This is the podcast for alpaca people!

In this episode, Steve recounts a chaotic food delivery for the alpacas, reflecting on resilience and how to handle frustration in animal care. He introduces us to Hermione, Alys, and Nona, sharing anecdotes that highlight their personalities and daily routines. The episode culminates in the timely arrival of the food, serving as a metaphor for navigating life's unpredictability. Join Steve for quick lessons on patience, connection, and the joys of caring for animals!

(NB summary prepared by AI via Auphonic - I'm not sure what to make of it. Let me know your thoughts)

Thanks for listening, and I hope you enjoyed it.

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Alpaca Tribe is hosted and produced by Steve Heatherington of Waterside Voices.

[0:12] Hi, Steve here, and welcome to the podcast for our pack of people. Great to see you again. And welcome. Oh, we're having fun and games here, trying to get a delivery delivered. This is the hard food delivery. Literally hard food delivery.

[0:37] There's been a bunch of reasons. Wrong size lorry. Somebody didn't like the idea of turning in a little bit tight. Okay. And then wrong size tail lift, and it was too heavy, and it had to be split, and it just went on and on and on. So we're a week late now. Trying not to be frustrated too much. And now it's going to arrive later today in the rain.

[1:04] So disappointed. But there we are. these kind of things come up and we have to we have to work out how to how to how to deal with them what do you where do you put this where do you put this level of frustration who who do you shout at do you not shout at anybody how do you stay suitably suitable what's appropriate in a situation like this and there's no absolutely right answer and it's going to vary with people and situations and all the rest of it.

[1:34] Now, I did start early with my order. So, this is, it's just as well. This wasn't planned that there was going to be a problem, but I'm glad I started early, because I've still got food, but it's now getting to the point where it's not that many more days, and we don't have any.

[1:53] So, Yeah, anyway, this whole thing of being resilient, rolling with the punches and all that kind of stuff, and being able to bounce back.

[2:09] Important lessons to learn, important things that we need to develop. Because with animals, there's always something that's unexpected. There's always something that you hadn't thought of or hadn't been planned for. And just stuff happens. It does. And the weather's been interesting, continues. Now, it hasn't been intruding. We've had a lot of weather. There's been presence of the weather, but it hasn't been intruding too much. We've got the two girls in their coats, and.

[2:44] Keeping eyes on the others just to see whether there's any more coats needed. But we were okay. There was one I was thinking we might have to. She was soaking wet. And she was staying away. I don't know. They're a bit twitched about something. I can't quite work out what it is. There was a fox around the other day in the field near or nearby. I clapped my hands and chased it off. It was a bit surprised. The fox. And the alpacas were, whoa, what's that? What's that? As this thing was kind of busying itself around the edge of their field.

[3:19] It wasn't mainstream to where they were, but it was busying itself. And I've been capturing on the camera, the wildlife camera, been capturing fox movements around. I've been moving the camera around a bit to see what's going on, see where they're coming in and what they're up to. And so there are foxes around. I don't think it's quite as many. Difficult to tell, but they look quite healthy in the picture. I don't think they're eating my alpaca food. They're not eating my alpacas for sure. So the alpacas are doing pretty well and with their coats on. It's really funny with having to straighten their coats and things. And when they've been down on the bank, it's the last vestiges of the afternoon sun down the bank next to the lake.

[4:07] And sometimes they'll come back a bit earlier, but they've been trying to get as much of the sun that's there when it has been present. And so we've been watching their progress, slow progress. Oh, he's there. And they kind of start moving. And some of them will hurry on and then they kind of stop and they stand and stare across the lake at me to try and work out, so what's next? Because I'm mixing food or I'm picking up a bag or whatever it is. And they're going, well, he's not in the right place to give us the food, so we'll hold, we'll walk slowly. And there are some that are right at the back. And Hermione's slow, bless her. She's just anyway, but she's at the back. She's also avoiding me. She's funny. She's got a really strong sense of where I am at all times. She's watching, watching, watching. and she hangs back and the other day she was there and I, okay she's not coming down she's up the rest of them are down she's not getting any food here because she's watching me, and I seem to be blocking it so I went up and try and scoop behind her and I go no no no no I'm going this way I'm going this way I'm going this way and she ran off, well she hurried off it was more of a hurry than a run but she went off round the round the other side of the stable and, came in the other route, so he wasn't going to let me get round her and behind her.

