[00:00:00] This is The Alpaca podcast for all things alpaca. If you are an owner, a soon to be owner, a want to be owner, or a just alpaca mad or love the fleece, welcome to the Alpaca Tribe. I'm Steve Heatherington.
[00:00:25] Hi, Steve here and welcome to the podcast for Alpaca People. Hey, how are you doing? Happy holidays, happy Christmas and all that. Alpacas. Don't care, do they? It's just another day. Uh, and you might feel a little bit like that as well, but hopefully not. Hopefully you're enjoying spending some time with friends, family, a good book, some good podcasts.
[00:00:50] Hey, this is just a short episode 'cause it's Christmas Day and I'm not sure how many people are gonna be listening on Christmas Day, but I just wanted to say. Thank you. Thank you for being with me through the year. Thank you for the emails and the contacts that I've had. Really appreciate those And yeah, it's been an interesting year in lots of different ways and the gift that alpacas are is, is amazing and it lasts all through the year.
[00:01:24] And the gift that we can give them. Our alpacas is to understand them a bit more, to interact with them on their terms a bit more and care for them in the best way we can. We, we do that. We, we aim to do that. That's our, our plan. But how about next year? We, we try even harder. What are the things that we can do?
[00:01:50] There's a variety of, of things to learn, isn't there? That there's, there's the things that you already know, the things that you already do, but we can do those better. That's, that's one thing that we can attempt. And how do you learn those things? Well, we do them intentionally. That's one of the biggest ways of learning something is to be deliberate about the process, about have I got enough information?
[00:02:16] Now, now, don't wait. Don't go waiting for having as much information as you possibly, ever, possibly, possibly could, ever have. That's too much. You need enough to be safe for you and for your animals, but then you need to get on and do, and do it in small steps. Do the small things. Do the things that are gonna make a difference and that are gonna build confidence.
[00:02:42] Your confidence as an owner, as a handler, as someone caring for alpacas, building confidence of the alpacas, their confidence in you as a safe person to be around. And there are, there are times when we have to step in and do things and they would rather, we didn't, frankly, these alpacas don't want to be fiddled with, but there are times when we have to, there are health issues, there are brambles wrapped around them.
[00:03:09] There are curiosities that we need to satisfy because that's an interesting spell. Let's check. It isn't fly strike or whatever and there's Olympic alpaca. We need to, to. We need to intervene at times, and that's part of our responsibility. So those are things that we can do, but learning in small steps, building the knowledge, building the experience, interacting with other people.
[00:03:36] Find someone next year that you can actually ask a question. This thing that I'm not, I've never been quite sure about, how do I do that better? Then there's a question you could ask. Go. Go find somebody. You can. Ask the question, and there are many things that we have to interact with. The weather being one of them, the food supplies being another, the how soon the grass is gonna grow, how much grasses there gonna be, et cetera.
[00:04:05] The birthing preparations and all that kind of stuff. If you are, if you're breeding and. Animals getting older. The fleece is not growing as long as it used to. Do they need coats? Where can you source a coat? Don't wait till the last minute, till the cold weather arrives, but have some in advance. And it does make such a difference.
[00:04:25] I've now got three, three girls with coats on and they're doing well with them on. It does make a difference. And I think Hermione my old girl. Yeah, she's a sweetie. She's, she's doing. Better, and she's actually still with us. I think we would've lost her, uh, in some of the previous winters if we hadn't been able to put a coat on her.
[00:04:47] So older animals is a good. A thing to be thinking about. There are things we can do better, things that we can care for in terms of their, uh, nutrition, what do they need, how much do they need? And that kind of thing. So that's something I'm hoping to revisit in more detail during 2025. Oh, oh. That's, I think that's the first time I've said that.
[00:05:09] 2025. I mean, just practice. It doesn't roll off the tongue quite so easily. 2025. Hmm. So I hope it's gonna be a good. Time of celebration, of enjoyment of things, and that next year will be a good year. Let's, let's build some practice. Let's build some intention into our alpacas through the coming year and get even better at what we're already doing well and learn some new things maybe too.
[00:05:48] And breathe. Go spend some time with their alpacas if you can, if you get a chance to, they still need feeding. They still need seeing too. And, uh, most of the other guests, if you've got guests in the house, they, they like it, they like to come visit and to see, but if the weather's not so good, mm oh oh, oh, we're just gonna have a cup of tea.
[00:06:07] We, we'll leave you to do that. I've been there. Uh, that was the amazing, that was between, that was the, the whatever day it was. I can't remember which day it was. I think it was a Saturday, but it was the day be between, uh, Christmas, new Year. I think it was just approach like the day before New Year, new Year's Eve or something.
