I would have liked to use the term “roller coaster” but that implies highs as well as lows and we have yet to have those.
My Favourite Alpaca boy, the gentle giant, collapsed on Thursday. I was away and Rob had to get the builders currently working on site to help load him into the trailer and off to the vet’s. The fear is Meningeal Worm which attacks the nervous system, unfortunately there is no test for it and so you just have to treat for everything and keep your fingers crossed that its not the case.
We have seem some improvement and he can stand for periods of time and walk around as long as we help him to get up, Vet is coming back tomorrow so we will know more then.
On top of that the house sale in NY has collapsed again. So annoyed after nearly a year we had 2 buyers, one could not complete for 3 months and the other was a cash buyer. So we went for the cash buyer, only it seems they misrepresented their financial position and have a property to sell first, So we are back to square one.
Our blogs up till now have been full of the joy and adventure that moving to Georgia has brought us, so I hope you will forgive me for venting in this one.
Saturday morning, some new friends that Mr Rob had made at Bee club came to visit. It was very nice to meet Mr Hal and Miss Sherry. They had a good look at the Alpacas no signs of any more new arrivals. The men went off to look at the bee hives and apart from a few stings on poor Mr Hal ( he was not wearing gloves) it was pretty uneventful.
They offered us 3 stray kittens that had adopted them — they will arrive early next week – pictures to follow….. Later in the afternoon Mr Patrick brought his sister and Miss Claudia over to see us ( well see the Alpacas really ) Saturday night we went out to dinner at a friends house and a great evening was lubricated with a few glasses of wine. Those that know me, understand that 2 glasses of wine is actually a lot for me.
Next morning I was feeling a little “delicate” so Mr Rob did the morning farm feed and clean up. After a lazy breakfast we were just on our way out of the door when the phone rang. It was Miss Nikki, she had just looked at the pacacam and we were having a cria!!
Mad dash to change back into farm clothes and off we went to the barn. There it was head and feet sticking out of No Doubt’s butt. We stood by and watched while she did a great job of giving birth to a really cute little boy, pure white and about 17 lbs. It was so much fun to see all the other Alpacas willing her to have it then trying desperately to kiss and smell the new arrival.
We will be calling him Cumulus – 30 days late but worth waiting for. Just need Miss Sadie to get her act together.
Miss Lynne had to leave early this morning for her trip north. Before we left for the airport she had a word with our pregnant girls to see if they could delay any birthing until her return. Although she asked sweetly, it wasn’t to be.
I’m up mum!
I returned from the airport run, completed the delayed morning routine by around 9.15 and then had some breakfast. Just after 10, Cagney and Lacey were bugging me to give them a run out. They can be most insistent. While outside I thought I would quickly check on the the pregnant girls and to my complete surprise Miss Elegance was fussing over a new born cria. Mother and baby were in no distress so I was able to calmly walk the dogs back in and collect towels, warm water and iodine from the mud room.
Yes, I think this is my best side
Elegance simply does not live up to her name. She spits and kicks and always pushes herself to the feed bins – all of them. I’m afraid she lived up to her reputation in childbirth also. She dropped her little one right in the middle of the poo pile. Good job that I had cleared it only an hour before. No harm done though and she cleaned up fine with a bit of warm water and plenty of towels. She is a spirited little thing which made putting iodine on the umbilical less that straightforward. Mum wasn’t too pleased with me but it has to be done.
Elegance looks on with pride
The little one soon found control of those very long legs and made equally quick work of finding the milk bar. I’m not quite sure what colour classification she falls under. She has some black, some grey, some brown and that lovely white face. She’s a pretty little thing and no mistake. Miss Lynne and I just have to think of her name.
Sunday morning and Kloud was now 17 days overdue. I decided to vote with my feet and stay in bed. I heard a strange noise, probably just a chicken, but I went to check on the video cam in the office and there was Kloud lying on her side with something dark coming out. Shouted upstairs to Rob and started flinging on clothes and heading out to the barn. Much to the gratitude of anyone on the Pacacam, I managed to get my T shirt on before getting there.
Kloud was very calm and the feet and head was out with no obvious issues. I was concerned about the noises that the baby was making so phoned George and Judy, the owners of the farm that we got Kloud from and attempted to reproduce the sounds to them over the phone. Good news, it was normal. The thing that made me laugh was they had literally landed at the airport this morning, arriving back from a holiday in Alaska. I swear that they must have told Kloud of their holiday plans before she came to our farm and was not risking her baby to the “newbies” without back up support from George and Judy.
