Mum has a more productive day than me

Off we went to Otterburn Festival this morning, having got up at 5am to finish off a few labels check the pregnant girls and the babies before leaving mum in charge for the day.

It was blowing a hooly as they say in these parts - very windy to the likes of me! I thought we were going to loose the gazebo, in fact I spent most of the day hanging on to it for dear live whilst Paul was next to the boys answering all the public questions and keeping an eye on Tenzing and Sandstorm who were on their first ever outing.

By 2.30pm and a number of phone calls home to make sure all was ok I was beginning to wish I'd not taken all my knitwear, when I received a text from mum saying "I think something is happening".

Panic, Chiquita was the girl I have been most worried about birthing all year (and mum knew this!) and now it was looking like she was going to give birth whilst I was away. Time to pack up!!

It was the quickest ever take down of the stand (even whilst talking on the phone) and just as I was about to load the last box to the car mum rings to announce the baby is on the ground. Thankfully mum and Chiquita did a marvelous job and by the time we were home the baby was trying to stand.

He is gorgeous but as we expected very tiny weighing only 4.04kg which is half the weight of many of this years cria. Here he is with mum and grandma Willow and her cria Layla (6 weeks old).

This next shot show him with two month old Kazuo (and his mum Alice) who looks enormous in comparison.

Finally here he is the what looks like the jungle, I wouldn't mind but the grass isn't even very long!

Power cut so no breakfast

The wind had been blowing a gale again today, which I think was probably to blame for us being out of electricity for most of the morning. Thankfully I'd had a cup of tea at stupid o'clock so that had to keep me going until the power came back on about 12.

I had already partly opened the garage door (it's electric) before the power went off so everyone was ok for breakfast, except us humans who were supposed to be having a cooked breakfast as it was the last day of Paul's holiday and we are at Otterburn Festival all weekend.

The garage door wasn't open enough to get the much truck out and I couldn't get on the computer to do labels and the information sheets I wanted to do ready for the weekend but I did get to load the car I suppose before it was dark which is usually what happens!

Imala's baby is ok although unlike all but one of our cria this year has has lost a little weight on day one. He is a sweet little thing and his fleece is already full of character, just like his daddy. All three of our Legend cria are so alike it is going to be difficult to tell them apart from a distance once they are once they are bigger.

I haven't been out with the camera today but Paul took this photo of Lady Godiva yesterday, she is really friendly and has a lovely fleece too. We have been very pleased with the results we have had from all three of our stud boys.

And then there were ten

This morning at breakfast I noticed that Imala's teats were enormous, I'd said to Paul yesterday that I thought she would have her baby today, I should have put some money on it!

Imala was our is she, isn't she, girl. The vet had scanned her empty at 42 days and 81 days but I thought different from the start. Then you may recall a couple of months ago, Hillary came over with her Pregtector machine and we both came to the conclusion that she was pregnant.

Well today she proved us right and gave birth to a very impressive Legend of Spartacus cria. A stunning white boy who looks just like the two other Legend cria we have had born in the last few weeks.

It was the fastest birth we have ever had, in under 2 minutes from the nose appearing to being on the ground. He is the lightest cria we have had born so far this year weighing in at 6.77kg, he looks bigger than that I think.

Next on the list is Chiquita, this one I am slightly worried about as she is a small girl and looks enormous!

We did ask for it!

Well I know we asked for rain, but boy have we had rain today, so much so when I went out just before dark to check all the girls were ok there were actually puddles in the field which is the first time in months. On the plus point hopefully this will mean we may get a bit of grass growth.

Paul manged to get the girls previous field harrowed before the heavens opened so hopefully that will have a real growth spurt now.

We had visitors this morning too, I forgot to ask permission to mention them on the blog so they will remain nameless. They were keen to see our cria, most of whom where happy to come over and show themselves off apart from the new Legend babies Casiphia and Niveous who were far too busy playing or running off.

They then had a quick skirting lesson on a very nice fleece they bought over from one of their boys. Hopefully I was able to guide them in the right direction.

Carol and Dave popped round with goodies tonight, Carol with a load of knitting she's been working on - she really never ceases to amaze me how much she can churn out. Dave came with the remaining Mary fleece fully carded, and even asked for more. He didn't need to offer twice he has gone home with Nefertiti; thank you Dave!

