Alpacas Field Shelter mark 3

I am afraid my blog posts have become a bit infrequent of late...now that the birthing season is over and the alpaca shows are all finished...blog content is lacking. I could tell you that I poo picked for over 4 hours on Wednesday (3 times I had to empty it...Paul was nearly impressed!) and sorted fleece on Thursday and Friday for 5 hours and 6 hours respectively...I also went to Tesco's... but you really wouldn't want to know.

Actually I went to Tescos to get a passport photo...it seems that the photo on your driving licence is only valid for 10 years...it was obviously a mistake having the licence run out on the year of a big birthday...I was depressed all day...you know how it is in those booths...all photos are exactly the same...soulless. Well there I had in front of me the 2 photos...one aged 40 and one aged 50...exactly the same...same lack of expression...same hair style...but just more saggy...maybe I should have adjusted the seat a bit higher.

I won't share with you the scary sight...even if it is seasonal...but instead a pretty face belonging to Parisien. Parisien is actually sold but is staying with us until early next year.

Beck Brow Parisien

Paul has been busy doing something useful...putting the roof on the field shelter that has been half finished for a couple of months. This is the mark 3 version of our shelters. The first one Paul constructed had a solid coated metal roof...but the alpacas found it rather dark. The next one had a plastic see through roof...but the alpacas found it rather warm when the sun shone (I know it's sounding like Goldilocks)...the mark 3 version is half and half...providing shade and light...the alpacas like it!

Paul finishing off the field shelter roof

I have been looking back through the photo archives today...checking out how the cria looked last year at certain ages (I was really wanting to compare Explorers fleece with Rumours at the same age)...and I was surprised to see how dark Poppet was when she was born...I did register her as brown...she won the Champion Fawn Female at the YAG show...amazing how they change?

Poppet (Beck Brow Paige Turner)

Poppet at a few days old

Paul has just come in to tell me is ready to help with the drenching...Fasinex for prevention of liver fluke so must go. So as I said not a lot to report but all good...sold quite a number of our throws and scarves...and it hasn't rained all weekend! I will finish with a couple of photos.

EP Cambridge Lady Gaga

Easter-Wood Adelle (again!)...Dave did ask how I got the alpacas to pose...answer Velvet!

Is it just me?

I am begining to see a pattern emerging...a pattern to my blog posting that is...I decide that I really must do some poo picking...I then decide that I might just do a 'quick blog' first.

Now there is no such thing as a quick blog around here...our broadband service is powered by a little man who generates energy by peddling his bike at the local exchange...sometimes he is more energetic than at other times...and sometimes (I expect this is when he takes a toilet break) it stops altogether. Up loading photos seems to give him the most trouble...hence with a bit of luck a 'quick blog' can take a good half hour!

So I apologise for a blog with photos and little content but the poo picker was calling! I thought that I would share with you some photos of Adelle...she really is adorable...and very interested in the camera.

Easter-Wood Adelle (sire Cambridge The Chairman)

She really has that look...one that backs up her amazing pedigree

Beck Brow Magellan (sire Neptune of Houghton) is obsessed with Easter-Wood Metisha (sire Cambridge Neptune) and is constantly by her side...do you think that it's a bit fishy?

The new girls have yet to take on our 'Persil white' look...this look is due to the amount of Cumbrian rain and wind...its a constant wash and blow dry around here!.

Hopefully Adelle will be making the Beck Brow show team this year. Other likely contenders are Magellan (above), Rumour, Boots, and Synergy with Crystal, Finesse and Quintos also in the running.

Beck Brow Rumour Has It...half sister to Explorer (sire EPC Top Account of Fowberry)

Beck Brow Snooty Boots (sire Waradene St. Patrick of EPC)

Beck Brow Synergy (also Top Account).

We are watching Synergy with interest...he is very fine and extremely dense (it was blowing a gale today and his fleece did not move) but he hasn't yet the definition of Rumour...however Roma his half sister from last year was exactly the same at the same age.. and had lots of definition by 6 months...I am expecting...hoping...that he will be the same.

Paul is trying to be helpful at the moment...he has conceded that I have a lot to do (thanks Jeff and Sheila!). On Sunday afternoon he disappeared for ages...Robyn and Craig were here...we rang his mobile...no reception...eventually he returned;

"where have you been?"

