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 20 March 2016

Sunny with a fringe on top!

This week has seen some welcome sunshine again, which suits the boys and the humans.  Fidget likes to get into the sand pit in the sunshine, usually with Fergus, and Fyta sunbathes with his belly pointing towards the sun!  Faro uses the sand pit too but does not sunbathe.
The sun casts long shadows in the afternoon.  This is Faro, watchful as always, with Fidget behind him in the sand pit.
Today we penned the boys, mainly to try to trim the top-knots of Fyta (above) and Fidget.  Fyta's fringe was obscuring his vision in the left eye.
Not the neatest of scissor trims, but at least Fyta can now see clearly through both eyes.  He does not like the top of his head being touched!
Fidget - another boy who does not like humans touching the top of his head.  He is getting a neck rub which he enjoys but we could not get his halter fitted due to the thickness of his neck fleece.  He did not want his fringe cut so left it as is and it will be properly cut by the shearer.
It's interesting to note the different types of fringes - Fyta (left) has long unruly strands of fleece, Fergus (middle) has a thick 'mop' and Fidget has a mass of curls.  Faro has tight, short curls.
And finally............regular blog readers may remember a photo posted a couple of weeks ago of rhubarb in our garden.  The leaves were just beginning to come above ground and I said that it was time to put a bucket over them to force some growth.  This is the result!  The shoots on the right of the picture were not under the bucket so you can see the difference in growth.

1 comment:

  1. None of our alpacas like the top of their heads touching, think it's common...sad because it's always the first place folks try to touch them!

    Wow, that rhubarb is looking good! Bet it gets plenty of alpaca compost to boost it! Sadly we lost the crown we brought over and haven't successfully replaced it yet.

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