Author Archives: kestlealpacas

Yes, it is summer. But it is a British summer. It is raining, with sunny spells at times. You are sitting here, rained and shivering, trying to work out what just happened. While half in panic that you have chosen a drizzly day to be born, the sun touches my shoulder with its heat throughContinue reading “Not yet, not in this weather!”

I was tired of waiting, so a cria decided to be born now that I wasn’t looking. I never met Aramis’ dad, but I know his dam, and his sisters. Aramis’ temperament is not from his dam. Grace’s personality, or alpacality if you want, comes from Aramis. Aramis had it, Grace has it, and herContinue reading “When you’re not looking”

I can see the flowers growning faster than the crias coming. Six days over the year and Grace still holds on to her baby. She’s let pass a few days of good weather. Still warm though, and better a well cooked bun than an early unexpected arrival. It’s just that I get overexcited about theContinue reading “A bit more patience”

For some time I couldn’t figure out where I placed some of the halters and leads. We need them for husbandry tasks and taking the animals out for walks or visits. We’ve managed with a couple of baby halters missing. I remembered eventually, but I may have to leave them there for a little longer,Continue reading “Do not disturb”

We could barely find the boys in their field. They have plenty of pasture. Maybe more than they can handle. We just need to cut the grass to keep it evenly managed and reduce pests and parasites. This field keeps a clean paddock ideal to grow clean fleeces. After shearing, Raspberry’s fleece uncovered a beautifulContinue reading “Cut the fleece, cut the grass”

Taking the chance of the sunny spells, we had a look in the hives. Here are some pictures taken during the inspection. The queen is very healthy and prolific. We shall have plenty of honey and bees. Can you see the queen? We marked her in green earlier in the year.

With the good weather, anyone would expect to pick up more eggs. But not the owner of marsh daisies, as they just have a tendency to go broody as soon as they start laying. Picking eggs now starts with lifting the hen to see if the others have laid yet. She only gets out forContinue reading “Chick”