni, Zeuss, Zerquo and Zorba were all at the gate tonight waiting to come in !....the others were milling around nearby.

The girlie's were getting to grips with their night out. Minstrel was running around like a lunatic, at one point she did start to 'Pronk'....

I have left the babies out also, I must admit I'm concerned that they might be a little scared of the dark !.....and no I don't leave the light on in the shed !!

Only joking....I'm sure that all will be well in the morning, its getting far to warm to be in at bed-time, we are getting a little too hairy for that sort of thing !!... I'll keep you posted.

I just thought that I'd put some more pictures of my father's hand carved walking sticks, as I have none of the 'dirty stop-outs' ......... in the dark !!

Toe-nail trimming, fringe trimming and new summer field for the Girlies !!

Today I have been busy doing a few routine jobs, as mentioned I have been trimming the boys toe-nails, its really strange how some toes grow much quicker than others.

I also decided to trim Zanubis's fringe in order to help him see where he is going, he is very hairy around his face, so I thought that I'd give him a little hair cut.

I have decided to move the girlie's into a different field for the summer, last year the boys were in this field however I have decided to have a little re-arrange of the alpacas this year. The babies are still in their weaning paddock.

We are now out for the summer, unless we get really bad weather and have to bring the alpacas in.

I bet the boys are waiting at the gate tonight to come in for bed-time !.........I'll miss the bed-time stories tonight.................I'll try my best to resist them !!!

Sitting Pretty !!

I thought that I would post this picture of one of my boys, affectionately known as 'Socks'.

He was enjoying the lovely sunny weather last week, however it appears to be much cooler this week.

We have done our second Blue Tongue Vaccinations today, all went well, there appears to be no problems to report as of bed-time tonight !

The babies are getting used to their new routine, although they appear to spend much of their day looking for their mums across the field........ the humming has definitely reduced and they seem to be more settled, the halter training is going well, it always amazes me how quickly these animals learn.

We still have a little difficulty catching on a night time, but I'm sure that they will get the hang of things.......its nice to get some 'hands-on' time with the babies, without the threat of drowning in Spit !..... incidentally Minstrel is much more pleasant now she is not protecting her baby .....thank goodness for that ! Her ear is healing well, we have been up close and personal !! without any spitting...... Yippee !!!!!

We are Weaning !!!.......

I have been quite busy over this week, preparing my weaning pens, it took me nearly all day to sort things out. Eventually, I had managed to make good my divides and secure the weaning area ready for the big day.....after my last ordeal with you know who, with the ear tag. I knew that it would be traumatic, no doubt sprinkled with spit !......

So I braced myself for the moment...... without going into repetitive detail, yes there was lots of Spit....... growling and screaming.......no not by ME !!...... I'll have you know I was swift with the separation, although there was a little chasing around the barn...... I only did a few laps !

I managed, so I decided that I would do my other chores and check on the babies a little later, yes you've guessed it, I had an escapee ..... Zanubis, I revised my weaning area, I had to go through the separation business all over again..... !!!

I persevered...... battened down the hatches and braved the mighty onslaught of Minstrel again.........yes I was spat at, she was not amused..........neither was I.

However I triumphed in the end.

So we are now officially weaning, albeit it a little later than would have hoped. I was delayed due to a bit of a back strain.

We have also acquainted, Zakhura and Zanubis with the head collars.......its all a bit traumatic, at one point the babies did have a bit of a sulk and a 'sit-in'.....but we got over that little hurdle. The first lead reigning was not liked by Zakhura, she fought the halter, however Zanubis was a little better..........this is the 3rd day into the new regime and the lead reigning is going quite well...... I even was photographed through the porch window leading the babies in for bed......

The Swallows have arrived today !!.....24/4/09

Just a little blog to say that the Swallows have arrived today, I saw the first ones early this morning, actually at 6.45am...... I was up early.....what a lovely surprise. It was just last night as I was doing my evening chores, I thought to myself that the swallows were late this year.....and little did I know that the very next morning I would see the first ones of this summer !

However, I have no photos as of yet, so here are a couple of the deer that sneak into our fields, when its quite, I took it from my kitchen window......so the quality is not too good.

A walk with a Difference...

I have been a bit busy, hence the lack of blogs.....however I have a tale to tell so here goes, on Wednesday morning I went out for my morning walk with the dogs, Zonda has much recovered now so I hope I'm not going to jinx her by saying so. We back onto a lovely wood and I often walk through it, regularly seeing, deer, badgers and sometimes the odd fox..... I like the wildlife so I enjoy the rare sighting of the local wildlife.

I was accompanied by my four legged friends....however sometimes I have been know to be graced with the company of my house cat ......he is a dandy pants and has a few nick names, one of them being 'Pom Pom', but his real name is Pocus..........

