Dougie's ego has increased significantly today.
I'll probably share our full interview later but Dougie really is the star!
I'd like to formally apologise to the whole herd though for naming Geoffrey as my favourite. Can't believe i did that as I swear I don't have favourites!! 😅😅😅
Fortuna's swishy tail brings me such joy!
TW 🌈
It's been an honour my boy. 84 days of knowing you, loving you and trying to bring you a new future here with my herd.
This is not news I wanted to share with you all today. Yesterday around 4pm, Cedar crossed the rainbow bridge and I had to say goodybe quicker than I'd ever hoped to with him.
In the early hours of Saturday morning, unbeknownst to me, Cedar had a fall in his paddock and was found laying on his side (unable to correct himself) and with an incredibly low temperature.
He was moved inside immediately and built a straw castle and we managed to bring his temp up. He was incredibly bright and upbeat in his face, his attitude and his appetite but he had zero motivation in standing up. Was soon discovered he had a huge swelling on his back right knee.
He spent the weekend with me doing various things for him around the clock whilst we waited for the vet to visit us on Monday.
He maintained his temperature, his positivity and his want for food and drink.
But the prognosis was not good - he'd completely broken his back right knee and snapped the tendon that holds the kneecap in place. He was given a 0% chance of healing that leg, a 0% chance of being able to walk again and the vet didn't even let me entertain the notion of a 3-legged alpaca. She said even the youngest, healthiest alpacas wouldn't be able to handle an amputation as they put a ridiculous amount of strain and movement on their legs. They need all 4 to be able to sit down and get up again. Take into account his very old age, his arthritic body and a lifetime of poor care / being malnourished and the prospect for him was incredibly bleak.
So I had to make the leap and choose to say goodbye to the boy who I've loved with my whole heart the second I saw him. Who I dedicated every waking hour to without a second thought.
He was doing so well here, and he was progressing so brilliantly it was easy to forget he was 18.
I think he loved his life here and I think he felt safe, secure and cheris
THE RESULTS ARE IN!
The GOAT Experience giveaway has officially ended and I'm pleased to announced the winner is.............(revealed in the vid!)
I will be contacting you later on this eve with the voucher landing in your inbox.
Yay! The Goat Experience is officially open and happening!
Thank you to all who participated, I appreciate the time and effort put in to do so 🥰
Stubbs Farm 2024 wrapped...
I'm sorry I couldn't wait any longer to put this together and I'm not any kind of editing whiz so I admit it could be better BUT
Film editing aside, the important thing is YOU. I wanted to just show some of the moments that have happened this year... if you took the time to send in your photos, I'm so grateful thank you. I'm 90% sure I included everyone's but I am sorry if I missed any out, I had hours of footage to whittle down. Yes I should probably wait until the end of Dec as I've still got lots of people coming to visit before 2024 is over but alas.
You're getting the video now!
So far, this year I've hosted 296 experiences on the farm! Some with 2 people, some with 35 people and all group sizes in between.
Couldn't do this without you. You are the reason I get to keep doing this!
It's been a really busy one and I've loved every second.
I've seen more repeat visitors than ever before but also welcomed lots of new faces to the farm and hopefully will see you again next year.
Witnessed first dates, wedding anniversaries, birthday parties, hen dos and just good old fun days out with friends. So many giggles, fluffy friends made. Not hosted a single stag do yet... maybe next year?!
Chandler has been voted the visitor's favourite alpaca.
Closely followed by Dougie, Dakota, Flint and surprisingly Larry!
Shout out to the rest of the gang that didn't make top 5 You're all amazing! Even you, Allegra! (If you know, you know)
If your favourites didn't make the top 5 do feel free to mention them in the comments.. their egos may need a lil boost!
Introduced the painting experience this year and have seen the girls make some spectacular works of art. 10/10.
Pure chaos and so much fun 😍
We've done 21 off-farm events including several weddings and birthday parties.
We gained 2 goats and 2 alpacas!
As it stands currently the herd consists of
38 alpacas (22 boys and 16 girls)
7 goats
6 sheep
1 donkey
1 mini pony
And me!
I do think th
Let's make it Christmas number one!
The hat test is the first step of who will be up for wearing a costume. Not their first rodeo of course! Unless your name is Cedar! Look at our man getting involved in his first dress up event 😍
Event Info below:
The Alpaca Christmas Experience 2024
Meet the full gang of 38 alpacas and our misfit goats, sheep, pony & donkey. Most will be dressed up ready to 'sleigh' in festive themed photoshoot areas!
Others will just be roaming around looking for attention and treats.
You bring the attention, we'll provide their snacks!
You do have to be booked in to come and there are limited spaces available as I like to keep it nice and chilled always regardless of the time of year / experience running 🥰
Message / email to book.
Or use this link here:
https://stubbs-farm-alpacas.sumupstore.com/product/the-alpaca-christmas-experience-8th-14th-and-15th-december-2024
All this was over a....?
1) Larry's teefies really showed up today
2) Cedar's first skit!
3) I swear I'll give him back his antlers.. but I need to borrow them for The Alpaca Christmas Experience 2024 (book now!)
4) thank the world for @devonpalmer for the audio
Today was so much fun! Thank you to all who came! A fab mixture of new and familiar faces. I'm so pleased how much everyone enjoyed themselves, makes me very proud of my herd to see them create such a calm and equally entertaining atmosphere for the humans! 😍
One more Halloween session tomorrow and we are looking forward to it!
Sneaky peek at some Sunday fun with the herd!
Bring on Wednesday and Thursday 🤩
Cedar gets a haircut! And no, it's not supposed to be an artistic masterpiece - this was function over aesthetic.
I have never seen such disgusting conditions from root to tip for an alpaca. He had just thick matted clods of wool covering his entire body - SO MANY thistles, sharp twigs, and a whole variety of vegetation in between. Digging into his skin, pulling his wool tight, restricting his movement. In his armpits (leg pits?), his feet, his tail.. his poor bottom was filthy. His tail had fused to his thigh wool so he couldn't lift it to go to the toilet so he had a v dirty bum with loads of old poo stick in there, the skin was so sore and scabbed. His skin everywhere is sore and scabbed! The white cream you're seeing on his legs in this video is to soothe his skin and soften it from all the crusty scabs and flakes of skin. There's a whole host of reasons that can be behind the skin issues so I won't go into too much detail here but it's on the treatment plan.
My main concern was his neck, as I mentioned yesterday- and having got rid of all the heavy, heavy wool, he's been much more upright today. His posture has improved - he was walking with his head down and now he's able to stretch it out a bit and move it into positions he probably hasn't been able to for a while. It will probably take some getting used to!
Do you know what though, there were 3 of us working on him and he was an angel! So patient with us and I think on some level he knew what we were doing and that even though it took a couple of hours at least.. he felt better as time went on. Really pleased! Hard messy work today but we ticked off the matter of the wool, he got a vitamin and A,D & E injection. Tomorrow will be his feet and looking at his mouth and teeth - he's got some lumpy bits all over but I'm 90% sure they're cysts which can be fairly common on alpacas. Will have to look closer though to make sure of that. I was pleased to not find evidence of fly strike so that was a relief!
Going fo
Chewie is getting ready for Halloween with the Alpacas - Oct Half Term
Now that we have succeeded with our beautiful Cedar's Fundraiser - just want to add that
October 27th is FULLY BOOKED.
Wednesday 30th Oct has 7 spaces left.
Thursday 31st Oct has has 4 spaces left.
That includes both adults and children so please do book in to not be disappointed!
You can of course book in half term or any other day of the year where it's business as normal with the usual experiences!
Thanks ❤️
