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 4 December 2016

Intelligent thinking, boys!

An early morning photo from yesterday with the mist rising from the River Beauly which lies behind a fold in the land.  The field shelter is empty, the boys are already out and grazing.
They are in a nearby paddock - Fergus (front) with Fyta and Fidget in the next paddock on his own - as usual!  Faro is close by.   Interesting that they will graze going downhill, even on a sharp slope, but when they go to the toilet they always face uphill!  Think about it - that's intelligent!
It was a good, dry day yesterday with only a light wind so the Grumpy Gardener decided to burn off a pile of branches and whin (gorse) bushes.  The boys are in the next paddock, completely unconcerned by the smoke and flames.
Whats to do on a lazy, Sunday afternoon?  Well, as we're now into Winter apparently, but with warm sunshine on offer there is only one thing to do - chill!
You can almost feel the frosty chill creeping into this photo as the sun sinks behind a hill around 3.00pm and the boys are ready for their feed.  From the left Fergus, Faro, Fyta and Fidget.  Notice the brown marking on Fergus's right cheek - his mother had an identical mark.
And finally.............. I've been doing a bit more spinning lately and this all belongs to Fyta.  He looks white with black rear leggings, but his fleece looks grey when spun.  I've plyed three of the light and dark fleeces together.

2 comments:

  1. Finally found a moment to catch up ith your blog! Those boys are looking great, how old are they all now?

    It really is the time of year to get some spinning done and seeing yours has spurred me on to get back to the wheel as I certainly have a big backlog of fleeces I want to hand spin!

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  2. Hi Judi, The boys are all 10 years old and will be 11 in the Spring. We've had them for over 9 years now. Hope you, Ron and your beasties are all well. Keep up the spinning!
    Have a nice Christmas when it comes. Shirley & Robbie

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