22/11/2009 by Rosemary.

Way back in the spring time, when the leaves that are careering in gusts around my garden were just little twinkles in the mummy trees’ eyes, we came to a decision.  Ever since then, I have dreamed of writing this blog and now it has come to it, I just don’t know what to say!

This all gets a bit long winded so you may want to get a coffee before you start reading.

This is a bit of a historic blog - it is the beginning of something which could be the most brilliant thing that has ever happened to us ( well apart from Sam, of course) or of course, it could be horrendous!  It has been hard because my blog is painfully honest and sometimes I put things on I probably really shouldn’t but I like it that way and this big thing I haven’t been allowed to mention which felt kind of strange.

I’d better come to the point I suppose or my blogging friends may get bored and miss the news.  I am just very worried that some people will not like it and I really hate upsetting anyone.  It is quite exciting though and a little bit of me wants to leap about - I did that quietly in the field with Bert and Lina today - Bert took it all in her stride but Lina curled her lip and looked very disdainful (she is developing quite a lip curling habit - don’t know whether she has always done it).

When we first started with alpacas it was just two as pets but as soon as we got them we were bitten by the bug and just had to have the two girls.  As soon as baby Spike arrived we knew that was what we wanted to do, breed the very best alpacas we could, develop a business based on quality animals and quality products  We put all the savings we had into building the herd, learnt as much as we could and haunted shows trying to get an eye for quality.  We read fervently and then planned how to get there.  Then, of course, gradually the difficulties began and things got increasingly hard but it did not stop us, and never will, but we had to find a way around the problems, problems all coming down to not being with the animals.  Anyone who has read past blogs will know the problems - bottle feeding in the dark in the middle of a field, intruders and stray dogs, death and illness . . . I could go on but I won’t as I have just realised I haven’t said yet what the big thing is - in fact I have not come to the point as I said I would!

We spent ages talking and, to cut a long story short, we never want to sell our fields and move anywhere else - I love this land which has been in my family for ages and this is a village as near perfect as you can get.  Sam loves it here and is deeply attached to the land, as is Carl.  I really am coming to the point now!  We decided we would have to apply for permission to build a proper barn and live in the field with our animals.  We applied for something called temporary agricultural occupancy which means living in a mobile home for a period stipulated by the council to make sure the business is viable.  Back in the Spring I very nervously talked to a few people who had connections with the land to make sure they would not be upset by it and then we got a Planning Consultant to deal with the application.  It went in at the end of August and on Friday night I saw it had been registered!  That may explain the posts on Newts as we had to have several ecological surveys done to make sure we were not going to destroy anything - which we would not have done anyway.  I have been desperate to say something about it all but the Planning Consultant said I could not until it was registered.  Well, now it is and I have got A NUMBER!  It is all costing what, for us, is a small fortune and it has been a big decision as we have a very lovely house with incredible views but we just can’t run the business when we can’t see or hear the animals (we also have restrictions on the house which will not allow us to officially run  a business from here - making life a little insecure).  Whether it will all work out I just do not know, I have to admit we are pinning all our hopes and dreams on it but you have to really if you are committing so much to something.  I hope it is not all a horrible process and I really hope people don’t think we are just doing it to get a house built - we already have a better house than we ever would in the fields and that will go to fund the barn and business expansion.

Do you know, I have typed like a crazy thing and I don’t think I have actually said anything about what we are applying for!  It is to put a proper barn - with sides all round - down where the old barn is (in the valley at the bottom of first field), and take the old one down and put the mobile home up behind it.  As the new barn will be lower it should not be visible from the road - at the moment you can just see the roof of the old barn when the grass is cut.   If it is granted, we have to make the business viable in the time the council give us or it all has to go.  If it does prove viable, as we know it will, we can then apply for permanent permission for a little house with an agricultural tie.  We have tried to make it all as unobtrusive as possible so now we will just have to see what happens.  The Parish Council have already put the notice up on the Notice board - that was the covert operation tonight, to go and have a look at it - and the meeting where they talk about it is on the 10th December.

I have already eaten two galaxies and a packet of minstrels, now I feel sick!!

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21/11/2009 by Rosemary.