"doing something that will make your life easier"

"I didn't hear the poo picker"

"very funny...no it's something that you really need...a clue... it's in the barn"

"You've hightened the spit off pen sides so Chaska doesn't jump out again?"

"No"

"You've put some wider guttering up in the barn so that it doesn't over flow into the troughs during a down pour?"

"No"

" You've put up some more fixings up so that it easier to fill the hay bags?"

"No"

"Okay I give in"

"I've put up some brighter lights so you can see what you are doing"

Is it just me!!

Metisha and Adelle arrive from Easter-Wood

The weekend started off with mixed emotions...we were just getting excited about the impending arrival of our two new girls Easter-Wood Metisha and Easter-Wood Adelle...when we received that sad news that Amanda's Stanstead had lost her St. Patrick pregnancy at four months gestation...what was even more disappointing was to find out that trespassers had been seen on their land lamping during the previous night...stress?...we won't really know.

On a happier note our new girls arrived nice and early. Jeff and Sheila had been up at the crack of dawn and on the road by 5 am, meaning that the girls arrived at Beck Brow at approximately 12.30pm...plenty of time to settle in before dark. We had deliberated about a quarantine group for the new girls... and in the end  decided to make the females and cria into one isolation group...a large group...but we feel reassured by all the bio-security measures and herd health interventions taken by Jeff and Sheila...and felt this was the best option for Adelle (cria). Poo samples tested on arrival confirmed the girls are free of any internal parasite, as expected.

They have both settled in really well and are confident amongst the rest of the herd. Metisha has had to endure all our cria checking her out, but has done so with great tolerance.

Metisha...Magellan having a sniff!

She is such an elegant female with a beautiful fine fleece. She has a impressive pedigree and appears to know so...I don't think that she has quite perfected the looking down her nose as would put her in the league of Lady Gaga, but she is not far behind!

EP Cambridge Lady Gaga...snooty competition?

Metisha with Adelle...do I look like my Mum or what?...look at that head...bets are on that she will be one of the stars of the show team...a little stunner with a super fine fleece (see Explorer checking them out...across the isolation paddock...yes they will be your girls one day!)

Jeff and Sheila stayed over night before heading off back just before lunch. Poor Jeff had man flu (we did have sympathy actually...he was feeling pretty rough...I am sure curling up in front of a fire would have been the preferred choice!). Now I know when Jayne (Zanzibah Alpacas) receives visitors she sends them home with home-made goodies...Jeff went home with a couple of loo rolls... for the journey...we had ran out of Kleenex tissues by then!

We had a lovely weekend...with lots of talk about our plans for our alpaca businesses...our plans for next year's matings...our hopes for next year's births...next year's show team...etc etc...you know what it is like when you put alpaca obsessive people together!

We waved Jeff and Sheila off in their very smart alpaca-mobile...making sure that Velvet was not hidden in Sheila's overnight bag! Of course once they had left Robyn and Craig came around and we had another fleece rummage...we are very impressed...thanks guys...they are a fantastic addition to our herd...and perfectly match our goals.

An ill thought out plan!

How do you take a photo that makes a box look interesting?...get a professional in?...mellow lighting?...add a few props?...try again tomorrow!

I have been trying to take some photos of our packaging (the boxes are not too fancy...presentation is important...but not more so than the product!..so a simple approach was taken). but I have to say my attempts looked pretty boring... and as I didn't have a professional to hand...I went for the prop option.

I really hadn't thought it through...just thought if I put a couple of boxes in the paddock someone would come and investigate...a cria ideally...and hey bingo...a photo for the website...No...not that easy!

Okay I got everyone's attention...but not quite as expected..."it is just a prop Magellan it is empty!"

Like son like mother...Chaska checks them out

Inca Van Dieman Chaska...thinks that I am crazy...you can see it in the eyes!

Quintos then tries to untie the knot...just stay there Quintos whilst I change the lens...we need to be able to see the label...

Oh no...just a nose and a blurred label

He did try to be a good model...it was the photographer who failed...

How about we do without the props...some artistic shots of labels will have to do!

Where does the day go...no poo picking done today despite fine weather. Tomorrow will be a day of graft...it really must...I have to tidy up...I have some important arrivals coming at the weekend. Yes Easter-Wood Metisha and Easter-Wood Adelle are heading North on Satrurday...I really must have the paddocks clean for them (I will also try to tidy the house for Jeff and Sheila but we will see how the time goes!)

