Minnie delivered us a lovely girl this morning, assisted by the mid-wife (Mrs. Smallholder) as her legs were over the top of her head and appeared to be making it diificult to exit - I was phoning the vet, and by the time I had found the number (it was on the sheet of 'things to do when the cria arrives' which was in the 'delivery' bag out in the field of course) and since the phone didn't go to divert for the on-call vet, baby arrived before I got through) - excellent. She arrived exactly on 11months, and after hearing of so many long gestations we were expecting a long wait, then, bingo! She has such long legs, and reminded me of the fighting machines in The War of The Worlds. Anyway enough chat for tonight, you probably want to see some pictures. You'll notice I'm still trying to get the hang of organizing these photos.

More ice please!

It's been sweltering here today - feeling that glow you get in the evening after too long in the sun: tanned legs, arms, feet and neck- but I was putting some fence posts in - followed by a barbeque - even the dog lay on her back, legs apart - I filled the pool for the alpacas, and they emptied it twice. I've not seen Minnie, (the white) in the pool, though I have seen the other two. It seems that Minnie will sit close by to catch the splashes from the other two. You can see in the picture, Moira has stood on the edge of the pool to flip it up and scoop the last drops out! I'm looking for something that will make a longer pool, like a drinking trough or water tank.

Feeding has been easier this week - not sure exactly why, but I went back to the original arrangement - I took the dividing sheep hurdle out, and put Minnies bucket at the back so she was more sheltered, and she has seemed calmer.

Tango the hen has been showing her brood around the place - she's been showing them how to scratch the ground to find food, and if the other hens or cocks appear to be a threat, she puffs up her feathers and spreads her wings - it's as if they are attached to her by elastic, and never get too far away, without all zooming back to her to start creeping away again.

Roll-on, roll-off

I've realised that the roll-on, roll-off ferry was designed after the alpacas habit of lifting its tail to use the latrine...
This week, I went to Ashill Alpacas to 'help' and witness my first alpaca shearing - it was useful to see what's involved so I can be properly prepared for when mine are done, and to deal with the fleeces carefully. Thanks to Heather and Keith Rushforth for accommodating me.
Continuing to try and encourage my shy feeder, Minnie - she's the one due to birth in a fortnight - I've tried having extra bowls to occupy the other dominant pair which occasionally works, but she's become more shy with encroaching birth - this afternoon, I herded them into the compound, closed the gate but only the over-weight one was interested - so I lined up the three bowls in front of the gates and opened them, so they would have to walk past to get out - bingo!, they coudn't walk past without sampling the feed and Minnie did have a good nibble -but does anyone have any tried and tested methods?

Trove - there's a word you never hear associated with anything other than treasure - seems a bit of a waste of a word...

Just received the new album by The Manic Street Preachers - a signed copy - it's great that they are recording and performing again, they're previous album was good too.

Tango, one of our hens, has been sitting on a clutch of eggs for a while, and yesterday four of them hatched - competition for our incubator.

"How much longer are you going to be in that bath?"

Its been very warm here today, and I'd been told that alpacas like a paddle, and seen pictures in magazines, so I borrowed one half of the ducks 'clamshell' paddling pool and filled it up. We slapped some mite cream onto Moiras legs, and let them out of the shelter - they went straight to the bath, and true to the herd order, Moira had first go - timidly she got her front feet in, - I think the pool is too small to get all her feet in, so she had to be inventive and flicked water back towards her belly and back legs, as you can see in the picture. Then she sat down, with just her front legs in! She spent a good quarter of an hour before letting Pela have a go - she's a bit smaller, and managed to get in, but found her feet slipping on the curved sides, so she leapt out in the same movement.

I was singing at Stourhead House (National Trust) yesterday, with a vocal harmony group which I belong to, called Jazz m'Tazz, at the Festival of the Voice, which is held annually, with over 30 groups singing at different locations around the grounds. You can find clips on You-Tube.

With our due birth-date only three weeks away, I need to do a checklist of things to do once the cria arrives - I've got books and done anti-natal classes, and bought most of the 'equipment', but I get the heeby-jeebies when I realise it could arrive any day, so I need to do a short-list of important things - its a bit like your first baby: endless equipment and supplies to buy, and you can't imagine actually using it, but at the same time worry that you've forgotten something - not sure whether to buy pink and blue balloons in advance, to tie on the gate, or do you just buy the colour you need after it arrives? - and I need a shortlist of names - I've thought of a theme, but I'll reveal that nearer the time.

Bank Holiday Special - 15% extra

What's special about this blog? Well it's a day late, and I've got an extra day to write about, hence the 15% extra - struck by a head cold, I was pooped last night at 'blog o'clock'.
I've included a few pics which I took while walking the dog this morning around our area, to set the scene for anyone who doesn't know our whereabouts - in the picture above, you can just see our three alpacas on the brow of the hill - our field slopes down away from the brow - I think they like a hill-top as a self-preserving instinct, so they can get a good view of predators: Lynx, Condor, snakes etc. - you know, typical South American wildlife - I wonder how long it will take for British-bred alpaca to change their nature in that respect?