I don’t know whether I can blog tonight - I am all a tremble!  SOMETHING HAS HAPPENED and it means I can now tell everyone about our plans - but now I have gone all nervous and I don’t know what to say!  I have actually got shaky hands as I type and the reality of what is going on has hit home.  I am just going on a covert mission round the village - wearing dark glasses and with my collar turned up - then I shall eat a large bar of Galaxy (or possibly two small bars of Galaxy caramel) and then I shall try and blog my news, I think, then again I may do it tomorrow if I can’t get the words right.

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20/11/2009 by Rosemary.

Tomorrow was due to be fencing day so I got all organised for that but now it looks like that will not be happening until Sunday as Carl and Sam are going beating for the shoot.  They like it because they get paid and also because they get a really good lunch!   I am anxious to get weaning underway as Sherbert really needs a chance to put on some weight, Lily is not going to like it but it has to be.  I think Alf might also be very anxious as he is a big baby underneath but Frank should be fine.  I was standing in the field today just checking where the fence should go and Frank came up to sniff my wellingtons.  I never usually put my hands out to them but he was just walking past so I reached over and held him and he just stood there quite calmly.  Once the initial trauma of weaning is over I think I will do a bit of halter work with him. (And that reminds me - I think I have still got someone’s halter I borrowed and haven’t returned yet, sorry!)

I have organised a vast pile of poo and am just waiting for my mould - which Carl has had one or two technical difficulties with - and then production will commence!

Now I have to get on with a very important task.  Only five weeks to go I believe and I have to start organising the Westhill Alpacas Staff Christmas Party.  Last year was a lavish affair.  It was held in top field shelter and we even had a tree and flashing light, which confused Islay terribly.  The highlight was the Grand Draw where the top prize of a holiday (one night in the old caravan, sheets and final cleaning included) was won by Carl.  Funnily, he has never actually claimed this prize.  Sam won the Big Cash prize (£3.50) which he was delighted with and I won the bath cube which was appropriate.  The prizes are going to be even bigger and better this year and the Gala Dinner will include a choice of sweet!  It will be smart casual as usual and the normal heating arrangement (fire bin) will be in place.  Carl is in charge of entertainment, which I have to say was a slight disappointment last year as the boys refused point blank to play the recorder to my pan-pipe accompaniment.

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19/11/2009 by Rosemary.

I think I caused a little confusion last night by calling The Great Poo Experiment end product a Poo Brick.  I am not going to build a house from Poo Bricks (but then again . . . . ).  What I am actually making is Poo Briquettes which you burn.  Gift wrapping them for Christmas is an excellent idea - I am toying with wrapping them in festive toilet paper.  Selling them from the village phone box might cause a little unrest in the village!

For tea we had Pigs in Blankets (sausages wrapped in bacon) which was excellent until Carl remarked that they looked like Poo Logs!

Incidentally, an unknown male apple scrumper was spotted in the village the other day - let that be a lesson to you, Mother - I know you have apple scrumping tendencies.  P.C. Dave Mullins will be on your track!

I hear the new neighbours are on the move soon.  Two of the dogs appeared to think they were already off as they were running down the road this morning; then one of them shot into our neighbour’s field.  I was going visiting but decided against it and stayed on the hill - which was good as I revelled in poo all day!

Scats are now the front runners on the post and fencing front.  £1.65 a post and £29.95 a roll of 50m stock fencing.  I tell Carl we should get 100m rolls at a time but he says that I can’t lift them (and he is right!).

Frank is getting more and more curious by the day.  He hasn’t quite got the courage, but he would love to try out Little Star’s bottle!

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18/11/2009 by Rosemary.

The alpacas are doing it on purpose - they are pooing!  They know I’ve only got a bucket, they keep sniffing it.  I clear a bit - they muck it up.  I am determined to keep their paddocks clean - they are determined that I will not!  The wind has been quite strong today; on one occasion it blew the bucket over, spilling half a bucket of just collected poo and causing a great deal of pronking from the cria - they’re laughing at me!

In one of my Waste Management breaks I met our Grey Haired Neighbour and The Knight in Shining Armour, we had a chat about saving the village phone box - very important I think, the lack of criminal tendencies in the employed (!) and the effect of glasses on a person’s countenance.  A welcome break from poo!  Carl is currently in his shed constructing a poo brick mould; he has his doubts about this plan but I am going to give it a go.  I am preparing the greenhouse to become a drying shed.

