Cria, tractors and fleece

Busy day today after a late night last night.  Sam and Carl went to Wales early yesterday morning to collect a tractor which they said would be ideal for me to use and is just what we need.  It was an over four hour drive to get there and I knew it would be even longer coming back so I planned for tea at 7pm - by 8 it was feeling a little sorry for itself, by 9 it was past it's best and by 10pm it was in the bin.  They finally appeared just before midnight having encountered a rather large traffic jam and taken the opportunity to try the tractor out by grading a riding school before leaving!  I didn't see this 'ideal tractor' which is 'just the thing for me to drive' until this morning.

Enough said!

I had to clamber around in the barn first thing and unstack a pile of hay in order to retrieve the Shepherd's fencing stuff we borrowed as he came to collect it and he arrived just in time to see his first alpaca birth!  Sapphire, Sam's alpaca, produced a lovely white boy with no problems whatsoever.  Rather early though as she would not have been 11 months until 20th August.  We have had a lot of early ones this year.

He is a big boy and very strong so all is well.  I think the next one will be Trouble who I am really looking forward to but am also quite nervous about as Trouble is so lovely and such a friendly girl (she was bottle fed, one of Bert's babies).  Trouble is humming constantly and likes me to sit with her and rub her neck - just like Bert!  I thought that, being pregnant, she would probably change - but no!

And the rest of the day, I have been sorting out all my fleece that has not gone for processing as I am going to sell it this year.  Quite a mammoth task but I am getting there.