[00:06:25] And, uh, it was so cold the lake had frozen at this bottom end where. Uh, there's not as much movement and therefore the, the, the skin, the little bit of ice turned into thicker eyes got really quite thick, thankfully, and I'd had, this was one of the early years and I'd had the, the girls and the career up on the terraces and decided to bring them back.
[00:06:48] But I had a temporary, which before we had, before we had our extra gates and things installed, and a bit of temporary fencing. The youngsters thought, oh, let's go this way. And they broke through. And then once they're split into two do groups, no, no, you've gotta keep 'em together. So I opened the gate and let everyone through and all of a sudden, oh, this is exciting.
[00:07:07] They do like, they do alpacas, just love the excitement of doing something new and fresh, uh, and, and slightly naughty. I think they got, uh, we, we could all relate to that. I think. So there they were. There they were heading down the carpark and I, you know, sorted after them. And Heri, she wandered down the carpark and then she wandered onto the ice.
[00:07:26] It was So why did she do that? I have no idea what possessed her to even think that she could do that. I have no idea. She'd never been on the lake before. She'd been on the edge of it, but to walk onto the ice, why did she do that? Anyway? She did. She walked onto the ice, but then it got all slippery and she did her Bambi impersonation.
[00:07:45] Skittering around and, and she decided she was gonna sit down. God cut my feet, I'm gonna sit. So she just ced down and she sat there looking a bit. Hmm. And I was hurrying across going, oh, I, now what do I do? And they'd all closed the curtains in the house. Not that they would've seen me anyway, I don't think, but they decided, oh, it's, uh, Steve's, Steve's doing that.
[00:08:11] We're not gonna, we're not gonna do the outside stuff. Steve's gonna go and do that. He'll bring the out backers back, which I was, I was gonna feed them, bring 'em back from their field and feed them before it got too dark, but it hadn't quite got pitch black, but it was getting darker. They closed the curtains early and I was invisible.
[00:08:28] I couldn't attract to anybody's attention. Didn't have, I, I dunno whether I even had a phone though. I must have had a phone, but I didn't have a phone, uh, to be able to get a phone through Anyway, so I, I, I, um, oh, what do you do in a situation like that? So I, I kind of laid down and stretched myself out on the ice and very, very carefully for any sounds of the ice cracking.
[00:08:55] And, uh, it was well frozen and very. Thick. So it took the weight of Hermione. Okay. But I was adding my weight to that and I thought, oh, she's out further out from the edge. But I managed to reach out. And kind of lie down and spread my weight as best I could. Uh, and then reached out and grabbed her and, and grabbed her a handful of fleece.
[00:09:18] I'm sure it wasn't very comfortable. I'm sorry, have my knee for that, for doing that, but it was, it was an emergency. I needed to get you off the ice. So I grabbed an, and I pulled and she skidded. I kind of, kind of slid her across the ice and as she got to the edge of the ice and ready to get back into the car, she just kind of whoop and popped to her.
[00:09:35] Popped to her feet. I'd run off without saying thank you. They do that so often. They just go, oh, oh, and off they go. And they don't even appreciate that you've, you've done such a service for them. But there we go. Sometimes they do, but usually they don't. They don't even say thank you. Sometimes they swear at you in alpaca and sometimes even spit.
[00:10:00] Thank you. So I'm glad that all turned out well. Uh hmm. So avoiding situations is a good thing to do. So be prepared. Do the stuff and when you have to go and do them by the, do the feeding and the whatever by yourself, then do take care. But go spend some time with the alpacas. We, we got some treats for them.
[00:10:21] Yeah. No, no, no. We didn't go for carrots or apples this time 'cause they just, uh, they don't have them. Enough so they, they feel like I'm trying to poison them or something. They, they don't like to take them from me, but peas, they, I know, I know they like the dried micronized peas, the f flaked peas. So I bought some extra and so we've got some extra we can give them tomorrow.
[00:10:44] On Christmas day as I record this, it's Christmas Eve towards the night before Christmas when all through the house, not a creature was stirring, not even a mouse. Uh, memory, memory fail at this point. I can't remember where, where it goes after that. That always used to be part of the family tradition reading that story, but it's not night yet.
[00:11:07] It's still earlier in the day, so, but it's all out of outta kilter already. What day of the week is it? Oh, I don't know. Does it matter? So, have a good time. Celebrating whatever you are celebrating and enjoying being with family and friends, and making space for people wherever you can. And then spend some time with your alpacas.
[00:11:32] Make some space for you and your alpacas and breathe. Have a good time. I'll be doing another episode, another short one for New Year's Day, and that's only a week away. Take care. Bye for now. See you again soon.
[00:12:02] This is The Alpaca Tribe. And I'm Steve Heatherington.
[00:12:13] Have a great day.