Carter has a Rubbish Day, Kiki, Sunsets and Cria Updates

Yesterday Carter had a day that was absolutely pants, vet Will Lucas from Crookwell Veterinary Hospital and vet student Jock made a farm visit to check out the progress on Carter's corneal laceration.  Unfortunately what they found was that it had progressed to a melting ulcer and the eye needed to be removed.... erky perky.  They had the devil's own job getting Carter to succumb to the IM anaesthetic and eventually added some IV drugs and still nothing... Carter was literally asleep on his feet and refused to go down.  We decided to secure his head to the yard railing and go from there with a bucket load of local anaesthesia, just as the grizzly op got under way, Carter collapsed!!  Rush to undo the ropes and let his head go down with him, and he was in a gate way... open said gate and have to move Totem away... again!!  I absented myself while Will and Jock got on with the job - too much for me!!  Today he is looking OK... although not so much from his side!!  He is getting around OK, and has his appetite back, so we are hoping for a good recovery.  He is now a Pirate Pete llama!!

Cumberbatch is growing up, he is a lovely looking cria, and very much a llama in his head.

You can see that he is quickly catching up to mum, Wia, in size.

Wia is supposed to be pregnant, so I wasn't so pleased to see this conversation between her and Mandrake, however nano seconds later it deteriorated into a spitting match... all good!!

Paris and Pierre are now well integrated into the group and thriving :)  They both learnt the morning drill very quickly and are at the front of the queue each morning to leave their paddock and head into the yards for muesli!!

Winter sunsets are spectacular, this one on May 28th was no exception.

Kiki and her favourite toy - Mr Ted.  Kiki is seen here, with Mr Ted, doing the famous 'do-it-yourself belly rub', this involves lying on the carpet and pulling yourself along with your front legs.... with or without Mr Ted!!

The Garden and the Boys

Not much flowering at present, a very late agapanthus, some May = Mothers Day = Chrysanthemums and some very early jonquils!!  Very grateful for a few splashes of colour!!

Carter and Totem are doing a stint in the driveway/Jennie Craig paddock.  Carter is learning to cope with life, with sight in one eye only after an accident a couple of weeks ago.  We've had to clean it up twice and give him antibiotic injections, but it seems to be healing OK.

Totem with his best 'did you bring treats?' look!

He's a very handsome boy as you can see from this very hard to obtain profile shot!

Catching Up the next bit

Bianca is a lovely little cria, pretty, charming, inquisitive and always seems 'happy'.

Yes, she thinks her yellow ear tapes look pretty fetching too!

On Sunday I came home to discover that Narcissus had given birth to our first 'home grown' cria, a first cria for dad Alba - a black female - good job!!  We've called her Nefertiti and she's doing very well :)

Monday saw the early arrival of (Black) Pearl's cria, a blue black male, who we initially named Prince Charming, but have since re-named Jack Sparrow.  He is a Kok son, and quite lovely :)

The biggest belly competition!  Winner in the alpaca class is Fresian, due on March 14

And in the llama class, its Trinket, due on March 15

Lucien is growing well, coming along with lead and halter class and generally throwing his weight around with the younger and lighter crias!!

Here he meets Uncle Totem (left) and dad Carter (right).

Prize for 'most likely to be faking' goes to Vevina, pretty sure there is no cria - except in her head!  Disappointed about that, but can't change it.

A second waterlily for the season - really enjoyed it :)

Shearing - Before and After

They look so different now!!  Hard to 'see' who is who!!

Carter and Totem, before and after:

Everybody having brekky before shearing, it was booked for 2pm so I thought it would be safe to feed them early, as it was we started at 12.30, but it all worked out OK.

And this morning:

Orchid said she'd rather 'pass' on the whole shearing thing, and jumped out of the 'to be shorn' yard and into the 'done and free to go yard'.... but she got caught and brought back, she was not best pleased :(

Joeley, before and after:

Bracken looks the most changed, he had such a lot of fleece! Our shearer was Ian Elkins, and helper was his son Michael, they were a very professional and efficient team.

Sweet Pea, before - with Noisette and 'on the table':

Rest time after shearing - tough day for us all, but fortunately its over quickly.

Pearl was first, looking a bit funny with newly applied zinc cream on her nose.

Extreme Fire Danger Day

Yesterday was a day of extreme fire danger, lots of logging onto the RFS website and fire watching.  Put the first part of 'what to do with the animals' into action since its easy to do first thing in the morning when they are all milling around wanting brekky.  Much bigger task to round them up later in the day if needed.  So all the girls are in the home paddock, and the boys are in the driveway.  Both have areas of bare ground where they should be relatively safe from a grass fire.

The wind yesterday was hot and strong!

Cleo is due to give birth next week... in the event of her being pregnant, but I'm not sure that she is!!  Hoping, but not expecting, she'll surprise me!!

Carter often looks like he thinks you are about to make a loud and unpleasant noise, and he's bracing himself for that!!

But its worth it if you have llamas lollies in your pocket... apparently!!

Totem getting up close and personal!!

Really does make for a better pic if you back up a bit boyo!!

Noisette seemed to enjoy the influx of aunties, they were all very interested in her!!

 Cheeky grin!

Not light on for confidence!

 Mum Sweet Pea is looking in good condition again now :)

Orchid, the quest for llama lollies is relentless.

Still need to stack a bit more weight on Pearl, she's keen enough for the job!!