We had a busy 2020 with 13 new recruits joining our Woolly Army! The new troops came from all over the country and are in safe hands now as they go through our 3 month quarantine and health check process. As you can see some poor chaps arrived with three years worth of un-sheared fleece that was causing skin problems and over heating but they are all sheared now and feeling much better! We didn’t shear too closely as it was late in the year when they arrived and they are all coated up and cosy for the winter!
One of the new arrivals was a Huarizo (an alpaca/llama cross) called Seth. He is the second Huarizo we have met and we’ll introduce you to him soon! Meet Seth (New Blog Post)
We are going to be working on some new content and videos over the next year so you can see how we care for new alpacas and llamas that we rescue and re-home, hopefully this will give you not only some insight into what goes on behind the scenes here but also might help anyone looking to start their own Woolly Army. We are always here if you need any advice.
8 Huacayas (2 boys 6 girls) from Wales arrived with a few common conditions we could sort straight away:
- They had not been sheared for 3 years – alpaca shearing HERE
- They had fly strike
- They needed their teeth and nails clipping
- They had mites
- We treated them for worms, an annual procedure for all our flock
We finished learning how to shear in-house in 2020 so this was the first job. Alpacas need to be sheared once a year, they do not naturally shed their fleese like sheep. If they are not sheared the fleese continues to grow and can become an actual health issue for the alpaca. Once the fleese is off you can also more effectively assess their body and skin condition making it easier to treat for any issues like fly strike and mites.
A group of 5 Huacayas (2 boys and 3 girls) also joined us – they were a little less complex and were treated for mites and worms, they are:
Talulah 9yrs, hole in ear, (mum to Clarence, Primrose and clover,) Clarence 6yrs, tall white male, castrated, Denzel 5yrs, male spotty, castrated, Primrose 3 yrs, female, little brown spot on back leg, Clover 4yrs,
Seth was last to join our herd and he was in relatively good physical condition. He has been on his own as a flock guard and so understandably has some behavioural issues from being isolated. He was kindly being taken care of temporarily by a lovely hero of a lady who saw he needed help. She didn’t feel confident enough to give him the attention he needed long term though, and we were happy to step in and take over when she contacted us. He is now living with a small herd of our younger llama boys and is getting on brilliantly. Terry might even have a new favourite!
We’ll keep you updated on their progress as and when we can and hopefully you might meet them for yourselves one day!
Wordsmiths: Rachel Kearns & Emma Smalley
