Our aim is confident and fulfilled owners of happy and healthy alpacas. We want happy and healthy owners too but that's for another day. Let's think about confidence again and in particular, where you get yours from. Knowledge and practice are key - know enough and do it often enough and you will feel confident. This could be moving alpacas, removing brambles from their fleece, trimming toenails, or body scoring your herd. The principle is the same - know enough to get started, learn as you go (in small steps), and keep doing it t keep your confidence. Farm update - a wet few days here but not too cold. Keep your eyes and nose on alert for flystrike. Go spend some time with an alpaca, Steve

Alpaca Tribe

Confidence for everyone

Each day with alpacas is a new opportunity to learn something - either about your alpacas or yourself! While we look for problems - and rightly so, we should also be on the lookout for positives and things that are going well. Listen in to breakfast with the girls for an update on the alpacas and the valley.  

Always learning and seeing the positive as well as the problem

Into Autumn in the UK you start to ask yourself, why are we keeping alpacas? I can think of lots of reasons - here are five. You have 'the alpaca gene' and can't not keep alpacas. Not a real gene - it just feels like it. Stock sales - breeding stock or pets. The grand plan - lifestyle choice and making a living. Challenging and hard work but in normal times possible. Fleece - the delight of the premier alpaca product. It is what alpacas are for. Sharing them with others - through farm visits and things like walking with alpacas. Listen in for more details and a round-up of the happenings in the valley. Especially an update on little Wenna and the other cria. The geese even make a return - just visiting. Go spend some time with an alpaca - if you can.

5 reasons for keeping alpacas

Autumn is a special time of year - the light, the colours, the wind the rain! We have been having some Welsh rain and the lake is now full. It also means the alpacas are wet and the little ones a bit cold. And I had to wear a hat! We all wear hats, metaphorical and physical - they all need to be practical. My strategy remains the same in the colder wet weather - protect those who need a little extra help and make sure everyone gets their share. The tactics to achieve this goal may vary but the big picture remains. And having seen the weather forecast for tonight... I will have to apply my putting coats on cria tactics again. Take care and spend some time with an alpaca if you can.

Autumn has arrived – no, really this time

In the previous episode, I mentioned I was giving up on the last three potentially pregnant alpacas. Just to prove me wrong, Olwyn gave birth the following day! A month late and late afternoon. Wenna, a beautiful brown female is now happily running around in the field. It was a late afternoon birth - never a good start and we are still having some feeding issues to work through with her and her mum. A coat overnight and top-up bottles are keeping me busy, together with lots of watching with a measure of anxiety and concern. It is sometimes like that. We do what we can - and keep going.

A late alpaca arrival

It is not possible to always know the answer and the right thing to do. But this podcast can help you to lean in the right direction. To learn as we go, making the best decisions we can. I guess we will always be a work in progress. Listen in for a catch up on life in the valley with the alpacas.

Can you be right every time?

Catch up on the valley happenings and musings. Cria behaviour - nature or nurture? A little bit of sad news and the change of season seems to be here - Autumn for us in the UK and Spring in Australia.

What does it mean

Cria, like most babies, seem to turn up when they are ready. More waiting means more sitting around with the alpacas - which is quite a treat actually. We name the cria by taking the next letter in the alphabet and since we have the herd name of Welsh Valley Alpacas, we have a book of Welsh baby names to help us. Some letters are limited (or don't exist) and some are plentiful for male/female but not the other way around. So far we have: Lena Meurig Nidian Olwena Perl Rebeca Steffan Tabitha Still waiting on a few...

Sitting about with the alpacas

Millie had an adventure - as did we all. And this one needed the assistance of the Fire and Rescue Service - to whom I am immensely grateful. It could have been very different, but we are all well thanks to the knowledge, experience and equipment of the https://www.mawwfire.gov.uk/eng/your-area/swansea/ (Fire and Rescue Service from Morriston and Swansea Central). Thank you. There are some pictures on the website at https://alpacatribe.com/podcast138 (https://alpacatribe.com/podcast138) Meanwhile, this week on the cria front, we welcomed Perl, daughter of Iona. She is a beautiful light fawn and doing well. The boys are being such boys in the way they are playing and looking for mischief - male and female cria do play very differently. More to come - thanks for being here.

Millie the alpaca matriarch is a bit of a stick in the mud

I spent some time with the girls after mucking out and topping up the water. There seemed to be a fair bit of talking, even though they were pretty laid back. After all the talk and lots of watching - nothing to show. But the next day was a different story... Born too near the edge we temporarily lost the newborn cria off the edge of the path but thankfully we saw enough and heard enough to know there was a drama unfolding. Safely resolved, Nidian has had a good first day with lots of feeds - always a welcome sight. Video of the rescue: https://vimeo.com/589073355/e93f765187 (https://vimeo.com/589073355/e93f765187)

Always keep an eye on your alpacas - you just never know

Well there were a few to choose from but Betsi was the first. A lovely black alpaca with a beautiful dark fawn cria. 8.5 kg is a good size and Lena, our lastest arrival has made a strong entry to the valley and the world. Born near the lake - too near to be left there - I moved her up to a broader path with less danger while she found her feet and the milk-bar. Both baby and mum are doing well and she has been visited by all of the aunties to welcome her to the herd. Prydwen was next to give birth with a male cria just over 7kg and a gorgeous white-white with some fawn colouring around the top of his head - plenty of crimp in the neck fleece too. It will be nice to see how he develops. So far, the others are moving towards giving birth but slowly. Rhoslyn is even more grumpy and keeping herself at a little distance, so maybe... I will let you know Drop me a line (steve@alpacatribe.com) if you have any cria watch stories or arrivals to share.

