The Waiting Is Over, The News Is Here

Hi Folks

Today has been a very exciting day for us. After a couple of weeks of making phone calls and organising various things, everything has finally fallen into place. Jayne you have been waiting a long time for this blog and the waiting is over.......

WillowBank Alpaca Stud are very pleased to announce that the following two full Australian female Alpacas with cria at foot, will be joining us here at WillowBank. First we have "Yuralee Katia" a solid white who was sired by "Jolimont Manfredo" and has "Jolimont Conquistador" as her Grand Sire. "Yuralee Katia" has a female cria at foot who's sire is "Wellground Legend of Spartacus".

Second up we have "Laalgarth's Alice" a solid white who was sired by "EP Cambridge Stormcat" and her Grand Sire (dam's side) is "NWA Ltd Ruffo". "Laalgarth's Alice" has a male cria at foot who was sired by "EP Cambridge Gianmarco's Masterpiece". We owe a big thank you to Debbie and Paul at Barnacre Alpacas for helping us make this package fall into place, and helping to keep Jayne guessing with this secret.

We are also very pleased to announce that we have now purchased our own Herdsire from Wellground Alpaca Stud. "Wellground Relentless" who's sire is "EP Cambridge Samson" and Grand Sire is "EP Cambridge Peruvian Spartacus". "Wellground Relentless" dam is "Wellground Ruffo's Reflection" who was sired by "NWA Ltd Ruffo". "Wellground Relentless" will be starting to work his magic around March/April 2011. So again its another big thank you to Rob and Les at Wellground Alpaca Stud for helping us achieve this next step in our business.

So Jayne did you guess any of this or are you losing your white witch powers....:-)

Well that's all for tonight, apart from another thank you to Barnacre Alpacas and Wellground Alpaca Stud.

Matings

Hi Guys

Just a short blog tonight as we are busy mating some of our females. The girls seem very pleased to see "Killawasi's Keepsake" and have taken up lying at the gate hinting that they want to be next, blatant flirting...... sorry girls but you will just have to be patient.

The weather has not been the best over the last couple of days and its rained so hard that the guttering on the barns might as well as not been attached, as it was failing to cope with the amount of water coming off the roofs, I think I really need to upgrade it to more industrial stuff.

Sorry Jayne......we are still unable to announce are exciting news at the minute but hopefully by the end of the week we should be a little closer maybe.......or maybe not!!

Well that's all for now, back soon.

Duck Eggs

Hi Guys

Again we just seem to have no time spare to keep up with our blog, we have been constantly on the phone arranging various different things the last few weeks which will all become apparent soon......so sorry Jayne its still a big secret with whats happening.

Lily has a chicken which has gone broody so her Grandma has given her a couple of fertile duck eggs to put under, Lily was keen to get them put under her chicken and set straight to it.

Lily with her duck eggs.

Lily has put the eggs under her chicken and was very excited that the chicken went and sat straight on them.....lets just hope they hatch now and hopefully not with a identity complex!!

Lisa has managed to get a picture of some of the gang here at WillowBank. We are due to start mating over the next few days and in fact started today. We have had Roger and Pauline here today from Pipley Court Alpaca Stud, they brought us our two remaining alpacas that we had brought from them along with Killawasi's Keepsake to do some of our matings, It was good to catch up with Roger and Pauline and we had plenty of chat regarding alpacas and even a look at our new cria's for this year. We then set Keepsake to work with a spit off and a mating, we let him have a rest as the temperature was starting to creep up, so that gave us time for a something to eat and drink and more alpaca and putting the world to right chat.

Some of the gang

A few weeks ago we had to have an emergency C Section on one of our females as she had a severe uterine torsion and the vet couldn't even get anywhere near to touching the unborn cria, we tried several times to roll the mother around to try and correct our problem but she was not having none of it and we decided enough enough lets get on with the C Section. I'm pleased to sat that "Anita" has now returned to the paddock and is looking allot better after her set back.

Well I'm back on the early shift for the next few weeks so that all for tonight, but exciting news is soon to come so keep watching this space.........stick with it Jayne

Exciting Times

Hi Folks

Its been a really exciting week with lots of new things about to happen here......this is a bit of a teasing blog as we are unable to say whats happening yet as we have not asked permission from all involved, but lets just say its big things.........watch this space over the next few days for the big news to be revealed.

Lisa has been out this evening with the camera taking a couple of pictures, this is "Wellground Beyond Compare" her Sire is "EP Cambridge Commish Lad" and her G/Sire is "Jolimont Commisario" she has been mated to "Wellground Close Encounter" and due on the 4th September. We are very excited about this birth and can't wait to see what we are given.

Wellground Beyond Compare

Are new cria's just seem to be glued together, they run riot around the paddocks with there mums looking on......I wonder what they must be thinking as they watch the cria run around?

Well that's about it for now as we still have lots to do before it gets dark, so keep watching this space for the exciting news from WillowBank Alpaca Stud.

What A Strange Day

Hi Guys,

Its been a very strange day today, just when you think you have something all tied up in a deal someone moves the goal posts and expects you to move with them.......well unfortunately that was not going to happen as I have never heard anything so ridiculous in my life and as a result has caused unnecessary grief for other people involved, which we now feel partly to blame for. So apologies to the innocent party involved, you know who you are.

Anyway that's my little rant over back to the alpacas, our baby cria's are bonding well with each other, WillowBank Coco and WillowBank Killawasi's Image are becoming inseparable, they are two mischievous devils when they get going.......although you wouldn't think it from this picture.

Whilst the camera was out Lisa caught Gieves playing "who is going to blink first" with a fly hovering above his nose......

And the winner is.........the fly as it decided to land on Gieves's nose....... much to his surprise, have you ever seen an alpaca go cross eyed!

Well its a new day tomorrow.......so lets see what that brings for us all.

Hectic Couple Of Weeks

Hi Folk,

It's been a hectic couple of weeks here at WillowBank. We have been busy with more fencing which seems to be turning into an epic of a job as the ground is like concrete at the moment and trying to knock posts into the ground by hand is mission impossible, so little and often is the way forward at the moment.

We have some exciting things happening here, but unfortunately we are unable to comment about them at the moment as we have not asked permission yet from who it involves, so more on this later.

We have been busy with injections throughout our herd, toe nail trimming and removing a face full of spit which I didn't manage to dodge.......much to Lisa's amusement.

A trip to Lincoln fetched Bertie the rams girlfriends, they are now grazing are rented land, Bertie will go and join them around October so he can go and work his magic.

Some of our Ryeland Sheep

Our cria are growing really well and we are really pleased with the fleece on one of them, we have taken a photo but I'm told by another breeder that it is near on impossible to get the crimp across in a picture, well we tried but I don't think succeeded

WillowBank Killawasi's Spirit Fleece

WillowBank Killawasi's Spirit is from the "Ruffo" bloodlines and although the picture doesn't do it justice the real thing does, well we are happy anyway.........

Well that's all for now, back soon.