Back to weather...whether or not?...no only joking!

I do try not to over do the blogging...and four days in a row is excessive for me...however I felt I owed every one a thank you for all the comments over the past couple of days. What initially started as a some what tongue-in-cheek blog about building a relationship with your alpacas turned into a very interesting debate about a potentially serious problem; Berserk male syndrome. I will keep it unbiased and leave it to Wikipedia!

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Berserk_llama_syndrome

The debate has really piqued my interest in this topic and it would be interesting to do some more research. Are some alpacas predisposed? Why are some hand reared alpacas absolutely fine and others not? Is it more of a problem for inexperienced animal owners or does it happen in big established herds as well? Some questionnaires would be a start...unless someone already has already done some work?

I hope that I am correct in summing up the comments:

Imprinting of very young animals (especially males) must be seriously avoided for every one's sake. All alpacas are individuals and need to be treated as such. Be firm but fair; caring but consistent. You are the human. He is not. But most of all we enjoy our alpacas and we believe that they enjoy us too! I think that was how it started out :))

Now then I can't really talk about eggs (our chickens seem to have gone feral and don't lay in the hutch) and the weather is just damp and cold (only three weeks until our holidays...Kerala in India...don't expect it will be damp and cold!) but no more debatable topics (well not ones I dare start) come to mind Dave.

I had set time aside today to look for some articles about fleece (shearing, preparing for processing etc) suitable for referencing on the BAS website. This was my allocated task from the last fleece and fibre committee meeting (could that have been September!). The next meeting is looming and I haven't even got started. Well it appears that this is rather fortunate. A conversation with Cameron Holt last night (Australian lecturer and consultant fibre expert) revealed that he is working on a Code of Practice for BAS on said topic. Well that's got it covered I think. From what I can gather it will be similar to that of the Australian Alpaca Association http://www.alpaca.asn.au/docs/about/fleece/shearing_code.pdf. Worth checking out.

I also got an email from Australia this morning from Sharon at Waradene Alpacas. They have been on high alert due to the dreadful floods but thankfully all is well. Sharon very kindly offered to send us the ribbons that St. Patrick won during his show season down under. Understandably a slight delay due to the difficulties of even getting to a post office but they are now on their way. A very kind gesture and much appreciated.

With no reading to do...no excuses...poo-picking it is!