We have had floods, snow and foggy mornings.

The goats are oblivious to the horrible weather as they are all tucked up cosy and warm in the barn. The Alpacas on the other hand prefer to sit outside of their shelter!

I’m sure like us, all the animals are looking forward to some sunshine. The goats especially will enjoy the freedom to forage.

As usual, we have escape artists who love nothing more than pulling out nice fresh bales of hay and straw (even though they have an endless supply of their own)! This seems to be a regular event- sometimes it’s a mystery, but after much chasing, tripping over dogs, ducks and chickens, we manage to get them back in.

The next job for us is our first shear of the year. We are lucky to have a lovely lady who comes twice a year to shear for us. We learnt early on that its quite difficult to find someone who understands that goats need time and careful handling- this is a job that cant be rushed.

After shearing, the fleece is weighed, labelled and bagged for future use. Its always interesting to compare each one- the kids fleece is so soft and silky and each one is different. Its amazing how quick the coat grows back after shearing. Usually after about a week you can see the new coat coming. Itsreally nice to see them lovely and clean if only for a short time- Roll on summer!