Author: Miss Lynne

One of the many things that George and Judy ( Walnut Knoll Farm) did was demonstrate on their herd how to give injections to our animals. So after watching a really good YouTube video this morning by the ARI we were all set.

Remembering to keep calm and our energy levels low is one of the main things we need to do. Alpacas are very sensitive to your mood. So all 5 injections went without incident and both girls and boys were really well behaved.

Buoyed by our success we decided to check with our vet and see if it was ok to mate 2 of our gang so close to having injection. The vet felt there would be no issue and so we put Rocket into the field and then brought in Lacy. He instantly knew what he was there to do, although Lacy needed a lot of persuading. After much pleading nudging and just persistence on his part, Lacy cushed down and let him have his way. Despite the fact it was his first time, he knew exactly what to do.

Fingers crossed, eleven months time we may have an new addition to the family.

Started in the right direction with an invite to a friends barbecue on Saturday night, Arrived at 6pm to be greeted with great food and great company. Dawn and Tommy have worked hard on their yard area and its looking really great. So we were able to sit outside and enjoy the evening. I provided the dessert, a really decadent frozen strawberry souffle which seemed to be a hit with everyone.

Sunday Morning after our chores were completed ( by Rob, as I had a lie in )  we drove up to Canon GA. Where our friends George and Judy run Walnut Knoll Farm. We arrived at midday and had a complete surprise, one of their Alpacas ( they have over 90!) was about to give birth. While we were waiting for her to get going we were able to also see the two little boys that were born last week.

The Mum was having a few minor problems, it was her first and she was having a hard time getting the little one out, although we would not have wished this on her for all the world, it did at least provide us with an insight of some of the potential issues and how to help and more important, what not to do. The babies feet and nose were out.

but mum was struggling to get the rest of the head out, at last here it came.

Judy had to make sure mum did not squish babies head, the mum really did not want to stand so we had to work with her. Here come the shoulders.

They were hoping for a girl but it was boy number three, Mummy loves him anyway, look how happy she is.

The next surprise we got was how quick the little lad was able to get up on his feet, must have been less than 30 minutes.

We went out to get lunch and then had a good look around the rest of their stock. Final check on the new boy before we left, clearly exhausted after all of his excitement but look how fluffy he is already. We drove back with huge grins on our faces, what and unexpected benefit to a great day.

 

 

 

 

The weather has been glorious since Thursday, mid 80’s but with a cool fresh breeze. When I go to feed the animals in the morning, I am greeted with the most fantastic smell. The trees surrounding the pastures are covered in wild honeysuckle and there is also jasmine bushes in some places as well. Every month brings its own new addition. We found rose bushes in among the bushes and ivy, the blooms were pretty and very fragrant.

We also have an interesting dance on our way up to close the chickens in for the night, we have a lot of frogs that come out as soon as it gets dark. So we have the flashlights trained on the floor to make sure there are no surprises. Here is one that hung around for the daytime.

We also found some turtles walking around the garden. A quick look on google images says they could be Gopher Turtles. We found the larger one down by the bottom barn but this small one was walking around outside my office window.

Can’t wait to see the surprises June will bring

 

This morning we had the call that they were going to come and spray the weeds and over seed for us. This meant that we had to keep the chickens in and under cover but more importantly, even though we are using animal friendly weed killer, we want to move our precious Alpacas out to the bottom field.

Let the fun commence – first the girls, make a smaller enclosure then then to coax them in. Grab the first one put the new halter on her – much better style its called an X halter and I will add a link and a picture later. Now the second then walk them to the bottom field – Sounds easy !!! Actually it was not too bad after a little bit of trepidation they walked down for us. No spitting, Yeay!

Now to the boys that involved a whole lot more running around but we got them moved in just under the hour 🙂

New girls are settling in and enjoying their new surroundings. Still pretty skittish around us but getting better. Best of all they are laying eggs already. Gave them a quick treat of some cooked oatmeal just to make sure they realize it will be good to stay close.

Just to show they are still around here are the cats on their way for their afternoon snack. Mr Rob tells me I  spoil all of them too much but I think I spoil them just enough.

 

 

Yesterday we added 6 new chickens to the ever growing family. We have a Jersey Giant, 3 Morans and 2 Amerercunas. They are already exhibiting some very different personality traits, the Jersey is a typical gentle giant and the Amerercunas are hilarious, they are very skittish constantly on the move.

No pictures yet as we need to keep them in the coop for a few days while they settle in. We should now be adding blue, giant and very dark brown eggs to the daily hoard.

Last night I decided to treat the old bloke as it was his last day at ?? years old. So we fired up the new Kamado grill and had home made pizza followed by BBQ bananas with nutella. He said it was his best meal for a long time but I think he was just merry from the beer he drank!

I decided to follow up with French toast for breakfast this morning, made with home made fruit bread and our own fresh eggs. yum !!! I like this change of pace.

Things started off pretty normal, nice blue skies, chores done and then…. 9.30 a power outage …. this was one of the reasons we escaped Pine Bush was to get away from these. 2 major differences though, it only lasted for 20 mins instead of 4 days and even better AT & T have the good sense to install battery back up in their systems and also not pull their power from the same supply to the house. So we at least had continuous internet.

And talking of escape – I think our chickens must have been watching the Chicken Run movie. As they have spent most of the day looking for holes in the fence to climb through and Mr Rob has spent most of the day chasing them back in. Did I hear someone mention gravy and mixed veg.

Not to be out done, two of the boy pacas decided to spit at each other, now with Alpacas this is not just a little mouth spit. They actually bring up some disgusting smelly and as you can see from the picture nasty tasting stuff from their stomach. The funny thing is that even they don’t like the taste and smell so the both of them were wondering around with their bottom jaw hanging open waiting for the smell to go away. I guess it will be a while before they do that again… Boys !

 

Went through our normal morning routines, Rob cooked up a large pot of sweet potato mash, our contribution for our lunch hosts. Final check around before we left and one chicken was no where to be seen. No feathers or any other signs of predators, hmmm maybe it was an eagle? Anyway nothing we could do so off we went for lunch.

Lunch was a real fun event, Jane and Norman plus all their children, grandchildren and friends. Norman showed me his vintage phone collection which is really something very special.

Good food, great company and a nice glass of wine. Perfect.

Left early evening and when we got home the missing chicken was out the back of the horse ring, no idea how she had managed it. It took Rob and I a short while to get at her and get her back in with the rest of the gang. We had a good laugh when we went up the other barn, there tucked behind a flake of hay was an egg. She must have heard about Easter egg hunts and decided to break out and hide one for us.

Anyway all’s well that ends well and we are happy everyone is safe.

Today we had planned to clear all of the ivy out of the front garden, not my favorite plant at the best of times but this had really taken over the whole area. Luckily the weather was dry and sunny so we were able to get a good early start.

Here is the garden before we started as you can see there is no room for any plants at all, all though a few brave ones were trying to poke their way through.

With a lot of hard work we were able to get a good start on it by lunchtime.

Quick lunch, grilled Stilton and tomato on toast with a nice cup of tea and a mini magnum as a treat then back out to finish it off.

Man it was hard work but we were able to clear it all by about 4pm.

It’s looking much better already and those bushes smell like they are probably jasmine. Time to feed dogs and cats, treat the chickens to say thanks for another 2 eggs and make sure the Alpacas are ok. I scooped the paca poop and then came in to make dinner.

 

We are both exhausted and barely have strength to get off the settee this evening, but we feel really good about checking off something else from our list of jobs.