I also visited the accountant today - more poo; she thinks I should bag it and sell it!

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17/11/2009 by Rosemary.

Bert and Lina are beginning to remind me of those naughty schoolgirls who used to spend all their break times lurking in the vicinity of the bike shed.  This morning, Lina spent a great deal of her time intimidating poor little Belinda, at one point she was on top of her doing her own female version of orgling.  Lina then turned her attention to Alf, who has been her constant lovesick attendant since she arrived, she was straight on top of him, which gave him a bit of a shock - he shot quickly back to his Mum after that.  Lina then tried it with Bert but Bert was having none of it!  There was no spitting just a lot of head up, ears back glaring and then they teamed up together.  After feeding this evening, which was a real bunfight, all the chickens escaped and came haring into the barn - Stumpy’s (the sheep) fault as she had pushed the bottom of the chicken netting on the gate up and made a hole.  I carry all the feed around in a big bucket with lots of margarine containers on top to mix the oats and camelibra and contain the sheep nuts and chicken corn.  I had left this behind the barn just outside the hurdles which stop the alpacas getting out.  As I was zooming around chasing chickens, Bert and Lina calmly stood at the back of the barn with their heads through the hurdles taking it in turns to remove each empty margarine tub - one at a time with their teeth - until they got to the left over mixed up Camelibra and oats at the bottom, which they then took turns to eat!  I can see I am going to have trouble with them, too bright for their own good!

I took Sherbert’s fecal sample in to the vet this morning and got a phone call this afternoon to say there was just one solitary egg - thank goodness, a major improvement.  On Friday I am going down to the surgery to have a talk with a new vet there who specialises in alpacas and we are going to talk through a worming programme, coccidiosis, mites  . . . .

Last night Carl and I had a bit of a heavy discussion on  pens, weaning and where everyone should go.  I think we have made a final decision but it does involve more fencing as what we had planned will not really work due to trees losing their leaves (which I forgot about) grazing the wrong paddock at the wrong time (unavoidable due to the new neighbours and dogs) and the sheep (who eat too much!).  Fencing at the weekend then, just investigating the cheapest fence posts at the moment - £1.75 each is the current leader.

I must stop now as the cat has just brought a mouse in and the dog and cat are arguing over who can throw it highest!

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16/11/2009 by Rosemary.

As I was feeding Little Star this morning, a delightful man climbed over the fence and went in search of newts.  He didn’t find any, nor did he find any owls, bats, rare orchids, primroses, cowslips, badgers, trees to preserve or hedges in need of protection.  He was not disappointed as he said he knew he wouldn’t when he looked over the gate.  In fact he was quite charmed by the alpacas and said he had considered keeping some himself.  He also liked the ex battery hens and the sheep, who came over for a tickle.  I think he was surprised at how polite the sheep are, they stand in line for their turn at having a tickle and Mossop is particularly gentle, just standing there and looking up, no head butting for him!

After he had gone I returned Mum and then raced back for feeding and generally sorting out the animals.  We did the body scoring yesterday and Sherbert is still very thin.  She is trying not to feed Lily but Lily is very persistent so weaning now has to be done urgently.  I think it may be this weekend which will mean more time in the caravan as I need to be there.  I am taking another fecal sample for Sherbert in to the vet tomorrow just to check she is clear.  We also checked her mouth as a very strange thing is happening with her.  While I was managing waste I noticed several lumps of half digested grass, when you are doing it with a bucket, as I have had to revert to at the moment due to Poo Picker problems, you get very up close and personal with the ground.  I thought the girls must have had a big argument and have done some heavy duty spitting, but, as I was sitting on the bucket thinking about the difference between girls and boys fighting, I noticed Sherbert eating.  She was tearing up grass ravenously and every  now and again a half digested lump would drop out.  I couldn’t find anything wrong with her mouth, I think she was just eating too quickly.  When she came in for feeding she wolfed down everything she could get from the troughs and from an extra bowl I had for her.  In fact she ate so quickly she almost choked and then had to drink a lot of water.  If the worm count is alright tomorrow, and once we have weaned Lily, I may need the vet back to check her over.  And, talking of the vet, he made a very good job of Spike’s castration.  It is very neat and tidy around his back end and he has already healed beautifully.

