Thursday 30 April 2009

Happy Birthday Molly

We have a bit of a birthday rush here in April, today it's Molly's turn. She is the first time mum who had her cria three weeks ago now and one of the girls we have for sale. I made sure we sung happy birthday to her at tea time - not that she seemed very interested it has to be said!

I've had a busy day today, this morning mum and I cleaned all the fields. I even managed to get my mum to drive the quad which is a first. She did have me in fits of laughter at one point, we have rig and furrows in the field the girls are currently in, they are very small humps and dips. Mum panicked when she went down the very, and I mean VERY, shallow dip that the quad would tip up, she was leaning over as though she was doing 60mph on a motorbike or something!!

This afternoon I had a visit from the vet who was going to scan Ursula who was mated to our stud Golden Guinea late last summer. I am delighted to confirm that she is in fact pregnant - well done Guinea (and Jayne for your prediction!).

Whilst he was here I also got him to do the microchips for the weanlings. I really don't like the thought of putting those in so always get the vet to do it. We also checked all the chips for the show team to avoid any issues at the show next week.

Wednesday 29 April 2009

Happy Birthday Paul

Today is Paul's birthday, although he has been at work and is actually away on business down in London so not much of a birthday. Just in case he reads this on his blackberry Happy Birthday dear!

Still no babies to report, Aria is at 358 days and Kate 345 so both are over our personal herd average gestation period which is currently running at 344 days. This year looks like it is going to see that rise. I would be interested to know what other peoples averages are.

I nipped to the vets this afternoon with some fecal samples for work egg counts. I like to keep on top of things like this so I can check how worm burdens are doing and we don't have to worm for wormings sake.

My parents arrived yesterday for a couple of days. If I don't get to go to the National show because of birthing situations mum will be helping Paul with the animals and she wanted to make sure she could do teeth. So we had a quick halter session with the weanlings, I can see we are going to have fun with a couple of them who can be really good or really naughty!

Monday 27 April 2009

All quiet

It has been a quiet day on the animal front, other than my hourly checks on the girls, and still nothing to report on that front.

I have been catching up on paperwork and trying to sort out our marketing for the next few months. I've also got the fleeces ready to be picked up tomorrow to head off down to the National Show next weekend. We have also entered some animals but with two girls overdue and another in the birthing window I'm not sure if it will be one or both of us going with the show team.

I have also been trying to track down James Dixon the shearer to get a date booked in the diary, he is in the country so I'm getting closer!

Sunday 26 April 2009

Alice has a change of heart

It has been another busy day here, we started off cleaning the fields. From the amount of muck produced in one day there is certainly no shortage of food being consumed.

We also had a spot of mating to be done, whilst this was going on we had Alice penned in too as she is empty and has not been interested in mating - until today that is. She obviously listened to me when I told her it was today or she would have to have an injection of Estrumate from the vet next week.

Our very keen white stud Gianmarco's Masterpiece was straight on the job, he's been trying to get his wicked way with her for a few weeks now so he wasn't missing out on that opportunity!! Unfortunately we couldn't convince Legend of Spartacus that it was his turn, at the minute he is only interested in watching and dribbling on the sidelines. I'm sure it will come, he is only just over two years old so there is plenty of time yet.

Aria is still not wanting to give birth, she is looking so uncomfortable and has been showing all the right signs for days but nothing. Kate is also getting ready, she is 342 days now so hopefully wont be much longer.

Saturday 25 April 2009

More lambs expected

It has been another busy day today, I was out in the field about 5.30am checking everyone and everything. This is a daily ritual that will continue until everyone has birthed and is thriving. I am pleased to report that all was well!

We had a batch of injections to do first thing so it was a great excuse to get close and personal with the alpacas and check out their fleeces before they are shorn (soon I hope). Lualeni one of our weanlings really stands out, she is Blossom's daughter and just like Oonagh was at her age but with a denser and finer fleece.

I had forgotten how dense Willow's fleece was and what a great handle Mary's fleece has. Imala doesn't seem to have grown as much fleece this year which is a bit strange, we will see when I weigh it though as I weigh and record all fleece statistics every year.

Molly has a lovely bright dense fleece too, she and her sister Milly along with little Palm-Olive would be a great package to own. Palm-Olive's fleece is also starting to organise very nicely, I have high hopes for her as she grows.

