You don't mess with me!

Someone else you do not mess with, Chanel. She might be
low down in the hierarchy but she doesn't like to be messed
with. Often we just ignore her and let her do her own
thing, knowing she will eventually follow the others. 
Cross her and spit happens!

Some of you may already be aware of the errrrmmmm, incident we had over the weekend. We'd just finished our morning coffee and I went to the loo. As I sat there, Ian shouted, "Come quick, the boys are out!" "I can't" I shouted back, feeling a bit helpless. There was something though about the urgency in Ian's voice and the fact he said the boys were out that suggested something was very, very wrong. The boys are out, usually means Ian wanders over and shouts for them or slowly drives them back to where they should be, it doesn't demand that I come as quickly as possible. So as soon as I could, I slipped on my wellies and pulled on my coat as fast as possible and I sped out of the caravan door. 

Lolly is getting tall these days

Turbjørn's neck has been a bit better just lately, but at least
it means he keeps well out of the way when there's an 
incident.

As I looked out of the greenhouse where our caravan now is, I could see what the problem was! It was complete and utter mayhem. The girls were running about and errrrrr so were the boys, all eight, no severn of them. Turbjørn, bless him is not up to any running about and any sign of trouble, he is out of there. So he was grazing quietly on the grass just outside the boys paddock area. Not where he should be but certainly not in any trouble. Meanwhile I could see Ian dragging alpacas by the neck, into or out of the girls paddock area. Separating, whoever he could. Not the best way to move them but all he could do under the circumstances.

Silla, did you have to sit down? You were awfully difficult 
to move

I ran over to Silla, who was obligingly sitting down for a male. She's supposed to be pregnant but this makes us think she's not. Anyway, there were three randy male alpacas intermittently trying to fight with each other and mate with her. Every time one tried to mount her I would push him into the others, over and over and over again. I was starting to wheeze when Ian eventually managed to get to me, having removed one male alpaca from the girls paddock and get as many of the females into the paddock area as possible, or something like that anyway. I was too busy fending off Brencis, Mr. P and Jakobs to take in all the details. We manhandled Silla into the other paddock meanwhile continuing to fend off Brencis and Mr. P. 

Mr. P. can be rather persistent when he's after the girls

Poor little lass, she looked so small surrounded by the boys.
No harm done anyway.

Looking around we saw Karla suddenly surrounded by quite a few of the boys. We hurtled up to her and managed to get between her and boys and shoved her through the gate, then Mari, who was also still on the outside. I can't remember the order of getting the girls inside the paddock areas but we managed to get all in, bar one. Antonia was the last one, but she was not having any male near her and somehow most of the boys realised that and didn't seem particularly interested. We don't think she's pregnant as she has a way of throwing off any male that tries that is really quite sneaky, but she was still fending off all advances anyway. 

Mr. Tellus was not going to miss out either!

I mentioned that Silla was sitting down, so was Aggie and Chanel. At least we know Aggie and Chanel are not pregnant as we decided not to mate them, so that was okay - sort of. Fortunately alpaca mating is a long affair and with all the mayhem we don't think they've had a chance to get any pregnant. We certainly don't want babies born at this time of year, although we will have to make sure sometime, I guess. Amanda and Ilvija were definitely resistant, so that is good news, but not quite the confirmation of pregnancy we would like. We would rather wait for the scan, which should be happening next month. Much less stressful that way.

At least you are where you're supposed to be

Come on guys! Pack it in! Stop fighting!

I don't care who started it!

He might be young, but he had more of an idea of what to
do than George did! I would rather have found that out
when he was supposed to be on mating duty, not before.

Next job! The boys. Surprisingly they didn't seem that interested in heading back to their own paddock. Ian tried to encourage them with food leading them away and I came up behind waving the herding sticks to keep them concentrated on Ian and not on Antonia who was still wandering around. Nope that didn't work. Instead we managed to get Antonia in with the other girls. Phew! Boys on the outside, girls on the inside. Turbjørn meanwhile sneakily helped himself to the food in the trays that Ian had to put down while we put Antonia away - smart lad that one!

Safely out of sight or are they? The boys are now in a field 
on the opposite side of the hill to the girls

Yes Mari! Eating through the fence hasn't been helpful!

So we caught our breath and tried to decide what was next. The fences aren't absolutely secure as the ground is so soft due to all the wet weather we've had just lately and some of the posts are in need of replacing due to Mari eating through the fence wire. We were worried that the boys might try to break through. While I paced backwards and forwards with the herding poles, Ian went to get some food to get the girls into the alpaca houses, at least there they would be secure. At one point I yelled to Ian to hurry up as Brencis was leaning on one part of the fence that was ominously toppling inwards. I managed to move Brencis away from the fence, or rather shoved him away, and Ian came as fast as he could. I helped Ian encourage first one group of girls and then the other group into the alpaca houses. They were on edge and so a bit reluctant. At least the girls were now safe. 

No girls in sight, right!

Yes! George still had the "right" idea, just the wrong timing!

Back to the boys. We gave them a few minutes to calm down and then tried to encourage them back. They still weren't convinced that they should go back. We'd just get some of them heading in one direction and then some would turn around. Eventually, all but Mr. P grouped together and slowly, slowly we moved them towards their paddock area. Some were standing their ground a little more than normal to me, but eventually they went through the gate. Ian sorted them out while I went to look for Mr. P. 

Peace and calm! Well when the wind doesn't blow over
the hunting tower.

Mr. P saw me coming and decided to go around the fence in the opposite direction. I was going to drive him back when I realised if I followed him around, I stood a chance of herding him into an area where I could catch him. Once again, slowly, slowly with the herding poles, ........into the corner and ....caught him, at the same time I discarded the poles. He was a bit resistant but I hung on. I had seen Ian was heading in my direction while I was herding Mr. P. and then go back, I assumed he'd gone to get a harness. I was so relieved to see Ian harness Mr.P. up and them both of them toddling off back to where he should be. 

Just like I said boys! No one messes with me! Got it?

We normally only have two cups of coffee in one day, but this was a three cup of coffee kind of a day. As I sat there, wheezing like I had been smoking a packet of cigarettes a day all my life, I smirked to myself, as I thought about what I had just been doing. "Ha!" I thought! "No one messes with me! I can fight off three and at one point, four randy male alpacas trying to mate with a receptive female." Not quite sure that works on a CV, but you know, it makes me feel I can take on the world! For a while anyway!