Just listening to America: 'Horse with no Name' - what a brilliant, yet simple song.

May Bank holiday is known for odd country pusuits like Cheese-rolling and Dorset knob-throwing, but when you have a house and small-holding to run, there are plenty of energy-sapping jobs to do without making them up - it was a weekend of Somerset door-chiselling, gate-latch fitting, hedge-trimming, tree-pruning, alpaca-bonding, alpaca mite-treating, shed-tidying...

We've got two ducklings, a few days old as in the picture, and ten more which are imminent - they have 'pipped' (that's when they chip the eggshell to get oxygen in, so they can make the big push for hatching, an amazing struggle).

We had a go at applying some 'lotion' to treat the mites on Moiras' (the black maiden alpaca) legs - she's a big girl, not much fleece, and doesn't like her legs being touched - she'll struggle, throwing me against the shelter, and kick with the back legs, aiming for Mrs. Small-holder, so we both end up black and blue.

Earlier in the week, we went to Langaton Alpacas for a day of Advanced Husbandry training presented by Gina Bromage - a very full and useful day - she didn't waste a second, talking at great speed, and giving us loads of information, plus an opportunity to practice assisting a birth if a cria or mother are struggling, on their alpaca simulator - yes I did say that, but I'll spare you the detail, unless you want more...

Radio 'pa-ca?

Great excitement on friday morning, when my alpaca girls got a mention on Gaydar Radio. During the breakfast show they were discussing what listeners were going to be up to at the weekend, and my son mentioned 'in' the chatroom that he was off to see his folks in the country, where they have alpacas - the presenters picked up on this, and from this blog their conversation developed. Hello listeners.

We got Minnies toe-nails clipped with the help from a friend, Gordon at Little England Alpacas - he showed us how to handle her firmly, made easier by getting all the animals into as small a space as possible -thanks Gordon. We also put some Stop-it-All on Moiras knees, which are affected by mites. In the picture above, you can see how cracked our ground is due to the dry weather - the grass is growing, but we need rain for all the planted vegetables and new trees.

I came across an old electric guitar which the owner had been left by his father and he had no use for it himself. It had a Vox scratchplate so I made him an offer, as Vox are renowned for their classic amplifiers. One string was missing, it probably hadn't been played for twenty years, so the other strings were brittle, and it had a layer of undisturbed grime on it. Googling around I couldn't identify it, though it had a serial number embossed into the neck. My local music shop reckoned that it was probably a self-made guitar, rather crude, but with genuine Vox pickup, electrics and scratchplate. Un-deterred, I cleaned it up this morning, put new strings on it and got a tune out of it - hooray! It may not be a classic, it may be crude, but it was music, and it has an attachment to the early days of rock music, and it came through some effort and taking an opportunity myself..

While on a musical theme, I've always enjoyed word-play, and here is my list of songs or artists with a camelid influence:

A llama Morrissette - Ironic
Crowded House - Wether with you
The llamas and alpacas - California Dreamin'
Paul Simon - You can call me Al-paca
Lady Gaga - Alpaca face
Rocky Sharpe and the Replays - Rama llama ding dong
Englebert Humperdinck - Please re-fleece me
Snow Patrol - Spitting Games
The Staple Singers - I'll take you there
Elton John - Suri seems to be the hardest word
Michael Bolton - Huacaya we be lovers if huacaya be friends

Hope that made you smile - or perhaps you are wincing?

What's good for the hen, is good for the bunny.

This blogging lark is helping me to explore digitial pohotography - I only went digital in January - though I take a lot of photographs for my work, I never warmed to the idea of having another aspect of my work linked to the computer, so that if there was a problem with hardware, software, power supply, everything is held in the plastic box of unfathomable micro-chips - I have 17 photo albums of building projects in the office. But I've now seen the light - this week I surveyed a church for conversion (to dwellings, not another religion), and took 91 photo's. For the blog, if I haven't taken any during the week, I just nip out and take some as the sun sets, as I did this evening, so the pictures you see are only an hour and a half old.

The bales of alpaca hay is kept in their shelter, under tarpaulin so that they only take it from the manger baskets - recently a hen decided to wriggle its way under the tarpaulin, and climb onto the bale, make a nest and lay an egg, all while 'wearing' a blue tarpaulin 'hoodie'! Not to be out-done, a baby rabbit (probably orphaned) decided that if it was good enough for the hen, it would make a good nest for itself - and spends its days under there - not sure what the hen thinks of this, but there hasn't been another egg left there since.

We tried to get Minnie to have her toe-nails clipped yesterday, but she wasn't having it - she did introduce us to alpaca spit - if you are 'lucky' you just catch the spray 'eau de alpaca', and the odour lingers for hours, if you manage to catch the main missile -I think the main rule is, keep your mouth shut. She is more difficult to feed supplement at the moment - she holds back while the others get stuck in, so by the time she starts hers, the other two have finished and push her away from her own - I've got an extra bucket, but even that only helps partially - I may move the buckets into the field so that they have more personal space. Perhaps its something to do with only being six weeks from calving.