Once the alpacas were done it was time to move onto last years lambs, now hogs. They needed their toe nails doing and a lambivac booster. I had thought previously that one of them might have been pregnant (you may recall I didn't castrate the boys too well). When clipping their nails I checks and oops two of the three girls are pregnant so they now have a stay of execution.

I asked Alan our farmer friend to have a look to give me some idea when they would lamb, a week to ten days is his prediction. More lambs was not in the plan so Paul was not happy, oh well we can always sell them!!

Friday 24 April 2009

It's Friday!!!!

Well where did that week go, I can't believe it's Friday already.

I had a bit of a yucky job to do this morning, Princess Mallika had a bit of a dirty back end, too much spring grass I think, so I cleaned her up. You can't, and I wouldn't, chance leaving anyone with a dirty bum when there are flies about, especially when the alpacas are so full of fleece. Thankfully she was very well behaved and let me do the necessary, I'm sure she didn't like being dirty either.

Little Palm-Olive has moved into her big girl coat this evening, she is on my third size now in less than three weeks. At this rate she will overtake Gaussian who incidentally had his last bottle this morning.

I will continue to monitor is weight and if need be revert to the bottle. I am still forcing the cria pellets into his mouth as he is showing no interest in getting his own.

I had a lovely chat with a new manure collecting couple this afternoon, the live locally and had replied to one of my Freecycle adverts. As usual Hughie got extremely excited at new people arriving in his field, he is such a character I love hm to bits.

Thursday 23 April 2009

Field shelters the hot favourite of the day

The sky has been threatening rain today but it never arrived. The ground could do with a bit but both the animals and I are enjoying this dry weather so I'm not complaining. We're never satisfied are we!

Kate,our spit fountain as Mark (of Patou fame) would say, was acting very strange this morning. After having her breakfast she wondered off into the shelter and promptly sat on guard across the doorway trying to stop anyone else from entering. She is 338 days into her pregnancy so is into the 'birthing window' so I was beginning to wonder if she was thinking about it - not that she had looked in the slightest bit likely before this.

Geena and Gaussia were allowed to step over her but no one else, Blossom walked through the barrage of spit unperturbed whilst Millie had to sit outside! I'm not sure what the attraction was with the shelter this morning, they have not really bothered with it since they went into the field last weekend.

Talking of field shelters the one behind the house is also in occupation, not by alpacas though but a robin. I went in there this morning to find some of my emergency supply of twine on the floor which was very odd as this field is resting at the minute so the shelter is not in use. I then noticed that some other bits had moved and my clippers that were in there has also moved. They are usually hidden behind a drop down shelf so they can't do anyone any damage. As I pushed them back a robin came scurrying out, I'm not sure who was more shocked me or it. It has built a nest in there, hopefully I didn't disturb it too much and it will return, there were no eggs yet but I will keep an eye on it.

Our swallows have also returned in the last few days which is always a sure sign of spring.

Going back to Kate, she was back to herself a little later and neither her or Aria thought today was a good day to bring a new life into the world. I was so sure this afternoon that it was safe I even braved a trip to the supermarket.

Wednesday 22 April 2009

Golden Guinea gets excited

It has been another lovely day, especially for our brown stud Golden Guinea, because he had a visiting lady. I forgot to ask the client if they minded being named, so wont, but things were more successful than last week.

She was still not keen to sit but eventually Guinea got to do what he was supposed to, albeit not for very long before she was up and wanting home! We will see what comes when it's spit off time. It has certainly left Guinea in a very good mood, he skipped back to his paddock.

Millie has been paddling again today, Little Miss Irraquoy was trying to copy her but couldn't lift her leg high enough. As she couldn't manage the paddling bit she decided that she would hog the water trough and not let anyone near it.

Palm-Olive had her usual evening charge round, I do love to see her motoring round the field. She managed three huge laps whilst Gaussian did about 10 metres and gave up. At one point Alice decided to join in and was pronking behind little Olive, she look so elegant. I do love to see the alpacas pronk.

Tuesday 21 April 2009

Pronking princess

It has been slightly cooler here today than it was yesterday and the girls certainly seemed pleased.

It has still been nice, I spent the morning cleaning all the paddocks again, so the muck collectors yesterday has been replenished and more so! I really don't know what we would do with it if it wasn't for all these keen gardeners.

Palm-Olive was a little monkey this morning when I tried to take her coat off racing round the field. She thought it was a good game to come within two feet and then charge off. Eventually I got hold of her and took it off.

