A Bit Of This, A Bit Of That

Hi All,

Well the time just runs away with me these days, so here is another quick blog to keep you going.

The weather we have all been experiencing has been absolutely atrocious, although we have been more fortunate than others in the country. Our village officially became an island! We have four possible routes into our village with only a couple passable with care in a 4x4. We took a quick drive round to take some pictures as this was history being made for our village and our daughter to tell her kids in years to come, although with the alleged global warming this could be the sign of things to come!

Lily has been busy starting to halter train our new up and coming herd sire, Wellground Moody Blue he has such a gentle personality and didn't mind the halter at all, which was rather a surprise as he is the youngest that we have started to train. Lily with a little help from me and reassurance was over the moon to be leading Moody Blue along, Lily just kept saying this is my alpaca isn't it, are we keeping this one! Lily being only five hasn't really got to grips yet with how our business works and that selling alpacas is something that we do, although she is right on this occasion we will not be selling him.

Lily and Wellground Moody Blue

We have just had a lovely phone call from some good friends of ours who have asked to come up and see us on Saturday, unfortunately I can't mention who at the moment as I forgot to ask their permission to be named on the blog, but more on this after Saturday......Jayne another armchair detective moment for you!!

Pebbles the Jack Russell and her new puppy that we have now decided to call Willow are doing really well, Willow is two weeks old today and as she is loved by all that have seen her, we will need to keep a close eye out on Saturday when are friends leave to make sure that she has not been smuggled away!

We are going to be releasing some more alpacas for sale shortly with some sort after genetics so watch this space for more details and pictures.

That's all for now, back soon.

A Little Bundle

Hi All,

Just a short blog tonight as I am absolutely shattered, I think I'm actually slightly under the weather but that's enough about that me. This week has been very hit a miss with the weather, one minute it's beautiful sunshine which from inside leads you into thinking its summer again (until you open the front door) then the next minute we are under a blanket of fog and you can't see anything. The rain has turn our paddocks that were already saturated into horrible sponges, but that's the British weather for you I guess.

Wednesday saw a new arrival here at WillowBank, no not an alpaca or donkey as some have suggested but a little puppy. Our Jack Russell gave birth to a single puppy and is now so smitten by it she will not leave it alone for one second, a perfect mother which is good.

Relentless our stud boy seems to have had a personality bypass this week, he is now stamping his authority over our other males, when we bring in the males into their individual bays Relentless screams his head off, charging up and down the fence line trying his hardest to get stuck in and show them how is boss.

Well that's all for now, back soon.

A Nice Surprise

Hi All,

Well what a beautiful day it has been, the sun has been shining all day and the alpacas have loved it, although I must say so have we, its such a great feeling you get when the sun is out and you can feel some warmth on your face.

I managed to get the camera out and grab a few shots in between mucking out and preparing the barns with Lisa ready for the alpacas coming back in tonight, it's great knowing that we have the facilities to bring the alpacas in during the winter months.

Wellground Relentless

Wellground Relentless is one of our herd sires here at WillowBank. He has really matured into a true gentleman and is a pleasure to have on the headcollar when needed. Relentless is sired by EP Cambridge Samson and his grand sire is EP Cambridge Peruvian Spartacus. Wellground Relentless dam is Wellground Ruffo's Reflection who's grand sire is NWA Ltd Ruffo so as you can see Relentless has some cracking genetics that he is know passing on to his progeny.


Wellground Moody Blue

Wellground Moody Blue has settled in like he has always been here, making friends and influencing other. Wellground Moody Blue is one of our up and coming herd sires with those fantastic genetics to match. Moody Blue is sired by EP Cambridge Samson with EP Cambridge Peruvian Spartacus as his grand sire. Moody Blues dam is EP Cambridge Adelaide Blue who was sired by EP Cambridge Peruvian Spartacus, so this young man is hopefully going to grow into a cracking herd sire to keep an eye on.

 This little one is know one in particular and is nothing really to write home about but he just has a beautiful face and colouring that really stands out, another one for pet lovers out there!

Now we had a lovely surprise over this weekend, one that we were not expecting to have. We had entered a fleece into the Scottish National Fleece Show and we managed a fifth place, now you may say fifth is not that great but after hearing why it was a fifth is a little annoying as it was marked down on skirting. Skirting is something that myself and Lisa always struggle with a little as we are nervous of taking away to much fleece or leaving stuff behind that we shouldn't be and this fifth place is a prime example of not skirting correctly, however we are still pleased knowing that if we had have skirted better we would have received a better position hopefully. Never mind we are still pleased as punch as this fleece has now been shown and placed in two different fleece shows and is from an alpaca we bred ourselves, we'll done WillowBank Little Miss Adelaide, sired by Eringa Park Lionheart and her dam is Wellground Cyan owned by ourselves here at WillowBank.