Welcome to the world little Cirrus
I texted some family and friends and they got onto the cam to share in it with us. How cool is it to be able to share the actual event with relatives in the UK.
My sister posted this on facebook
After a rest Kloud tried to push out the rest of our little cria – took a few attempts to get those shoulders out but eventually out they came.
Nearly there
Closely followed by the feet and then the placenta, I will spare the general audience those images, but if anyone is interested then please let me know and I will email them.
We had bought a book about Llama and Alpaca neonatal care and I was a little concerned that he was still gulping air through his mouth, quick read of relevant paragraph and then cover mouth and blow into nostrils to inflate lungs …….. and it worked, how good do I feel now!
He was a little cold – it is quite cool under the eaves, so put the coat on him just to get his temperature up a few degrees.
Mum was loving on him and all the other Alpacas wanted to smell him, kiss him and welcome him to the herd.
Hello auntie
Young cria are up on their feet very quickly and looking to explore their world
Kloud & Cirrus rest on their first morning togetherCirrus finds his feet
Also next job on the list is to find that milk bar… Check.
Cirrus feeding
and last but not least work out how to coordinate four legs at the same time…… oops clearly harder to negotiate downhill.
Panic! Miss Lynne came rushing up to the barn this morning to say that the bees were so active that she could hear them from inside the house. As I walked down to the paddock to check the hives I could hear the buzzing getting louder. As I looked up to the top of a River Birch, I could see where the noise was coming from. It was a swarm. It’s the nearest tree to the hives and I was expecting the worst when I opened up the hives to check. I don’t think they are our bees 60ft up that tree. There seems to be as many as ever in our two hives. Now ….. what to do with these guys.
Last week I got the call to say that our bees would be ready for collection Saturday. And so begins another crazy experiment.
Miss Lynne and I have been attending the local bee club meetings for six months or so and had taken the first steps to becoming bee keepers. I had already constructed the hives and we just needed the bees to fill them. We chose to start out with two colonies to be delivered as two times five frames in cardboard boxes. These are essentially mini hives. You just have to transfer the little creatures from the box to their new home. Of course, there is the task of getting them home in the first place. I’m pleased that I took the truck as one of the “nucs” was not totally sealed , allowing the odd bee to squeeze out. That might have been difficult if it had been in the cabin.
Positioning the “nuc”
I have previously set the hive base in position and when I returned home, I thought it would be best to just rest the “nucs” on the base boards to help the bees to orient themselves to their new location. Yes, have lunch and then tackle the installation when Miss Lynne got home from weaving guild.
Protective gear on with smoker in hand
Well we bucked up the courage to attack the task and I got the protective gear on and fired up the smoker. The bees will naturally become a little subdued when they sense smoke. You never know what you will find when you first open that box.
Just a little smoke to subdue any angry bees
I had no angry bees so it was a relatively simple task to transfer the frames of buzzing bees to their new homes. Once in place I was able put in the feed bags of sugar water to help them while they are finding local sources of food. They have quite a hard job to do in the next few weeks and we need to give them a helping hand.
Healthy frame of bees
The hives soon became active with bees coming and going and crowding the entrance. I’ll take this as a good sign. I’ve already refilled the feed bags once and will do a general inspection on Saturday. If all is going well I will need to add a second body on each hive to allow for expansion and the storage of honey. I think this is going to be a fascinating addition to the farm routine.
I have to thank a very brave Miss Lynne for taking the photos with no protective gear at all. She did ask that I attach a longer lens to the camera next time though.
It hardly seems possible but we have just completed our second annual shearing. It was a lot less worrisome than last time around, even with three times as many animals. We have become much more confidant at handling them and also have the barn pens configured to help.
Little Sarah, the evening before shearing
We were up early to feed the animals prior to locating all the girls in the larger pen and the boys in the smaller one. This allowed us to have a smooth flow from holding to shearing mat and then release to the paddock. Kyle and his assistant arrived shortly after 7.30 and we were quickly into the rhythm. I would capture the animal, Kyle and assistant would lead to the mat and rope the hind legs and then I would rope the front ……. and gently stretch. The guys were very careful with our animals, especially the expectant mothers. Firm and positive actions seemed to calm them.
