Dum de dum de dum de dum

I couldn't think of a song title but the above should be sung to the theme of 'The Archers'.  That's what I always sing in my head when Si talks football to me but tonight he has been going on about the quality of my photography.  Apparently, I have taken the shot of him and Carl working on the barn in Digital Zoom when I should really have used Optical Zoom and then he started going on and on about pixels.  I have only just stopped putting the camera up to my eye to take photos and to top that he has just informed me that 'The Archers' theme tune is called 'Barwick Green'. (Dum de dum de dum de dum).  The only excuse I can make for him is that he is an accountant.

I took a photo yesterday of the quality of Exhibitions fleece but that wasn't good enough to put on and then I took a shot of a dock growing to prove that the grass and weeds have been taking full advantage of the warm temperatures.  I couldn't believe it, the grass growing again already, it really does make me feel as though it is spring.  Carl confirmed that Rosemary had been saying the same thing over on Ibberton Hill.  That should help us cut back on hay a little and I may risk reseeding the areas where the grass has died on previously used alpaca poo piles.

Anyway, this morning Carl arrived to help Si clad the barn.  After a bit of messing round breaking drill bits, recharging drill batteries, fixing the generator and although it wasn't mentioned there was probably a fair bit of cursing going on they started to clad the barn.  The wood was wet through so was really heavy and they had to move it two pieces at a time from where it had been dropped off by the delivery man.  I was impressed by how fast they actually got the cladding on after fixing the beams to the frame.  I did point out to them towards the end of the day that they should have sorted the Yorkshire Boards into shade order and then fixed them.  Carl did ask if I wanted them taken off so that they could start again but I thought I would let them off with that as I am sure they will look fine once they have been stained.

Yesterday we administered Lambivac and Panacur as a preventative measure to all the girls and cria as they were dry for the first time for weeks.  The ground was still sodden and we squelched our way around to clean the paddocks.  We had one girl that had been really stroppy since we got her and she refused to come to the feeders and I was worried that she wasn't getting supplementary feed but the bad weather really helped.  As she couldn't graze while there was snow on the ground and the hay racks were empty of a morning she would come over looking for food and I managed to get her to eat some alfalfa (this has been referred to on my facebook page by a breeder in US as crack for alpacas) she loved it, I gradually reduced the amount of alfalfa so that she was only eating camelibra and she is now first to the feeder when she sees either of us.  I talked softly to her while I was feeding her and this seems to have built up trust.  When we wanted to do a fecal test on her last year it took three of us to hold her down.  Our poor vet was thrown to the ground, I was knocked into a fence and Si jumped out of the way.  Yesterday she stood perfectly still while I held and talked to her and Si administered the injection and drench.  We were astounded, but it just goes to show that you only have to build trust with alpacas.