The Alpaca Herd & Other Animals

.......meet Violet, Madeleine and Angevine (Maddie and Angie for short!). These Oxford Sandy Blacks are here to help us manage our land by turning it over and fertilising it as they go, and hopefully to breed more piglets in the future for market. The land that they are preparing for us at the moment will be planted as a cider apple orchard in the Spring. The girls will then be on temporary loan to friends, who also need their help with preparing land for a new orchard . We hope that they will be back with us at Melbury during the summer.

SUMMER 09 ....FIRST BABY ALPACAS (CALLED CRIA) BORN....... Cria number one is a little girl!

and here are our first cria boys - 'ORION'  with mum Johanna and ..............'ALADIN' with Butterbean

     
Award winning, Bozedown Dazzler is father to all of the above crias......

ENGLISH

Alpacas are part of the Camelid family, and a common description is that of a small Llama. There are many reasons for choosing Alpacas as the optimum livestock for our holding. Not only do they not require vast grazing areas, unlike sheep, they can manage fairly poor quality grazing land which other conventional farm livestock do not enjoy. We have some areas of poor quality grazing. Alpacas originate from Peru and graze in the open, which often consists of limited poor quality grassland.

The Alpacas assist in grazing and fertilising our land, which helps with the ongoing land management. However, Alpacas are primarily bred for their fibre which can be used to create fabrics and garments of the highest quality.

In the UK, Alpacas are currently a growing livestock choice and are bred for quality of studs and breeding females for onward sale. There are now more than 12,000 Alpacas in the UK.

Alpacas are induced ovulators, meaning that they can breed all year round and do not have a breeding season. They give birth to one offspring, called cria, once a year, and there is usually a 50/50 split between male/female births.

Alpacas are inquisitive but timid creatures where humans are concerned, they will be as interested in you as you are in them, but will not get quite close enough for you to touch, unless they have been hand-reared and are 'humanised'!

Linda, Johanna and Bernice - The Girls    Mowgli - The Australian    Butterbean & Gringo - The Boys
Cattle Dog

DEUTSCH

Alpakas sind Teil der "Camelid" Familie und eine übliche Beschreibung ist die eines Lamas. Es gibt einige gute Gründe die für Alpakas sprechen und weshalb diese von uns ausgesucht wurden.

Im Gegensatz zu unserem herkömmlichen Viehbestand, benötigen sie keine großen Wiesen und können auch in schlecht begrasten Land überleben. Wir haben einige Gebiete, die schlechte Grasqualität aufweist. Alpakas kommen im Ursprünglichen aus Peru und grasen im offenen Land, welches oft schlechte Grasqualität aufweist.

Alpakas werden uns unterstützen, die Qualität unseres Graslandes zu verbessern, wodurch das Management unseres Landes vereinfacht wird. Außerdem werden Alpakas überwiegend wegen ihres Felles gezüchtet und bürgen für beste Fasern in höchster Qualität.

Alpakas erfreuen sich in England wachsender Beliebtheit und werden auch wegen ihrer Zuchtqualität für den Weiterverkauf gezüchtet. Es gibt um die 12000 Alpakas in England.

Alpakas sind jederzeit Deckbereit, welches bedeutet, dass sie das ganze Jahr über empfangen können. Es gibt keine festgelegte Befruchtungszeit. Sie gebären ein Fohlen einmal im Jahr und gewöhnlich gibt es einen Split von 50/50 an weiblichen und männlichen Geburten.

Alpakas sind neugierig, aber scheue Kreaturen gegenüber Menschen. Sie werden interessiert sein an Ihnen, soviel wie Sie interessiert sind an sie, aber Alpakas werden nicht so nah an Sie herantreten, als das Sie die Tiere anfassen können. Dieses wird sich erst ändern, wenn sie Handzahm gemacht und an den Menschen gewöhnt sind!

Linda, Johanna and Bernice - are our first Suri breeding female alpacas from Bozedown in Berkshire.

Butterbean and Gringo - are the Huacaya gelding boys, who will look after the cria when they are weaned from their mums - they are in training to become experienced nannies!

Mowgli - is a weekly visitor to Melbury Vale  (living with Clare and Joe).  Mowgli 's ancestors were originally Northumberland Collies crossed with Dingos 200 years ago, hence the wild dog look! They have a natural herding instinct with amazing speed, stamina and intelligence. Mowgli was a rescue dog and is hoping to become the first UK based Australian Cattle Dog to herd sheep and alpacas!

Meet our automatic lawnmowers! Rare Breed Shetland Sheep - Joan, Lydia and Jaelle

Here are our goslings from the summer 09, although now they are much bigger, living on the nearby River Stirkel , but still visiting us most days and provide us with a great warning alarm when anyone arrives. Their favourtie game is to play football with apples!