Typically once I had taken it off she spent the rest of the morning coming up and nibbling at my trousers. She has also learnt to pronk today so has been giving lovely demonstrations to Gaussian who has never quite mastered it. There is nothing more elegant than an alpaca pronking - well I think so anyway.

Monday 20 April 2009

Anyone for a paddle

It has been a glorious day today, but as you can see Aria has not given birth. Instead she has been sunbathing and joining the various gatherings round the water trough.

There have been various shifts throughout the day which I thought I'd share with you.
I enjoyed a bit of knitting in the paddock, well Paul is away on business for a couple of days so I thought I would take advantage of the sun.
Palm-Olive came to chew on my trousers and Gaussian sat and watched. I had visits from the girls at various points and Ursula tried to pinch my yarn!

It got so hot this afternoon that Millie decided to have a paddle in the water trough. She has masses of dense fleece and quite clearly was getting too hot. I got a nice bit of video of it too but my technical ability doesn't stretch to uploading it to the website so that will have to wait until Paul returns.

Sunday 19 April 2009

All change

We've had a busy day moving alpacas about and cleaning the respective fields. The girls have eaten all their grass and needed to move but as we have a couple of girls heavily pregnant we didn't want move them too far. So they are literally in the next field along.

Ideally they should be behind the house now but that's a two field move and I didn't want to chance that with Kate as she had issues last year. They will move behind the house as soon as Kate has given birth, well assuming she doesn't hang on that long we are into the next birthing window!

So as is usual when we move anyone the field gets a thorough clean, which didn't take too long because we only did it 12 hours prior to the move. The Paul was on the mower for the first time this year cutting the horrible dead tufty bits that the girls had left. We were going to harrow it but ran out of hours in the day so that will be a job for me in the week.

Golden Guinea is not very impressed with the new living accommodation the girls has because he can't see them as well. He still has the weanlings next door and the other boys in view but that doesn't substitute his ladies.

Saturday 18 April 2009

Gianmarco declares spring

It has been another busy day at Barnacre, there really aren't enough hours in the day.

All the fields got a thorough clean this morning, including the sheep's which is always so much messier than the alpacas. We have a bit of a collection of manure now as I've not seen any of our regular collectors for a couple of weeks.

Gianmarco's Masterpiece got his first bit of action of the year today and boy did he get excited. He only got one go at mating last year so I'm sure he has been dreaming about this moment all winter. It took him a little while to get in position having tried a sideways position first - ok, ok, I know, but he's only young and he soon realised he wasn't where he should be!

I was hoping that having Molly and Marky mating next to her it may encourage Alice to sit for Legend but that didn't work. Legend got to look on and take notes for his inauguration hopefully next week.

Talking of Gianmarco's Masterpiece there is gorgeous close up shot of his face on page 60 of this quarters Alpaca World Magazine. He is the face of Camelibra, they use his picture in their advertising; so we are not the only ones who think he's special!!

Friday 17 April 2009

Disappointment for Golden Guinea

With Aria over due it was another very early trip to the field this morning to make sure all was well. They have now gotten used to these 5am visits so don't even bother coming to see if I have bought their breakfast along. Well with the exception of Imala and Angelus who always meet you at the gate no matter what the time of the day!

Today was a big day for Golden Guinea our brown stud male, he had his first visiting lady booked in. He had a spring in his step when I walked him into the external mating strip this morning it was as if he knew what was coming. I had bought along Hughie for a bit of company until his lady friend arrived.

As soon as the trailer door opened he was off, getting all excited and orgling, unfortunately the young girl who had been bought along for the mating was not as excited. Poor thing quite clearly had no idea what was expected of her and was refusing his advances, it must be a bit of a shock for maidens to get jumped on my some rather noisy excited boy.

She was showing no interest in sitting despite Guinea hanging off her back end for dear life. He did very briefly manage to get her down but by this time he'd got so excited he couldn't get in position before she was up again. He has only covered two girls so far and this was his first 'job' of the year so he isn't the most experienced boy as yet.

Eventually he lost interest, well he heard another lady in the trailer and decided he stood more change with her! Not a great start to his season but hopefully once the maiden concerned is more willing we will have more success as he certainly didn't have any issues covering Ursula last year. He will have to wait for Aria to birth and be ready to remate before I have anyone ready for him.

Thursday 16 April 2009

Aria keeps me guessing

When I checked the girls just before 6am Aria was off on her own, a sign she might be thinking about giving birth. After observing for a while and with nothing occurring I headed off back in for my breakfast. When I returned with the girls breakfast she was back with everyone and promptly ran at full speed with Kate (who is due next) to the feed troughs - maybe not then!