The start of cria arrivals 2021

This is such an important time, all around the world, to be taking notice of ourselves and our mental wellbeing. Alpacas help. In this episode, I encourage you to take note of what you are saying to yourself about the need for time, space for yourself and stopping for a bit. What better way than to be around some alpacas. And being around the alpacas, you will find that they speak to you too - learn to hear them and what they tell you about the herd. And remember to watch out for those on the edge, or in my herd, the ones in the middle who hide in plain sight. Try an experiment and watch them out of the corner of your eye (which they seem to be experts at) and see what they are up to when they think you are not looking. Take care of yourself and your alpacas - and see you again soon.      

Listening to your alpacas and yourself

Physics is around us every day and can make our lives keeping alpacas easier or more difficult. Take note of how you do things and adjust as necessary. Listen in for some practical tips on lifting on carrying loads like alpaca feed bags and mucking out. Down on the farm - update on the geese and the alpacas. Stay safe and if you can, go spend some time with an alpaca.

Physics and keeping alpacas – make it work for you

Build your confidence and care for your alpacas like you want to. In this episode, we explore three simple things you can do to be a more confident owner. Take the long view and keep trying. Know who is boss - hint, it is supposed to be you but work with the herd leader too. Stay safe - of course, this means don't put yourself at risk but also help your alpacas view you as safe to be around. It keeps the temperature down and makes life easier for everyone. Small repetitions make for progress over time. Think - what are they thinking? what are they feeling? The aim it to build your alpaca's confidence in you and also your own confidence in you.

Being more comfortable with your alpacas

Confidence comes from a combination of sufficient knowledge and practice over time. In the https://alpacatribe.com/podcast131/ (last episode), I asserted that gaining more confidence with caring for your alpacas was possible, not just in principle but specifically for you. David Dunning and Justin Kruger of the https://www.ted.com/talks/david_dunning_why_incompetent_people_think_they_re_amazing (Dunning-Kruger effect) fame, suggest we can delude ourselves about how good we are. Their work starting back in 1999 suggests with a little bit of knowledge we can overestimate our capabilities, with a lot of knowledge underestimate it. And in the middle, we can know we don't know as much as we thought, risking a conclusion that we are useless and know nothing - in fact, we have just reached the point of knowing we have more to learn, which is a place of possibility. This dip in confidence we can feel as alpaca owners is normal and should be seen as part of the journey to becoming better at caring for our alpacas. I hope this gives you hope that: It is possible for you. Practice over time will produce progress (it is not instant). Summer continues to develop here in the UK. Watch out for flies, water levels and weeds you need to remove at this time. My pregnant girls are getting a bit more grumpy and starting that last phase of pregnancy. Watch for developing signs and continue to give your alpacas confidence that you are safe to be around. The cria will be along soon - probably! If you get the chance, go spend some time with an alpaca and smile. (but protect yourself from too much sun and biting flies!) One thing that gave me a lot of confidence was training with https://www.camelidynamics.com/ (Marty McGee Bennet of CamelidDynamics). See the episodes below, where we talked about what CaelidDynamics is all about and what she has learned over many years. Online courses and information available at her website plus she has started travelling again - meanwhile, here in the UK, Victoria Barrett of Simply Alpacas is a Senior CamelidDynamics Consultant - see more details on thehttps://www.simplyalpaca.co.uk/training/ ( Simply Alpaca website). Past episodes to check outhttps://alpacatribe.com/podcast89/ (Episode 89) CameliDynamics with Marty McGee Bennett https://alpacatribe.com/podcast89/

A bit more confidence with alpacas

The Alpaca Podcast for all things alpaca. Alpaca Tribe is for anyone who feels a connection with alpacas. It is for existing owners, everyone interested in keeping alpacas, people working with alpaca fleece or providing alpaca services, or those who are just alpaca mad. With our guests, we will look at getting into keeping alpacas; making the most of the ones you have got (and enjoying it); ways to use the fleece, not just store it; opportunities to develop business activities relating to alpacas; and growing in your experience, wherever you are starting. Each week we will be talking to people like you and to breeders, vets, producers and professionals. The Alpaca Tribe Podcast is your place for wisdom, guidance and great stories about all things alpaca, from people who know because they have already done it. Join the tribe at alpacatribe.com

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Alpaca Tribe

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