As the weather continues to be vile (we have had Storm Denis this weekend, not quite as bad as Ciara but still very wet and windy, and Storm Ellen is due Friday), it looks as though the alpacas aren't going out any time soon. To allieviate any potential boredon, we have given both the alpacas and the goats whole bales of straw to nibble, play on, trash (!!). All the animals love to eat the barley straw and it is good that they have a different fibre from the hay. And for the goats of course, whole bales are great for lying on, jumping on, jumping over, beating up...
We cannot believe the land will ever be dry. Tomorrow we are probably going to bring the sheep in too. We don't have any limps but the area outside their shelter is really wet and muddy now and most of the field has pockets of standing water. The sheep won't mind, they are very good at being indoors although we do need to make a decision about the three wethers: they are becoming a bit more boiterous now (not with us but with each other and the other sheep) and as the ewes enter their last 6 weeks of being in lamb (end of the month), they don't need any biffing about!!! We may need to ring the abbatoir after all!!