We also managed to finish fighting teeth check - and Cool Dude has the most lovely little fighting teeth!  Very sharp!  We will need to get that sorted and I think he is going to have to move away from Dobby - they really do not like each other!

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15/11/2009 by Rosemary.

A busy day today with waste management taking a great deal of the time.  Where it has been so wet and windy I had got a little bit behind so Carl and I tackled things together - it still took ages and the alpacas have a terrible habit of waiting until one area is cleared and then choosing that place to relieve themselves.  We then checked all feet and body scored and tentatively applied Emily’s ear tag.  Carl has to do the eartags as I hate the thought of it.  Emily was very good but is now walking around with one ear down and one ear up!  Sam and Mum are both worn out as they walked all around Woolland and I set Mum the task of holding the clip board and recording what we were doing - a task she managed admirably!

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14/11/2009 by Rosemary.

This is me, Sam, again.  I am writing the blog tonight and I have some really exciting news.

Today me and Dad went to Castle Coombe race track to meet Rob from Wellground Alpacas and have a go in his EVO 10.  Thank you very much Rob for the fantastic ride in your EVO it was amazing. Today was really good - we started a bit late because of a flood at Hamoon but eventually we got there to Castle Coombe race track.  Rob had said Dad and I could have a ride in his Evo 10 and it was so exciting.  First, we watched Rob go round a few times.  He was VERY fast.  When I got in I was a bit nervous to start with and Rob said,  “Do you mind if I go fast?”  I said, “No” and he took off.  The speed was so fast it pushed you back in your seat.  There was a car that spun off when we were going round but I wasn’t worried because Rob was such a good driver.  He went at 110mph and slid round the corners sideways.  The engine was brilliant and made a fantastic noise.  Rob must be a very good driver and he could even talk and drive very fast.  We went around about 12 times and overtook about 12 cars.  We overtook a Porsche 911 and a GT3.  We overtook Subarus like they were standing still.  The weather was horrible - rain and wind but it didn’t matter at all except I couldn’t get any photos and anyway the cars were going so fast.  Daddy had a go next and loved it but after the warm up lap the Engine Management light came on and they had to pull into the pits.  We waited for the ECU to try to reset but the light was still on so we had to go home then.  On the way home was quite exciting as the wind was so strong the Daihatsu kept getting pushed into the verge.

It was a really brilliant day.  Thank you very much Rob - it was brilliant!

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13/11/2009 by Rosemary.

First thing I took a fecal sample for Little Star to the vets, I couldn’t get Sherbert’s as, despite following her around with a sponge pudding container, she would not oblige - finally relieving herself as I went away and was half way up the hill.  All the girls went at the same time and I couldn’t then tell which was Sherbert’s.  Then it was the dentist and that was horrid.  I had a temporary filling a month ago so he had to take it out and then delve around inside.  He said it was very deep and it certainly felt like he was mining for coal somewhere in my brain region.  I had an injection but he kept touching on a nerve and I kept gently lifting my hand as he had told me to do if it hurt.  In the end it pained so much I lifted my arm very sharply and wacked him on the bottom - he decided I needed another injection on the inside of the tooth!  The tooth then had some stuff put in it and yet another temporary filling - I am getting fairly intimate with my dentist and feel we are into a long term relationship over this tooth.

I saw a quite remarkable thing today.  I went with Mum to visit Dad’s grave and as we cleared away the old flowers I discovered the onion from my floral tribute.  I thought it had been eaten but there it was, slipped down the side.  The remarkable thing is that it had taken root and started to grow!  Dad is now turning into his own little allotment plot!  He would have found that hysterical and the mistletoe in the wreath from Mum is flourishing still!  We left the onion - hope it keeps growing!

On the way to the church I saw a notice on the phone box that says they are taking the phone away.  That is a shame but not surprising I suppose.  It does say, though, that we might be able to keep the box; I shall email the Parish Council tonight - I don’t mind cleaning it.

The rain and wind has been on and off today but it has been enough to loosen the tarpaulin on the hay in the barn so Carl is balanced on top of the stack at the moment tying it all down again.  I didn’t offer to help  as I have only just dried out from feeding and the wind is getting up again out there now.  Two of the girls have turned black from rolling in mud - Belinda and Flamenco.  It looks like it will be a stormy night!

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