I’ve said it before, “I hate barbed wire!” One of our older alpaca girls, Hisolda, presented one morning with a piece of old rusty barbed wire tangled in her tail. On quick inspection it did not seem too bad so I grabbed it hoping to dislodge it. Well Hisolda took off with me in tow and the barbed wire would not come out. As I let go the barbs nicked my fingers for my efforts.

So next move was to get some assistance, pen Hisolda and have her held still so I could cut the barbed wire out. Feeling my way as I only wanted to cut the fleece, not her tail, it was a delicate operation. Although alpacas look to have big fluffy tails, it’s mostly all fleece, with a skinny short tail down the middle. Cutting the fleece away from the barbed wire it became obvious why it was so deeply tangled, and in places quite close to the skin of her tail. The end 6″ or so was firmly wrapped in fleece. Ouch!

Alpacas and water are a funny mix. With the warmer days here the alpaca girls and boys have enjoyed cooling off wading in their respective  dams, often only up to their knees where they’ll cush in the water. But when it rains, the girls will often sit it out under the trees and get sopping wet, only coming back to the shed for food.

Meanwhile the woosy boys usually hightail it to their shelter shed at the first sigh of rain.

The recent rains and winds have taken a toll on quite a few dead or weakened trees, blowing them over as the wet soil weakens their grip on the ground. The boys however thought the downed trees made for great snacking on what was left of green leaves, and the dry branches wonderful scratching/rubbing posts.

And to finish off this edition of Fleecy (Furry) Follies, a furry impression of where the barn cat likes to sleep – on an old curtain over the hay.