I was suffering this morning. The headache went after some paracetamol but my bad guts are still with me. I suffer with IBS anyway. There is a possibility that I shouldn’t have consumed quite so much cider…I thoroughly enjoyed myself though. It was worth it. I’ve had Buscopan so my guts will settle. My start was very much delayed though having been in the bathroom a while. As I was driving through Coedely I looked up as usual. There were a lot of sheep in the cabbage field. Not agited and in a bunch as in a dog attack, just lots there. I know Josh must have transported at least 80 so there would have been plenty of extra ones about. It would be nice to see Garth Hall running at capacity again. I turned into the driveway. What was that? Was it a white alpaca? Surely not? Hang on, a black one! Were the boys out? And then I saw the gorgeous Cookie, staring right at me. I hurtled down the drive and screeched to a halt whilst simultaneously phoning Josh. “You’ll have to turn around and come to Garth. The alpacas are out!“
He had only just left so he wouldn’t be long. He asked me to message Neil to borrow his quad. Neil gave the ok. Josh went straight there and I went to try to round them up. I had seen them in the cabbage field but I had to get through the paddock and pen area first. I looked in the direction of the cabbage field. No sign of them. Whatsoever. Oh heck! I headed over in the direction of the quarry. If I hadn’t seen Cookie staring right at me I would think I’d imagined it all. Still no sign. I headed over further and there were all the girls. Some grazing, some pooing (literally losing money on that!) a good few of them were staring across the valley. Rob would have a blue fit if they ended up over there. He’s a bit wary of them 😂 And then I heard the quad coming up the lane. Phew! I tried to herd them jn the direction of their home. They went in the opposite direction 🤦♀️ It took Josh ages to get through the two gateways. But he went off at speed to send them. He nodded his head in the direction of the nursery. I went that way in case anybody tried escaping. Some went down behind the mammys’ field. Josh quickly put the pedestrian barriers up while I went around. Livia and Arwen tried it on a bit but we put everybody back. Josh swears he shut the gate properly. I’m sure I have shut it too. If they are out again they’ve learned to open it so we will need a padlock!
I set about doing the water. Almost all the baths/troughs were empty. Josh weighed Hennessey. She has stayed the same. She wouldn’t have any milk from him. He fed the others while I did water. He finished before me and sat playing on his phone while I was busy with the water. He told me he was waiting to l%et me in the girls field. They were still shut in so I said he could go while I finished up. I did the water and drove back to the gate. Now if you’ve been following the blog since it went to daily updates, you’ll remember the two ewes that constantly stole alpaca food and broke into the field. I had them put in jail. The jail ewes had been taken to Tregurnog. Now all the sheep are back, those two have come back to haunt me. It’s just awesome 🤦♀️ I’ll spray them and they can be in 2nd and 3rd place to be sold. Scruffy is in pole position. ASAP too!
After dinner I went back and took the blue barrel straight up to fill it. I went back down and started putting water in each container so they were all topped up a bit. I struggled to get back out of the girls’ field. There were two different ewes and some lambs, all trying to get in. I sent them down the side then blocked the end with two pedestrian barriers. I rushed out and shut the gate just before they pushed it over. Unlucky! This time. I fed the mammys and Vader’s gang and then went up for more water. Elsie came over for her bottle then. She wouldn’t come near me on the first water trip for some reason. I filled the sheep bath and then went down and made sure the mammys’ bath was full because the sheep can drink out of it too. I was done for the day. We have a long day planned for tomorrow.
Helen x