[5:35] Every time I look at her, she's kind of going, oh, oh, it's Mike. Do you know, the other day it was really funny, because it had been a bit more blowy, the wind was a bit stronger, and when they turn, they tend to turn their back ends into the wind, I can understand that. A bit of protection or whatever. Anyway, so they were grazing, but the wind had blown up the coat both of Alice and Hermione and, I had to straighten them both but Hermione knew this and she kind of knows I know my coat is not quite straight so he's going to do something so I'm going to keep away from him and it's just such a deliberate and, strategy that she's following and keeping out of my way. It's funny. But when I kind of do get close enough and I go, don't move, don't move, and she'll stand and she'll let me straighten the coat. And then I really, I think she really appreciates it when it's in a good place. Or is that just me? It looks tidy. It's not just tidiness though. It's the coverage, it's making sure that her back end is covered as far as possible and that she's protected from as much rain as possible, because you never know. It's kind of dry when we do the feeding, and then by the time, middle of the night, early hours of the morning, there can easily be a downpour. So I'm just trying to give her maximum protection through the night. I'm not sure it's completely...

[7:04] Okay, I think she appreciates the benefit of it. I don't think she appreciates the process. So there are things... What are we doing with our alpacas that we...

[7:15] You know, they get the benefit. We're feeding them. Okay, so we have to move them between fields, or we have to move them, get them in. We're putting the food out. We don't want to arrange, and there's a few we want to check on. We want to make sure they get enough food, or we want to check on something. Pull out some bramble that's got tangled in the fleece. I haven't had any of that recently, actually. It's interesting. Probably later. Later in the winter, when there's not much else around. So when there are things that we need to do that are not quite enjoyed, shall we say? How do we manage those things? And I think it's trying to find a way of being trusted.

[7:54] Even when you're doing things that they don't like, how can we do them? What's the speed? What's the manner that we do it? You know, the quick grab. There's a time for a quick grab. That, you know, you've got a dangerous situation, and you need to get some, you know, there are times. But there are really, really small number of times when that's appropriate. Most of the time, we need to think about what we're doing. We need to measure what we're doing. Now, don't creep around because they don't like that either. They feel like they're being stalked. Something happened and I suddenly came from a different direction. I've been getting some hay out of the hay store and it's been a bit colder, so I've been wearing my hat. I just look a bit different. They look at me a little bit strangely. I would have thought they got used to it by now, but no, they don't like this hat completely. They're not sure. They're not sure. Anyway, I twitched them as I came round, and there was a little, one jumped, one rushed, and then all of a sudden, everyone in this table was rushing for the doorway and started to squeeze out. Whoa, whoa, whoa, calm down, calm down. So I just calmed them with my voice and my presence. I kind of blocked the doorway, so that slowed them down. But it's that reassurance, don't rush, don't shout.

[9:17] Gently do it quietly but um definitely it's probably the that's the word i'm looking for definitely be intentional about what you're doing and do it in a definite manner so there's this kind of sweet spot somewhere in the middle there and it's never going to be perfectly right for all of them all of the time but uh how we approach doing those things is uh is learned over time, and by making mistakes.

[9:45] Oh, do you know, I'd like not to learn by making mistakes. Can we do that? Can we try it without the mistakes? It would be nice, but it's not the way it is. And we need to be relaxed. We need to be resilient with those situations where we go, oh, that wasn't the best, was it? Okay, next time. And those things get filed away so we can carry on growing in our knowledge, our experience, and also our confidence. Because I think that's one of the things that's the biggest simplifying factor and ease for everything we're doing with the alpacas is that we are confident enough, not overconfident. Sweet spot in the middle again.