On the subject of visitors... I got a nice surprise last Friday...I really had to do a double take...a car came down the drive...and out stepped...Les and Rob from Wellground Alpacas!...Just passing on their way back from Scotland...you don't get many folks dropping in round these parts...being in the wilds and all...it really was great to see them both.



Yorkshire Alpaca Group Show 2011

It was an early night on Friday in anticipation of the early rise required on Saturday morning...3am to be precise...and on the road to The YAG Show by 4.30am...possibly a little earlier than necessary as we were unsure how the alpacas would load in the dark, in the middle of the night...but we needn't have worried...Explorer skipped into the van...that boy definitely loves an outing! Hence we were first to arrive at Thirsk...arriving at 6.40 am (we did say we would be there before 7 am for stewaring duties) despite towing the BAS trailer behind the van.

With over a hundred entries (only 4 suris) the show was very well supported by breeders and by the general public. Although a stand alone show, it attracted a lot of visitors...I hadn't restocked our box since Westmorland show and we actually ran out of flyers. A great addition to the show was the 'prettiest girl' and 'handsome boy' classes (for alpacas not handlers). These classes were judged by the spectators and proved a great attraction.

Two pretty girls from Astonishing Alpacas

We took three alpacas, all intermediates; Poppet (real name Paige Turner), Roma (real name Fine Romance) and Explorer (also known as Gorgeous). Poppet, who we were very excited about when she was born, lost some of the character in her first fleece, but her second fleece has come back looking great. Tim Hey, the judge for the day, was certainly impressed. Poppet took first placed Intermediate Fawn Female and Champion Fawn Female...not bad for such a dark fawn!

Roma was next up. We always feel Roma does not do as well as she might as she always gets sweaty and ends up looking like a rag. Thankfully with such a large airy (freezing cold) building we had no problems, and she took second placed Intermediate White Female (behind Fowberry Paloma who was the first placed white female at The British Alpaca Futurity) and Reserve Champion White Female. Roma was praised for her confirmation as well as her fleece...I have to admit she does have great presence.

Roma (Beck Brow Fine Romance) takes Reserve Champion White Female

Last but not least was Explorer...who behaved pretty well I thought...he got first placed Intermediate White Male with out a pouffe...unfortunately that did not last into the championship...but he managed to win Champion White Male with just a couple of pouffes...no direct hits (I think that he is getting a reputation, which makes it harder to score, I saw that the ring steward did a good swerve). He was again complimented by the judge on his fleece, especially consistency and density, as well as his confirmation. Roma and Explorer ... now they should make a lovely couple!

Beck Brow Explorer

So a fantastic outing for us with 3 alpacas, 2 first places, 1 second place, 2 colour championships, and a reserve colour championship. We had to go home without the cup however...there were no surprises when the Supreme Championship went to Fowberry Nobility...a stunning fawn male who we already have in mind for Snooty Boots (look how far ahead we plan!)...summed up by Tim as 'just about as good as it gets' (or something very similar!)

It was rather a long day after such an early start, but Paul and Poppet had no excuse for looking so bored in the fawn class which was just after lunch...

Beck Brow Paige Turner (Poppet) and Paul in the ring.

because we had Poppet and Explorer in the championship line up, and I was stewarding, Andrew from Nerduit Alpacas took Poppet into the ring for us...and Poppet did seem much more impressed with her handler...

Beck Brow Paige Turner (Poppet)...."I do like a good handler"

Tim did remark to Andrew about using a good male over Poppet as she really is lovely...will that be St Patrick (fawn) or Black Sabbath?...she does have a black sire so maybe the latter?

Fowberry Nobility in the foreground...Andy still looking very professional as ring steward...despite the long day!

We arrived home to a lovely tattie pot, made by my mum, which was most welcome. I am now going to go and eat the left overs for breakfast!

Do alpacas like bananas?

I have to say ...it never pays to be a smart a a#5* (not sure if that is spelt alec or alex). There was I suggesting to Mark that leaving a gate open was at best rather silly (if very amusing in his case)...something that I had done once but wasn't going to repeat. To be fair I didn't do the going in one gate and out of another... I thought that I had closed it... It was when I saw Hollywood (who had been seperated yet again for fighting with Almost Illegal...he does not start the fights...it is just that he is so big he finishes them!) in with Legacy and Snowstorm... Legacy is at least fourteen years old (I say at least because he was imported from Peru, with a January the first birthday...usually meaning that they really don't know the date of birth). He is getting on...he is much smaller than Hollywood...he is the boss...no fighting!!

