As we wait with anticipation for way, way overdue cria (Alpaca babies) to be born, life in farming is not always fun, flowers and hay making. If you are the kind of person who likes four holidays a year, nice fingernails, time out for yourself, hates mud or being cold, wants their meals on time (or even at all), needs their sleep and likes socialising – farming is not for you!!

we have been treating two cases here for a few days now and both have the potential for total recovery but both are serious issues requiring constant attention. if you are squeamish do not read on!

Firstly, (and it was not me that put them in this year) one of the Wensleydale lambs had an issue with an ear tag. It is just one of those things but if spotted really quickly, you can prevent (hopefully) long term damage to the ear and obviously treat it effectively quicker saving the lamb discomfort unnecessarily.

This little lamb had to have her tags removed, her haematoma opened and cleansed, being treated daily with antibiotics. She is well on the mend now…

   A personal thank you to my two friends who came out to hold her whilst I removed her ear tags and cut into her ear to release the fluid and again when the hole closed up due to a clot – draining being so important – you know who you are.

Well I did warn you that if you were squeamish not to read the post.

are they here yet – say the Rams?

are they here yet say the boys?

We never tire of saying that we are expecting great things of our cria every year and this year is no exception… however patience is the name of the game with Alpaca because LMD’s (last mating dates) rarely mean anything and they will be born when they want to be – anytime of the day or night…

keeping you on permanent “birthing watch”… some of them find it amusing to watch us humans!

We are very loyal customers to many people here at Kensmyth and so there have been celebrations for many Companies that we have used for ten years too… Jason who has done our signs since 2008 has done us proud yet again…

Well Time is one of those things in the Spring you simply do not have enough of – Kensmyth is no exception and let us just say that  little things have been creeping up on us that have needed severely dealing with…

some of them look pretty but they have nasty hooky stings… and I do not just mean the Creeping Thistle!

we have now received full permission for the live video of some of our boys to be shown on this site, for those of you who missed it…

we are really proud to be breeding Alpaca and of the condition of our livestock and farm – happy healthy Alpaca – not overstocked with plenty of grass and companionship – here is to the next ten years! !

I have had so many people write to thank us for bringing attention to Alpaca and for making them smile, that I wanted to thank them here and show them how even on rainy days, the boys have fun…

here they are ready for the off!

well who would expect a Frost on 10th May? really – what is the Jetstream doing to us now!

exciting times lie ahead for Kensmyth this year as we did some very brave colour matings and I have several girls now overdue… so its regular checking from the (yawn) earliest hours to the latest hours when they go onto CCTV.

for those who think Alpaca birth in the mid morning coffee break – guess again – mine had never read that book and as our Vets will confirm – have done every hour they felt like in a 24 hour period – usually just as you want to go to bed! Love them and so excited to see what colours we get this year!

few realise that Alpaca require additional vitamins through the winter months due to the lack of sunshine in the uk. Hence they cannot wait for their heavy fleeces to be taken off (shorn) so they can bask in the sunshine and soak up all that goodness…

As the celebrating of 10 years breeding continues, we see more of the popularity of Alpaca across the UK generally – there are now over 45,000 Alpaca in the UK – did you know that?

Not bad for a little quadruped only introduced into the UK just 17 years ago.