Monte Snuggling!

We had our first DHK session today. We were given lots of handouts and some homework to do. One part is to teach our dogs to snuggle. I know Monte will be fab at this!

Archie and Freddy the beardies come to see our new pad.

Several years ago I met a lady in Porlock at a labradoodle show. She was down from Derby on holiday just watching the dog show with her Beardie. I got chatting and we have stayed friends since. Now when ever Jill is down in Devon we meet up for a beardie bounce.

Hay Making

The dogs helped me get in some hay off one of our paddocks. I think Poppy got more on her than the tarpaulin! We had good fun until rain stopped play.

Smiley guests

The TDs are growing fast

Went for a quick puppy cuddle at Gail's. Great to see how advanced the pups are and also the differences between Hobbits and Waders pups. Hobbits pups have such wavey coats already, whereas Waders pups are much straighter and one (Navigator) just looks like a lab. They are all gorgeous.

Beautiful Judy

Judy is our most recent addition to the Radley alpaca herd. She was
born at Mullacott Alpacas and was named after my mum because she came
to visit her minutes after she was born. Kate at Mullacott alpacas
wrote this on her site about her.....

"Judy is number 2 cria this year. She was born in about 10 minutes
flat to Esmeralda. Bingo is her dad. She is the most gorgeous
chocolate brown with fabulously long eyelashes! Noticeably less
chestnut than many of our others.

She weighed 14.1lb and was on her feet and following mum in about
three hours. My first impression is of quite a feisty little girl.
(Takes after her namesake?) Esmeralda is as calm as anything and
clearly a very proud mum."

The ducks have fun outdoors

Chris and I decided to let the ducks have a flap about outside
yesterday afternoon. They did not know quite what to make of the
whole experience and just huddled together.

Lucy checks out the field shelters...

...and then has a drink from another St Bernard sized drinking vessel.

The field shelters arrive

Wednesday saw the arrival of two of the four mobile field shelters.
So we kept the alpaca girls over in the barn and left the men to build
the shelters in the blazing sun. They took shape very quickly. They
still have the guttering to be attached, but apart from that they are
ready to rock and roll. This means all we need to do now is add
donkeys!

Monte misses class

Forgot to say - due to the alpaca drama poor Monte missed his Advanced class.  He sat patiently in the car ready to go and then it was too late.  However, we did some practise and his instant down is coming along very nicely.

 

Alpaca flystrike???

Monday night we had a bit of a scare with Alice the alpaca. We
thought she had some fly strike. While feeding the girls I noticed a
patch that was covered in flies on the area that had been inflammed
since her jabs on shearing day. We think that this swelling had
perhaps burst and was now attracting flies. Stu did his best
sheepdog impression and helped me herd the girls into our barn. (see
photo) We also made good use of our orange herding tape which we
bought on our camelidynamics alpaca course. On closer inspection it
looked as though we had caught it in time. No sign of maggots - we
hope! We sprayed Alice with the famous purple antiseptic spray which
my mum will remember because we used this spray on baby Sophie's
umbellical cord last year after she was born and ended up accidently
coating ourselves in this purple staining stuff. We then covered the
alpacas with fly repellant and hoped Alice would be okay.

Casper takes the weight off his paws...

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Happy Kennel Guests

Lilo Lil the donkey guru comes to visit

Sunday we had a visit from an old member of staff, Lil aka Lilo Lil.
Since working for us in the hotel in Woolacombe during her holidays
from Bicton college, Lil has gone on to become a mule behaviourist at
the South Devon Donkey Sanctury. Lil and her mum gave us some good
advice about how to look after my new donkeys and plenty of ideas on
how to keep them happy. It was great to see them both and Lil was
still as crazy as ever. The car and the outfit she wore to walk the
land say it all!

Ducks get bigger

The ducks continue to grow....

It was interesting to see how my girls reacted to the new arrivals. Camilla and Esmerelda already knew each other - they both used to live at Mullacott. Esmee acted like a right diva strutting her stuff right into the middle of my girls. Meanwhile Esmerelda and Judy just went for the quiet life and hung back. You can also just see the boys were happy to see new ladies. They are two fields away but very interested. Hope Oscar realises that one of them is his mum that he is flirting at!

Esmee, Judy and Esmerelda are caught ready for their new home ...

The Mullacott Dogs and Teddy

On Sunday I went for lunch with my friend Kate at Mullacott Alpacas. Kate has three lovely dogs - JD, Baggins and Ellie and a huge teddy! After lots of chopping and changing I finally selected a couple of alpacas that will be joining the Radley herd. Esmee a gorgeous rich dark brown colour yearling who has some grey bloodlines and a young fawn cria called Judy who has same mum as our Oscar, and was named after my mum! Judy's mum Esmerelda will be staying with me until Judy is weaned.