'THAT' time of month...or just pregnant!

Vodka's EVIL eye

Honestly, a simple job of just bucket feeding the female Alpacas with supplement feed and their multivitamins becomes a nightmare when the girls are feeling so inclined!  Firstly, I have to do this with a 2.5y.old who insists on saying 'No' to everything (and to think he has a speech problem!), is very defiant and independent at the moment so he won't hold hands and wants to do everything himself (until the sack of oaten chaff falls on him LOL!).

Ambrosia in the shed with Tegan close behind

Whilst I am making up the buckets, Ambrosia climbs up the two steps to the tack shed and starts eating! Seriously!!  I have to carefully shoo her and then Tegan out, I worry that they will break their legs going backwards down the steps.  I close the door and hear the ensuing spit-fest as Ambrosia has backed into the other girls greedliy awaiting their buckets.

Malibu and Poppy...thinking about coming in

Then, once made up, I have to make my way through the girls, watching that 2.5y.old isn't accidently kicked as we walk around the shed to the pen.  Once in the pen I place the buckets around the perimeter and shut the gate with all the girls inside.  Obviously there are differences in each bucket, and these differences must be closey inspected by Malibu, Ambrosia and Allie who stir up a whole lot of angst by sniffing and fighting over each bucket until they decide which one best suits them.

If I have added too much of the vitamin mix, the girls all sneeze into the air and make a huge fuss of not eating.  When this happens I have to tip the buckets out onto the floor, so that they will then eat it.  The looks I get when this happens are classic...but then...the looks I am getting most of the time from the girls are like this!

THE LOOK

Why is it that Humans seem to get more placid when they are pregnant, and Alpacas are almost rabid?  Is it because they are prey animals and feel they are now more vulnerable?  Is it just 'that' time of the month and hormones are racing around (I suspect at least two are not pregnant)?

When I went to lead the girls back down to the blackberry paddock, they were following me and my bucket, I emptied the contents on the floor to look up to be face-to-face with Acua.  Acua then spat directly into my face for no reason!  I was furious! She received a small smack (reaction) and a huge finger-wagging telling off.  She had the decency to look totally disgraced whilst she was being told off.  I could understand if she was penned and feeling threatened...but we were in the middle of the paddock and she chose where she wanted to be!  There was no excuse for such rude behaviour!!  We have since made up, and I think she was angry with me for leading the girls to the next paddock when she clearly thought it HER job!

Meanwhile 2.5y.old has...thrown empty buckets at the cat and laughed so much he told me that he had wee'd, played in the water trough and got soaking wet, got caught in the wire fencing around the pen trying to climb through, and played with the 'paca poo (screaming 'POO MUMMY' at the top of his lungs).  It is only 10am, and I need a stiff drink LOL!