Gathering winter fuel!

At the end of a glorious run of sunny days, this was the scene on Friday as we went with the trailer  to nearby alpaca owners Dave and Karen's hay fields at Beauly for the annual uplift.  The temperature was around 30 degrees and Dave had the hay baling machines working flat out on round and 'square' bales.

One down - 59 to go!  Actually this was our second journey so we were on bale number 50 when this was taken - little wonder the old boy looks a bit fatigued!

Meanwhile, back at the ranch the boys are enjoying the excitement of the arrival of the mobile canteen.

"This is mine!"  Looks like Gully has got his supper sorted out then!

Fergus (front) and Faro surveying the scene.  This week, on the vet's advice we've started Faro on a  daily course of subcutaneous antibiotics which will continue for 10 days.  All tests so far have been negative and his faeces appear to be more formed.  Fingers crossed.

A long range shot of the boys on the right taking a lot of interest in a number of Highland cows in the field on the left of the picture.  There are a number of calves behind the trees with their mothers and two very noisy bulls also in the field so plenty of activity to keep the nosy boys occupied!  A little magnification might help with this picture.

And finally............all the sunny weather has helped to produce a reasonable onion crop again this year.  These grew on for a bit but were then lifted and are now drying out under cover.  A good decision as it is pouring with rain today.

Faro - and flies!

It was an eventful start to the week for Faro and the humans.  Following the report from Claire Whitehead at Camelid Veterinary Services Ltd and an initial visit the previous Friday from Douglas our local vet, Douglas returned on Monday for a more detailed examination.  This photo shows Faro in the middle and Gaucho on the right and the difference in the body mass is quite distinct. Faro has always been a thin boy but he has lost a bit of weight lately and his stools have been loose (looks like  dumplings!) giving the impression that food is not being digested properly.  He eats plenty of grass and hay but it is sometimes a struggle to get him to eat very much of his supplement, unlike most of the other boys. Douglas took a blood sample, got a fresh faecal sample, checked his teeth thoroughly and also took a scan of his internal organs.  The upshot is that with one result from the Edinburgh Vet Lab still awaited, nothing untoward is showing up!  The loose stools with the weight loss tell a different story so we will have a discussion with Douglas in the coming week once the Lab results are known.  Faro continues to look slightly sorry for himself and does appear to be lying down more than he used to, but no more than the other boys.  Thank you for all your messages of concern about him and we're watching him closely.

Here he is later in the week waiting with his pals at the gate into another paddock.  Gully is far left, then Wee Eck, Faro, Rufus and Fergus.

Fergus - waiting patiently at the gate.

When the gate is opened Faro charges off followed by Fergus, Fyta and Wee Eck.

Gaucho brings up the rear but he is in no hurry, just striding along in his own time!

Fidget likes to lie in the long grass at the edges of the paddock, it's probably cooler there and he nibbles the long stalks around him.  It also helps when there are all these flies and flying beasties around - none of the boys like them so we try to spray them now and again.

And finally.......... what are guys supposed to do when the heat builds up eh?  Gully (left) Rufus and Fyta hit the pit.

Woodleigh Lodge Alpaca visit - and more.

We paid a welcome return visit to Wendy and Paul at Woodleigh Lodge Alpacas on the Black Isle early in the week.  Sammy is on the left of the photo here with Baby and Prudence in an adjoining pen.  Baby has recently been mated with Sammy so great things are expected in due course.

Pru's paddock is nearest to the garden pond so she gets the best view of the water lilies and the various wildlife which comes around.

Baby is on the left here.  Paul does a great job in managing to shear the alpacas with just Wendy's help.  Not an easy annual task but one that Paul is committed to getting more experience at.

Wendy is an expert knitter and these are just some of the excellent items she has produced recently.  The wee chap in the middle (front) with the green hat is nestled in a doughnut!

This tooth pixie is my favourite however because on his belt he has a pouch which opens allowing a tooth to be deposited by a child!  Really clever stuff.  Thanks for a lovely day Wendy and Paul, for the terrific lunch and for the cakes which the Grumpy Gardener is slowly demolishing!

Later in the week we had a visit from old friends Alan and Kath, all the way from Ardnamurchan who had brought their three grandsons with them to give them a bit of history and culture around some castle sites.  Gregor (left), Jordan (middle) and Julian seemed to enjoy their first meeting with alpacas - before going back onto their ipads, tablets, iphones etc!  Nice to see you guys - keep up the drumming/baking, IT stuff and farming respectively!

And finally...........plenty of colour on the Ceanothus (Californian Lilac) this year.  It's been a busy old week here - had to get the vet to have a look at Faro, sent his faecal samples away to Claire Whitehead for checking and the vet will be back tomorrow to take blood samples.  More on him next week.  In the meantime, Robbie has a wasp's nest to deal with in the new field shelter and we're still waiting for the hay to be ready in Karen & Dave's fields.  Have a good week.

Lazy week and some pane!

It's one of those days, the sun is high in the sky and the only thing to do is just flop on the grass and enjoy the fact that there is no heavy fleece to contend with!  Only one thing missing - Faro......

Ah there he is, whilst the herd relaxes he keeps an eye on what the human is up to!

This is Gully (front) and his pal Gaucho sharing a bucket of hay.  Not all of our boys will share their hay - it often leads to arguments but these two manage it.  Whilst the boys enjoy the hay in the steading the rest of the herd has wandered off and are now two paddocks distant.

