I believe there is a general saying that rolling stones gather no moss, I would like to say that this is completely opposite for alpaca. As usual it’s Jester, my comedy alpaca, he is looking almost mouldy at the moment as he is totally covered in moss. This unfortunately tells me that I need to address the moss to grass ratio in the paddock. I have started the process of demossing but just me and a rake with a few acres to cover may take some time, but as my Spanish teacher used to say “poco poco” and I will get there. I have now also started the process of overseeding the paddocks to improve the grass for this coming year. The middle paddock which is the smallest and currently empty is my test area. I am working a few square meters at a time firstly raking out the worst of the moss then removing any persistent weeds with a fork and finally 1 wheelbarrow at a time mixing rotted down compost, fresh alpaca poo and grass seed (special alpaca grazing mix), which does take me back to being a child and making mud pies, and then broadcasting the mix. This of course all needs squashing down, I am very pleased that the paddock is tucked away and few can see me doing my little penguin shuffle up and down the grass. The rain is now welcome for a couple of days, then I am putting in an order for some warm sunshine.
My worst problem in the paddocks is a weed called Burdock, the tap roots are virtually impossible to dig out as they can reach over a meter down, and as with plants in general, if I snap off a plant I want in my garden by accident it dies, if I cut off the top of a Burdock it comes back twice as strong! I really am trying to resist spraying them, and each year I walk round the paddock cutting them back in the hope they will eventually weaken and die but I have been doing this for several years now with no success. At the end of the season when the seed heads are produced it doesn’t matter how vigilant I think I have been the alpaca will be covered in burrs, which I then need to cut out, an unhappy time for both me and the alpacas.
While I am waiting for the grass to really start growing again in the paddock I had noticed that the garden lawn is already in need of a cut, so in a moment of inspiration (or madness) I decided to try and put the alpaca in the garden to act as lawnmowers. Win win or so I thought. I don’t have enough hurdles to bring all of them down so I tried bringing just Coca and Fuego down, which sort of worked but weirdly they didn’t seem to eat much of the grass on offer, but the buds on the roses were very tempting – such is life, alpacas now back in the paddock and the lawnmower will come out next time the rain stop.
By this time in the alpaca year the coat is just about at its best, little Fuego and her brother Inti are looking absolutely fantastic with really deep, dense floof the rain doesn’t seem to penetrate further then the top inch. Polly and Reeya aren’t looking quite as good, they are both getting on a bit now and their floof isn’t quite as thick as before, although will still keep them warm and dry the quality is dropping off and if we have a coolish summer I might not need to have them sheared this year. I do wish Imogen was friendly as she also has the most amazing floof and the only time I get to feel it is when I put her in a crush so I can body score her once a month, but both her offspring Cusco and Lucha have inherited this amazing floof and both will allow cuddles, so not all is lost. That said poor Cusco, my beautiful white boy, is not always too worried about his appearance, but weirdly seems to maintain a white nose.
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