Kensmyth

Everybody knows that in farming there is a saying “where there is livestock, there is dead stock” but we have never lost a cria birthing in ten years and due to our stringent Biosecurity, living on site so prompt action taken and excellent Vets, I consider we have been lucky – but it is hard work and long hours as we all know .

Many readers of this blog wondered what I had referred to previously and now it is time to talk about it.

you will recall that we had a very dry spell followed by a few days rain then dry again – this left the ground exceptionally slippy under foot. Alpaca love to roll and one morning one of my favourite Alpaca was getting up from a roll and two other younger Alpaca galloping about didn’t stop in time as they went towards her and knocked her back down to the ground. A simple accident with disastrous consequences.

As she got up she was clearly injured and as I had the Vet already on their way to attend to a Wensleydale lambs ear anyway, he looked at her immediately.

The outlook was not good and we gave her the appropriate pain relief drugs to assist and close monitoring to see if with all my attention and love she could remotely improve.

To keep this brief – she was euthanased as she was unable to walk properly as it had worsened and no animal is ever allowed to suffer at Kensmyth.

it was a tragic sudden accident and a week I would not want to repeat – she was a gentle kind Alpaca with a loving disposition, very friendly and I miss her daily.

Her legacy lives on in her son and daughter who will be retained in our genetic pool but she was a “one in a lifetime Alpaca” for us. All our Alpaca are insured and I would also like to personally thank Jacinta at Armitage Insurance for her sympathetic and prompt handling of this tragedy.

very important visitors to Kensmyth who just love the Alpaca  – who just love showing off

watching and waiting, not just for one young lady to give birth…

but several girls are way, way overdue now and visitors are watching too…

Well “Our Girl” at Kensmyth has decided the weather is just too much and babies can wait until she has topped up her tan…

We have had some very dark days at Kensmyth in the past week – a rare tragic accident happened and I am not ready to talk about it on here but to say I am having a tough time emotionally at the moment is an understatement… but life goes on for everybody and my troubles are little compared to those of the Manchester tragedy so I stamp on them and Count my Blessings as my Grandmother used to say.

Meantime – reasons to be cheerful – Dinasours are NOT extinct at Kensmyth…

Well having had sheep at Kensmyth for a year, it was time to take stock of the situation that they had been purchased to fulfill.  Namely to fertilise the grounds naturally for us and to keep the grass down.

They did a great job of that, I proved to myself that I can still lamb after 30 years since I last did it – in the depths of winter on my own and they grew amazingly in the process…

Well regular followers knew that inevitably the Wensleydale lambs would be sold and it was a stroke of bad luck that the week before collection, the little lamb had a bad ear – see previous blog.

she vastly improved during stringent thrice daily attention of draining the ear and antibiotics – advised and aided by our Vets – the George Farm Vets – and off she went recently with her brother and sisters to her new home when all was well and she was fit to travel.

We wish you all the best with your new flock of Wensleydales – you know who you are!

  from this….

to this….

I am rubbish at gardening, have no time for it and always forget to water anything – my Mother when I was a child used to despair of me because she is a very keen gardener – so we have everything in Pots here and when they come out, they are simply stunning…

well I did say we work from dawn until dusk…

with farming hours taking us from dawn to dusk, eating is not a priority at Kensmyth – lots of healthy fridge ready vegetables for fast eating – we do not let the grass grow under our feet…