Snow fun!

We're completely snowed in here and having great fun, although it's taking some time to sort the animals every day. Icy conditions and pasture under deep snow has meant that we've had to give extra feed and make sure that water isn't frozen, but as you can see, thigh-length snow has made this an interesting job! The goats are keen to stay inside, the ducks have found a new home in the trees and the hens are huddling in the tack room or under the trampoline, but the llamas are still their usual happy selves. They're used to tough conditions and are probably laughing at us falling about as we deliver their hay!

Trekking landmarks

We'll start to include some favourite landmarks we see when we're out and about. See if you can guess where they are. Here's one from today, a couple of trees that have been grazed. Our little girl said they remind her of a ballerina's skirt as she spins around. Let us know by email if you think you know where they are. We'll post each person's suggestion on the blog until someone gets it right!

Django's fabulous fleece

The llamas are getting a nice covering of fleece as we go into the colder weather. Here's Django with his stunning silver coat. We brush them all regularly, which helps keep the fleece from getting matted and also gets the llamas used to being stroked and touched all over.

PL on YouTube!

Almost forgot to put this on the blog. Many thanks to Andy, Sharon and the kids for taking this video and posting it on YouTube. It shows our newly-shorn llamas on a trek at Chatsworth, with Django taking a well-earned break and doing the thing he likes best! He's a great character and always tries to convince new folk that they should let him munch grass whenever he likes. He very quickly gets the message though and walks like the true professional he is.
Click on this sentence to go straight to the video

Llama love?

Hello to Mark and Debbie, two of our avid Llamablog viewers, and to their respective families. Just to let you know, we're still thinking of 'dating with llamas' - a singles trek followed by a meal. What better way to size up a prospective partner than by checking out their (llama!) handling ability? Hello to everyone else at The Clifton Partnership too. Hopefully we'll see you again very soon.

Feeding time

Llamas are incredibly efficient grazers and, on the whole, shouldn't need much in the way of food supplements. Ours have constant access to good, dry hay and their pasture is more than a match for their appetites. Due to the history of lead mining in the area, however, the grass has a copper deficiency. Because of this, every now and then we give our llamas a small amount of specialist camelid supplement, usually as a reward when they've been out. They really enjoy it and here they are, behaving very calmly and politely!

Summer at last!

Summer finally hit us as we took Django, Jelly Roll and Bing out to Chatsworth. We met sheep, horses and dogs today, as well as the usual parade of walkers, but the llamas behaved impeccably under the confident control of the family that led them. A dream come true for their youngest apparently, who has adopted llamas in the past. He was certainly at home with ours today!

Back to Chatsworth

Yet another great trek to Chatsworth today, with Sharon, Andy and their family demonstrating great llama handling. Quote of the day came from their young daughter, who asked if Nick had been gelded or if he still had all his bits! Stunned silence followed as all the adults tried to answer that one...Thanks must go again to Chatsworth, for letting us on their estate. Judging by the amount of pleasure the llamas gave every single person we met on this busy day, it was a very good decision!

Shearing time!

An essential part of the welfare of llamas is managing their incredibly complex and advanced fleece. As well as regular grooming, every two or three years they need to be shorn to prevent overheating. The only problem is that they look like a different animal when they've been done, as you can see by comparing this picture with the others on the website. They still retain their fabulous character though! Ben Wheeler, our amazingly talented shearer, did a great job!

Radio Llama!

Peak Llamas hit the airwaves this morning with a spot on Radio Sheffield's Toby Foster - Bigger at Breakfast Show. Roving reporter Dan Johnson visited us as part of their 'interesting and unusual days out' feature and built up a surprising affinity with Django, whose career, we thought, was destined to be TV. Listen again on the BBC iPlayer, and we're 1hour, 33 minutes and 47 seconds into the programme.

Off to school

Django and Jelly-Roll had a great time at school today, with every pupil having a good stroke of them both and learning lots about llamas. Some of the reception children were smaller than Jelly-Roll's legs but he was his usual calm self, whilst Django enjoyed being surrounded by children stroking him. We had monsoon conditions at one point and had to retreat to the trees, but it gave us a chance to talk about llamas' incredibly advanced protection against the elements. Well done to all the pupils too!

Heading for home

Django leads the way back home after a short trip to Great Hucklow to see some of his friends. It's a really nice trek, walking straight out of the farm, into the village and back. Watch this space for news of our visit to our local school this week.

Out and about!

Three of our llamas had a great day out in Chatsworth recently (here's Bing and Jelly-Roll ) and behaved impeccably. Once again , they were the centre of attention wherever we went and no doubt were the subject of many conversations that night!

New arrivals

Two more boys joined us last week, from Mary Pryse's herd at Catanger Llamas. Bix, a beautiful and very grand 2-year old along with Bing, a year older and stunning in white. They've really settled in well and we can't wait to get them out meeting folk, as they're already experienced trekkers. Keep watching for updates!