2010 Cria

We have had 21 cria this year. I really need to keep my blog up to date so I am really going to try over the next couple of months.

Back in May we were getting ready for the National Show at Newark at which we received a lovely handful of rosettes & were really proud of our show team.

1st for Comet & Lex

3rd for Ani, Fergus & Murphy

4th for Dragonfly

An update on Thorn he has turned into a beautiful boy with cute markings on his face, always one of the first at the gate to see whose coming. Celeste is also lovely about to be weaned.

Here's a photo of some of the cria back in June - Persia, Nell, Dillon, Sapphire, Hope & in the background Ruby Tuesday.

Thorn

Our next birth was unexpected as well! We were at Newark showground on the Thursday before the show when we got an emergency phone call from Martin's mum to say she had found a cria in the paddock. She had run for towels & done everything right but the wind was icy cold. We dashed home put him & his mum Coco in the shed with the lamp, he didn't look good, prem but only 3 days before 11 months. Called the vet who said we had done everything we could & we just needed to get his temperature higher to give him a chance, so we fed him bottle colostrum, warmed him further & had to leave him 4 hours later in mum in laws care so we could go & finish the penning for the show! Fed him until midnight & really didn't think he would make it through the night but he's still going strong & is a real character as you can see from his photo.

Found him today in the paddock with the yearling boys, happily bouncing around, still not sure how he got there, he always sits the other side the gate to them & not with his mum!

My Beautiful Prem - Celeste

Celeste an hour ago
Celeste just after birth

It's been quite a while since I blogged, as the day after lambing for 3 weeks, 2 days at the Heart of England Fiesta & a day shearing 26 alpacas, we found ourselves the organisers of the National Show at Newark. But I think I need to blog in order so I will go back to 11th April when we had an unexpected arrival.

Celeste was a little too early & found herself being born in the wrong paddock. We had been meaning to move her mum Cosmic for a few days & she was definitely going to be moved that afternoon but Celeste decided to arrive in the morning at 319 days. We didn't see her for probably an hour & there was a very cold wind, so we had a cold but large cria & an upset mum. Cosmic did not settle when moved into the barn & we ended up with her in another barn with a lamp & fed Celeste from a bottle until midnight. Next morning all was well, Cosmic calm & Celeste feeding from her mum, a very happy ending.

Cosmic herself was a prem she was born at 307 days a very small cria but she had a strong will & was very clever. Martin milked her mum Plum & fed her every hour for the first 24 with a syringe. We fed her from the bottle pretending it was one of her mum's teats so she had to look for the milk in the right place & after 6 days she moved off the bottle on to her mum. Today she's a lovely big strong girl you'd never believe she was a prem.

Heart of England Spring Alpaca Fiesta

We attended the Spring Alpaca Fiesta last weekend. As well as showing the alpacas we took scarves, shrugs & cardigans to show what can be made from our gorgeous alpaca fleeces.

There were some lovely alpacas in the ring & I am very happy to say that Ani our beautiful junior black girl came 4th & also won a Best of British rosette for having 2 British parents, Skylark her mum & R2D2 her dad. Comet had moved up classes from the last time he was in the ring in Thirsk & is now an Intermediate black male, he came away with a 2nd rosette, very pleased with him as he's such a handsome alpaca with a lovely nature.

We also sheared 26 alpacas yesterday so now I have lots of fleeces to clean to take to the mill for this years colours.

My 4th Designer

My 4th designer is Nicole Feller-Johnson, her website is www.notwosnoflakes.etsy.com & we are just about to start to knit one of her beautiful patterns Katrina Ballerina Lace Layering Cardigan. It is going to knitted in Lana who is light fawn & this will make it a lovely very versatile soft coloured cardigan.

Very busy here at the moment lambing still going on, will have more photos of the lambs & our other very special arrival later in the week

Lambs in hiding

Just a quick blog tonight, been busy all week lambing & another in labour at the moment. Thought I'd share this photo with you. Last week we only had 5 mums with their lambs in the nursery shed, I checked on them just as it was getting dark, counting them 2 were missing so I went into the shed to search & there they were in the middle of the feed ring fast asleep!

Goldie & her beautiful lamb Imogen

Goldie is one of my favourite sheep, she was so tiny when she was born we didn't think she would survive. I got to hold her while an emergency pen with a light was rigged up for her & her mum Ruby. She was small all her first year but has now caught up with the rest of the girls & produced her first lovely lamb Imogen who is a carbon copy of Ruby & Goldie.