"Self-sufficiency does not mean 'going back' to the acceptance of a lower standard of living. On the contrary, it is the striving for a higher standard of living, for food that is organically grown and good, for the good life in pleasant surroundings... and for the satisfaction that comes from doing difficult and intricate jobs well and successfully." John Seymour ~ Self Sufficiency 2003

Saturday 18 October 2014

Shearing time

It that time of year to shear the alpaca's again and this year there are three of them :)

This will be Minky's first experience of being secured by the legs whilst lying prone on the floor, and I have a feeling that he is temporarily going to forget that RMan is his best buddy.

The other day I caught him pruning one of the two black wattles which provide shade in their paddock.

It started out quite innocently with a casual nibble here, and a nibble there... 
Minky and Miranda have pruned this black wattle
over the past few months
 ... and then he got more involved...
Now the leaves are starting to just
be out of Minky's reach
Until he got to the point that he just can't help himself.  He had to get whatever leaves he could reach...
Ha!!  Clever boy.  I didn't know that
alpaca's could balance on two feet :)
I guess it's a case of whatever works
to enable an alpaca to eat leaves
that are growing above head height...
There's no problem with him eating the leaves / stripping the lower branches. At least the upper branches will ensure that they still have some shade in the paddock.

Minky is now 7½ months old, and his days with his mum are slowly becoming limited.  Much to RMan's dismay, it is getting close to the time that he moves into the male paddock.  Once he's there RMan won't be able to see him from the front porch - or from our bedroom window.

He is a typical scruffy, sand playing, mud rolling mischievous little boy.

The owners at Helderstroom Alpaca's have very kindly offered to travel to us in order to shear our alpacas.  That means that thankfully, we will not have to try and source a horsebox this year - three inside would definitely be a crowd!! (Am I the only one who finds it strange that it's "a horsebox", not "an horsebox" LOL - I mean it's not a hotel, but an hotel).
A good brush and a summer haircut will do him
the world of good :)
Getting this coat sorted out before Wednesday when the shearer from Helderstroom Alpaca's arrives is going to be one heck of a chore for Minky's best buddy... ;)

6 comments:

  1. Goats and deer also stand on their hind legs to browse. In an orchard or such, they will create a browse line of more uniformity than any person with a pruning tool could achieve.
    Good luck with the shearing, Dani!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Quinn - I've never seen a pic of an alpaca browsing on it's hind legs - perhaps Minky thinks he's half goat / half alpaca then?

      Minky is all RMan's come shearing time... ;)

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  2. Dani - kudos to Minky for being so smart! and did you see my cat hatching tomatoes in a basket??? bahahahahah! as for "an hotel" and "an horsebox" - have i ever told you how much that drives me crazy?!?!?!?! i just wrote a reply to a comment that my friend ken left on one our posts where he used the word "tomatoes" and how happy that made me!!!!! good luck with the shearing and maybe you could turn Minky into some kind of travelling road show "the alpaca who thinks he's a goat" - bahhhahahaha! much love to you and yours, always, Dani!

    your friend,
    kymber

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. kymber - Not sure that Minky is going to be all that agreeable after his shearing. We'll see... ;)

      Delete
  3. Great! Love Alpacas....There's an Alpaca farm just
    up the road from me...
    And, Rosemary..(Owner)...Has a Blog..
    westhillalpacas.blogspot.co.uk
    Worth a peek! :).

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Willie - Welcome and thanks for taking the time to leave a comment. Thanks for the link - I'm off to check out her blog :)

      Delete

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