A Grand Dam in every sense.

I have delayed this blog posting for a while, in fact that's not quite true I have started it a few times but have stopped for one reason or another.

So here goes, final attempt. I want to tell you all about a wonderful female alpaca called Dee. Her full name is Indira of Cambridge and she is the only alpaca in the Patou herd who was actually born in Chile. According to her pedigree certificate she was born on the 1st of January 1998. Mmm, very suspicious.

We bought our initial three females in January 2006 and in early 2007 I went down to Sussex to meet up with Philip O'Connor to select some EPC females. These half dozen females would come back to our herd and be put up for sale as we had no females of our own to sell. I remember standing with Pip and him asking me which, out of a group of 20 or so females, I liked the look of. I immediately pointed to Dee and was surprised when I was told that she was the oldest female in the group. Even so I liked her and she was soon on her way back to Wiltshire.

That summer Dee gave birth to Fifi and from that moment on Sue and I knew that Dee and Fifi were not going anywhere. A deal was done and we bought them both. This was not how it was supposed to work!

The gorgeous Fifi has gone on to produce her own cria for us.

Dee had the gentlest of natures and has passed this on to all of her progeny. We still have within the herd the three beautiful daughters that she has bestowed upon us. All of whom have been cared for expertly by the 'Grand Dam' of the herd, Dee.

Pictured below with a young Jack of Spades daughter, Reeya, who has done very well for us.

Here is Dee with Reeya, all grown up!

Dee's third daughter is Truffle, possibly one of the laziest cria we have ever produced. Here seen expertly perfecting her laid back method of taking a late lunch.

Dee even featured on the front cover of Alpaca World magazine with Truffle in the below picture.

Dee in a typically motherly pose with Truffle, she adored all of her cria.

On the 30th of December last year Dee was sadly euthanized in the field by a vet. She had seen the vet a few times recently and the only diagnosis was that she was simply dying of old age. We cared for her as well as we could up until the decision had to be made and I cradled her head as she slipped away.

She was a very special alpaca and her mark has been indelibly made on the Patou herd.
We miss her.