Quite a successful week in many ways! Almost all the ewes are now marked which means there should be a fair few lambs arriving in February. In fact, 55 ewes are sporting red, yellow and blue bottoms which could work out at rather a lot of lambs! I sourced another 20 ewes to join the flock and they should have arrived a month ago but they were delayed and are now arriving next weekend which is not ideal as they will have to be quarantined before the ram goes in so they are going to be a bit late. They are having a bit of a change of scene as they are Draft ewes from the Welsh hills - too old for rough grazing so they have been selected, or drafted, out of the flock to move to better grazing. They are beginning to loose their teeth so need a slightly easier life (something I know all about but that is a dental story!). It does mean they are a lot cheaper and they should be fine to lamb but they will be a little on the wild side so that will be fun! We go to pick them up in a weeks time and will need double decks in the trailer which is something we have not used before but Sam is coming as well which is a good thing. The reason he is keen to help is that he is also having 10 so a total of thirty will be arriving but his will go to the field he is renting once they are in lamb.
The alpacas are mostly doing well with the exception of poor Rascal who is still troubled by her skin and now has very swollen eyes. I am going to try some anti-inflammatories as nothing else is helping. This is her from when she was born with her mum Bert. Bert was my all time favourite alpaca who sadly had to go after a hip injury which, despite an operation, never fully mended.
Now must get back to my knitting as I am knitting the most complicated shawl I have ever knitted!
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