Hollywood (photo not taken today...as it seem like it has rained for ever, our alpacas have never looked such a mess).

After last year's debate over vitamin paste versus vitamin injections, we now have both on farm. However today, as they like the taste of the paste and therefore it is easy to administer, Amanda and myself thought that we would give the first dose as paste...well that is what we thought...has anybody else tried the new eggs-port paste...it is bright pink...it is too sticky...it tastes of bananas (they tell me)...and the alpacas hate it (some were actually retching)...we quickly moved on to injections...and I will try to get a refund on the unopened tube...why do they change things...

With all the photos of barns, house building and studios on the blogs...I thought that I would share my little effort...the portacabin (I should have done a before and after...you will have to believe me when I say it is much improved...and about 30 years old). It still needs some steps but is no longer an eye sore. It is to be our teaching and meeting venue. Lots still to do inside so it will be next spring before it will be up and running (it is now full of fleece!)

A work in progress...The Education Centre!

Reckless behaviour.

Yesterday was one of those days when there was so many things to do on 'the to do list' that I ended up doing very little. Self regulation requires discipline...it was definitely lacking yesterday...it was also cold, wet and Monday. As a consequence today has had me work doubly hard.

On the immediate list:

Fasinex (against liver fluke) to be given...whole herd

Vitamins paste/injection to be given...whole herd

Vecoxan to be given as prophylactic measure...late born cria

Toe nails to be trimmed...those in need

Paddock cleaning (always on the list)

Content to be written for new website

Photos to be taken for new website (product range)

Fleece to be sorted so that there is a product range

Lots of emails to be sent

Etc...Etc...Etc

Paul decided at the weekend that the task of paddock cleaning was not only to be allocated to yours truly...but that it would be best done on a daily basis...Paul does not know how to ride a bike...but if he did... he would most certainly be on his! But as a nod to my duties, I did do a couple of paddocks. I also wrote the content for the website and took some more photos, so not a bad days work. Feeling on top of things I even agreed to take on some nursing-legal work...this has instructions and a deadline so is good for my time management...it is also incredibly interesting...and I get paid!

Feeling a bit reckless I decided to throw one of our 100% alpaca throws into the washing machine (inside a duvet cover)...wool cycle...non-bio Persil (best thing I had available) and a drop of fabric conditioner. Thrown over the banister to dry...it has come out a treat...actually softer that before it was washed...the scarf came out equally well. So that's a scarf and a throw that I have acquired in the name of product testing!

Explorer has had his toe nails trimmed...boy was he mad...he didn't behave too badly...it was all in the eyes...he was blazing. Explorer is now going to the YAG show on Saturday hence the pedicure. He was entered but we had decided to give it a miss as we though that Roma was pregnant (not the case). In the mean time I had agreed to help out as Chief Steward (BAS training to level 2 is required so a limited number of people were available). Then I was asked if I could take the BAS trailer (this is stored in Cumbria) and on a whim I decided if we are going to tow a trailer lets just take some alpacas...Explorer is far too fat...he is filthy...probably not a good decision...but he does enjoy himself! More reckless behaviour?

It is hardly surprising that he is fat with the amount of grass that we have...it just never stops raining! Here is Finesse ankle deep in lush grass. I have been having lots of deliberations over females...I had decided that we had no more females for sale this year...however we continue to get enquires...but I really do want to hang on to her.

Beck Brow Finesse

Poor Magellan (looking rather soggy) got such a fright when he wondered up to me with some greenery hanging out of his mouth...for a moment I though that it was ragwort...but thankfully not.

Magellan...with his salad

Quintos and Boots remain firm favourites. I have somehow started calling Quintos 'Cute Pants' . Not sure how that happened...I wonder if it is because he is always with 'Snooty Boots'!

Quintos (aka Cute Pants) and Snooty Boots

Naughty!

The mums and cria are now in a paddock that is completely new to them (this years hay field and prior to that grass let). We are preparing for the arrival of Easter-Wood Metisha and Easter-Wood Adelle and have been moving the herd around 

A new view for the mums

In the opposite direction the young girls are next to the house. As you can see we really are in the valley. With alpacas in the foreground, cows in the centre and sheep at the top...it really is a layer cake of a country view!