And they're off... Group sex on the hard standing at TOFT

Yesterday we began mating in earnest, well the males did. It's been a long winter for the boys and they've been waiting patiently in their paddocks this past month or so. The weather has been good if a little cold and although we could have had Cria born early this year there is no telling what next year will bring. 

Our Policy at TOFT is to begin mating as soon a shearing is over. In this way fleece can't get in the way or complicate the process in any way. As we shear around the second week in May it means our babies will not arrive next year until the beginning of May. It's an 11.5 months gestation period for an alpaca and they are ideally mated 2 weeks after birthing. So a little foresight and stamina is required over the next few months on all our parts whilst birthing and mating dominate at TOFT.

So yesterday it began mating with 8 stud males performing the first duties of the season in the pens on the hard standing.They went off like a bag of frogs. The sound of or 'orgling' males was deafening. The sex party was in full swing from the outset and those poor boys left in the field were non too pleased to be on the bench. 

TOFT will resound to these dulcet tones of mating males every Monday, Wednesday and Friday right through until the second week of August by which time hopefully all our breeding Mums for 2017 will be settled, scanned and the boys can rest all winter in the paddocks as their respective females concentrate on growing the next TOFT generation.

This year we are returning to scheduling all our 2017 births between May 1st and the end of July all things being equal. We did achieve this a few years back but birthing has got a little out of sync in the past few years. Any late birthers this year will be held over until this time next year. We much prefer our Cria to be on the ground early in the summer so they can thrive and be ready for anything our winter may decide to throw at them. 

It has been said and so it will be done- we hope. We can but try. As with any livestock operation we react to whatever the weather and circumstance throw at us and plan as a best we can against most eventualities. 'Twas ever thus!

Busy weeks of summer

There's been no let up at TOFT this past few weeks with animal deliveries and shows taking up the whole of August. Last week we took a lovely trio of pet males up to North Berwick to fulfil a long standing dream of the new owners. Those boys are going to be spoilt rotten up there in Scotland. Along the way there we dropped off a few females for mating and on the way back picked up a few that had already been mated. All told a round trip of amost 800 miles. No sooner had we got home and we were off via Copenhagen to Oslo to judge the first Norwegian Fleece show- more on that later.I'm sat now in Copenhagen airport writing this and catching up after a fabulous three days in Oslo. Much more on that later. Needless to say we are both looking forward to a solid week on the farm to catch up with our alpacas. It's been a blast these last three weeks but a little downtime is now needed in earnest to recharge.

Boys yo to Scotland....

For a warm if soggy welcome...

Girls back down to TOFT with just enough time to pack and head to Norway to judge the first Norwegian fleece show. We wouldn't have it any other way!!!!!

And this afternoon it will be Assembly

10 small Hayracks rocked up today to take their place in the new TOFT quarantine area. Every alpaca family staying for mating will have their own little hay bar!

Are we gonna get on with it..... boss?

No ladies, we are not. You will have to wait for next week for the boys to come over and play!

At TOFT we start mating the first week of May. On Monday these older TOFT ladies who did not get pregnant for this season will join the queue of maidens lining up for the boys attentions. Draycote water will start to echo to the sound of orgling males for the next four months. If you have not yet decided where you are headed this season for elite genetics then check out TOFT Alpaca Stud and come and join the orgy!

Goodbye to the holidaymakers...

This big a boy along with his two mates and and a small harem of females leaves TOFT today after being here over winter on holiday. They came down from Lancaster around about October as their owners were renovating their paddocks overwinter. They are leaving today for Wiltshire today. This big boy is currently in two years fleece having missed shearing last season which gives him that classic  big Peruvian look. 

These visitors have spent the past 5 months in our quarantine paddocks as two happy little family groups and have been a delight, but today they are off to warmer climes as we need the space in quarantine now for all the wee groups of maidens now arriving at TOFT from all parts North and South for mating to our Stud Males. The sound of  orgling TOFT stud males will underscore Easter this year. Hey ho and a mating we will go! 

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. 

Lavender park Tulley is resting

This is Lavender Park Park Tulley resting between matings. He's been a busy boy this season but all good men need a rest sometime.

We're on the last knockings a with our Toft matings now. We plan our birthing so that all Toft cria are born between the second week of April and the end of July. So there's only another week or so within that window and anything that isn't pregnant will wait to the spring. 

All our Toft males by now are seriously match fit and have worked well over the season.  Needless to say they will all be busy servicing client animals  for some time yet. 

Alpaca stud males: so where're the girls then??

It's been all move on the farm this week with the pregnant female alpacas being split into May, June and July births. The pregnant female alpacas were then moved from their winter pasture to their separate  new summer paddocks. The May births were moved into the birthing paddocks nearer the house ready for the imminent arrival of their cria. 

The boys, in similar fashion were moved onto fresh paddocks so that their winter pasture can be cleaned, fertilised and regrow. The large Draycote field the girls over wintered in has now been cleaned, harrowed and fertilised and will be left to grow and cut for hay when the time comes.

All this movement meant the stud males could be let up the hill into to graze the lane way which runs along the now empty female paddock. 

The smell of the girls must be  strong in  that empty field as these alpaca stud males spend quite some time looking for those ladies. If one raises its head they all do just in case one of these big boys  is about to  get lucky. They walk up and down collectively sniffing on the wind for the chance of a mating- a bit like rampant teenagers patrolling the streets in 'mega luff' or wherever they congregate for this ritual nowadays! ( in my day sadly it was only Scarborough)

Don't worry boys you will get to work soon enough. Once shearing is over the farm will start to echo with the glorious  sound of alpaca orgling.

Harrowing the alpaca paddocks...

Weekend was glorious ,dry and sunny. With that combination at this time of the year comes shed loads of work. In between the normal herd maintenance tasks we are halter training the junior alpacas, preparing the alpaca females for their imminent births, cleaning and harrowing and slitting the fields. This on top of talking to clients about matings and sales, running alpaca husbandry introductory workshops and trying to get the fence repairs finished. 'Twas ever thus!
This week hopefully we start to get some fertiliser into the empty paddocks. With a rise of a few degrees this week by next you will be able to hear the grass growing.
This vintage Massey Ferguson 35 tractor first saw service sometime in the 60's but I was able to use it, to good effect, this week to chain harrow the alpaca maternity paddocks.
These paddocks stay empty most of the winter because with 60 births due this year they will see plenty of action in the coming months. The alpaca birthing will start in May but with this warm dry spell upon us we have to keep an eye out for any earlies.