LIA IN ACTION

Hi everyone! You really must have a look at the video we posted on YouTube today.

The link is www.youtube.com/watch?v=NVJQ8LFNBfs heading 'Alpacas Pronking'

Since little 'Micah' was born on Sunday we have had continual rain here, so we decided to keep both mothers and babies in their field shelter.

As you can see, after 48 hours of incarceration, Lia was bursting with energy.......

Is was a real thrill to see her running and pronking around the paddock and having so much fun.

You may be wondering why she is wearing a green leotard. In actual fact it is a green Vet-Flex we are using in an attempt to heal her umbilical hernia!

If you look carefully, you will be able to see Martina and Micah in the background, who is experiencing freedom for the first time!

As you can see at the end of the video, Lia has gained confidence in us and was happily coming over to the gate to see us, until she was spooked by the dogs. This is probably as result of us handling her on a daily basis.

It is fantastic that we now have two babies born within a month of each other, so they will be able to play and grow up together!

MICAH

Where am I?

Our darling Micah is two days old today!!

He chose an awful time to come into the world, cold and rainy, but he is doing really well.

As you know, he was slightly premature, so we’re absolutely delighted that he has put on half a kilo in weight already!

An attentive Mum....

After a tiring day....it's time for bed!

NEW ARRIVAL

Micah..one hour old!

We’re grandparents again for the second time this year, and it’s only March……

Martina gave birth to baby boy at approximately 11:30 this morning (13th March 2011) slightly premature weighing in at 6.5kgs.

We have called him Micah, which means ‘who is like God’ in the sense that God is unique.

He is a 'cafe con leche' colour, which he has inherited from his father Ross and he has the most beautiful, huge eyes. As you can see from the photographs he is a bonny lad and is going to be extremely handsome!

Lilly says hello...

Mothers and Toddlers Group...

A new friend to play with....

Lia...one month old

ALPACA HUSBANDRY

Lilly and Lia look fairly relaxed...don't they?

Following the birth of Lia, it was time to cut Lilly’s toenails, which had grown very long and twisted and we were concerned that it might result in lameness. We were reluctant to cut them during the latter part of her pregnancy in fear of causing her any distress.

Alpacas that reside in hard rocky ground in the mountains of Peru will naturally wear their toenails short, whereas ours who live on fairly soft ground need their nails attended to every six months.

Lilly is not the easiest of animals to deal with, in fact she is an absolute nightmare, so whenever we attempt to handle her she will scream, spit and kick and generally make the whole process stressful and traumatic for all of us, her included!!

Having researched dealing with difficult animals we decided that a restraining chute was the answer. So I set about making this implement of torture that you can see in the photographs! (I think I have been watching too many episodes of The Tudors)

Anyway, although it was a bit Heath Robinson, by and large it worked very well and once inside Lilly appeared to be very relaxed, even though her daughter was close by! I was then able to set about cutting her nails with a minimum of fuss!

Some bad news! Little Lia has an umbilical hernia! However, our vet Alonso came over today and is confident that we can deal with it ourselves. An umbilical hernia appears as a soft bulge around the umbilical cord area. There is a defect in the muscles and tissues of the abdominal wall, which feels like a little hole. We have to push back the hernia sac and massage the area 3 times a day for 2 weeks, which will encourage the growth of the muscle, which hopefully will close over the hole.

© Arundahall Restraining Chute
(available in 5 colours)

LATEST NEWS!

Drilling starts a week before Christmas....

Due to our location, we live in fear of a housing development appearing in the open fields of the valley below us, which would spoil our fantastic view. So we were delighted to hear from one of our neighbours that the field directly adjoining our land is to be planted with olive trees.

We have noticed that there are large numbers of young olive trees being planted locally, so one can only assume that there is a subsidy available from the town hall.

Here are a couple of photographs of them boring a well in preparation, which was really quite exciting and interesting! It took four days to complete!

A huge generator is required....

FAMILY VISIT

Our Special Little Chap...

Unfortunately, due to circumstances outside of our control, we got a little behind with our BLOG during the latter part of last year, but there is one event that we really do have to report on.

I (Mike) received an early and very special Christmas present!

With our ever-growing family, it is becoming very difficult for me to get away, so you can imagine our delight when Guy and Amanda surprised us with the news that they were coming over with Ollie and our new grandson Dexter on the weekend of my birthday.

It gave me the opportunity of meeting Dexter in person and spending some time with him while he is still a baby and what a super little lad he is…. He has a great personality and was so quiet and well behaved that we hardly knew he was here.

It was also great to see Ollie again, who has grown into a charming and very special young man! From the photographs you can see that he had a great time with the animals and our dogs were all very sad when he left.

Sadly, the weekend went so quickly, but we did find time to take tapas in town at one of our favourite bars and pay a visit to the Cueva de Gato, the caves located on the road to Benaojan. The huge entrance of this cave resembles the face of a cat, thus the name ‘The Cave of the Cat’ as it has been known through the centuries. The unpredictable floods of this cave river have claimed many lives over the years and during the torrential rain of last winter, all of the access bridges were washed away.

Needless to it was lovely to see them all and enjoy many hugs and cuddles with Dexter and hopefully we can all get together again later in the year…

A devoted and doting Nanny

Gosh...Where did he get that hat?

Ollie enjoys a ride on Hector!

Shame about the washing line....

That's my boy....