Back to green!

We have returned to green and brown down here in Patouland. The temperatures are in the positive and everything has thawed leaving nice grass and not so nice mud, very sticky mud, everywhere.

I took a few photographs with my phone yesterday to prove it, not very good quality but it proves that we are back to green. Angus came out on a patrol of the alpaca field driving his Claas tractor, always ready with a smile for the camera that boy.

I took a couple of photographs of Rafiki, born on my birthday he is obviously a character and always sticking his nose in where it isn't exactly welcome. He does look pretty impressive though, enormous compared to everyone else (apart from Ruby May of course) he struts about posing and orgles at everyone which has made him a strutting target for the pregnant hair trigger spit monsters.
He is a Jack of Spades boy and anyone who has seen Jack will be able to recognise the similarities. I can't emphasise enough how impressed we are with our Jack babies, they are absolutely tremendous, so well put together and so well covered in soft crimpy fleece.

Rafiki was soon joined by his sparring partner, little Rory who you may remember has been Rafiki's 'wheelbarrow' for most of his life. They are inseperable and both strut around orgling, like a couple of bumblebees stuck in a couple of jam jars.

We had an interesting scenario today as Qjori escaped through a gate into the girls field whilst poo-sucking was taking place. At first he skipped around a bit but then he gravitated to a small mound next to The Clumpmeisters paddock. He ran to the top of this mound and turned sideways on to Clump, ears and tail raised. Clump went absolutely berserk, charging up and down the fenceline screeching, rearing up, he was bristling with aggression and Qjori just watched him and posed as much as he could. I swear if Clump could have got out there would have been carnage!

After that, as if to rub it in a bit more, he sauntered over to the girls, picked out the prettiest, (Reeya) and with a magnificent orgling display attempted to 'ground her'. That proved to be his mistake though as Sue swooped in and grabbed him. He was then haltered and taken back to his paddock next to Columbus who by this time was apopleptic! I seriously thought his head was going to explode, he was absolutely seething and no doubt was screaming the most foul mouthed

tirade possible.

Qjori will be raring to go come the spring and poor old Clump is going to have to get used to the fact that he will be sharing the lovely ladies of Patou with someone else.

Brrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr!

It's bloody freezing down here in the south, today it is still -5C and it's nearly lunchtime. Still we have had no more snow and there is no wind so it isn't too bad.
The alpacas are seemingly unbothered by the temperature and now all of them have access to a shelter. The girls, as previously reported, have the main field shelter with their en suite marquee, Qjori has his own field shelter (well he is rather special) and now Columbus, Mr Stroppy himself, has his own shelter.
We have erected our 'show tent' and strapped it down with some heavy duty straps............ and some bailing twine. It has been filled with straw and hay and The Clumpmeister has been shown round.

Actually for the first day he went no where near it but since then he has been seen regularly munching away on his hay whilst looking out on the rest of the world. We are much happier now, if the weather turns really nasty he should be able to get out of the worst of it. He is pictured below looking ridiculous with a large lump of snow on his face. What a berk.

I took a picture of the hugely impressive looking Ruby May a couple of days ago. She was our first cria this year and is a real chunky monkey, a definite case of thunder thighs. She has an amazing amount of fleece like her sire, Jack of Spades and a temperament like her mother, a feisty one indeed, halter training should be interesting!

A final word for any Australian readers.

I was up very early this morning to watch the conclusion of the cricket.

It was all over though. Australia outplayed in every department.

Can't really see anything but spankings to follow in Perth, Melbourne and Sydney.

Now you know what it feels like!

We've got it covered.

Whilst we were in Barbados last month I worried about the alpacas. I worried about them because of the onset of the winter weather back in the UK. Although whilst on holiday we endured Hurricane Tomas, it was a warm hurricane, sure falling trees could do damage, the patio furniture blew into the pool but the weather itself wasn't going to cause us any undue stress. However, the high winds did make me think about the situation at home, in the alpaca field.

As a result by the time we landed back at Gatwick I was a man on a mission, I was completely blinkered, nothing would stop me from my task, I was obsessed with providing more shelter in the field.
It may have had something to do with the fact that I travelled light on holiday. I left the UK wearing shorts, a polo shirt and sandals. Apart from my swimmers (or my budgie smugglers as the Inca King called them) I had very little else. I didn't need much more, we were going to the Caribbean where the temperature was unlikely to dip below 30C even at night (it didn't).
However, when we left Barbados to return home I was wearing the same clothing. OK for the flight, OK for the airport, not OK for a windy rainy 6C! Anyway I think that experience hardened my resolve to extend the shelter for the alpacas.

