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 22 September 2013

A change of scenery

What to do on a rainy Tuesday morning?  We'd decided to move the boys to the bottom paddocks on Tuesday and for several days last week they had been standing at the paddock gates, looking longingly at the fresh grass as if sensing that a move wouldn't be long in coming!  Here are Gully (left) and Faro wondering what is going to happen next.
One shout of, "Come on boys" and the stampede starts - Faro has already gone past me before I can take the photo! Fidget (right) decides he will have one last blade of old grass before sampling the new stuff.
This is the normal view of the herd at the gallop!
In seconds they are downhill, led by Faro and about to enter the bottom paddock.
And in a few more seconds they are grazing as if they haven't seen grass before.  The grass is lovely and green but does have an effect on a couple of them when the 'beans' disappear and a 'paca pat' is left for the poop patroller!  Fresh grass also means that Faro, a fussy eater, will not touch his feed/supplement for a couple of days and generally the hay consumption goes down for a while.
Elsewhere around the ranch there are some lovely colours.  We don't know the name of this tree as the label blew off years ago, but each autumn these little 'lanterns' appear which then open to reveal a couple of seeds.  With the leaves fading and dying it makes a lovely sight.  Under the tree you can probably just see the purple heads of a couple of autumn crocuses. 
And finally........this is Fidget this morning, well camouflaged by the Jerusalem sage on this side of the fence, whilst he chews the cud on the other side.  Have a nice week!

2 comments:

  1. Great to hear your news. Our boys are about to get new grass too.

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  2. I just love opening the gates to a different paddock...they are so easily excited!

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