Restless sleep again. Worrying about Lilibet and Hennessey. Then I couldn’t get Josh out of bed so I went and got the superglue for the poover and the new handwash. We took some dog coats to try as cria coats too. We went to Cai first for empty bags and then to the barn. Josh filled 4 bags with hay and I fed Elsie. I left with my one bag and the coats, glue and hand-wash – lots of pockets! Josh was following on after with 3 bags. I kept expecting him to catch me up and to overtake to be honest. Where the hell was he? I got to the livestock trailer and filled the bucket (and tubs with mammy treats) Still no Josh. Then my phone started beeping. Photos of Elsie from Josh. So that’s where he was. He soon caught up. I fed the boys and the little boys while he put the hay away. I needed an extra bucket feeder for the little boys. I remembered the one in the blue shelter. We has left that full but it was empty now. They had clearly found it! Josh came then and we fed the girls.
The moment I was dreading was upon us. Weighing cria time. We put them all in the pen area. They were excited to see the trough of food and tucked straight in. Garth Maul was first. His weight is now up to 10.7kg. All good. Hennessey was next. Her weight had stayed the same. That was a positive. Then little Lilibet. We were hoping for 7.8kg or better. It has gone down to 7.7kg. Another loss but slowing down. And Hennessey had stayed the same. I viewed this as an indicator that their mother’s milk production was nearer to meeting the demand. Josh was not happy with it though. He messaged his butty George. I definitely felt that Chrissie’s udder is getting larger again. In the end we put a cria coat on Lilibet to help regulate her temperature. I was hoping if she stayed warm, any milk she injests would not be immediately burned off to keep her warm. “We’ll weigh her again later.”
We left. I did some jobs around the house and started dinner. A message came through from Josh: “Mam, can you do a visit at 2pm. 2 adults. They’ve been let down last minute.” “Yeah of course” This was followed by frantic attempts to get food cooked and eaten to get to Garth Hall in time. I like to arrive 15 mins early in case the visitor ate early. Good job too. They were parked up when I got there! I met Caitlin and Ellie. I showed them around and they met all the alpacas and fed loads of the girls.
As we were getting ready to leave, we passed Eden in the weanling field. She was humming away and appeared distressed. She was restless and kicking at her belly. “I wonder if she’s in labour?” Caitlin and Ellie stayed for a while, in case Eden was unpacking. We chatted away for a good hour. It’s amazing how much talking I can do. Who knew? 😂 Eden became even more restless. She paced up and down the fence line. Then I noticed a strange white ‘thing” on the floor. If I had to describe it, and obviously I do, I would say it looked like milk sick. I took a photo and sent it. Neil replied “snow” He clearly didnt have his glasses on. The only other option was a mucus plug but it didn’t look like one to me. Josh messaged George who told him it was definitely a mucus plug. 🤦♀️ I’ve not seen an alpaca one before. Normally these could be passed up to 3 days before birth. Interesting.
When Josh got there, Eden acted perfectly normally so he said to leave. We all walked up and then Caitlin and Ellie got to feed Elsie. They had a go on the rope swing and were done. I needed to come back down to check on Eden though. Josh had to leave. He had a phone call to say the wooden gate at Tregurnog was wide open and sheep were out on the lane. Titan is probably miles away by now 🙄😁 While I was sitting in the mule monitoring Eden from afar, he messaged to say that the bungee cord used to tie the gate shut had been stolen. What is wrong with people? 🤬
I sat in the mule for an hour, watching over Eden, writing this blog. No change in her. She could be a few days off. She won’t be long that’s for definite. It’s a wait and see game now…
Helen x
