A bit nippy

Good morning everyone,
well we cannot complain about the weather this last week, it has been lovely here in Essex, but I must admit today is nippy, there is a cold wind blowing today.
Never mind it is better than rain and it will be lighter tonight, with the clocks going forward, gives us a much better chance to get all the jobs done here on the farm.It is nice to see the grass starting to grow, but it does mean another job to do,cutting it. Mind we are lucky in one respect, the Alpacas do keep the grass nice and short in the paddocks and surrounding areas where we can let them into.
It is time for me to start and do all my repair work to my fences, the ground is still soft enough, to put any new posts in,and I have to build another field shelter,as a paddock I normally use only for grazing is going to be, for the pregnant mums, when they are ready to give birth.I do love that time of year when you see the new cria been born.
My wife Ann is off to the garden centre today, time for planting, which she knows quite a bit about[ ME ] I just cut the grass. There is a story about that, which I will tell you about in the next blog.
Well time to get back out and start again all this jabbering will get me no where, so bye for now,
Chase-End-Joe.

Grass is growing

Well would you believe it,
had to dig the old lawnmower out today,started first time and off I went.To be perfectly honest I was only going to cut the grass at our Farm entrance, but the sun was shining, and I got carried away, decided to mow the lawn as well, and then another patch, places where the Alpacas cannot go.Did not realise how long I had spent on it all, until Ann told me it was nearly five-o-clock.Thought I would finish up, well my body was telling me to do so, not so young as we used to be,[laugh].Had a lovely cuppa and now it is time to have a nice stroll with Jess my collie and check all the Alpacas are okay. Just thought would do my blog while having a break.
We are forecast some nice weather this week in Essex, so it does help when you have a bit of sunshine, really makes you want to get stuck in, oh think I have said the wrong thing, when Ann reads this she will be getting her little black book out, and telling me all the jobs she wants doing,great being an Alpaca farmer, would not have it any other way, speak to you all soon,
Chase-End-Joe.

The Last of our Hay

It sure seems to have been a long winter, I realise it is not over yet, but at least we know there is not such a long way to go. We used the last of our own hay today, so we will have to buy some new hay in, picking it up Thursday as it goes, five pound fifty a bale, let us hope we have a lot more rain at the right time this year, for those of us who grow our own.
Ann and myself were gutted we missed the Futurity, but due to circumstances beyond our control, we were unable to make it. Missed seeing all the friends we have made, as it gives us all a chance for a good old Alpaca natter, but we know we shall catch up with some of them at the Alpacas shows this year.
Had a nice chat with Jeff Easter yesterday, he and his lovely wife Sheila, own a half share with ourselves in ICE-COOL-LAD,who has produced some wonderful Alpacas for us both over the last few years, really nice talking to you mate, look forward to seeing you both soon.
Well it is a short one today folks, speak to you all soon,
Bye for now,
Chase-End-Joe.

What a Lovely Day we have had

Well it has been a good start to the week, first of all I was standing on the decking this morning having a cuppa like I usually do, watching three six month old cria racing around their paddock, and then all of a sudden going into pronking mode. This absolutely facinates me and is very relaxing to watch, pronking by the way is when the Alpaca brings all of its feet off the ground at the same time.They continued this for about fifteem minutes, so relaxing to watch,I did not want them to stop.
Then it was time to clean their paddock,because they are only young they were following me around, still a bit unsure of you as they only came away from there Mums two weeks ago, but as the time goes on they will get better, they are following the pink Camelibra bucket everywhere, by the way Pink is my wife Anns favourite colour. I then went on to give all the Herd their breakfast which as always gets you plenty of cuddles and kisses, so inquisitive are Alpacas, we love them, after finishing my chores, I actually had a well deserved rest and took my good lady, off shopping for a few hours, leaving my daughter Sharon in charge, making it a Lovely Day, Speak to you all soon,
Chase- End- Joe.

Sunshine makes us Happy

Well it has been a long wet and cold winter, but let us hope we are near to the end of it.I was about very early this morning, it was still dark around four this morning, as it happens I am always about early, there was low lying fog on the fields and it was very frosty,I sat with a cup of tea looking out of the window watching mother nature take her course. As the time moved on the fog began to lift, and at six thirty I was letting the chickens out, by seven the sun was appearing over the rooftops and it gave me a bit of a spring in my step.I was feeding the Alpacas their Camelibra and filling all hay racks up, when it suddenly dawned on me what such a beautiful day this was going to be.As I was walking back up to the house, with my collie Jess by my side,I had this lovely feeling, Sunshine does make you feel happy.
Speak to you all soon,
Chase- End-Joe.