On the Road with Alpacas

Poppy was booked in for a visit to a boy today. Fortuitously, someone else came by to buy fleeces two days ago, and happened to have a stud male with her, and kindly allowed us to borrow the male to spit off Bess. (Spitting off is showing a male to a female hoped to be pregnant, and using the reaction to tell if she is pregnant or not.) Bess reacted by wanting to mate, which unfortunately means her previous mating did not take, but fortunately it also means I know it didn't work so I could take her along to see her beau again. Both cria have to stay with their mothers at this stage, so it was all aboard the Shag Wagon and back on the Fosse Way.

Bess was very keen to mate and the poor boy was quite exhausted by the end. Poppy and her boy seemed happy with each other and had a good but relatively short mating, and were not quite as enamoured of each other.

When we got home, all the alpacas ended up in the top paddock together briefly, as I had put the lads in with Olivia, who is still waiting to have a cria, to keep her company. Poor Trident's fluffy bonce had to be clipped off, but it was his own fault because he rubbed it in burdocks and matted it full of them. Trebuchet is still a runt and not that much bigger than the cria, but he has filled out since being shorn and grown a bit, as his headcollar size has increased.