Only one cria to go at Toft Alpacas

We're just about done and dusted with the birthing for the season, our last one was the end  of July. This Du Prem male cria arrived last week and they are expecting another birth from one of their agisted alpacas and that will be the lot for this season. Most of the matings are just about done also. The girls are spitting off like fishwives on the manor and the stud males are competing hard for last knockings. 

It's been a dry old time with the weather this summer but thankfully  the alpacas seem to thrive on the dry grass. 

Who's that then?

I've been followed all week by this long tall fella I hardly recognise,  it has been so long since I last saw him. The frustrating thing is  when he arrives we have to get so busy sorting  the fields out I never have time to enjoy his company and get acquainted. Now we have fertilised, harrowed and cleaned most of the farm and the first wave of alpaca births is done we might get a chance for a sit down and a quiet chat while we listen to the grass grow but I have a terrible feeling the long tall fella is already bored and is going to disappear for a while- again!!

Hey ho maybe next time. Enjoy him while he's here!!

Busy busy busy

Well we reorganised the birthing schedules over the past two years to ensure that the births stared in the second week of May and were all done and dusted by the beginning of July so we can't complain. The births started last week and are now coming thick and fast. 8 so far. The boys are winning 6 to 2 as we speak but that is changing on a daily basis. 

This kind of means that every so often the job stops whilst we watch with expectation the dams doing their stuff and then spend the rest of the day dipping out to the paddock to ensure the little one is feeding. You can tell when there is a birth in as we rapidly gather a crowd in the birthing paddocks. The passing walkers and cyclists also can't resist joining in the excitement. That's one of the bonuses of the alpacas instinctive  preference  for giving birth before 3.30pm on a sunny day! Sheep farmers eat your heart out.

And what cria they are. The Toft Alpaca  stud males have excelled themselves and the colours arriving on the ground are truly amazing. Here's a few rapidly taken snaps from the weekend when the sun was shining. Currently they all look like coloured damp dishcloths on sticks as it has rained here constantly for the past 24 hours.