Jura’s winter newsletter 2024
What’s new with Jura this winter? With the introduction of two new members in the herd last spring, Jura at 2 1/2 years old is moving up in the herd ranks. Although as the calm alpaca that she is, we’ve rarely seen her assert this new found position in the group on to the new young alpacas, like we have seen with the others. She’s a great influence on the babies, we hope they learned a little from her in the last 9 months!
What care needs come with winter?
There’s so much care to be given during the winter season, we’re really kept on our toes.
Speaking of toes, one thing we’re really careful with is the wet season we’ve had and their foot care. To ensure their feet get some much needed dry time in the extremely wet weather we’ve experienced this winter, we decided to place the alpacas in the barn, whether that be overnight in some cases, or for a few days at a time in others. This helps prevent any fungal conditions or injuries to the foot caused by the wetness, as well as ensuring the fields are not damaged by overuse when they’re wet, which could be hard to recover from.
We’ve also routinely given the herd including Jura, their monthly vitamin A, D, E supplements, to ensure good health and to prevent rickets which they can be prone to. This is due to the shortened days with less hours of sunlight, mixed with their thick woolly fleeces at this time of year, there is less chance of their skin being able to adsorb vitamin D3.
With the wet whether, we also have to be extra vigilant with the alpaca’s gut health, and kept up with our quarterly egg counts for worms and parasites. We were really pleased with the results, showing good general management of the land and general regular health checks is the best prevention we can give. Jura’s test results did show that she needed a general wormer, which we’ve administered, and she is clear of any other gut issues.
Watch in video: From last winter, we show you how we manage and treat the alpacas for worms and parasites
Jura in winter… walks, fringe, food!
It’s our preference at shearing not to cut their fringes too short, both for practical (shading from the sun) and aesthetic reasons (we like it!) but this means at this time of year we have to check to see if a little trim is needed,but Jura can wait until spring.
Jura still loves her walks with visitors, which have been a little less frequent this last season as we took them off our regular schedule and they were only available for private requests, something that we will change for spring.
Jura is a lover of browsing, which is eating from the hedges and trees. This gets a little bit trickier in the winter, when all the leaves have shed from most trees, but she’s still finding the yummiest leaves on the ground. Sometimes she decorates her face with them.
Jura is very relaxed about dinner time! Whilst she does eat with the herd, she’s often one to get distracted by the environment around her, finding the yummiest grass or having a rare after-dinner winter sunbathe too.
Winter news from the farm
This winter, we’re having a glamping glow up. Since opening up the glamping tent, we’ve had three complete seasons and received wonderful 5 star reviews. After 3 years, it’s time for a newer and better glamping tent, with more head room and better material for a cooler time in the heat and warmer time in the cold, we’re certain it’s only getting better for 2024. We’re keeping the exclusivity; a new tent doesn’t mean an additional tent, it’s staying special and private just for your group!
All 2023 babies on the farm are doing well. Blossom’s cria (baby alpaca) Buddy, and Astrid’s cria Joni have both started their halter training. This is less about training to walk with customers and more about them learning to be handled for regular health checks and at a minimum them be able to be walked if needed for healthcare (for example to travel to the vets). Our (human) baby Emilie is also doing well and getting to know the herd well, and they’re starting to get used to her too.
We are proud to re-appear on C4’s A New Life in the Sun: Where Are They Now? this winter.
We love sharing our updates with you all and others too. It must be kept a close secret, but as adopters of our beautiful herd, we’ll let you know the theme of this year’s episode focuses on us working with the wool, and also how the farm was baby central last year with both alpaca and human baby arrivals. Take a look at our blog for an account coming soon of what it’s like being involved in the show, as well as our social media to announce the date our contribution will be aired.
Wool workshops that are accessible to everyone.
We’ve been sharing our knowledge and skills with our regular wool workshops. These have proved very popular and not only to the general public, but we’ve also been asked to adapt these for groups too, including children and those with additional needs. We’re so happy we can share our passion for the alpacas and our knowledge about their incredible wool. We now have three different workshops available, alongside our partners Wecandoo.
