Only a short one!

Hi, today it has been wet again! Not all day though, luckily. Another walk n’ talk and an adoption visit. I have fed Ashling and got some great photos of me and Endeavour.

Somehow, I have managed to read a whole book today and a whole book yesterday and practised my knitting too. The books were not small either, I just could not put them down once I picked them up. One of the books that I read was about donkeys, I borrowed it of my Auntie, maybe that is why she got donkeys? I don’t understand how I could do this while doing the feed round and lots of other little jobs to help?

Every time I come up I always have the same job to check for eggs everyday. These eggs are put in the holiday cottages for guests to enjoy, these are amazing and I recommend staying in one.

 

I will be back tomorrow with another blog. Bye, Faith.

Wet weather jobs

Hi, as it rained today so I helped with indoor jobs. I helped with some adoption packs and I have started weighing the wool that is used to create knitwear.

With the adoption packs I have helped by printing things of and laminating them too. Why don’t you by one as a present for someone or just treat yourself, you get some great photo's and the babies are soooo cute.

 

I have started to weigh the wool to make sure that we know what we have got and what we are running out of.  It's really good to see the animals fleece made into the wool.  I've got a head snug and cowl which are really warm and cosy for winter.

 I also fed Ashling her speedibeet at lunch, I also gave Endeavour his bottle today.

 

I will be back tomorrow with another blog about what else I do to help my Auntie and Uncle at  Barnacre Alpacas.

Faith

P.S. I nearly forgot, yesterday we had two escaped boys so we hade to catch them and put them back where they were supposed to be.

The last baby

Hi, I have done Endeavours bottle again today and there has been another walk n’ talk and a baby was born.

Yes, the last baby of the year has been born. This is one of the livery girls though as the last Barnacre baby was born on the 20th. It was Daisy Jane’s baby and it was a girl, dad is Jasper (one of Barnacre Alpaca boys). I watched it to make sure it stood up and got a drink, this it did. It took a lot longer than I thought it would for it to stand up, because the only one I have seen before was up in about 10 to 15 minutes, I think?

 

I am enjoying writing the blog and I hope that you are enjoying reading it just as much, I am also really enjoying myself. If you want to see the alpacas in person why not book a walk n’ talk or stay in a cottage and get a £5 discount per person on a walk n’ talk. Also adopting an alpaca is a great gift for alpaca lovers or just people who are interested in alpacas. You can also follow them on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram by searching in Barnacre alpacas.

 

I will be back tomorrow with another blog about the amazing things that I get up to on the farm.

Bye, Faith

A very busy day

Hi, today has been a very busy day. I have done the feed round, moved alpacas out of the shed, cleaned the area that had an alpaca that had been here for a mating and disinfected the floor. As well as all this my auntie and uncle have had a walk n’ talk too.

On the feed round this morning I feed Hughie and he definitely remembers me. We feed the girls and you might of seen the live video of them coming out of the field on Barnacre Alpacas Instagram.

 

I have walked Aloyious (I think that photo was on Twitter!) and Indie Skye, done sweeping and used the muck rake.  As well as this I had to carry the disinfectant mat from one shed to another, this is actually heavier than I thought it would be.

Tonight, I gave Endeavour his bottle and helped my Auntie (Debbie) to give him and Kamato’s baby vitamin paste.

 

I will do another blog tomorrow and tell you about some other things I do to help on the farm.

Faith

I’M FINALLY HERE!!!

 All Faiths own work, including the photo's!

It is so nice to be back in the countryside and be with the alpacas. They make me feel so calm and I don’t want to ever leave. The smell is so sweet that I feel as if I am breathing for the first time in ages.

 I arrived last night and I have already done so much. I have met Ziyad, watched Endeavours Physio, seen a mating and more. I am going to be writing a blog everyday while I am here and I will tell you all about the things I have done that day.

Meeting Ziyad was funny. We were on the morning feed round feeding the girls and there was a baby alpaca trying to eat my shoe laces, this was Ziyad. Ziyad seems to of made friends with a dog called Sidney.

The mating lasted for about 15 minutes and was with Shaylee and Aramist. Shaylee was proving hard to catch until she suddenly decided that she would sit down for us, thank you Shaylee. Aramist tried to get on any girl he could and then he got on Shaylee the wrong way round, we got there in the end though.

 

After the cottage guests left and the cottage had been empty for three hours we had to deep clean the cottage before the next guests arrive. I helped with this by striping one of the beds, using antibacterial wipes to do the light switches and the banister. Cleaned the sides and other people did the hovering and bathroom, made the beds and everything else needed to make sure you stay is as safe as possible.

I will do another one tomorrow and tell you about some other things I do to help on the farm.

Faith

Faith again!!

Hi everyone, it’s Faith again. I can’t believe that it is the summer holidays already but this is good because it means that I get to go up soon. Yay! And so can you, because walk and talks are back on. In this blog I am going to tell you about some of the amazing things that my Auntie and Uncle (Debbie and Paul) have been up to lately.

First of all, they have some deers that keep on visiting them in one of the fields, I hope that I get to see them while I am there. I don’t think that I have ever seen a deer in person before, have you?

They have also been mating some of the girls that have already had their babies. As well as this, they have cria sheared some of the earlier cria which is the first time every.

 

Wow! They have finished all of the hay, this was in 5 fields, 55 acres approximately, it took a few long days to get all that done.

They have had some very warm weather, why couldn’t I have that on holiday :( . But they also had a monsoon, a bit like me on holiday, rain, rain and rain. On a funny note, some of the alpacas seem to be creating a Mud Pack Gang. With this warm weather the alpacas kept on using the water troughs as a you might say a cooling station, so out came a paddling pool.

