Alpacas

My boys 

MacIntosh also known as Toshy, Macca and Mac.   

Truesdale who is often called True or Dale.

These boys came to me at 9 months old, unwhethered (entire males) and far too young to know if they would make good guards for the goat harem. I paid way too much considering I had to have the vet visit to make them eunuchs when they were 18 months old.  The silly city girl in me simply fell in love with the gorgeous, soft, cuddly looking brown boy.... no matter what, I wanted him.  Apparently a lone alpaca would fret, and as we had not yet purchased our goats for him to bond with it was quite obvious to me we had to have a second ‘paca to keep Macca company, so True was bought with him.

Did I say my alpacas are cuddly?  How silly of me. Mine are the most aloof, standoffish boys. They do not take kindly to me trying to hug them, it’s like ...'woooo woman, are you seriously trying to touch me, no way, get real'...

I did hit the jackpot with Truesdale and MacIntosh, they have turned out to be the most brilliant guards for the goats, even playing crèche daddy to the kids, while the does go off shopping for food in other parts of the paddock.

The very regal Truesdale 

MacIntosh makes the weirdest noise as a warning, sort of like a duck crossed with a monkey and  probably a rusty gate thrown in there as well. The first time I heard it I was searching up in the trees for some sort of exotic bird then I realised it was coming from Mac.   This noise is to warn the herd he is protecting of a potential danger. The boys work well together, Mac does the screeching monkey thing while True runs to him to check out the danger. I have watched two scenarios:  together they will chase down the threat or one of the boys will round up the goats to a safe spot while the other deals with the danger. I laughed one time while watching Mac, he was sussing out the new paddock I had moved them to, he was stealthily approaching a duck sitting in the grass, a very intent look on his lovely fluffy face, the duck moved and Mac took off in the other direction, screeching. He will chase down a dog or fox but a duck terrifies him!

My exotic bird MacIntosh