So here are some photos of my walk with a difference, with my animal friends, I took the camera with me as I thought I might get a picture of the Red Squirrels that I feed at the edge of the wood......no squirrels, just a tree climbing cat !

We do not like Ear Tags !!

We do not like ear tags.....My resident spitter has not been happy, so I decided to take a look at her ear, it appears that the ear tag has been causing her some discomfort !...there was a lot of heat in her ear, I needed to investigate the problem. So I decided to remove the tag.

After the usual gratitude accustomed by Minstrel, she is not the most delightful girl in the bunch !.....although the sounds effects were quite remarkable....I was showered with a multi combination of Spit, Squeals and Growls !!....but I persevered...I got the job done !!

We did a little first aid.....cut the tag out and removed the infected scab. I then applied a combination of anti-biotic spray, wound powder and Vaseline on the ear.....she was still not a happy bunny.....and there was no signs of gratitude .... I left smelling a little unsavoury....and covered in a mixture of semi-chewed food.....I'm getting quite acquainted with the odour and so is every-one else round here....... we need to have a little talk about 'manners' me thinks !!

My other girls are so pleasant......they're delightful......and don't do that sort of thing !! .....thankfully...

Beautiful Babies.....getting All grown Up !

Just a couple of updated photos of the not so small babies....Zakhura little black female is getting quite grown up now. I have a bit of a soft spot for her, as she is my first female that I have bred, I am quite proud of how she is growing up !

Also Zanubis, he is a Rose Grey !..... there is a bit of a friendly argument going on with my father, who says that he is 'Brown'. I have defended the fact since the day he was born, that he is a Rose Grey, I've now got the pictures to prove it. The wind was blowing and I caught a picture of his fleece, blowing in the wind.....I have high hopes for him.......I think he is also maturing into a very promising fella !........

Terwitt....Tawoo!!

Some regular readers will remember that it was my Birthday a couple of weeks ago, one of my presents was an 'Owl Box'....I have often mentioned that I would like an owl nesting box to place on the edge of the wood.

I have heard the owls terwitt-tawooing on a night time from the edge of the wood. So all that was neeeded was 'King Kong' to get the thing up the tree....I watched from a distance, I picked out the tree and it was a case of .....this bloody thing weights a tonne.....hand made from our friend Roger who specialises in the construction of quality wooden buildings/stables etc.,

When I was presented with it on my birthday I honestly thought it was a ferret house, I was quickly corrected and informed that it was an owl nesting box.......there must be some big owls up here !!

It did cross my mind that it would take a very big tree and a strong man to fix it !....

Anyway, it has been sited and looks great up on the edge of the wood.....I do hope that we get some wildlife to use it......knowing my luck....I have a sneaking feeling I might find the cat or even a squirrel in there.....we will see, I shall keep you posted, who decides to use it.

Jackdaw's Delight !

According to the weather over the past few days, we also have been treated to Spring-time.

This was confirmed by the local Jackdaw's collecting for their nests. So I noticed that there was a group of them collecting from around the field, a pair decided to fly off with some Highland hair, kindly donated from Haggis, this gave me an idea ! So I decided to put some alpaca shearings out, just the old stuff from last year, mainly off the leg cuttings, just to see if they would come and take this also.

Guess what, they did, I even managed to snap a quick photo from my kitchen window ! I like to help the wild animals, especially if they can do a little bit of recycling, why not !!.....I would like an alpaca lined nest to brood my chicks in....nothing but the best for the Jackdaws up here in bonny Scotland !

Spitting Image !

There must be something in the air.....well actually its alpaca spit !....aimed with great precision by my resident spit fountain Minstrel. If you hadn't guessed already we had to have a little hands on experience with Zanubis for his Bluetongue injection, I was in for it as usual.

It started even before I had even laid a finger on him, I put the feed out as usual and before I could even close the gate I was in the line of fire, great start, so by this time I had nothing to lose and accepted that it was just going to be one of those days. I had even made a pen to put madam in whilst I did the injections....however I was well and truly drenched.......Minstrel was placed in the pen after several blasts of alpaca fury.

We also did Zakhura with her first injection, I was busy doing my injection when Pacosha my multi coloured brown/white female came right up to me, cheeky madam did nothing more than spit at me right on the head at close range I'll have you know......so I was well and truly spat on, from a distance and at close range.......!! Thanks very much......So I to can still smell it and there's definitely a pungent smell of spit in the air........there are times when you do question yourself...............why !

I can't wait for the weaning to commence........its scheduled for next week all being well, I shall look forward to a little spit free, hands on time with the babies......Yipee !!