Birds, Dogs and Llamas

Kiki has had a poorly shoulder for a few weeks now, soft tissue damage they think.  She's at her 'maximum' weight according to the vet so we're going to trim her down a bit... she says blithely, like it will be easy!! but that's the aim and hopefully the shoulder will heal..... meantime she enjoying some heat therapy in front of the fire!!

There have been a pair of Australasian Grebes on the dam lately, when I took the camera with me could only spy one, if the mate has gone broody on a nest I hope they've chosen a very good spot, because the foxes around here are so thick on the ground it's tough to put a pin between them!!

Yesterday I went to visit Betty and her llamas - was scheduled to visit Apu Royalla as well, but pulled out because it was wet here... but it wasnt wet there, so should have gone!!  Never mind, next trip.  Meantime I got to catch up with some of Betty's newest arrivals and some old favourites.

Cassanova, father of Tikal

A little girl called Black Velvet who is the blackest llama I've ever seen.... and seriously cute.

This personable little lad is Pericles, a delightful little boy with heaps of charm.

I've forgotten this young girl's name, but coveted her hugely!!

This is the lovely Saladin, he is Aymara's father.  A very striking spotty llama with a lovely temperament.

The aptly named Silver Moon:

A less than flattering photo of the very lovely Sugar and Spice, she has some leg issues after a difficult birth, but is doing well and is very friendly and affectionate, cant help but like her :)

Betty also has Romney Marsh sheep, this is her ram, who is built like the proverbial brick out house, he's a rock!!

Enrichment Activities

Today I took a couple of barrow loads of 'mulch' from under the 3 big gum trees near the back gate - no visible dent in the amount as a result - but some very happy chooks.

The moderns wasted no time getting started on the job of levelling their pile.

Bigger chooks, bigger pile!!

Nigel viewed his role as largely supervisory.

Getting cooler and Supervision

The days are getting cooler, and we've had to put the heater on sometimes.  And no, I'm not the soft touch who put the old quilt on the floor in front of the heater for the dog!

Even those jobs devoid entirely of glamour - such as cleaning up the poo pile - will draw a crowd it seems.  From the left Joeley, Phoebe, Maggie and Vevina take front row spots to see what I'm doing!!  As I left to take the first barrow load to the garden, I distinctly said 'no more additions required' which seems to have translated to 'not enough poo here, add more at will'.   The gardening book says 'well rotted' manure, not still warm!!

Holding Patterns and the Road Paddock Crew

Yesterday there was fog at Sydney airport, so lots of people were in a holding pattern... before being diverted to Canberra and other airports :(

Up at the road paddock, the girls were enjoying their breakfast.  Fresian:

 Jemma taking it easy.

All the llama girls seemed to have been involved in an altercation... observe the dropped bottom lips!!

 Midsummer, seem to have missed photographing her 'look alike' Medallion.

Nellie Melba, always keen on brekky.

Orchid, who takes forever to settle on one bowl and often walks away from it to stand in the middle of the yard and claim there's no breakfast with her name on it!!

Dont let looks deceive you, this willowy black alpaca is Pearl, and she's boss of the group!

Could see Tiana Rose's baby doing its morning exercise, roll on November!

 I have 2 pics of Trinket aka The Troublemaker, and none of Azzura!  Trinket's favourite thing, having worked out which way you'd like the group to go, is to turn them at 90 degrees to that and head off at top speed!

Lovely little Vynka

And the very friendly Yolanda, coping better without Yuri now :)

Kiki - trying to get the birds to come down out of the tree and 'fight fair'  LOL!!

New Comers, Updates and Let Downs

This weekend we welcomed Collette to our herd, she settled in almost immediately and this morning was in the yards at brekky time - smart girl!!

She looks quite like a feminine version of Alba, but will have to wait to see what their cria might look like because Collette's first will be to Callisto.

In the background you can see Namoi, definitely looking more dark brown than black!

Trying to take pics of Collette where she did not look like a deer in the headlights was made more difficult by Joeley wanting to photobomb every shot!!

Myriah and Missy Moo are doing well; yesterday was marking day and cant say Missy Moo was too impressed with her new ear jewellery much at all!!

A little disappointed that Myriah and Phoebe failed spit off tests yesterday, and as its getting too cold and too late now, we will have to wait for spring for the next opportunity to mate these girls; probably not a bad thing as my herd is very autumn drop heavy and the spring group could have a few more numbers..... 2 is a small group!!  LOL!!

Comings and Goings

Last Sunday we said good bye to Wia and hello to Namoi and Vevina.  We were unable to meet Wia's exacting standards in a mate and hope we'll do better with the new girls.  Namoi is listed as black but registered as dark brown.  I think she's a very dark, dark brown, she's been mated to a rose grey, and we're hoping she's pregnant, will do a spit off test in a couple of weeks to find out.  Vevina is black and has been mated to a black suri (heterozygous) so 50/50 chance of huacaya offspring.  The new girls are settling in well, and learning the drill, they have both come into the yards of their own accord on the last two mornings :) and seem very keen on the museli we serve for brekky!!

Wia

Namoi (left) and Vevina (right)

 Vevina (left) and Namoi (right)

And again

 Here are some of the other coloured girls at Currabungla:

I was really taken with the grey girl with the dark face, havent seen this colour combo before

John and Penny thought lambing finished 3 weeks ago, but these 2 ewes pulled a fast one and presented them with lambs only a couple of days ago.

Alan and Aleisha are visiting.  Al showing his usual reticence for being photographed!

Kiki is enjoying the extra company, here helping Aleisha with our game of Querkel.

The days are getting cooler and Kiki thinks there is only one thing better than being on the couch with a pillow and a doona...

And that's being on the couch with a pillow and a doona AND Aleisha!!  I will be checking her bags when she leaves tomorrow to make sure Kiki is not concealed within!!

Halter training continues for youngsters, Jester is a star pupil, very friendly and improving daily on the lead.

Noisette is coming along.

She usually enjoys a cuddle, but here it looks more like a cruggle (cuddle x struggle)

Misty - who found the presence of the trailer in the adjoining yard very 

interesting!!!

Yuri is doing the separation from his mother Yolanda tough, and she's not faring much better.  They spend a lot of time mmmm-ing to each other across the plantation that now separates them.  Weaning is not a cria's favourite time!!

Upgrades

We've had a new cook top installed, its a beauty, bye bye electric nightmare, hello gas instantness!!  I'd love to tell you I cooked my dinner on it tonight, but I wimped out and had a bing dinner!! (What's a bing dinner??  That's one you put in the microwave and when it goes bing, your dinner is ready!!)

The gas plumber who installed all this shiny-ness was a really nice guy, and endlessly patient with Kiki - who wanted to do a lot of helping - turns out he has 3 pugs at home.... Kiki now has another boyfriend on the list!!  LOL!!