Sunday 29 November 2009

Sleet, Snow and a Bitterly Cold Wind ....

Girls grazing a sunny winters day !
Norris..... not so little now

Little Norris....with the younger boys this summer.


Zeto .... is growing up quickly.



Its definitely winter with a heading like that...its been freezing up here in Aberdeenshire...

Needless to say the alpacas were out and about, the babies did have their coats on today as it was a bitterly cold north wind....so the saying goes...'when the north wind doth blow we shall have snow'. I thought to myself this morning when I turned the alpacas out that it felt like it would snow. Just about 11.30am it did just that, we were blighted with a sleet blizzard for only a couple of minutes but never the less, its the first of the year.

I moved the younger boys back into their small paddock, as I had been resting it for a few weeks to let the grass recover. I decided to reintroduce Norris to the boys...they have meet before when he was a little lamb...he lived next to them. Zaninni would spend hours looking at him on the other side of the divide. Norris is a pet lamb, not so small now, he is quite funny. When he was introduced with the boys he spend his time chasing them....the alpacas were watching with amusement !....Norris was stotting around the boys and was really enjoying himself....it was really funny to watch. There was a nose sniff from Zaninni and Zanubis just to check out who it was. After a little while they all decided to get down to a bit of grazing.

So for now Norris has his friends back.... instead of looking at each other through the fence !

Tuesday 24 November 2009

Do you ever get the feeling your being Followed !!

How nosey .....Trienza
and Zakhura....with little Zienna...

Zeto and Zienna.....


Little Zullulah





Small, meduim and large ! with Trienza, boys in the back ground


Sorry for the lack of posts lately.... I know what its like to keep looking at the other blogs and there's no news ! ~ sad.

I've been a little busy, doing odd jobs !....although the weather has been pretty bad, every where has turned into mud !.... I have managed to patch my wellies with a couple of bicycle tyre patches.....!!!.... I'm too tight to buy some new ones, any way I'm quite attached to them, we have been together for 8 years...my wellies and me !! and if I can fix them.....why not .

I do like a bit of recycling !!

Anyway, back to alpacas as it was a dry day. I decided to take the camera out for a little photo shoot.....you know when you get that...its behind you feeling...well that's just what I got when I went for a walk amongst the girls. The babies are 8 weeks old now, except for Zullulah who is a week younger.

I can't believe just how chunky Zeto looks... compared to the little girls. He is thriving and is a typical boy. The little girls are also doing well. Zienna is very fine compared to Zullulah who is a chunky little girl. Zullulah still likes to have a sit down on the track most mornings especially when it has rained, she gets soaked but seams to like it.

I thought that I'd just share a couple of photos of the alpacas, enjoying a dry day.

Friday 13 November 2009

Toenails and Tantrums....!!

Zaninni....
Slinky...she's an excellent farm cat ! She was rescued by the Cats Protection League, she was completely wild when she arrived, but is very friendly now !


On Thursday, I thought that I'd trim Zaninni's toenails as they were long and needed attention.

So, this was the start of the mission......Zaninni does not like his toenails trimmed and he fights light a mad dog.... I tied him up with the halter and the quest began, he is friendly and we managed to do all the touching work down the legs and onto the feet and so on. But no matter how I tried he still resisted, he behaves like he is under attack from another alpaca, as you know the boys do tend to grab the legs of the others.

So there was no other way, a bit of brute force, once I had managed to get hold of his leg and keep hold of it, that's the secret. At the end of it I had a sweat on and its not easy, but i managed to do the fronts. We still have the back ones to do, he has a kick like a horse.

But, where there's a will there's a way....I will managed somehow, with a bit of ingenious know how and a bit of wrestling no doubt. I'm going to devise an invention or something...I feel an idea coming on.

Tuesday 10 November 2009

Weight in time....baby update !

Zienna ...a couple of weeks ago... she is doing well.
Zeto....left, Zullulah...front and Zienna...in the background.

Zeto is a very forward little chap ! and nosey ...


Today I managed to weight the babies.. just as a little indication how they are doing.

