shivery blasts of wet weather and torrential downpours along with steamy heat is a recipe for Flystrike if I ever saw it. Kensmyth Cria drop continues with beautiful girls bar one boy so far and all the colours predicted so far, bless:

I even get cria helpers sometimes – get out of my birthing box you rascal LOL

Well it had to happen fairly soon and we all bet she would go early and on shearing day but she did it the next day bless her cottons. no waxing up (didn’t last time) no real warnings (didn’t last time) and boom, we are away for the foaling of 2020 from one huge mama mare.. more photos to follow when he is a little older and uncurled!

Well a great day for shearing actually as the heat meant all mums to be could be left out instead of being penned up ready. just the boys had that pleasure but we already know they love the attention:

plenty of helpers (adhering to social distancing) is the key but then things will still go wrong LOL

but just take a look at how much fleece (to be turned into yummy yarn) comes off our Alpaca and that’s just the tail!

blessed relief for all the alpaca, especially pregnant mums to be rid of their fleeces in this heat

well with the Mums holding on for this long, we could not expect to have anything other than Dysmature cria being born. That is looking premmie but born late as mothers have arrested the pregnancies until they felt the weather conditions were better for birthing. coats for winds and sudden downpours but all off after first or second nights ..

so we have thick umbilical cords (shown on placenta) and tipped ears and toes..

My Mum was asking just the other day how our British Spotted ponies were doing. You remember – the Alpaca lane munchers?

Well – long loyal blog readers will recall that some foals come out spotty from the start and some “spot out” later.

well here is Kensmyth Kinda Cute when she was born if you recall

and for her first year..

but take a look at our beautiful homebred two year old British Spotted pony young lady now..

with plenty more spots to come when she has a bath and loses her winter coat !

well I have been discussing here for a while how Alpaca across the UK have been holding off giving birth. This means they not only stop the birth happening but arrest the growth of the foetus inside – amazing isn’t it?

well, this means that cria born “late” are Dysmature (looks like Premature) despite the length of time inside because the growth was stopped. lets face it, Alpaca do not have big enough insides to allow them to continue to grow and grow and in humans they would be induced which you cannot do to Alpaca.

so the net result is that across the UK Alpaca breeders are seeing Dysmature cria and premmies of course. these indications are many ranging from inside out ears, floppy ears, malformed feet, weak pasterns and hindlegs, unerupted teeth, thick umbilical cords – you name it, it will happen at sometime to all Alpaca breeders.

so it was no surprise that Cria number two arriving at precisely 12 months gestation had quite a few of the above. here are the before and afters LOL

There is nothing more endearing than a proud Alpaca Mother showing off her cria (baby) but boy do they grow quickly!

and for those of you wondering why our cria are coated in some photos – take a look at the inconsistency in the weather temperatures and add the fact ours live on a windy hill – its either Hypothermia or Hyperthermia on a daily basis this year – stay vigilant at all times

Planes in the air and full beaches – look out world we are heading for a crash..?

crisp bright days and rain and wind – the world cant make its mind up to go forwards to Summer or back to Winter and its playing havoc with pregnant Alpaca all over the UK who are crossing their legs in every County!

well we have all been keeping Mum for so long as the Cria have started arriving and we are Dog tired .. LOL

but the early rising and late nights – yes Alpaca AND horses foal at night too have been well worth it as the cria have finally started arriving – thought the girls would cross their legs forever!

well the sun has got his hat on again and temperatures soar..

and whilst waiting for things to really hot up – we can BBQ whilst watching the birthing paddocks at the same time!