Cuddles and Pedicures

Ollie was out dismantling some more of the old paddocks this morning. He's obviously toughened up as he was only wearing a short sleeved t-shirt and didn't even come in when it was raining. We are hoping to re-use some of the top rails that he has taken down. There is a full day of fencing planned for tomorrow where Mark had put the new posts in the other day. We discovered that we had almost run out of those large staples so when Si got home from doing his hard sums we dashed off to Countrywise in Honiton to buy a large tub. I couldn't believe the price of them. No wonder fencing is so expensive to do.

I fed the alpacas their evening meal and then decided that the goats were ready to have their hooves trimmed. It's quite an easy job with pigmy goats as you just pick them up. Cherub is used to being handled as she has been cuddled from the day she was born. I sat on a bale of hay and sat her on my knee while Ollie trimmed her feet. She just tucked her head under my chin and stayed perfectly still but I think I would too if Ollie approached me with those clippers. Sweetheart isn't as keen on being cuddled but he behaved really well. They then knew it was time for their tea and they danced about on their hind legs on the way to their feed trough then proceeded to circle it waiting for me and Ollie to catch up.

I had a telephone call this evening with the PM results of the girl that died the other day. The vet was right, she had a twisted gut. It doesn't make it any easier but at least we know that she isn't in pain now. Her baby is still feeding from another girl and seems to be thriving. I've had lovely messages from people after last nights blog, so thank you. It probably seems silly to other farmers but I think that alpacas are pretty special, as daft as they are and ours are looking pretty grotty at the moment.