Latest pages

Llamas as Guards

Llama Birth

Member of the Llama Association

 If you are looking for a new best friend please click on the pet rescue banner to see if you can find your perfect match.

Jo's Diary

22nd July 2008

We had a really cold night overnight, this morning everything was covered in a thick frost and the outside water buckets were all frozen solid (that is how I know this was the heaviest frost so far this winter). I took out tepid water for everyone so no one went thirsty. Today has been a cold but calm and sunny day so everyone has had plenty of grazing time.

The good news is we got about 25mm of rain the other day, our house tanks are now almost full and there is a green tinge in the paddock, although it is far too cold for much growth. Ken spent some of his days off turning over the poo pile, we have some beautiful black compost in the oldest part of the pile (about 3 years old). I will use it to pot my herbs.

I have finished my tax stuff for last year so Ken will drop it into our accountant. This will be our last return as a business, next year it will just be regular personal tax returns.

The AGM stuff is all coming together, only one speaker to confirm now. I hope it will be an interesting and social weekend for everyone. I am looking forward to it, Mum and Dad will be farm sitting so Ken and I can go away for the whole weekend.

19th July 2008

I am still working flat out on the AGM, at least I know have all but two of the speakers confirmed and I have a working budget so we are getting somewhere.

All is well on farm, Eleanor is still eating well and it has been nearly a fortnight since she has had one of her non eating episodes which is good progress. She hasn't really put on weight but it has been freezing cold and she hasn't lost weight so I have to be content with that for now.

We have had some really heavy frost and frozen water buckets, I wish we some more rain would fall as things are very dry for this time of year. We are a winter rainfall area and unfortunately we haven't had much rain this winter.

16th July 2008

The days are flying by at he moment. I (and a couple of other local breeders) are completely absorbed trying to get he LAA AGM and conference together. It is taking a lot more work than I thought it would. I also have quite a few things as secretary to get ready for the AGM, plus I have to get our tax ready  for the accountant  so I am flat out from dawn to dusk.

All the animals are well, Eleanor is maintaining her ravenous appetitive which is good and she has finally stopped craving seaweed meal, although she is still supplemented daily. The hen that was sitting on the eggs got sick of waiting for them to hatch so left her nest without any chicks which is a shame.

I have had an update on Elijah and the girls - they are doing well and seemed quite settled. Apparently they are already getting used to the routine and know when to wait at the gate for their food.

13th July 2008

Today Elijah, Nicky and Rhapsody all left for their lovely new home. Ken took both the girls and their new owners took Elijah. Very shortly they should be exploring their new surroundings. It sounds like they have a lovely comfortable shelter/stable with straw (a bit of a luxury as they don't have straw in our shelter.). I have been promised updates and I will hopefully visit them once they have  settled in. I would have liked to have dropped them off but unfortunately I couldn't find anyone to give Jessie and Eleanor their midday meal.

The rest of the herd have not seemed at all bothered but the departure of thier friends. I think having separated them for the last week has made it easier on everyone -well everyone except me.  I shed  a little tear as Elijah pulled out of the driveway - he is such a special boy. I am just pleased he has found a home where he will be as spoilt (if not more spoilt) than he is here.

12th July 2008

Yesterday was even colder than Thursday, when I woke up there was a light dusting of snow covering everything - except the animal who were all wisely still in their shelters. Today has been much nicer, very cold (minus 3) this morning with a thick frost and ice covering the water buckets but sunny and calm for the rest of the day. everyone has been catching up on some much needed grazing time.

We are slowly making progress and I think we now have a felting demonstration, rope making class and clicker training demonstration confirmed for the AGM.

10th July 08

It is freezing here today with strong gusty winds straight off the arctic (well it feel like that is where they are coming form). It has been down to minus 10 with wind chill. All the animals are staying in their shelters so I have been giving them extra rations.

Yesterday we had a great meeting about getting things organized for the Llama Association's AGM which I am helping to organise. I now have a couple of speakers to contact, and hopefully will soon be able to put out a schedule of events for the weekend.

8th July 08

I have put Nicky and Rhapsody in with Elijah so they can get used to being a small herd before they move to their new home over the weekend. Both girls spat at Elijah who is a gentleman and happy to leave them alone unless told otherwise. Everybody has spent the time peacefully grazing. Nicky and Rhapsody don't seem to mind being separated from the other girls - I think they have figured out ther is less competition for food!!

We had a decent amount of rain overnight, I am not sure exactly how much but I would think about 15mm, the forecast if for more rain during the week,  although unfortunately I think strong winds are also predicted for Thursday.

6th July 2008

I have been a little lax in my updates lately, not much has been happening on farm. Mummy hen still hasn't hatched any of her chicks - I think we are going to have to look at trying to find and buy a couple of day old chicks that we can sneak under her.

Today has been a great but also somewhat sad day. Rhapsody, Nicolette and Elijah have a lovely new home. They are going to a nice big property with horse stables, and lots of native pasture to graze. I know their  new owners will take great care of them and love them as much as I do but it will be hard saying goodbye when they leave here next weekend. I will especially miss Elijah as he is such a wonderful, sweet boy. Three other of my llamas were also sold to a lovely new home during the week but they will be staying here until early September so I don't have to say goodbye to them just yet. That will leave me with Clover (herd leader), Lady Bridget, Juanita, Chiquita, Chilli and Merlin.

Thankfully peace has been restored between Austin and Toby but they are still being closely supervised when together.

We weighed Eleanor today and she has put on a couple of kilos so at least her weight is heading in the right direction. I would have hoped for a bigger weight gain but I guess slow and steady is best. Mascara has also put on a couple of kilos (she had lost over 10 kilos since Platinum was born). I think now he is eating the supplements and grazing more he is putting less nursing pressure and with the extra rations she has been getting she is not draining her own reserves. I will start easing off on the extra rations now.

3rd July 2008

A bit of drama here yesterday as Toby and Austin had an altercation, which given the difference in size could have ended very badly. Thankfully Austin restrained himself and no damage was done to Toby, although he did shake for a while. Later that afternoon they were happily playing together although I will be very careful not to leave them alone anymore.

This morning Diesel escaped while I was doing the feeding rounds, thankfully he only got as far as the driveway, the bottom gate was locked. After saying hello to the horses next door I caught him and put him back in  his paddock. It is obvious that he and max are friends as Max was calling out to him to come back.

We are finally having a lovely day, brisk but sunny with a frost overnight. Everyone is outside catching up on some much needed grazing.

1st Jul 2008

The start of a new financial year which means lots of paperwork to do and even more so this year as we have closed the business. It is really windy outside so at least it is nice  staying inside working in front of the fire.

We still haven't weighed Eleanor, it was too cold yesterday to take her rugs off, hopefully we will have a nice day this week so we can weigh her then. I have swapped Elijah and Merlin and Chilli back over as I want Chilli and Merlin to have easier access to the training yards. Merlin is now recovered from his wethering so it is time to get back to work. I have to get Chilli used to being touched all over as he will need to be hand shorn this year. I also want to reinforce Merlin's clicker training before he forgets what he has learnt so far.