Firstly, there was Zeto ....he's a big chunky fella and full of mischief !... he weighed in at 14.5kgs, at just over 6 weeks old. His birth weight was 5.75kgs so he is thriving, he just helps himself and Dusty is a brilliant mother.

Second, is Zienna. She was a very slow starter and we did have a very difficult time with her, failing to feed or even bond with her mum when she was born. Now its a different story. Zienna and Minstrel are behaving as they should and she is also doing well. Zienna weighed in at 10kgs at just over 6 weeks.

Thirdly, Zullulah....she is a real quiet little baby, in fact Marquette would forget she had her if it was left to her ! So Grandma has stepped into the limelight and keeps a very close eye on her, if you didn't know it, you would actually think that Zullulah was Dusty's baby ! Zullulah is a week behind the others and is just over 5 weeks old, she weighed in at 8kgs.

All the babies are doing well and have gained at a steady rate, so this is the update on the Zanzibah bunch. I shall be weighing them again in December, all being well.

Thursday 5 November 2009

Water, Water every where !...

Minstrel.... she has a 'spit' personality !!
Zienna and Zeto on the move.. now 6 weeks old.

Zullulah is now 5 weeks old.


After the torrential rain fall over the past couple of days, every where you look you can see little rivers.....appearing where there once was none !

Our drive has spouted two new water holes !!... but today we managed to find the culprit, to the new water feature on the drive....its a run off hole that has been flooded due to the excess water up in the ditch which runs down one of the fields.. this has been blocked in and thankfully it has started to dry up.

I had to laugh to myself the other day at Zullulah, when she was turned out with the others as they run across the track, usually with no problem. However on Tuesday we had so much rain there was a river running across the pathway. Zullulah decided to sit in it !!...as the others ran by, she then decide that it was a good idea to have a roll in it.

So much for a morning shower....she seemed to like it and continued until she realised that all the others had passed her and were in the field, she then got up and joined the others...needless to say dripping wet !

These little ones are funny. Quite innocent and every new experience is an adventure. Zullulah has a fascination with the water at the moment, until the land dries up.

Incidentally, my dry season has also ceased. I have been showered by Minstrel lately. She took great pleasure in giving me a ' sorting out' the other night. I was subject to the biggest and most violent onslaught that she could muster !!! .... I made the mistake of touching her baby ! When she had finished, I was definitely a disgusting shade of GREEN ..... and stinking to suit !..... she was threatened with being SOLD !!!... I was not happy...... she even managed to upset Zienna who sulked along with Zullulah. The other girls we standing watching with disgust, they could not understand what all the fuss was about.

I must admit, I felt the same way..... I retired into the house, after having a word !....in her ear !!

Sadly it looks like the 'spitter' is back.... I've lost my little alpaca friend.... I think she suffers from a 'spit personality' ....or maybe it was just an off day !!..... we all have them.

Some more often than others.

Monday 2 November 2009

Oh....what a night !!

The calm, before the storm...
Moo Coo's....on the hill

Resting, before the torrential weather...


Oh........what a night....we have been battered by gales, torrential rain and flooding......plus to round it all off a power cut !!...

Just to round off a horrendous night....our little track which leads up to the farm has been subject to flooding, which has washed the track away just by the bridge which crosses the burn.

However our neighbours are in the process of repairing it, they have dropped a load of rock near to the bridge, where there once was land !! I went down this evening to have a look at the burn and you could clearly see how far up the water had risen..

The land is saturated and there is evidence of flooding every where you look. Its had to believe that the land will dry out. Our local areas of Banff, Turriff have once again been flooded as the rivers have burst their banks, we are forecast more rain over the next 24 hours.

Thankfully I had all the alpacas tucked up safe and sound... the cows even came down off the hill, sure sign of bad weather !

Today, the wind has dropped and we have just had a scattering of light showers. So the animals have had a little time to dry out.

I hope that its not too bad for the rest of the week.. just the time when you could do with your wellies NOT having a hole in them !!!! ...........unfortunately. I will need to get some new ones.