Time to leave :-(

 :(, I am not at Barnacre Alpacas anymore. I left this afternoon, but I did see the final mating of the year before I left.

 

Happy Birthday to my amazing auntie and I still don’t know how you can go out and do the feed round sun or rain or even snow, on your birthday, Christmas and everyday. I hope you had a lovely day. I made a cake for her yesterday too.

 

Also, I have done three alpaca movies which you will find on the alpaca movies part of the website when Uncle Paul puts them on.

I won’t be writing them as often anymore because I am going back to school next Monday so I will not have as much time. I will try and write one whenever I can. Faith. :(

What's broody ?

Hi, today we have done some matings and put Kamato and her baby out.

We did five matings, including with one of the new stud boys boys Indie Skye today which means that there could be about 70 babies next year, if they are all pregnant.  I'm sure that is more than there has been before!

 

We have a broody chicken too that keeps hiding the eggs, however they were naughty and I only got two today. They need to lay some more before the new cottage guests arrive on Tuesday.  I think Auntie Debbie might need some more chickens:-)

I will be back tomorrow with the final blog of my stay. Faith.

Busy little bee!

Hi, today we did a lot of things.

I fed Hughie, my favourite alpaca on the morning and evening feed round. He has been my favourite for as long as I can remember. He was actually the 2nd born alpaca at Barnacre Alpacas.

We have weighed and cut the toenails of the little girls. Holding one while my Auntie cut the toenails, like in the picture below I have never done before. I would not mind doing it again though.

I also have been putting the food in the troughs like you can see me doing for the girls below.

We had a meeting about a new project, look on the blog to find out what soon.

Another one tomorrow. Faith.

Scared half to death!

Hi, today I was nearly scared to death by Aramist while on my way to give Endeavour his bottle, saw the deer from afar and done indoor jobs.

As indoor jobs I have finished weighing the wool and done some labels for knitwear that you can find in the shop on the Barnacre Alpacas website or in the shepherds hut if you are coming for a walk and talk.  I love my alpaca things, they are so soft and cosy. 

As I said I was nearly scared to death by Aramist because I was walking towards the shed to give Endeavour his bottle and I saw Aramist in the middle of jumping over the hurdles. Totally forgetting that I my phone in my pocket, I ran as fast as I have ever ran in my life back to the house to tell my Auntie. Only then did I remember that I could of just rang her.

I saw the deer out of the shed in the distance, sorry if the picture isn’t great.

I will write another tomorrow, bye.

Faith

Alpacas take great photos

Hi. Today we were joined on the morning feed round by the cottage guests, that is bound to make your stay here even more special. While on the feed round Ziyad seemed to eat my leggings, my coat and my fingers. He must of been hungry. I also got some great photos of him.

 

I have done Endeavours bottle and fed Ashling at breakfast, lunch and tea today, and I spotted that Auntie Debbie was watching me on the CCTV and posted the picture on Twitter, I'm not old enough for Twitter so only saw that when Grannie showed me.

I took some other great photos too, this one is Isla who has a metal plate in her leg, but unlike Pablo hers is ok to stay in.

 

I will do another tomorrow. Faith. 

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).

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