Gordon

Meet Gordon. He's an Alpaca breeder and today was on the farm mating and "spit testing" several of the Alpacas. He's quite a character ...

For the past few weeks he's been every 2 weeks and mating the Alpacas that aren't pregnant, at the same time he tests if the others are ... The way he does this is not by some test kit, but by simply putting the female in the same pen as the male. If the female runs a mile, and spits violently, then you can be pretty sure she's got one on the way.

So we helped round up the herd, spit tested 3 girls, and mated one. The kids thought the mating was fascinating ... The male jumps on the female, until she kneels to the ground, then proceeds. It can last up to an hour ...

Hannah, "Mum, why are they making that sound, are they being hurt". Mum, "Ahhhh, no, they are probably ok. It's probably a happy sound?. "

Hannah then walks up to them with her face screwed up, still concerned they might be in trouble. The Alpacas ignore her, and get on with the business. About 20 minutes later it's over ...

Then we check over the rest, and the animals get lots of pats and encouragement from the kids. Gordon thinks Adam should quit school and be an Alpaca wrangler. Adam isn't so sure..

Business over, we head back to the house, finish tidying up, and then head away at 2pm, on our way home. It?s a great end to 8 days away. We've done so much, had pretty decent weather, and can't wait to come back in July.