Isn’t nature a wonderful thing, 1 minute all was peaceful in the paddock as I plodded round mucking out, with all alpaca grazing contentedly around me, the next, a dog running around in the next field, initiates manoeuvres into the protective circle with little Fuego in the middle. The dog was never actually a threat, in fact not even looking interested, however in the mind of an alpaca it was a danger, and it was lovely to see the reaction of the herd.
Overall another quiet month in the world of alpacas, the grass has finally started to grow properly, although not quite as much as I would like and I think this winter may be reliant upon additional hay, which is rather unfortunate as the price has gone up and is also quite scarce – I can’t begin to imagine costs involved for farmers going into this winter.
That said my cossetted lot are still enjoying apples with breakfast and an afternoon snack of carrot all the while enjoying the current flush of new grass, they are currently quite chubby alapacas, but they will slim down over winter. I have also just harvested the pumpkins that have been growing in the compost heap all summer which I can use to feed them over winter, I will use the smaller ones in cooking, and I do like pumpkin, but there is a limit to how much I want to eat before they start going off!
Fuego continues to grow well. Still being fed by Coca but also just starting to pick at the breakfast pellets, and its lovely to see that she has the pick of any food bowl, Imogen doesn’t really share so tends to have her own food bowl, but Fuego can just stroll over and stick her head in Imogen’s bowl and she doesn’t even bat an eyelid, any other alpaca would have been spat at.
I also think little Lucha is making herself very popular with friends and family that come to visit, she is always the first to come and say hello, loves a cuddle and is a very good listener. She is a lovely little girl, slightly wonky but extremely gentle and always looking for a piece of carrot, but failing that happy to have a neck or butt scratch and has been know to just flop down into a cush (the weird folded up way of lying down) and will just stay there for as long as you would like to continue with the scratch. I must admit I find being surrounded by alpacas every day a very relaxing experience – I can understand why they are used as therapy animals, I really am very lucky.
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