They also bought a huge (it obviously liked the alpaca poo) lettuce that had been freshly dug from their veggie patch,; yum yum.

A busy day to see stars

We had a long job list to get through today and we didn't mange to complete them but we got a good way through.

First up was a batch of routine vaccinations for the girls and some toe nail trimming, there were a fair few in need of trimming which is unusual so soon after shearing.

Most of the girls were well behaved with a couple of exceptions, both very predictable really. Kate was due a spit off but by the reaction we got when it was time for her toe nail trimming I knew what was going to happen when the boys came visiting! As soon as Paul tried to get hold of her so I could do her nails she went mad, half was through she managed to kick me so hard she pushed my hand through the crush we were using. It was so painful it sent me dizzy and I had to sit down, I thought I was going to pass out!

Thankfully I just have a sore grazed and swollen hand to show for my troubles and I was able to complete all the girls pedicures and injections.

Next was spit offs, as suspected Kate gave poor Loki a face full of green and Mary kicked him in
disgust at even trying to sniff her back end. They are Loki's first two conquests and its looking like both are pregnant on the first sitting. Both girls took first time last year too.

All the other girls spat off as well, Willow, Nefertiti, Veruscha, Alice and Molly. Unfortunately Ursula also refused to sit, despite having not been mated since she gave birth almost a month ago, it looks like she is going to take after her mum Mary and prefer about a 6 week gap in between birthing and mating. I will try her again in a few days. LMI was very keen to get a go, she only gave birth 9 days ago so she has a few more days to wait until she gets her turn.

Next on the list was moving the girls to fresh grass which went down a treat as you can imagine.

Whilst the youngsters were exploring I managed to get 8 of the 9 cria in one shot - aren't you impressed, I was. From right to left we have Casiphia, Niveous, Pearson (facing to the left), Layla, Lucia (black bum), Ochre, Kazuo and on the far right Meketaten. Lady Godiva is missing, she was too busy having a drink!
After we'd watched for a while it was clean, cut and harrow the field they'd just got off. This is where we ran out of hours, we did the clean and cut bit just didn't quite get to do the harrowing. Now it is raining so hopefully that will start to kick it back into life so the girls can get another chance to go in there.

Tip top pasture management

The last of our visitors left this morning so it is back to normal here now, well almost, Paul is off work this week.

Following the sheep's move at the weekend Paul has been topping the bits they'd not eaten and harrowing, so the field can now rest in readiness for the alpacas over winter. I can't believe we're thinking about winter already. The grass is hardly growing though due to the lack of rain so we really do need to be careful.

I have been doing a spot of felting as I was almost out of felted stock, I need to get some more Hughie and Loki bits done ready for their trip out at the weekend. People usually like to buy things from the animals on show!

The babies are all growing nicely, I'm still trying to get a shot of all nine together without much success. Lady Godiva is really friendly, she is Gabby's daughter and the most gorgeous colour. Carol will be dying to get her hands on her fleece for knitting next year.

Talking of fleece I need to get some skirting done ready for Kelso show at the end of the month, maybe that can be added to tomorrow's job list.

Stamfordham Village Fair

Hughie and Loki got another trip out today, this time we'd been invited to the Stamfordham Village Fair. It's not one we've been to before but is was a lovely afternoon.

The wind was really blowing so rather than set up the gazebo for all our Barnacre produce I decided to set up shop in the trailer after I'd taken all the mats out so that they boys didn't have to sit where all those people had walked.

It worked quite well and despite it being the middle of summer and the sun shining we sold a fair bit and received numerous compliments which is always nice.

I now need to get on with replenishing the stocks as we have a two day outing to Otterbern Festival next weekend. My mum is up at the end of the week and Carol is back from her holiday so I'll get cracking the whip!

One in one out

My brother & his family have gone home today & Paul's brother, Dean his wife Jodi & baby Archie have arrived. Paul is getting a baby overload at the minute, tee hee.

Following on from my sheep shearing earlier in the week, today they have been dosed, had their feet trimmed and moved onto fresh grass. It took slightly longer than anticipated as we had an escapee. One of Mia's lambs ran through the fence into the woods and wouldn't come back.

We are at a village fair tomorrow so the alpacas will all get done on Monday; after the house viewing!

This evening we have been down to the Thompson's for a barbecue, very nice it was too, thank you Margaret.