I am rarely disappointed with the cria fleeces from our genetics and this year is no exception. Bred for colour for a specific purpose, the fawn girls and boys are superb..and the whites potential stud males are outsstanding too despite the weather conditions and the overfeeding.. just a selection

Halter training next once weaning totally over.

Well we have had the rain and now comes the cold, frost and fog. unfortunately it did not dry out the ground due to moisture in the air so Straw bales down time to protect those precious Alpaca feet and Barning time to help them dry out – so much for being cold and dry!

my Grand daughter Baby Lila has as much idea about the weather forecast as the Weather people – wear something warm just in case and as her forehead indicates – do not be surprised if it changes !

love her

Well followers of this Blog know Daisy is one of our many mature ladies here at Kensmyth and she looks forward to weaning every year when all cria become her charges for the winter. Winter 2020 is no exception and here she is proudly with just some of her brood from 2020 cria drop..

Some adults prefer to have another with them when with a group of youngsters but not Daisy – nope like Louis Litt in Suits (recommend if you like legal programs and Meghan Markle) she treats her cria as he does his “Associates” and will not let anyone else help her! Bless her Alpaca socks, she makes our lives so much easier at weaning time. 

Alpaca and Llama are well known for their guarding instincts but small miniature colts are often underestimated for their guarding ability..

Our miniature colts not only graze the lanes between the Alpaca and Llama fields but also guard the pregnant Draught mares too

Beautiful – even in the mud!

We do not often see baby humans at Clay Meadow so this young lady caused quite a stir !!

All I want for Christmas .. is my two front teeth.. well this young pregnant filly simply wants her last fourth cap OUT – what a brave girl she is!

Here at Kensmyth we inject our entire herd of Alpaca with ADE vitamins through the Winter months. Some folk use Paste and we use this with our Llama as this is what they were used from birth.  Subcutaneous injection releases the vitamins and minerals over a period of time and paste is a “one hit” instant but each herd uses its own best methods. I use both intermittently. Some folk seem to have trouble getting Camelids to accept paste in feed where they do not insert into their mouths. We use both methods and I thought I would share my non mouth insertion method with you all for those who havent thought of this method. It works with horses for worming paste too. The caveat to this is that my darling Llama actually love this paste but the principle works if yours do not LOL

purchase your Camelid ADE paste in plenty of time and have time on your hands for this method.

put some feed into a small bucket which hangs onto a pen fence which is a small pen for a single Camelid – then add the amount of paste required for an individual Camelid

mix this well into the feed (using feed you normally use of course) and hang bucket on fence. 

leaving the rest of the group/herd adjacent so the individual is reassured they are there.. let ONE camelid into the small pen and leave to eat the feed.

sometimes it will take a little while for them to cotton on but you must stay adjacent meantime to ensure all happy. After initial look and smell, your Camelid will usually gobble up the feed with paste in it (it tastes nice) and feel super special for their individual treatment. DO NOT leave Camelids with feed buckets in one place together because one Camelid will scoff the lot. 

Here are my beautiful Llama enjoying Mummy time and their ADE paste, one by one..

This lady is licking her lips which look like they have strawberry lipstick on them because the paste is red.

Good luck but be patient, my Llama take a very short time because they love it and the individual attention but your Camelids might take longer.

Best to only do this with Llama as the focus of that time with them and do it straight away once penned. 

some happy people visiting the Alpaca and walking LLama in these strange times! Always makes you smile though!

Making good use of left overs is our Farmers forte here at Kensmyth Alpaca. Take your last few potatoes that are not enough for the whole family meal, your last few carrots (not donated to rare breed horses) and the last of a packet of frozen peas (defrosted) with the last of the family roast (beef/chicken/pork)..

dice it and add spices to taste and some gravy in a homemade pastry and bingo – Anything Pie At Kensmyth – cheap and cheerful with crusty bread to mop up the excess gravy

keeping you warm and saving money at Kensmyth!