Thanks to Rob and Les from Wellground Alpaca Stud for popping in on their way home to drop our fleece and rosette off. We are really pleased for you guys can't wait for your blog!

Well that's all for now.

Our Delivery Arrives

Hi all,

We were up bright and early this morning, not due to the clocks going back and that we had forgot oh no, we had remembered that, as today was the day of our special delivery. For some this had been an easy investigation.....hey Jayne!

At around eleven this morning we got an advanced warning to get the kettle on as our special packages were nearly here, about ten minutes later the Wellground Wagon rolled into our farm with two special alpacas in the back.

Wellground Lora

Wellground Lora is sired by Cambridge Buckingham and her dam is EP Cambridge Giselle. Wellground Lora has been mated to Wellground Close Encounter so some special genetics coming through here.

Wellground Moody Blue

Wellground Moody Blue is sired by EP Cambridge Samson and his dam is EP Cambridge Adelaide Blue. Wellground Moody Blue is a future herd sire for us allowing us to offer further elite genetics throughout our herd. He is still only a youngster at the minute so he has some growing to do and so maturing before we can see exactly what will be passed through in to his progeny, however exciting times ahead we hope.

We would also like to thank Rob and Les from Wellground Alpaca Stud, for allowing us to purchase elite genetics directly from their own core herd, thank you guys, it is much appreciated to have been given this opportunity.

So we are set again now with our own core herd being in a better position with sort after genetics coming through the mix ready for release next year after our selection process has been made. Keep an eye out for what we are going to release next year.

Express Delivery Service!

Hi folks,

Well I have just walked in from work and decided it was time to update the blog again.

We are pleased to say that Nick and Sharon of Pine Tree Alpacas are getting on very well with their new herd, well done guys.

Last weekend we were busy concreting again this time creating purpose built stud pens and birthing pens, all of which are indoors with heat lamp facilities for those moments when you just never know when your going to need them. After the concrete had gone off it was time to lay all the blocks that were to form the partitioning. Well I'm glad that job is finally finished as with the weather turning colder it's nice to see the stud boys finally in their proper pens rather than hurdles making up the pens.

Tomorrow we are expecting a very special delivery or two, its on express delivery service, well as express as a van goes! But we are really excited to be receiving this package as its an important element to our business to help carry us forwards. More on this tomorrow!

Well for now that's it until tomorrow with news of the express packages!

A New Alpaca Herd Is Established

Hi All,

Well it's been an early start for us this morning as we loaded up the trailer and headed off to deliver a foundation herd to their new owners Nick and Sharon from Pine Tree Alpacas in Leicestershire. Nick and Sharon have been planning this day for sometime now with us and we are pleased to announce that their dreams are finally starting to come true for them.

Pine Tree Alpacas have selected a range of alpacas from our herd enabling them to offer a variety of packages, some show winners too!

Sharon and Nick, with a congratulating hug from Lisa

We would like to wish Nick and Sharon all the very best and every success in the future, hopefully see you at some fleece shows guys.

Well it was back home to relieve the farm sitter from her duties and a nice cup of tea was welcoming us on our arrival. It feels a little odd seeing the paddocks 19 alpacas lighter.

The recent weather situation has certainly not had the effects on us this time round after we invested the time and money into concreting the barns and organising the drainage, earlier this year with the severe weather we were constantly getting flooded out which after more than a few times of this happening, it starts to get a little annoying as you can imagine. The investment has certainly been worthwhile as not a drop has entered our barns this time, so smiling faces around.

Well that's all for now, take care all.

We Are Happy With A Second

Hi folks,

Well again it's been a long time but I'm back again. It's been very busy for us over the last few months with one thing and another going on, hopefully we can reveal some of what's been happening in the not to distant future.

We are still in birthing mode with out latest female cria being born yesterday morning, a solid white female from Wellground Cyan, sired by Wellground Relentless, we are excited about this one but will have to wait and see what becomes of her as you just never now.

Today was an early start as I was off to the GWR Fleece and Fibre Show in Frome. I made the trophies again this year and sponsored the Supreme Champion Huacaya and Suri classes. This is a fantastic show concept that we have attended now for the last three years being placed with our fleeces each year, this year being of no exception and coming home with a second place from a class of thirteen in the Junior Huacaya Fawn, we are more than happy with that as this is a result of our own breeding decisions. Congratulations to all the other entrants that won.

It feels good to be back blogging again, let's see if I can keep up with it again, I know a certain Scot will have something to say!!

That's all for now.