It's all about poo!

Robyn came to visit this morning and got roped in to help with some poo picking. I though she was due a pic. on the blog after all her efforts on the relief team. Here she is looking very coordinated, if a little equestrian in style!

The clean up took hours to complete today. I think it was actually easier cleaning the barns out during the bad weather. We are now back to whole paddock cleaning!

Talking of poo...... well fecal testing to be precise......Paul has taken a serious interest in such matters. It has generally been agreed in our house that when it comes to alpacas I am the more knowledgable (farmers daughter, horse owner and swot!). However, Paul purchased a microscope (with a digital camera etc) last year and has become our resident expert on egg counts (with help from Brian from Bonnie Alpacas). This has led to a debate on whether to treat the alpacas routinely for liver fluke etc or based upon results (we do randomly send samples to the VLA to confirm our findings). After much consideration (as we tested negative for fluke eggs) I decided to drench the herd with Tricobandazole. My decision was based on the fact that we have had a very wet time in Cumbria and knowledge of how devastating liver fluke can be if missed. Paul was over ruled on this occasion but I do appreciate his interest and he may be right of course (he doesn't read this blog!).

We have just got back from helping Amanda and Graham with some husbandry tasks, toe nail trimming etc. All of their herd appeared in tip top condition (they do get 5 star treatment) it was great to get my hands on them and I returned with a bag of homemade ginger biscuits as well.

Early blog as I am having a girls night out tonight to celebrate a friend's 40th birthday. It will be good to catch up on some chat......I do try not to talk alpaca non stop!