OUR SMALL HERD

Our original four boys came from Ardo Alpacas in Aberdeenshire. We are not alpaca breeders and have our boys purely as pets. Our experience is that you don't need to be a breeder and that a 'batchelor herd' can give much pleasure to the owner. We have 5 acres including our big garden and grazing for the boys, 15 miles north of Inverness, Scotland. I spin, knit, felt and crochet with the fleece from the boys.

Clicking!!

Just a reminder that clicking on (most) of the photos will show them greatly enlarged.

Sunday 17 February 2013

Alpacas ahoy!

Just when we thought the weather might be changing for the better earlier this week we got a sharp reminder that it is still winter!  It didn't last for long however and the rest of the week has been milder.  Nothing like a dusting of snow is going to put Fidget off his haylage though as he munches on through the snowflakes.
Wee Eck, Rufus, Gully and Gaucho have a better idea about eating their breakfast out of the snow shower.
Laid-back Fergus has the other field shelter to himself and sits out the shower
This shot was taken from inside the steading and shows the boys looking out at Fidget still munching in the snow.  Wonder if they are thinking, "Silly boy!"
On Wednesday evening we gave a talk on alpacas to a lovely group of ex-mariners and wives at the Inverness branch of the Royal Naval Association.  There was plenty of interest in the subject and in the fleece and knitted items we'd brought along.  One member of the Association - Alex, photographed in the rear row (left) wearing the pullover - was so keen to learn more.............
...........that he came out to Tigh Mhor a couple of days later with his wife and daughter Donna to have a look at the boys.  Fergus of course (front left) is more interested in discovering whether there is any food on offer!  Nice to see you folks - and thanks to the RNA for the opportunity to talk about the beasties.
And finally.............over the last few days, someone (not me!) has been doing a job involving a wheelbarrow, shovel, 100metres of driveway up to the house,  20 tons of stone chips and backache!  'Himself' says that he's going to report me to Help the Aged and anyway he says he thought that Abe Lincoln abolished slavery years ago.   Cheek!  No tea for him tonight then.

5 comments:

  1. Lovely photo of Fidget. we will be expecting a photo of the lovely drive next week!

    ReplyDelete
  2. Well "himself" still has lots of gravel to shift so I hope he was on his way with the barrow when you took that photo! Slavery eh? I think you're doing him a favour...think how fit he'll be afterwards!

    ReplyDelete
  3. Let's hope that's the last of the snow for this year, our boys are fed up with it too. They look at me as if to say "that's enough of the white stuff now.."

    ReplyDelete
  4. The boys, except one look cosy in their shelters siting out the snow .... no tea,you are a harsh woman, there was me thinking he would need feeding up to keep the strength to fill the rest of those barrows !! .........looking forward to seeing the finished result .....Jayne

    ReplyDelete
  5. 100m of driveway!!! 20 ton of stone-chips! Glad it's not me :) Fidget has probably just had enough and decided to eat out no matter what the weather LOL. :) Lisa

    ReplyDelete