In the two weeks since the last post...
The Alpacas They are much more settled now. And come over when they hear the pot of food being rattled. Even if it's hen food. They'll even eat from my hand. Which can be slightly nerve-wracking as they are not good at sharing...and having a tendency to dry spit at each other, So now...when I head off into the paddock with a pot of feed I have three hens running after me, two alpacas running towards me and Gutsy the sheep (in the field opposite) shouting at me. Some kind of poorly After a week of weird symptoms (that I was putting down to the menopause) I decided I had better visit the doc. She took some bloods and told me to come back the following day for results. The next day I was told the results were abnormal and she then took some more. It seems my Liver Function Tests are deranged (I shit you not - that's a real term). And then the next day I was off to hospital for an ultrasound. Thankfully the scan of my liver, spleen, gall bladder etc was clear - no nasties showing. I was kept in overnight. Thank god for ear plugs. The next morning I was visited by two different consultants who are both embarking on the mission to work out what the heck is causing my deranged results. The favourite at the moment is acute hepatitis of some type...caused by either a dog bite, under-cooked food (I did tell them this is not likely), a poorly sheep or even that alpaca spit that caught me full in the face three weeks ago. So today I was back at the hospital for a further batch of blood tests and am waiting for a CT scan appointment. In the meantime I continue to be exhausted all the time and itch all over (for no obvious reason). The hens After months of us installing the expensive Eglu fencing the girls have finally discovered how to get under and over it. Dolly favours the fly at it technique. While Nanan and Gladys managed to find a weakness in the design. Stu has made a few minor alterations...time will tell if they keep the hens in the paddock and out of our garden again. The mother I wasn't feeling my best but we did manage to get ourselves down to the local village show this weekend. Ponies, sheep, flower-arranging and hog roast. And the trip produced one of my favourite conversations of the year so far... Local farmer: That's my house over there [points up hill] Me: Are those your Suffolks [points to sheep on hill] Local farmer looks at me in surprise... Local farmer: How do you know so much about sheep? How are you with lambing? Me: I helped neighbours this year and even pulled a couple of lambs Local farmer: I'll give you a job at lambing in February / March next year. Today's photo: fairies, tigger and pooh at the local show.
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We've been Alpaca owners for over a week. Already.
So what have we learned so far?
In the past week the girls have grown more confident. They've become more inquisitive and bravely investigated the outer reaches of their paddock. I've gradually been able to get nearer to them. And this morning they responded to my clicks, came up the paddock to see me and we all spent a few quiet minutes with our heads over the fence at the top of the paddock. Like you do. We've finally managed to build their shelter. They could have done with it over the past two days tbh. The weather has been dreadful. And Minky looked so cold. She was shivering. I've found a site that sells Alpaca coats (thats coats for Alpacas - not coats made of Alpaca wool). I'm tempted. Back to the shelter - we think it'll probably take another week before they pluck up the courage to go anywhere near it. I did try standing in it waving a handful of hay. To no avail. They just glanced up - gave me a 'look' then carried on eating grass. I don't think I have time for a job now. I am chief Alpaca poo and hay-waving person. It's a very demanding role. Today's pic...Minky up close We have two new paddock tenants.
Two Alpacas. They're not tame. They're very nervy. They have bad haircuts. They poo a lot. But they're so lovely. And gentle. And musical (they hum to themselves). So...how did this happen? After a year of joking about having Alpacas. We went to visit some at an Alpaca farm. We were told to get two boys. And if they fight...get them castrated. Several weeks later we discovered that a friend of a friend has some and they were willing to sell a couple. Long story short - they mainly have girls (though they did discover a couple of extra boys, hiding in plain sight, when they sheared them - and revealed their privates). We discussed boys vs girls. They said the girls seem to get on better. They have to separate their two older boys. They have no idea how old their 'pacas are. They have no idea of the type of wool (Suri or Huacaya). They have no idea if any are pregnant. They were just so laid back. We liked them. Anyway. We went back for a second visit last Friday. We rounded them up into a pen area. We stood and looked at them. Stu got pestered by cows. One of the girls with a Cria did a long spit (they can spit up to ten feet) and caught me pretty much square in the face. It was the serious spit (there are different types). Which means it stank to high heaven and consisted of bile and regurgitated grass. And it was on my face, in my hair and on my clothes. I managed to keep my stomach contents intact. And then, once recovered, I chose a couple of girls that I thought were pretty (a brown one as Stu prefers them and a white one that didn't have pink round its eyes...as Stu isn't keen). And before you know it...the young farmer offered (his Mum forced him) to drop them off at our house. In half an hour! So that was it. We have two girl Alpacas (who may or may not be pregnant - but with 11-12 month gestation we won't know for quite some time). Settling in... So as the girls aren't in the least bit tame I have a challenge on my hands. How to tame an Alpaca (without getting in the crossfire ever again)? Each day I go and sit on the paddock with them. Talking to them gently. Gradually they are coming to trust and relax around me. They no longer run away when I approach. I just get the sideways look...then they carry on eating.
It's going to take time. We have a more pressing issue to deal with though. One of them has rather long nails on her back feet. They need clipping. So I searched YouTube and obviously there are videos of how to trim Alpaca nails. However, the process involves at least three people and ropes - it we want to keep stress to a minimum (Alpaca stress that is). Anyway - until we find some willing volunteers I am not going to sit here and imagine everything that can possibly go wrong. So...what are we calling the girls? We've got that many girl pets that we're running out of names tbh. We already have:
We considered all the white / brown combos. But I find them a little obvious. So we decided to keep the tradition of normal names - from the family archives or just names we like - and have ended up with Freda and Minky. In other news...
Today's pics...meet the girls... Freda (white one) - the boss Minky (brown one) For anyone with over 50 eyesight...You can click on the images to see them better |
DebbieMe, my life, my family and my travels Archives
November 2022
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