Thank you to everybody who purchases thing from the shop or spends any money at Barnacre Alpacas as the money is helping towards vet bills for Endeavour and Pablo. Now that Pablo has had his metal plate removed that should hopefully mean no more vet visits for Pablo. Endeavour has had his pins removed and he still needs to do his physio, his pins are being tested to make sure they are using the correct antibiotics for the infection. Fingers crossed (only one hand) he will get better.

Not enough hours in the day so over to Faith!

There just aren't enough hours in he day to do all of the jobs on the list and my niece Faith has been complaining at me for months that I haven't written a blog.  I tend to tweet and Instagram frequently so didn't think blogging was so important. However, during lockdown Faiths complaining has become even more frequent so last week I suggested she write the blog!!  

And here it is......

Hi, my name is Faith, I am the niece of Debbie and Paul. During lockdown, I have not been able to go up to Barnacre Alpacas and I have really missed it. So instead, I looked through the whole website looking at pictures. When I got to the blog I realised that my Auntie hadn’t done one since  May 2016, so I asked her to do one. However, she got very busy as it is the birthing season, so she asked me to do one. Here it goes…

Well, a lot has happened since 2016. A lot more babies have been born and a lot more hard work has gone into Barnacre Alpacas.  In 2017 they moved house, they can now be found at Turpin Hill Farm. Soon after moving, they built two new sheds and divided the fields and got field shelters. They have had some new arrivals, Twiggy the cat and Nellie and Niamh two rescue Donkeys as well as baby alpacas, baby goats and baby sheep. 

This year, my Uncle Paul has got some new, as my Auntie calls them, ‘boys toys’ a new tractor and all the equipment so that they can do their own hay. The tractor is a Massey Ferguson 5713, I actually got to drive it!!!  I did all the research for them too and he even bought the tractor I picked!

As I said many baby animals have been born and some have died as well. In 2019 Casper was born to Casiphia and Ida, unfortunately he was orphaned at 9 weeks old because of his mothers death. Sadly, earlier this year Loki was put to sleep because of cancer in his foot. The thing I remember most about Loki is when him and Hughie were looking after the sheep. They have already had 41 alpaca babies this year.

In October 2019, there was the Yorkshire Alpaca show, in which there is a young handlers and fancy dress competition. I entered both. I came first in the fancy dress competition with Jasper. I also came joint second in the young handers competition with Apophis . In this Barnacre Alpacas also got 2 champions, 1 reserve champion, 2 firsts, 1 second, 2 thirds and 1 fourth.  

I have missed seeing the alpacas so much (seeing them on pictures and FaceTime is not the same) and I cannot wait to go up. I enjoy all the fresh air and the animals just make you feel so calm. I also want to see my favourite alpaca Hughie, I wonder weather he will recognise me as he normally know its me. When I get to go, the first thing I want to do is go for a walk around the farm to the nearest field with alpacas in and say hello.

To spend time with the amazing alpacas you could book a walk and talk or buy an adoption pack. To spend longer you could stay in one of the holiday cottages which includes a £5 discount per person for a walk and talk. For more information on this look on the other parts of the website. Personally, I would recommend going on a walk and talk because you get to walk one of the alpacas and you get to walk around the farm with a tour guide (Debbie or Paul).  Although I haven’t stayed in a cottage, I have had a nosey and they look really cosy, and did I mention that you are provided with some treats (some human, some alpaca).

For regular updates follow Barnacre Alpacas on Facebook, Twitter or Instagram. 

New life on the hill

Spring finally seems to have arrived and with if new life on the farm is beginning to arrive.

I decided not to tup our sheep last year as we never send our sheep to the mart and I didn't really want anymore, plus I didn't want lambing to clash with the Scottish Alpaca Show that we'd were going to attend (more on that another night).  

I did make an exception for my three Wensleydale ewes though, Drizzle, Parnie and Mist.  I din't think any of them were actually pregnant and in typical sheep style we sadly lost Mist a couple of months ago for no apparent reason!  Anyway it turned out that Drizzle was indeed pregnant and surprised me with a very cute, in an ugly sort of way, tup lamb who Paul named Gromit after is dad Wallace!

Despite only having one lamb this year he is causing plenty of work (not that I'm complaining, I love him!).  Initially his mum had no milk and wasn't very interested in him.  Having not been expecting any lambs I didn't have any colostrum (and it was Sunday) so he started off on alpaca colostrum until I managed to get some from a friend, Sam at West Barn Pygmy Goats who also has a few pet sheep.

I thought Gromit was just a bit of a dopey weak lamb but then realised that he couldn't see, the poor little man has very little if any sight.  As he has grown his front legs have become very bent too, this poor little man is in special care, on a course of antibiotics and vitamin injections in the hope that we can salvage at least some sight and splinted legs to try and stop them from getting worse and hopefully straightening them.

Next to arrive 24 hours later was a very sweet little angora goat who we have named Calico.  Again, just like all my angora births assistance was required when April presented a head and no feet!  Thankfully there was plenty of room and the gorgeous little kid was safely delivered.

I have also been hatching some of our goose eggs, I'd put 8 in the incubator but only 6 were fertile.  I had been told by a number of people that geese were particularly difficult to hatch so I wasn't too hopeful for much success.  The first one pipped and made very little progress and eventually needed help as did the second.  Sadly the other 4 didn't manage to hatch, but these two are doing just great and are now 4 and 5 days old and growing so fast.

On the alpaca front Marne is now on 353 days, but having gone 410 with Oscar we could still have a bit of a wait.  She doesn't really have much signs of milk yet either but she had none last time so that isn't much help!

Andromeda is as wide as a house so hopefully she wont have too much longer to go, she's on 352 days so is well over our herd average and not knowing how long she went with Nelson two years ago who knows what sort of gestation she likes.