First Feet
First Arrivals on the Farm
Meet Ernie 'the eyelash' Alpaca.
The first animal additional to the farm were alpacas. Ann and Bev’s pride and joy.
After many a number of visits to a farm in Yorkshire, they selected 3 quality females, two of which were mated & carrying cria before they arrived. They settled well in the small rear paddock and kept us fully occupied whilst we tended to them through the harshest winter known in the region for years.
Charisma, Cleaopatra and Jamelia the nanny, were a welcome sight every sunrise calling over the fence as we left for work and made us realise that we had definitely made the right decision.
The alpaca were shortly followed the arrival of 12 hens in the November of that year. They were initially to share the paddock with the alpacas, but my scepticism as to the effectiveness of their guard dog capabilities against the local foxes, was not to be tested.
The hen houses were positioned in the stone ‘might be a kiln’ structure and the hens were left to roam freely wherever and whenever they pleased. True free-range hens.
Note to self, screen off any plants that we want to keep!! They are relentless when they’ve decided to dig in a certain place.