Alpaca Cria

There was no way my premature cria and his mother would come in last night. I was on my own and by the time Chas reappeared it was pitch black out there. The cria survived the awful weather but does have an infecion in one eye. It is a bit like that sticky eye thing in babies, the eye is closed in the morning and opens during the day. He will have to have opticlox for a few days which should sort it, it is very good stuff. He is back out in the field now with a brand new coat which I hope will be waterproof.

On a husbandry note, now is the time to check animals for mites, they like this weather. Look under the tail and right up inside the front legs, they go for the warm bits. During the shows in the South West at least, the inspection stewards always looked for mite. If you find it don’t panic, the Nick Weber solution is Eprinex mixed with pig oil sprayed on the affected part and Dectomax jabs. I was reading Norm Evans’s new book – very good it is too – we’ll be selling it shortly and he recommends six Dectomax six days apart, phew that’s a lot but doesn’t talk at all about doing anything to the affected areas.

We are about to start the next round of ADE jabs and then we’ll move on to Lambivac in a week or so and then the bluetongue boosters, it never stops. There are lots of other things I need to do, my marmalade oranges are staring at me accusingly and so is the vegetable garden which is a sea of weeds and the chicken house needs cleaning out. Just thinking about it makes me feel like a glass of white wine and a good book.