She has been fine all day and other than rather frequent trips to the dung piles she has shown no further signs of wanting to give birth. They do like to keep us guessing don't they.

After the tea time feed I've been off helping Alan with his lambing, he was off to do the evening check of the fields and feed the sheep and lambs in the shed. We had to pick up a mum and her lamb who needed to go in the shed for the night and a couple of lambs that quite clearly needed feeding.

Two bottles and three tube feeds later, a few pens to clean out and water to fill up it was back home in the dark. Paul thought I'd ran off with the farmer!!

Wednesday 15 April 2009

Winter returns

I think winter has arrived back here today, it has been so cold I've had my polo neck jumper back out and my hat on. It has been misty and dank all day, so Palm-Olive has kept her coat on all day.

Whilst on the subject of this fabulous little girl she is coming on so fast, she is already running rings round Gaussian. He never played with the cria of his own age last year but he has enjoyed chasing round with Palm-Olive. Although she has far more energy than he does so spends more time chasing the birds that land in the paddock!

Following the birth and the fantastic way Molly has taken to motherhood we have now released her back for sale. Molly and her daughter will be a fantastic addition to an existing herd or bought as a package will make for a very impressive starter herd.

Aria is still looking happy with her rather large baby bulge. She has spent a bit of time off on her own today so maybe she is starting to think about giving birth, she is 344 days tomorrow so it's certainly time for her to be thinking about it!

Tuesday 14 April 2009

Back to work for Paul

I was in the field very early again this morning (5.30am), checking all was well and I'm pleased to report it was. As usual I left Paul in bed, he was back to the day job today so didn't want to get up.

On one of my many check on the girls, I noticed that Ursula had some blood in her mouth. I thought maybe she had been kicked by Molly whilst trying to take her baby. Ursula loves babys and always tries to make out they are hers!

I grabbed hold of her and realised she was actually teething! She had had two new teeth break through. I think she didn't want to feel left out as our little model my niece got her first couple of teeth over the weekend.

We have had visitors round today to look at our three studs, they are currently working out which boys to use over their girls. All three boys were very well behaved and showed themselves off nicely. Hopefully they will get to do a bit of work really soon.

Monday 13 April 2009

A new day

Thank you to all those who have left kind comments on the blog and sent emails, it is nice to have the support of fellow breeders. Today is a new day, so chins up we have had a busy day.


Being slightly paranoid I was in the field at 5am this morning where I sat observing for well over an hour. It certainly took the girls by surprise, the three usual culprits, Ursual, Angelus and Imala,came running to the gate just in case they were going to get an early breakfast.


I am pleased to report that Willow seems fine, I was slightly concerned that Chiquita might try and steal the milk she has as was a real monkey to wean and has had a couple of looks lately, but thankfully there has been no signs of any funny business going on!


As the sun was shining and spring is upon us we thought we would give Legend his first opportunity to work. One of our sales girls Alice is ready to be mated and they would be an ideal match. Legend plucked up courage to have a sniff, after talking it over with his best friend Marky who we taken along for support, only to get a face full of spit from Alice - she obviously had a headache! We'll try her another day.


Whilst we were doing this we thought the lawnmowers of the petrol free variety could get to work on the channel. It didn't take them long and they did a fantastic job and they certainly appeared to enjoy it.




Sunday 12 April 2009

A sad day

Do you ever get the feeling the whole world is against you, well today was one of those days here.

We were up early as usual and on approaching the field all appeared well, and then I spotted something in the paddock. Immediate panic set in and quite rightly so, Willow had given birth. Sadly the cria was dead, it looked as though she had given birth in the early hours of the morning, both the cria and the placenta were cold.

A little brown girl (just as I'd predicted), poor Willow loves to be a mum and had to watch everyone else with babies last year, as she's missed out on getting pregnant because of the movement restrictions and fate has dealt her the same misfortune this year.

As you can imagine I've spent most of the day in tears. I have been blaming myself, full of what ifs and wondering what we'd done wrong. As if we've not had enough bad luck of late, and poor Willow, she went through all that discomfort for nothing. Thankfully Chiquita has been by her side all day.

After going through the loss of her baby I then milked her, I thought I would take her colostrum and freeze it so we have some just in case of emergency later in the year. I already have the powdered stuff in but the real thing will be much more efficient.