Once on their side, Kyle quickly clipped the toe nails and then moved on to shearing; one side, then the other and then the neck and top knot. Meanwhile Miss Lynne scurried around collecting all that luscious fibre into appropriate bags. The last operation was to cut the teeth if needed. Only the boys needed the “Dremel” treatment. It’s hard to watch that for the first time but an Alpaca’s teeth are clearly not as sensitive as ours.
Everything went very smoothly and we were all finished by 10.30 or so. We ended the morning with lots of fibre to sort and 16 goofy looking critters. All done for another year!
The Post Office called early to say that they had a box of new chicks for us and would I like to collect them. Sure, it would save them being in a van for hours.
They caused quite a stir in the line as I carried them out. They made a nice healthy chirping noise. Pretty cool for 26 chicks only days old that had already traveled 900 miles. I guess they were hungry.
They are doing well in the feed room under the heat light. We lost 3 in the first couple of days but I guess that’s normal. I’ve got to start planning another chicken coop now.
Just because the boss was away, there was no time to play. I had my list of jobs!
First I had some digging to be done in preparation for raspberries and gooseberries plants. The good old Georgia soil does not have a lot of organic matter and so I created a bed with material from the ‘paca poo pile. I’m hoping that this will help retail moisture. We will see. It’s all an experiment.
Just as I was beginning the evening routine, “Watson” the concrete guy turned up with some good news ……. and some not so good news. The good news was that he was able to start work on the concrete apron around the barn. The bad news (for me); the guys would start work in the morning. “Yes, I’ll have it all clear for them Watson. See you at 7.30 tomorrow then.”
It was hectic but I managed to get the alpacas relocated to the lower barn and pasture. The girls were no trouble. They just followed me shaking a bucket of food. The boys I haltered and lead them on by one.
Temporary accommodation
I moved the chicken coops out from undercover to the pasture, removed 8 gates, relocated the trailer and the RV and generally made sure that the guys and a concrete truck had clear access. It was a very late finish.
The guys arrived while I was in the middle of the early morning routine and got right down to work, leveling the site and constructing the shuttering ready to pour. They worked fast to be ready for that truck which rolled in right on schedule. Of course things would have been just a little easier if I had kept the chickens locked it that morning. One of them walked the entire length of the newly formed concrete. She was darn near chicken supper I can tell you. By mid afternoon it was all finished up and looking good. I just had to keep the chickens out.
New concrete poured around the barn
I spent some time creating a barrier around the new apron to keep those pesky chickens out and was pleased to see them all back in the coop that evening. The next day was all about getting the gates re-hung and ready for the alpacas to return. That would wait for Miss Lynne’s return from the UK.
Just before Miss Lynne had flown off, we had Cagney clipped for the summer. I swear she gets embarrassed by the whole new look. She came home and is constantly asking for attention. It’s ok girl, we will always love you.
Arrived Saturday morning, picked up the rental car and had a moment of panic while i reminded my brain how to change gear and drive on the other side of the car.
Off to Kidmore End to pick up my daughter and grand daughter then a long drive to Wales. My mum was definitely pleased to see us all !! I was hankering after good fish and chips from the chip shop and so that was on the agenda for dinner.
It was nice to see the coast and also the bluebells in flower out in the woods. Just wish the rain had held off for a few more days. On the Sunday I went to visit an old friend that I had lost touch with about 25 years ago. We have know each other since I was 12 so plenty to catch up on and a lot of shared history to reflect on. Back to Kidmore End on the Monday.
My daughters house is very small and so I stayed in the Pub in the village. Alana decided it would be fun to stay with me and she was right we had a hoot. Tuesday we went to clear out my old house ready for the sale completion on the Wednesday – Thanks to the help from Ricky and Carol. They also brought Ellie May with them and Alana and Ellie had a great time tearing around the garden pretending to be witches. Trip to the park on Wednesday where we met some of Alana’s friends.
Thursday we went to Beale park – which has a few animals and some more play areas – in the afternoon I had to go walk the money from the sale through the process to get it over to the US, which was just as painful as I thought it would be.
Thursday night dinner out with Alana and Sarah and then said out goodbyes – all trying hard not to trigger the tears in the others and all failing miserably. At least they will be over to see us in the US in the Summer.
Flew out Friday with very mixed feelings – clearly miss family and friends but I have to say that America and especially our place in Georgia really feels like home now. I was very happy to wake up there on Saturday morning and just spend time with the all of the animals.