So a couple of days after we got home and a couple of days before gale force winds were expected we were out there putting up our marquee next to the big field shelter. I am sure the neighbours saw what we were doing, saw the much forecasted high winds and thought we were mad. At the time I thought we were a bit mad but once we had started there was no turning back.
I lashed it down with every heavy duty strap that I had, I trimmed it to perfection so that there wasn't a square inch of loose canvas that the wind could get it's teeth into. Then we waited. The gales came and although it wobbled and rattled it held fast. The alpacas went nowhere near it.

But deep down I knew that I had to get the marquee up so that if the weather did turn really nasty I could whack the sides on, put some hurdles round and triple the size of our field shelter. My girls would be inside and out of the bitterly cold winter. That was important.

Recently most of the country has been covered in snow with bitterly cold temperatures. Down here in the softy south we had been fortunate to stay relatively snow free. That all changed last night. We haven't had snow of 'Northern' proportions but we have had 4 or 5 inches overnight and living halfway up a hill it makes a big difference, especially as Sue and I both work. Some days we have to rattle around getting everything done before 8am. Ok on a sunny day, but......
So this morning I was up early and out with the dogs to see what the alpacas were up to.

I was delighted to find that the main herd, and I mean all of them, were either in the field shelter or under the marquee next to it. Not only that but a quick check of the field proved that they had been there all night!

The smell in there was fantastic, hay and alpaca, I love it! The fact that they had used the new enlarged shelter had vindicated my mad obsession. Hopefully if it does turn horrible they will be sorted. Warm and cosy out of the wind!

Dee, our oldest girl with her winter coat (she doesn't produce a huge amount of fleece anymore bless her).

As for the boys, Qjori has his own field shelter and seems to spend a lot of time in there, he loves it, Columbus has no shelter at the moment but has a very dense fleece. Today, however, we are erecting a shelter for him too. By the end of the day I will be able to relax, comfortable in the knowledge that the whole herd has somewhere to go to get out of the weather. That is a nice thought. Nice to know that we've got it covered.

A cloud has lifted!

Indeed readers a large, black, pain filled cloud has lifted!
In my previous post I whinged about suffering from an episode of gout. The 'episode' turned out to be the worst 'episode' of gout that I have ever had. Ten days on and I still can't put a shoe on due to the inflammation.
But, and this is the news that has lifted the cloud and put me back in charge of being the silliest person amongst the mighty Patou, the gout pain has gone! It has buggered off and left me alone and that is, and I can't emphasise this enough people, bloody fantastic!

I am left with the residual swelling and joint pain but that intense soul destroying pain that only fellow gout sufferers will know, has gone. I can now hobble about. I can now feed the mighty herd, I can bring in the logs, I am alive again! Sue and Angus are also sighing a big sigh of relief as the whingeing, grouchy, snappy, depressed, angry, unpleasant lump of sofa bound misery has gone and been replaced by Mr Slightly-Irritatingly-Happy!

I haven't yet been out with the camera, not much point today as it is a cold grey miserable day. So above is a picture from last year of Patou Fifi, one of my favourite girls, mother of Patou Rico who is looking good for next year.

Snow has been forecasted for the next couple of days and the temperature is set to sink below -10C tonight (taking into account the wind-chill factor) but the Mighty Patou herd seem to be coping very well. Qjori, who I think came over from Oz with St Pat of Beckbrow is virtually living in his shed. Being shorn in September he is a little short of fleece compared to the rest.
The main bulk of the herd seem oblivious to the cold, although taking a hint from fellow bloggers, they loved the buckets of warm water that I gave them yesterday.

Thank you for all the gout advice. Having had it before a couple of times I have read most things about gout. On this occasion it was high doses of a gout specific drugs, anti-inflammatories and time. Now that it's gone...............I'm ready for anything!

A little bit fed up.

Before the main body of this posting here are a couple of random pictures from a few years ago.
Firstly, Lily, our first female cria and my favourite alpaca in the whole wide world when she was a few weeks old in 2006.
Secondly, here are some alpacas lying down in 2007.

I'm fed up. Properly, totally, unequivocally, miserably, fed up.

I'm fed up because I had 7 long days at work last week where I was leaving in the dark and getting home in the dark. I was looking forward to getting stuck into a lot of jobs that needed doing over a nice long four day weekend.

On Friday, I did get stuck into some alpaca jobs, Baycox Bovis was administered, the herd was given the once over, all seemed well. But I could feel a familiar gentle throbbing in the big toe of my right foot. A throbbing that I have had before and it was a throbbing that filled me with dread. I have tablets to take when this happens and I was taking them but the throbbing continued.

At lunchtime on Saturday, after a morning working outside, I decided to rest for the afternoon with my foot elevated. The throbbing was getting worse. I was becoming worried.

I went to bed at around 10.30pm. Before midnight I had arisen, hobbled, sworn, several times, and was back downstairs. The throbbing had changed to super turbo throbbing. Excrutiating, intense, unrelenting, tear-makingly painful throbbing.

