The birthing season ended a several weeks ago. We now have another 6 beasties, two females and four males. The herd total is now 26.
 
So it’s a big welcome to Billy, Indigo, Dougal and Sirius (the boys) and Georgia and Nefertiti (the girls). Here’s a photo of the six mothers and their offspring. The young were cria sheared earlier ten days ago so that their baby fibre grows thicker and more evenly and they will not be over stressed by any August heatwaves, we are still waiting for that.
 
We have also been busy taking females who are ready to mate to see their sires as far away as Sussex: a four hour round trip with truck and trailer. We now have nine females pregnant, so next year is even more promising.
 
Visitors to the herd have included 21 children with the teachers and supporters from the village school. We prepared a fact sheet about alpacas and their characteristics so the class could write about the animals. The male alpacas were hand fed by the fearless youngsters in groups of 4 or 5. Most of the discussion among the boys was how, when and where alpacas spit. No demonstration was possible due to the contentment of the herd.
 
After nearly two hours the hi vis crocodile walked back to school with samples of fleece left over from the main shearing in April.  The next planned visit is the WI this autumn, but some limited interaction with the animals will be possible during the open gardens on bank holiday Monday