21 again

I've had a bit of an easy day today seeing as it's my birthday.  Mum started the day off by bringing me a cup  of tea to bed with my cards and presents, it was like being a child again. 

We've been out for lunch, which was nice and good seeing as Paul has informed me I didn't get enough tweets for him to take me out for a meal (he's so mean!).

My niece has made me a play dough birthday cake tonight, she's obviously learnt at a young age that should should never divulge a ladies age as she has kindly ages me at 21!  Thank you for all the birthday wishes recieved.

We nipped up to the hill this morning so I could show mum and dad the progress, it was just a green field last time they went.

It also meant I could have a look at the grass we cut at the weekend.  I think there is still rather a lot of cutting to be done! 

The leveling is coming along now, so hopefully it won't be long before we actually get some building started.



Shop updates

Today I've been updating all my stock records and spreadsheets following the weekend of sales, our knitwear range received lots of lovely compliments.  Compliments to the alpacas goes without saying, but its still nice to hear it.

Updating our online shop is always a combined effort, I do the background work and Paul has to do the online bit.  All the sold items have been updated, many of the new items didn't even make it onto the shop!  There are still a number of new items that I now need to take photo's of and get online.

On the animal front Brinley is back to taking his bottle today, he had been a bit of a pest for my mum and only had a little bit of milk.  I weighed him tonight though and he is still gaining weight so that is good.

Piccolina has a sore foot this morning, so I was bathed and sprayed and is already looking better this evening.

I will make sure I take the camera out with me tomorrow to share our new arrivals with you, they are so sweet and adorable.

Exhausting but enjoyable long weekend

We have had a very busy weekend again, hence the lack of blog last night. 

Bank holiday weekend always means a busy show weekend and this one was no different.  We had been invited to the Dyke Neuk show yesterday and the Glendale Show today. 

Our alpacas always go down a treat as they are so friendly and approachable.  The knitwear proved very popular too, we were selling lots despite the fact that it is still summer.

Sunday was so windy we were hanging on to the marquee for most of the time, thankfully my parents were on hand to help out so, we took it in turns to serve the customers to give our arms a rest!

Thankfully today was much calmer, although the Glendale Show at Wooler is a big one so we were very busy from the minute we arrived on the showground to the minute we left.  The alpacas certainly drew the crowds and lots of people went home very well informed.

I did take my camera with me both days and forgot to take any photo's - it's so hard to remember blog photo's when you are busy.

We had a lovely time talking to some very interested and interesting people who either loved alpacas, were thinking of keeping them or just loved the look of them.  I also took some knitwear orders so I'd better go and get on with one of them as mum has already started hers!!

Something bigger maybe?

After a very wet start to the day our plans for an early trip up the hill to start some serious cutting had to be delayed.  Eventually the rain stopped and the sun tried to poke through off we went. 

I had a slow drafty ride on the quad whilst Paul had a nice cosy warm car to drive up in.  At least the quad has heated handle bars and hand muffs so it could have been worse, and Paul drove it back.

As you can see I think we may need something bigger!

 

Mum and dad arrived at tea time with a very special load on board, it's far too late to go into details tonight but it's exciting!!!

She also had a car full of knitwear which I am in the middle of labelling for the Dyke Neuk Show tomorrow so I need to get off - sorry. 

More details tomorrow......

Johann Sebastian

Following on from yesterdays blog I know some of you were looking forward to a photo of the latest Legend of Spartacus cria, well here he is, Lavender-Bee Johann Sebastian (as in Bach).

He was born at 334 days and still weighed a rather hefty 10.9kg.  His mum is Cambridge Milly who is from Accoyo Remarque so with these genetics combined with those from Legend which include Peruvian Spartacus and Jolimont Commisario this should be one to watch.  I'm sure Juliet and John will be keeping a very close on on this boys fleece what with owning The Border Mill.

Carol and Dave popped in to see us today, not only did they bring some more knitting ready for this weekends shows at the Dyke Neuk on Sunday and the Glendale Show on Monday, they also bought lunch!  I also established that Dave make their summerhouse, I can see a new title emerging for Carding Dave, maybe Coop Construction Dave.

Talking of Dave, we have another Dave joining us tomorrow, tune in to Twitter for updates.

A son for Legend

Just a short blog tonight because my bed is calling and I still have some notes to write for the Glendale Show we are at on Bank Holiday Monday.

Legend of Spartacus, who is the sire of Barnacre Casiphia, Supreme Champion at this years Border Union Show at Kelso, has had his first male cria of the year today, it isn't a Barnacre cria so I'd better wait for permission to share his photo and more details.  I will say he look very nice and his owners are pleased with him though.

He had produced only girls this year, Legend is stamping his bright white fleece over all the girls he covers no matter what their colour.  As well as white girls, we have put him over both light and dark fawn and he still produced white cria.

The planners said yes

We have had some fantastic news today, our planning permission for the agricultural shed has been approved. 

I can't begin to tell you how pleased we are, we were starting to get worried that it wasn't going to come through in time for us to get the shed up before winter.  Hopefully with everything now agreed the shed will be up in no time what-so-ever.

On the alpaca front poor Mary has a sore ear.  I'm not sure how she did it but when I went to feed tonight I found her with a very bloody ear, she has some how cut the inside of her ear.  We removed Mary's ear tag when she first arrived at Barnacre 4 years ago because she managed to snap part of it on a hay net.

Luckily Mary, like most of our alpacas is easy to catch in an open field so I was soon able to inspect the damage.  It has now been cleaned and sprayed with Terrramycin so I will check it over again in the morning.

Self service

Not much to report today, other than Carol has been busy knitting again.  I nipped over to take her some yarn, Ochre and Gabby & Imala this time and I came home with another scarf and a pair of mittens. 

The girls are getting ready for new grass, their hay consumption is increasing and Oonagh and Ursula are helping themselves to the bale!

Fresh grass for the girls means movement onto the hill though so they are going to have to wait a little while yet.  We are working our way through options at the minute, Paul & I are struggling to agree on the caravan at the minute!

Hopefully things are progressing with the shed planning, keep tuned for possible update on that tomorrow. 

We have so much to get sorted before we can actually move the herd, the plan is we will get some grass cutting done this Saturday so we can start some fencing.