Still Raining

I’m very hopeful that it will stop raining soon and the bog that is my paddock will dry out slightly. As a general rule alpaca are very light on their feet, as they are from the same family as camels they have 2 toes with a soft pad which generally means that they don’t churn up the mud like an animal with a harder foot /hoof unfortunately at the moment even the alpaca are creating mud pies at the entrance to their field shelter and the hard stand and alpaca really don’t like walking through mud. To overcome this problem I put down an old piece of carpet over the worst of the mud, unfortunately the carpet has freaked out the alpaca which meant that for about a week they would either walk round (creating mud pies in new places) or just jump right over it, which then left a dip where they kept landing! However, courage has been mustered and they have finally overcome their aversion and are now using the carpet mud bridge as I hoped. Fortunately, alpacas are not as susceptible to foot rot as many other animals, but finding somewhere dry is important and they have somewhere dry to stand and sleep if they wish.

On the upside of all this rain, it does make you appreciate the sun when it does manage to shine, even if it is just for an hour or so every week. The alpacas certainly make the most of it and I spotted the boys doing running races round the paddock the other day and they had even managed to dry off in the breeze, so they did look all floofed up and very beautiful (although, of course, I am biased).

However, they did have a moment of confusion when they met their neighbours, I’m not sure who are more baffled, the sheep or the alpacas but they always seem to stop and stare every time they happen to be in adjoining sections.

Fuego is doing well although she really doesn’t like the rain and is rarely wet, always preferring the hay in the dry shelter to the grass in the wet field. I have also registered her, so she is now official and as part of the registration certificate the family tree is provided showing the names of parents, grandparents and great grandparents, along with what herd they came from, country of birth and the colour. What I found amazing is the colours going back through the generations, nearly all her relatives are black with a few fawn thrown in for good measure, so I really am baffled as to how she turned out to be the colours she is. The only black she seems to have is on her nose and her toes other than that she seems to sweep through most colours from rose grey, fawn and brown and not forgetting a rather fetching white “lipstick” effect around her mouth. However, just like her brother, Inti, she has inherited her mother’s gorgeous fluffy ears, which I think are absolutely adorable.