I have hit a real low, I'm not sure how many more kicks in the teeth I can take. Tomorrow is a new day and hopefully a brighter one.

Saturday 11 April 2009

Pedal, pint & a picture

What a glorious day, we had been expecting a day of sunshine and showers but it has been lovely.

Not wanting to miss out on a photo opportunity we were out with the camera, here is little Palm-Olive catching a few rays. She is doing just fine and this evening was racing round the field and using Mary as a hurdle. Mary is always the first to bed in an evening, usually straight after she has had her tea!!

My parents have now headed off home so someone is bound to give birth real soon as my mum was desperate to see a birth whilst she was here.

Once my parents had left we went for a bike ride. Our bikes haven't been out for absolutely ages so it was nice, well after we got up the first hill. On the way back we called at our local for a pint and a Pimms (Paul the pint and me the Pimms for those of you who were wondering)!

Friday 10 April 2009

Another addition.............

Thankfully the weather was much better than we had been forecast, it was so warm this morning little Palm-Olive ran round without her coat. It was back on this afternoon though before the rain arrived.

Both Willow and Aria are looking much closer to birthing, Willow wasn't even interested in having much tea. You may recall I have predicted girls for both of them so fingers crossed I'll be right, I was with Molly a white girl was the guess there, so I'm running at 100% at the moment.

I thought you were supposed to go on Easter Egg hunts at Easter, not here it's a Easter lamb hunt. Our farmer friend Alan deposited another foster lamb over the fence today. Only problem is she keeps escaping, which is why he thought I should have her. It's only for the weekend!

She's managed to get out twice so far, it would have been more but I was quick off the mark. Poor little thing also recognised Alan's voice and pick up as he drove by and ran up the field fence line after him yelling.

Whilst on the subject of lambs I put the rings on mine today, the poor little boy Alta was rolling round the floor in agony. Luckily for me I only have one boy this year, I checked and double checked (and got Paul to check) that I had managed to get the necessary 'bits'. For those of you who haven't followed my blog since last year lets just say I didn't do a very good job of the lamb castration!

Thursday 9 April 2009

Horatio pushes his boundaries

The morning started off with a bit of a scare, our resident mischief (well one of them), Horatio had managed to get himself stuck in the fence. He has been sticking his head where he shouldn't since the day he was born, but this time it was a place too far.

He had pushed his head through the wire into Golden Guinea's paddock and got stuck. It looked like he had been there a while, thankfully Guinea hadn't been bothered by the 'visitor'. After a bit of pushing and pulling we managed to free him without causing him any distress.

Poor little chap has a sore ear for his trouble and now has a blue tinge to his rather nice black fleeced ear!! Has he learnt his lesson; no he was sticking his head through the bars by this evening. So the weanlings now have a hurdle lined fence.

The weather has warmed up today so little Palm-Olive (incidentally I now have everyone else calling her Palm-Olive!) is back to just the one coat. I think tomorrow she may have to move up to the next size, made especially today by my own fair hands!

Wednesday 8 April 2009

Double wrapped for extra warmth

My word was it cold and blowy this morning, so much so I put an extra coat on little Palm-Olive. She seemed very happy with two coats on and when we weighed her tonight she had put on over 300gm in 24 hours so she's doing just fine.

Here she is getting acquainted with my mum.

The wind was so strong at one point she was almost being blown off her feet. Thankfully by tea time the sun was shining and it was lovely.

Willow and Aria are quite rightly hanging on to their babies until the weather improves.

In preparation for the new arrivals I have been making another cria coat today, I thought I'd better make a couple more if the weather is going to be bad and I have more babies due.


Tuesday 7 April 2009

A little confused

The weatherman this morning forecast a 'good growing day' with sunshine and showers and he was right. One minute glorious sunshine the next strong winds and showers, even hail very briefly at one point.

Little Palm-Olive is looking good, she is modeling a very fetching alpaca coat to keep her warm and dry. I had to laugh at her at lunch, she had been whizzing round the field like a mad thing possessed and got all confused about who her mum was.

She approached the first white one, Oonagh who very gently pointed out she didn't have any milk and wasn't her mum. Next she tried Little Miss Irraquoy, who since being pregnant is having a bit of a hormone overload and can be very very touchy who sent her packing immediately.

The she moved on to Katia, who is one of the girls we have for sale, due to birth next month. Palm-Olive was sure this was her mum, she was humming to her, trying to get milk and determined not to give up. Katia was blowing air (not actually spitting) at her, pushing her away and running off but still Palm-Olive followed her. In the end I had to go and get her and show her where mummy was and she was straight at the milk bar.