I stayed downstairs, wide awake, for the remainder of Saturday night, mainly trying to put my foot somewhere where it didn't hurt, I couldn't find anywhere, it was a long night.

Anyway, to cut a long and boring story short, I am still sitting with my foot elevated. The throbbing has abated considerably but my toe is still red and shiny. For the third time in my life I have a severe case of gout.

Bugger. Double bugger in fact because the days off I was waiting for have been wasted. Jobs remain undone. Once the gout has abated to the extent whereby I can put a shoe on and walk about I will have to go back to work. Triple bugger.

Why am I telling you this? Why not? After all, I am fed up.

A week in the dark

Right, finally a day off and I can attend to all things alpaca. I have just worked seven days in a row and most of those days I have been leaving for work in the dark and getting home in the dark. It is not a situation that pleases me. It is not conducive to alpaca farming.
Luckily I have the lovely Mrs S on the case and she has been dealing with things in my abscence. There have been several telephone discussions but Sue has been in charge and I am happy to report that as I take over for a few days all is well.
However, it has been a slightly stressful week with a few medical issues that needed sorting out. The main cause for concern has been our oldest alpaca, Dee and her cria Reeya. They have both been under the weather (and boy we've had some weather over the last week!) but hopefully are now on the mend.
Reeya had quite severe diaorrhea and was very listless and in considerable abdominal pain. Thankfully after a dose of wormer, some Baycox Bovis, a course of anti-biotics and a course of Pro-rumen she seems back to normal. Sue did call out our vet, the lovely Louise, as a precaution, but I think by then we were on top of things. Better to be safe than sorry, these girls are so special to us it is important to get diagnosis and treatment right.

The beautiful, majestic Reeya, earlier this year, before the mud arrived!

Reeya's mother, Dee, is another matter. She is our oldest alpaca and the only Chilean import that we have. She is 13 years old, although I am not sure how accurate the Chilean record keeping is. A slightly suspicious 1st of January birth date doesn't instil confidence.
Dee is also probably the calmest alpaca in the herd and does produce some superb cria. Reeya herself is the pick of this years cria with a super soft, fine, crimpy, bundly, bright fleece. Another super Jack of Spades production.
Anyway, Dee herself seemed a bit under the weather and was very shivery. It has been cold, indeed it has been wet and cold but not that cold so we were a bit concerned. A couple of days in the shed with Reeya and the application of a nice warm coat seems to have done the trick.

Dee starring in one of my favourite alpaca photographs a couple of years ago with her cria, Barney.

Now here's a thing. I tried to put a coat on her early on in the week. She went berserk, absolutely berserk and was not having it. As soon as it touched her back she took off kicking, screeching and spitting. I removed it quick smart and she calmed down.
Sue tried it whilst I was at work and Dee didn't object at all, she probably even helped to do up the buckles! Now what is that all about? Some sort of feminine conspiracy going on here I think!

Interestingly, Louise said that there was an unusually high worm burden in sheep at the moment. I had already decided to treat the whole herd for worms and coccidiosis but it is interesting to hear that, ideal conditions for the little gits I suppose.

Right enough of this, it's time to step into my wellies and get out into the ankle deep mud, lovely. Still it's better than being at work.

They do love me!

I am pleased to report that the photographs that wouldn't come out of my Blackberry did eventually transport themselves late last night into my laptop. Good job too as it is an absolute shocker out there today, no outdoor photography happening here today, no sirree.
The pictures aren't very interesting actually. The first shot is the Mighty Patou herd just after I had been 'mobbed' at breakfast time. The second is of them as they wandered off to graze. Riveting stuff.

I know we shouldn't humanise animals, but as a stupid, soppy animal lover it is sometimes difficult. I know they don't think as we humans do and that their life generally revolves around food and staying away from scary things (umm, not too dissimilar then?). But they did behave differently when we got back from our holiday. I went out to see them when we got back and they ran to me and surrounded me, which, unless I am carrying a bucket of food is not usual.
I nose nuzzled with several of them, some for the first time ever and some of them nibbled my clothes which again is not what they usually do. Even the 'hair-trigger spit monsters' came up close, although the look in their eyes said 'Just don't come any closer sunshine, I can turn the air green in a split second buddy boy'. Sue reported a similar experience when she went out the following morning with the dogs, a 'mobbing'. Marvellous. They knew we had been away and they were most definitely welcoming us home, no doubt in my mind. Anyone who suggests otherwise can look forward to a poke in the eye.

So anyway, here are my babies milling about in the feeding/husbandry paddock before I rounded them up a bit more and got hands on.

And here they are wandering off down the slippery hill back into the main field.
What a glorious day it was yesterday, how different today.

Back to work tomorrow, holiday well and truly over.