After weeks of calm on the farm, within days of each other Alpacas and hens are back in the spotlight.

Sophie our transgender hen ( or possibly was just a rooster all along) had taken to assaulting the guards. Sharon was spotted a couple of times fending off the squawking, wing flapping angry beak of Sophie and despite counseling  ( the hen not Sharon!) , the bad  behavior  continued. Not only was Sophie engaging in aggravated assault, she was caught  trying to start a roof top protest. Luckily the other hens stayed firmly on the ground exposing Sophie for the rebel she had become. Sophie has now been moved to  the Supermax  facility away from the farm and is likely to be “walking the green mile” sometime soon!

In the midst of this poor Charles ( one of the new cria) began hobbling badly   needing medical attention.  Although my animal husbandry skills are still fairly crude,with the help and tuition from the very patient local vet plus a raft of pharmaceuticals he is back up and walking – albeit stiffly.  One train of thought is poor Charles developed rickets from the lack of sunshine  (in Ballarat I hear you ask?! ) yes possibly the wet winter has had an impact beyond filling the dam and flooding the countryside.  All cria are now full of vitamin D and today soaking up the sunshine!

Next adventure is shearing… unfortunately we have lost access to the shearing shed next door so with a bit of kiwi ingenuity ( the same genetic makeup that brought you  atom splitting, jet boating and pea freezing)  a pop up shearing shed will appear!!.. stay tuned fro update and pictures!.