Whether the weather?

Scrumpy on a frosty morning.

A weekend of mucking-out shelters with a build-up of straw, hay and mud after trying to create dry 'nests' in the wet ground - the forecast for the next ten days is good, with the exception of wednesday, and it's make-or-break for the show team to clean up ahead of The National Show. Will the claggy caked-on mud crumble, or will we have to give it a helping hand....?

Apple Vale Fiesta

We had Scrumpy and Fiesta (above) castrated during the week - Scrumpy (EPC Columbus of Patou) has produced a good number of well-conformed and well-fleeced progeny during his ten years, both for us and his previous owners, but his work is done, and genetics have moved on, and he doesn't tolerate our boys, so we hope it will calm him down, and he can share a paddock soon. Fiesta is calm and will continue to be a good companion to the others.

Fortune can smell a change in Fiesta's 'prospects'!

Halter training has continued with Gala, and after using the lure of 'fresh' grass on the lawn to get her used to having the halter and lead rope, today we moved on to walking around the paddock, in a mock show-ring routine.

I wonder if the show organisers will consider a prize for the alpaca 'most representative of paddock condition' this year? Of course my paddock is different to your paddock, but it is important to have a bit of paddock on your alpaca, otherwise how can it be paddock condition? ;-)

Last saturday as we faced the southerly winds from storm Imogen, I added some stakes to the tether the shelter, and I was relieved that they also survived the westerly winds that came on monday.