Thursday 26 April 2012

Grandsire: Apple Vale Dave


Yes, a bit of two-legged news! Our daughter Kerry (Dam:Mrs. Smallholder, Sire: Apple Vale Dave) gave birth to a lovely daughter, Pixie Indigo Bartlett yesterday afternoon! They are doing well, though not up and running yet!

Meanwhile, I am continuing halter training Camelot, though there isn't long between downpours to get anything useful done, bearing in mind the day job. We did have some good sessions last weekend though. I've introduced a few of them to apple, having run out of carrots, though they do look like chips in the photographs!
I spent a day helping 'build' and prepare the Alpaca 2012 Show, which was an interesting insight to the huge amount of work that goes into such an event, particularly since it is a stand-alone show, not part of an agricultural show.

Storm clouds gather again...
I then attended the first day of the show, which has had many good reports.

Monday 9 April 2012

Belly brush

Must see the orthodontist.
Queuing at the gate - "we're going home, we're going home"
A short cut, courtesy of our neighbours.
We have a two foot gap where we roll the fence back, and they squeeze through!
Pelachuta doesn't like the jam, and goes to the back.
Pelachuta and Bramley get straight in the rolling pit

Camelot and Minnie take their turn in the rolling pit.
The hens have to get used to sharing the paddock again.
Lets all squeeze into the corner to graze - Camelots fleece like an explosion in a mattress factory!
Good Friday dawned crisp with a slight frost, and thin ice on the water buckets like the caramalised sugar on a Creme Brulee... but not brown...or hot... anyway, I had decided to bring the herd home from the paddock next-door-but-one, as their grass was well grazed without recovery due to the dry weather, and our grass was well recovered, and we had husbandry tasks to deal with. So the rattle of hurdles being set up  excited them and attracted them to the gate, and the sight of feed buckets helped - none of them wandered off through the taped route and I had a job to keep up, so they were home in 5minutes, and with lush grass and old memories to re-discover they ignored their feed buckets.

It's great to have them back, and to be able to watch their behaviour any time of day or night or weather.

Yesterday, I gave them all Lambivac vaccinations, and today we trimmed toe-nails. Camelot launched himself like Zebedee over the hurdles, but caught his belly or groin on landing - ouch.

My camera (Canon Eos 1000D) has been playing up since The Futurity - I get an Err 99 each time it re-sets, and I have to take the battery out and put it back - I've tried suggestions given on the Canon forum to no avail - looks like I'll have to send it for service, but I can't bear to be without it - anyone had similar?

We transferred some potted conifers into the field four years ago as they had out-grown the pots, and Mrs. Smallholder thought we could grow some firewood -  fast-forward to a herd of alpacas, and the trees have become alpaca belly-brushes - see the videos: "Apple Vale Bellybrush - reaches the parts a long neck and rolling pit don't reach".