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 March 2013

Mixed weather again.

Monday's weather came as a wee bit of a shock - back to the white stuff which blanketed the green stuff, much to the displeasure of the boys.  They get bored very easily when they can't get at their grass!  With magnification you'll see them in the middle of the picture just outside of their field shelters.  This photo looks north.
There is a certain beauty in undisturbed snow in a garden - this is the Phormium plant at the back of the house before the sun was high enough to get a melt started.
Mid week and the warmer sunshine had returned allowing the boys to get back to nibbling their grass.  Mid afternoon and they go for sunbathing and chewing the cud - all except Faro the guard who remains on his feet.  This photo looks west.
Gully enjoying  a bit of sunshine and a mouthful of supplement!  Gaucho is behind him eating from his bowl.  These two are great pals but it does not stop the occasional serious neck wrestling and spitting between them which happened shortly after this photo when Gaucho tried to pinch some of Gully's food!  Bad move.  They were soon up on their hind legs, 'chesting' each other and spitting for about a minute before peace returned.
This is Fidget showing a clean set of teeth.  Not the quickest boy in the herd, in fact he is always trailing behind the others, but he is a lovely chap.
Rufus, bedecked in hay after a rolling session with Gaucho behind.  The boys have all had their Verm-X granules in their food over the past week.
'Waste not, want not' down in the chicken compound as Hunkey Dunkey and his hens get stuck into a couple of  cabbages which makes a tasty change from layers pellets, mixed grain, grass and grubs!  Cabbage flavoured eggs anyone?
And finally.............to end the week yesterday, the Crocuses put on a colourful display.  No daffodils in flower here yet but plenty of shoots ready to open when the weather gets milder.  For those of you who attended this weekend's Futurity in the south - hope your hangovers are lifting!

4 comments:

  1. Its lovely to see the Crocuses and the promise of the Daffodils in the garden. The boys are looking in 'fine fettle' and the new house looks great in the background ... it will be lovely to look out of the windows at the boys in their fields ....and before we know it ... summer will be here !! (wishful thinking) Jayne

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  2. Great photos Shirley? It looks very scenic even if the boys don't approve!

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  3. I can't get over the change in scenery from Monday to mid-week - covered in snow and then gone! LOL, we always give our chooks the kitchen scraps and they love it (their favourite is picking the cucumber seeds out of the middle of the left-over slices!) :) Lisa

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  4. It's been awful again hasn't it and it's not good here again today. Will Spring every arrive?!

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