Cold, Cold and even Colder!!

The last couple of weeks has certainly been challenging on the weather front and whilst we all conviced of our Alpaca's resilience to extreme weather conditions, one can't help wondering how they can cope! We have, like so many other breeders, felt the need to give them extra comfort in the form of a warm (ish) barn to spend the cold nights in but we are always surprised to note that they are so eager to get out the following morning. We are still experiencing seriously cold nights at the moment with little let up in sight.

The ice and snow has prevented us delivering Easter-Wood Navigator and Easter-Wood Polaris to their new home in the New Forest last weekend so we will have to review the road conditions again mid-week. We are very sad to see them go but we know that the new owners, Brian and Sue are very keen to welcome them to their new farm.

We had a visit from a family in France who are keen to set up an Alpaca breeding enterprise earlier this month. We had a long conversation about husbandry and welfare, etc over coffee and then took a tour around the farm, introducing them to both weanlings and adults, all of which generated much interest. It is so nice to see the excitement and passion of breeding Alpacas that we experienced in others.

We also had another student contact us recently with a view to gain work experience with Alpacas and so we welcomed her along with her father last weekend. This visit also coincided with our routine AD&E injections for our weanlings and therefore her help during this procedure was most welcomed. She is studying Zoology and has agreed to work along side of us, gaining experience of general husbandry skills, etc. for the next few weeks.

What, No Alpacas!

 It is currently -11 degrees C but the Alpacas will need to be let out so I will be back again soon.