Hot days and no shade without water can kill young and pregnant alpaca and the older ones even though they come from a substantially hotter climate than we are used to.

Fantastic to see all the cria eating from troughs when they all have the space not to be bullied but shade and water all the way please folks!

Do NOT assume the mothers will take them in..

Well I can tell you this was no mean feat. Many folk know we live on a hill, well that means getting a gate level in clay ground can take some doing..

cracking result and a great team to work with, could not recommend more highly! Especially in this heat

I say it almost every year now but we are in for a tough winter, the season of heat dry heat and little rain has taken its toll on the abundance of fruit in the fields

but the blackberries tell the tale with their fruits already out for the picking.. we even had walnuts in the orchard this year!

Well congratulations to the Lioness team for Ladies Football, it should be on the school curriculum now for sure!

Welcome to August 2022 with half the year nearly gone and welcome to our own little Lioness my Grand Daughter .. now you remember those cherries I mentioned previously ?

Well we had an unexpected hot day on Friday with it hitting 30 degrees here so we ignored the Rail Strike warnings and had a BBQ instead!

well the Heatwave continued as planned did it not? We felt sorry for those stuck in Cities as it hit 40 degrees but we had a mere 36 here..

the Alpaca cria safe in the barns ..

I have probably posted before about this Cinema but we had the opportunity to see Top Gun recently – what a great film it was originally but how much more I enjoyed this one. And it was not having my feet up either!

With 15 years of Alpaca breeding under my belt, those who know me and have had training courses know that there will always be the need to be on site for Alpaca breeding. It is not because they mate all year round and you need to keep them separate, it is not because they need toenail trimming, innoculations, veterinary care and everything else you can think of, it is not because they do not go into the shelters despite having them.. it is because they need attention all the time.

If you do not know your alpaca you will never know when something is not right and by the time you notice it is usually going to be too late.

Going out to work and coming back to find dead females dying during birthing and dead cria due to the inclement weather is something I have read so often on the usual Social Media sites that it makes my stomach churn for those poor animals. Shame on you breeders who sold to people not living on site and/or without the appropriate livestock experience.

This year we had late dysmature cria, on time cria and stuck cria – you name it.

One of them was a bit of a bloodbath and required a lot of attention 24/7 for two weeks to get to the stage where I was happy all was going to be okay.

I have handled most of the unusual births in my time – leg or legs back, breach, knees forward, you name it but this time it was two legs to the side of the head and now way was she coming out without my assistance.

Despite being ten days late she still had floppy ears and dysmature feet and she definitely needed cleaning thoroughly as did Mum but I managed to assist without any tears which is always a relief.

Amazing creatures alpacas – but you need to be there for your livestock!

you would not believe such a shaky start to this little girl if you saw her now for sure!

regular readers know I always extol the virtues of “free food” about now when I look at the orchard and the bushes on the farm, sloes will come and blackberries, hazelnuts, you name it.

Meantime I spotted a Cherry Farm en route to a destination in Dorset recently and yum, yum, how good were they I can tell you!

Well I have been here before but I took a friend recently and we marvelled at the ice cream and the huge jigsaw.. you can also buy it in South Cerney village of course.. the ice cream not the jig saw!

          near the Cirencester Sorting Office. Love Lane.