Gaucho and Gully suddenly realised that they had been left alone and went looking for the rest of the herd - and soon found them.

In the House Martin nest above the window we can now hear the youngsters chirping.  With a bit of magnification you might just see the Martin leaving the nest in a steep dive.

Some lovely displays in the garden this year.  Yellow Loosestrife (Lysimachia) is in front with  Jerusalem Sage (Phlomis) at the rear.

And finally.............something completely different.   When we were building the house we had problems with crows pecking out the rubber window pane gaskets and pecking at the window panes.  We tried various humane methods of keeping them off including this one, which works.  The plastic spikes are on a strip, taped to the sill and stop the birds from landing.  We left them on for several months and the problem stopped.  Recently one crow has started knocking on the windows again so we have had to re-introduce the protection.  I suppose you could say that it is a pane, sorry - pain!

Shear delight!

Shearing was scheduled for yesterday (Saturday) so on Thursday the boys were moved down to the bottom paddock with the bigger shelters in readiness.  The boys are unaware of the imminent move and laze around first thing in the morning - whilst Faro remains standing and alert.

Faro is a very intelligent creature as we've mentioned before, he watches everything that goes on and often knows what we say.  Whilst the boys were lying down in the last photo,  Robbie said to Faro, "Okay, go on, go to the gate" and off he trotted and stood looking over the gate knowing that they were being moved!  Great excitement then as the herd run skip and jump through two paddocks before getting to where they should be.

We put the boys into the open steading overnight Friday as rain was forecast, and sure enough it did rain.  First thing on Saturday morning it was drizzling again when James Dixon started to shear.   First up is always Faro and here he is, standing naked in the cold drizzle telling his pals to "Man up" for the short back and sides!  The boys preferred the human words of comfort and TLC though.

Four sheared and four to go. From the left Fidget, Gully, Gaucho (rear) and Fyta don't look exactly excited by the prospect of a haircut do they?  Eight alpacas under cover overnight does lead to a messy floor though.

Fyta goes for the all over trim by James who is helped by his wife Kym (left) and assistant Serena.  As always Team Dixon did a great job not only for our boys but the other small herd owners in this area.

And after the haircut comes the reward of lying in the sandpit in the sun which has just come out, with none of that thick fleece to get in the way!  Rufus is on the other side of the fence.

And finally................Fergus smiles in contentment now that a weight is off his shoulders!  One final comment and that is that we find that when the boys have been sheared they roll around a lot and rub themselves along the fences and against fence posts, obviously enjoying the feeling after their fleece is removed.  This does mean that they are more prone to nicks and scratches and we found today that Fidget has a small nick on his skin and flies were settling on it.  We sprayed it with maggot oil immediately then followed that up with the spray-on antiseptic and it now looks dry.  Although alpacas are not prone to Fly-Strike, it can happen so the presence of flies near the smallest wound requires attention. 

Hose down time

We had a couple of sizzling days this week amidst the other wet days so we got the hose out for the boys.  All of them like having their bellies sprayed but Faro also enjoys the spray being played over the end of his nose.  It's obvious that he likes it because when you stop he nudges and pushes as if to say, "More please."

Faro gets the treatment on his nose whilst Fergus in the foreground waits for his turn.   Shame about the sun hat boss, a hankie with the four corners tied would be more appropriate!

Faro (left), Fyta (middle) and Wee Eck get their noses sprayed.   Rufus is in the background watching, he likes his under-carriage and legs to be soaked but draws the line at get his nose sprayed!

There is the usual melee around the water tray when the hose is in use, with plenty of shoving and pushing going on.

Best pals Gaucho (left) and Gully just soaking up the rays.  Gaucho is standing in the water tray as usual.

Another day, another one of Fyta's tricks involving food bowls!  After he's finished his own supplement he'll pinch other bowls and carry them off or tip them over with his nose or foot - anything to get another morsel.

And finally - the Red Hot Pokers (Kniphofia) are all out around the garden attracting bees and birds alike.  These are growing next to the chicken compound and you'll probably be able to see Hunkey Dunkey and some of his hens in there.

A quiet week

The boys have been grazing the new paddock this week and lying about when the sun comes out. The grass is pretty rough but they don't seem to mind, it was topped a few weeks ago but clearly needs doing again.  The herd grazes unconcerned whilst Faro (foreground) as always is alert and watching the humans!

This shot just had to be taken!  The blackbird on the fence post had been flying and landing a few feet in front of me for some time.  When I stopped to take a photo he got onto the fence post right in the middle of the photograph to pose!

We've had quite a bit of rain again this week, quite a 'muggy' feel and with the odd 'slots' of baking sunshine.  The boys use their shelters a lot in this weather - they don't like it when the midge is around!  Fyta (left) and Fergus staying out of the way of flying beasties, above.  We also had a very pleasant and unexpected visit from three ladies this week, two of whom were on holiday from London.  They were intent on tracking down Tigh Mhor Alpacas and eventually were successful.  Hope the views of Loch Ness after your visit to the boys made up for the dodgy weather ladies!

When the sun is really hot the chickens lie on the ground and fan out their wings and tails to keep cool.  Hunkey on the left had just had a long drink from their bowl then he too flopped on the ground to cool off.

And finally.............we've had lots of beautiful sunsets this week including this strange one on Wednesday evening.  Have a good week.