Family visit

There has been quite a bit of sitting around in water trays and the sand pit this week as the boys enjoyed the sun.  Fergus is on the left waiting his turn in the tray whilst Fyta has no intention of giving up his place.

We welcomed some members of my family from Norfolk to the Highlands last week, in glorious sunshine.  Fidget tends to keep his distance in these situations but the other three boys take an interest in the visitors. Far, front left is just 'taking on water' from the trough.

With a bit of encouragement, Fyta can always be relied upon to put on a show of 'dunking his bits' in the water tray.

Completely dunked now, much to the amusement of the humans! Faro (front) is above such displays of frivolity and prefers to do his dunking when nobody is around.

We were not quite so lucky in getting Fyta to perform another party trick - that of picking up the watering can and throwing it!  He started to do it, then got bored with the idea.

Plenty of animal action in our neighbour Chris's field next door with cattle and Jacob's sheep in the nearest field and three Tamworth pigs in the far away field.

And finally.................plenty of growth in these flowers this year.  Bear's Breeches in the middle (front), with Ox-Eye daisies in the rear and Lilies and Gentian on the right.  There is an Inula on the left.

Hay time again.

I'm opening with Fidget this week, looking a wee bit lost here as he stands waiting for the rest of the gang to get up one morning.

We've enjoyed some good weather this week, but also some wind and rain! This long range shot shows Fidget lying on the grass with the other three boys in the sand pit.

Another sand pit shot, but closer this time.  Fidget is still on the grass and Faro is now lying flat in the sand pit between Fyta (left) and Fergus.

The grass cutting operation might have been quite noisy but the boys don't seem to bother at all.  We know that as long as they know what a certain noise is, they are quite happy to tolerate it.

Wednesday evening and we had a call from Karen and Dave Robertson at the Beauly farm shop      (www.robertsonsfarmshop.co.uk) to say that the first of this year's hay crop was being baled and ready for collection.  We were first there and loaded the trailer under a 'big sky.'  Karen has three alpaca boys as well as lots of other animals in her 'pet farm' which she runs alongside Dave's big farm and the farm shop.

Home with a load of 25 square bales.  The boys sampled a little of the new hay and were pleased with the result.  We still have a few bales of last year's hay to finish off before they get started on the new hay.

And finally............ we had four very nice Norwegian tourists visiting locally so they paid a visit on the boys.  Fergus (left), Fyta and Fidget are photographed whilst Faro has wandered off.  Hope the rest of your holiday is going well folks, lovely to have met you - come back and see us sometime! 

Dust bowl time again.

We've enjoyed reasonable weather this week so it was time to change the boys from one field shelter to another.  Here they are, wondering what the human is going to get up to when a dog starts to bark - instant attention, except Fergus who sees something else of interest.

Now they all want to know what Fergus is looking at, forget the distant dog, this looks more interesting............

No problems, it's only Cupcake who has decided to get up on top of one of the field shelters to see what is happening here.  I magnified this shot and counted 18 sparrows in tree behind Cupcake!

So the other shelter has been closed off to stop them going into it and they will use this one to bed down in for the next month or so.  Cupcake is still on top, looking down as the boys start rolling about and creating plenty of dust.

The ritual of the boys rolling in their new shelter always happens, it's as if they are meeting an old friend.  The far away shelter is now closed off, the middle one (with Cupcake on top!) is left open and the nearest one is where they bed down and where their hay buckets are available to them.

Faro - I think we should have called him 'Dusty' after a rolling session.  They do enjoy getting covered in dust and muck, these boys.

And finally............with the good weather the Grumpy Gardener has managed to cut most of the paddocks leaving large squares of longer grass for wildlife use - and for Fidget to lie in!

Neem application and a Fleece Day.

After the boys have been sheared we always keep a sharp eye on them in case they have any small cuts which attract flies.  Fidget has a couple of little lumps on his skin which usually get nicked whilst he's being sheared and sometimes they bleed slightly, which really does attract the flies.  We penned them to inspect them and here is Fidget getting a neck rub to calm him down.

This is one of the lumps which was nicked and had a scab on it.  I put Neem oil paste over the area and that keeps the flies off.  Neem doesn't smell too good so the flies give it a miss.  Fidget especially does not like being sprayed so this works well for him.

Fergus also in the pen but with no cuts to check looks as if he is saying, "Don't come near me with that smelly Neem!" We always let Faro out of the pen first if we are handling the other boys - he becomes over-protective of his pals!

Fergus (front), Fidget (middle) and Fyta in the pen having been checked over and waiting to get out.

On Saturday we travelled over to Elgin, Moray to attend a Fleece Day run by Carole and John at Auld Mill Alpacas (www.auldmillalpacas.co.uk)  They have a wonderful mixed herd of around 70 alpacas of various colours and markings and with several of this year's cria in attendance. It was a very interesting day with spinning, weaving, felting and skirting all on the menu and it was good to meet some old friends, including Mabel and Imants of Highland Alpacas at Balmedie, Aberdeenshire.

There were several 'milk bars' in operation whilst we were there - a lovely sight.  The animals had all been sheared by James Dixon a couple of weeks ago, on the day before he sheared our boys.  Thank you for a great day out Carole and John, for your hospitality and for the promotion of alpacas which you do so well.

Thought you might like to see the height to which our Cardiocrinum Giganteum (Giant Himalayan Lily) has grown this summer.  Considering that there is nothing of the plant to be seen until around March, eight feet of healthy growth is to be applauded!  The Lily has some lovely flowers on top of course but we almost lost the complete plant yesterday during a gale but the Grumpy Gardener saved the day by tying the plant to the fence!

And finally................. here they are in all their glory!  They won't last too long and they don't appear every year, but they are beautiful whilst they are with us.

Shearing day

Shearing day was on Thursday and it dawned cloudy and threatening to rain.  The boys were due to be sheared at 1230pm so we put them into a field shelter around 1000am just as the first drops of rain fell.  It wasn't long before camel noises and spitting started in the shelter and this photo shows Fergus with his spitting mouth on!

The boys didn't have too long to wait for the shearers and this was the last photo of them with their winter fleece on.

It's always funny to watch the expression on their individual faces as they see their pals for the first time minus the fleece.  We knew that when Faro emerged naked that that would get the interest of the others - just as  Fergus (left) and Fidget demonstrate.

And here he is - delighted to be free of the heavy fleece and running about all over the paddocks and being a real 'Jack the Lad!'

James Dixon assisted by Ginny did an excellent job of shearing.  This is Fyta about to get the short back and sides treatment.  This is the 10th time the boys have been sheared so they know the procedure, although they don't like it too much.

Neighbours Claire and Mike came to see the shearing in operation, pity about the rain outside but at least it was nice and dry in the shelters for the boys - and James!

And finally.............. with their winter coats off, the boys enjoy the freedom.  Fidget in particular feels the weight of the fleece on him and before shearing often lies down to eat instead of standing.  After shearing he's back on his feet and running around.