Willow is still looking like she is really struggling with her baby bump, whilst Aria is running to the feed troughs and happily going about life. My vet has always said that Willow is a drama queen. She now has a bag of milk so I don't think she will be much longer, she's at 333 days gestation.

Monday 6 April 2009

Mum arrives with more knitted stock

Having had baby lambs last week and then Molly birthing yesterday my parents have arrived. Mum loves to see the babies, she's hoping that Aria or Willow will birth whilst she is here, but having just seen the weather forecast for the next few days I'm not sure she will be lucky there.

Mum has been busy knitting since she was last up so there is some new stock to go into the shop as soon as I can get some nice photos.

Molly's little girl, who I have nick named Palm-Olive (as she was born on Palm Sunday and is so bright white and clean) has been charging round the field today causing Molly great concern. New mums are so protective of their babies but babes have so much confidence they want to explore.

Gaussian has been very intrigued by this new 'little' paca. This evening the were exchanging hums now Molly will let him close.

Sunday 5 April 2009

It's a girl !!!!!!

Wahoo, Molly has given birth today to a lovely little girl - Someone missed out on a bargain there.

You won't believe it either, how much time have I spent in the field this week waiting for this moment and I left the field for half an hour at lunch time and she had her!

I'll fill you in with more photos and details over the coming days as it's getting late and I've had a really busy weekend and my bed is calling.

Our broadband was playing up again last night hence the lack of blogging. Both Paul & I spent all day raking leaves and cleaning resting paddocks of 'bits and bobs' that seem to appear in the winds. I also gave the field shelter a very thorough clean. I've decided my next shelter will have a concrete floor so it is easier to clean.

Today has been another busy one, the weanlings have had their toe nails cut and have moved paddocks onto some nice green grass which went down a treat. Their old field has therefore been cleaned and harrowed and will hopefully start to grow again real soon.

The lambs from last year have been tagged today. It's not a job I like doing so I usually get Paul to do it hence it's a weekend job. Thankfully they don't seem too bothered after the initial flinch.

The evening finished off herding three escaped cows of Alan Thompson (my farmer friend) which had escaped and were wondering up the road. Thankfully they were quite well behaved for escapees.

Incidentally Paul is returning to work with a war wound; he has a blister!!

Friday 3 April 2009

It's the weekend!!

Paul is very pleased it's the weekend, two whole days from the day job and he can spend some time with the alpacas.

It started off very foggy but once the mist lifted it was another glorious day, just the right weather for observing!!! And no, still no babies. I made a few more fire bricks this morning which are now drying nicely.

On the birthing front, Willow had started to bag up nicely now, in fact I think she may well be the first of the alpacas to give birth. She had gotten used to me laying on the floor to check out her under carriage so today kindly laid next to me and rolled to show off her developing bag.

Maybe this weekend..................................

Thursday 2 April 2009

Should have placed that bet

Well at least I can predict one birth, Pepper my other sheep produced two lovely little lambs first thing. I just managed to see the second one popping out.
Two little girls, one black and one white. The black one is almost identical to Mocha's daughter so that is going to get confusing!
The alpacas continue to enjoy the sunshine and dust baths with no new additions - I am trying to be patient Mark but I'm not very good at it. Having had one enormous baby last year from a girl who hung on I am also slightly paranoid!
Yet again I have spent all day in the fields and have cleaned up again, you could eat your dinner off our grass at the minute. It's good timing actually as the manure collectors are obviously busy readying their grounds for veggies and the like because as soon as I replenish the supply someone comes to collect it.

Wednesday 1 April 2009

And still we wait

It has been a glorious day today so what Molly is waiting for I have no idea. For anyone new to my blog, I have been waiting for Molly to give birth for a little while now!


She will be 349 days tomorrow and still happily ran for her tea this evening unlike Willow (who is 327 days) who is finding the late stages of pregnancy all very tiring.


Aria who is due on Easter Monday is having frequent bulges at her rear end and is looking like she is starting to think about it. If I had to put money on who would be next though I think I will go for Pepper, the other sheep!


I have spent most of the day in the field again, I've had the paddock cleaner out scrapped up all the hay from the mangers, cleaned out the weanlings shelter and the boys shelter and took a few more photos.
Above is Ursula and below Oonagh.

And this is Millie, who always puts her ears back the minute you get the camera out!