Alpaca

This afternoon I went to visit a woman who has a herd of Alpacas with a friend's WI group.  We were allowed to feed them with carrot sticks.... Here a handsome buck is enjoying a tidbit in the rain.
They are very gentle - but so greedy and get quite upset if another Alpaca muscles in on the feed! Apparently that is when they sniff/spit.  Thankfully none of us got that treatment today.  
One of the Alpaca was about to give birth - 11 month gestation period and we learned that they can 'hold' the birth until the weather is good;  so the pregnant one was already 4 days overdue - the inclement weather is not doing her any favours! In the wild the babies have to be up and running within a couple of hours in case of predation, one of the reasons the birth occurs in the 'right' situations.
After talking to and feeding the Alpacas we were able to sit under an awning and enjoy a cream tea.  Delicious!
The enjoyment gained from feeding these cute beasties is visible on friend's face so I'm tagging it!