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It's wet! By Jove it - is - wet! Now, we're in a pretty lush area, there's no question about that, with plenty of all-year streams, dams and springs that never ever dry up. But this winter has been unbelievable.
The first rains were wonderful. They sprinkled water down which ran across the dry paddocks and down the creeks. They even started to fill the tanks.
Mud - lots of mud
Then more rain, this filled the tanks, and then some. The water started to soak into the hard ground and everything went green.
Then it rained some more. The ground got soaked until it could hold no more water.
Then the moss started growing, lots of it. Being winter there wasn't much growth in the pasture, but the mossy plants - don't ask me to name any of them - started to appear everywhere, and the plants that grow in the creeks, all came back with gusto. By the way, alpacas love those weedy plants that grow under water along creeks. Ours will stand in the creeks up to their knees to graze on them. (I guess they figure they're already soaked to the skin due to the incessent rain anyway, what's a bit more).
Anyway, then came the mud. Lot's and lots of mud. Where you have water logged ground - I mean water logged to the point that you can't walk over it without sinking 3 inches and having mud splatter as high as your thighs, - and alpacas (and people), walking on it, then all you end up with is mud. The grass and moss is disturbed, so won't grow anymore and it all starts to smell pretty rank.
It's mainly the gateways and corals between paddocks, as these get the most traffic. It's just slush.
So for all those praying for rain, prayers well and truly answered here. Just that God or Huey, the weather man (or whoever else people hold responsible for these things), must have been on extended leave and just answered every request all at once.
August is pretty calm round here - September/October brings the wind, so that should, with any luck dry it all out in time for the spring.
Been away for a while, but I noticed that Alpaca Notes hasn't disappeared off the radar, so I thought I'd drop in with an update.
We lost our lovely Daizi. Not sure what happened, just went out one morning and found her lying dead in the paddock. Very sad, as she was an alpaca I really liked, I could cuddle her and she'd come up and cluck at me like she clucked at her crias.
She had a young cria at the time, who we had to wean early. Thankfully, the bub was starting to graze for herself so we didn't need to bottle feed her.
On a brighter note, things have rolled on and we have new babies quickly growing up. I need to take some new photos of them, but we've had pouring rain here for almost a week and let's face it, pacas don't look so good when they're sopping wet.
Anyway, this is Peter Pan. born on 11 January 09. He's a lovely light fawn colour and is a nice natured boy.
Peter Pan
Here's Montezuma (Monty). His mum, Alice keeps having crias this wonderful caramel colour, and they're all beautiful, inquisitive alpacas, just like her.
Montezuma (Monty)
Little Wendy is a petite girl like her mum. Her mum went very weak in the back legs during the last few months of her pregnancy and we were very concerned about her. Had heaps of tests done, but the vet couldn't find any problem, so we just put it down to the cria pressing on nerves or something. Wendy's a very cute little paca.
Wendy
Hannah is Maralyn's latest cria. She's the funniest little thing. She was very unafraid of humans and would march right up to people to check them out. You could pat and cuddle her and she enjoyed it. This isn't a good trait in a prey animal as babies like this make an easy meal for any predator who wants to grab them, so we don't encourage this behaviour.
She's becoming less precocious now as she's growing up and learning the alpaca way from her mum and the other alpacas.
Hannah is still a very bright and personable alpaca though, which is wonderful.
Hannah
Theres not much thats bad about having alpacas. OK, picking up alpaca poo is a bit of a chore, but that can all go on the garden and it grows lovely plants and veggies for you.
Shearing day is pretty arduous and can leave you feeling stiff and sore from man person handling pacas and sorting all that fleece (particularly if youre a bit of a sloth who doesnt do much exercise).
Shearing alpaca
A sick alpaca isnt much fun either, as you feel sorry for them and cant explain to the poor animal why youre sticking needles in them.
The worst thing is definitely when one dies, but thankfully that doesnt happen too often (touch wood).
Now, most people will probably think Im nuts here, but selling alpacas is also way up there on my bad list.
Alpacas are pretty expensive animals, compared with most other livestock, so logic would dictate that when I sell one, I should be overjoyed.
I have set a limit on the number of alpacas I can comfortably look after. This is a very important thing to do if youre contemplating having these critters because they are soooooo collectible. If youre not strict about your numbers, you can quickly find yourself with a LOT of alpacas.
I really enjoy seeing the new babies arrive and watching them running about exploring their new world and growing bigger. Thats the best part for sure. Unfortunately, the flip side is that I have to sell some. Actually selling them isnt hard at all, they just do that themselves. But its having them go away, thats really tough, especially ones youve decided to sell, but then grown kinda fond of.
Going to miss you Holly
I try very hard not to get attached to my alpacas. I know they dont get attached to me (though I have wondered about that on a couple of occasions). I also feel a little better by the fact that I only sell alpacas to people who Im confident will take good care of them.
Its still hard though. Just want to keep them all.
Ive decided to wean Emily off Alice. Emilys six months old now and shes a big girl, so well and truly able to survive without her mum now.
Emily
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Heres Magic. Hes now 4 months old but is already as big (or bigger) than a couple of the 6 month olds. Magic is from my beautiful girl Maralyn who is a lovely calm natured alpaca. Magic is a friendly little guy and hes soooooo soft! He may well be stud potential, hes already looking fantastic (and he knows it).
Alpaca - Magic
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Just a few happy snaps for you today. Heres Donald (DEntrecasteaux).
Donald (DEntrecasteaux)
Donald's coming up to 6 months of age. Its hard to get a photo of him with his ears up, he usually flattens them as soon as he sees the camera pointed at him. He's a stunner though, a very handsome boy
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Our working boy Cappy, doesnt like our wether, Jamma. I dont know if he thinks Jamma is still entire (he was castrated many years ago), or whether Jamma just looked at Cappy the wrong way at some point. In any case, I often find them having spitting and screaming matches with each other across the fence.
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I read a book a few years ago The Last Tribes on Earth by Paul Raffaele, in which he journeys deep into the jungles of Papua to meet the Korowai people. They have been living happily in the jungles for thousands of years and they have no qualms about eating humans.
The Last Tribes on Earth - Paul Raffaele
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If youre registering alpacas you need to state what colour they are. The AAA (Australian Alpaca Association) has a chart with 12 colours on it and you need to pick the closest to the colour of the alpaca youre registering.
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Comment by Rosemary
on The Green Dream . . . .
Alpaca Notes - Tasmania
It's the hardest decision ever and the day we dread.
She's up there in the stars. Take care and give yourself lots of time. R.