Saturday 23 May 2009

A new herd is formed and we are up and running.

This morning was the day the mating season of the mighty Patou began. The big boy Jack of Spades arrived late yesterday afternoon and we were keen to get him going this morning. Our own Columbus has been a bit slow to show his interest in the ladies so a big serious stud male would, we hoped, get him on the right road.

The girls were rounded up and the boys were in position. Jack of course was straight into action on our resident spit fountain Bobby. She started spitting at him from about 20 feet away and as a result we all got covered, particularly Sue who got a full frontal. Nice. Once she was within pouncing range she hit the ground with a thud (Bobby that is not Sue) and although she spat and screamed all the way through she stayed down until Jack had done the deed. What goes through her mind is anyone's guess.

Whilst Jack was 'busy' we turned our attentions to Columbus who was watching keenly from the pen next door. There was lots of sniffing and rearing and finally he had a practice on Poppy who had hit the deck next to her mother. We were very careful not to let him go all the way (she has a date with Jack later today) but he started orgling which got louder and louder. He will have some more action this afternoon too.

Yesterday we said goodbye to Ruby, Emma and Juno as they headed off to Suffolk with their new owners David and Val. They will form the foundation members of a new herd of alpacas. Emma and Ruby are both due to give birth later in the summer and I know that the arrival of the new cria will be eagerly anticipated.

One of the great things about the alpaca business is meeting people from different walks of life, sharing the love of alpacas and making new friends who share your enthusiasm.


David and Val come from the other side of the country and David's engineering business is a world away from our occupations but we look forward to visiting them later in the year and staying in touch. What lovely people. On a smaller note it's also nice to have new blog readers!

2 comments:

Patou Alpacas said...

Look, I haven't had a 'no comment blog' since the 2nd of December. I don't intend to start now.

Yes it's cheating but it makes me feel better to see a little '1' in the comments box.

Chief Drivel writer
Patouland

Amiryck said...

I think we are all lost for words having seen Columbus "getting down"