I was commissioned some while back by Hobby Farm magazine to write a livestock profile for alpacas. My calendar now shows that this 2,500 word alpaca article is due with the publishers by the end of the month so I better get cracking.

I have been saving articles and doing some research so its now a matter of pulling it all together into some sort of logical order that ties in with the usual format that appears in Hobby Farm magazine. I have promised myself to make a start in the morning..... best laid plans of mice and men as they say...

The weather has picked up again and the temperature is now in the 60's with a light wind which has been drying out the alpaca pastures quite nicely. Lets hope it keeps up as it will be perfect weather for burning.

The recent rainfall has bumped up the level in the irrigation reservoir to 76% so there is plenty of water for the coming summer and anything that goes into the reservoir now will be topping up the reserves for the summer 2008 in case the coming winter is a dry one.

When I was feeding the alpaca males tonight I noticed that one or two have toenails that need trimming. They appear to grow much more quickly in wet weather but the reality is that they grow at the same rate its just they dont get worn down when the ground is so soft and wet.

I still have a dozen or so alpaca fleeces in the classroom which I would like to sell but we are keeping them to use as samples in an upcoming fibre course that is being organised for later in the month. The good news is that when I get them back they will all be nicely skirted so its well worth waiting a couple of weeks.

Adrian Stewart