Monthly Archives: March 2014

Don Carlos not lonely anymore! Meet Angelo, Lily and little Rowena – our three new Alpacas!

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Meet Angelo, Lily and little Rowena!

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Last week we bought three more Alpacas – Angelo (the guy with the very hairy legs and long fringe) and Lily are Suris, and little Rowena, who is still on the bottle, is a Huacaya, like Don Carlos. Three-and-a-half-month-old Rowena’s mother died and she was adopted by Lily. When she is all grown-up, we hope that she and Don Carlos would fall in love and start their own family! This new family are all settling in nicely on Landmeterskop, getting used to their new environment and meeting some of the other inhabitants of the farm. This weekend before all our guests arrived, Valerie still had to trim their fringes so that they could at least look our guests in the eye! To learn more about Alpacas and the difference between the Huacaya and Suri Alpacas, read here: https://landmeterskop.com/2013/10/07/meet-don-carlos-a-chilean-noble-now-guarding-sheep-in-the-overberg/

 

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A weekend away!

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Robyn MacLarty, a feature writer for a well-known women’s magazine, recently spent a weekend at Landmeterskop Farm:

You can read more of their weekend away from city-life in her blogpost here:

http://maclarty.blogspot.com/2014/03/away-from-it-all.html

Some Comments from other guests:

“This is one of the top places to go to for a weekend away or for however long you want. The interior of these self catering cottages is of the best that I have been to. Everything is well thought of and lots of effort has been made to make each room very comfy and neat. There is a nice indoor fire place and a outdoor braai area on the stoep. From each cottage you have a wonderful view of the Overberg area. The cottages are far apart enough to feel as though you are on your own and that your privacy wont be compromised. We would without a doubt visit the farm again in the future.The price is also a plus, very affordable.” (Mark Grandcourt, visited March 2014)

“The cottages are fantastic, stocked with everything you could need for a weekend getaway! There is also tons of stuff to keep you entertained, from collecting eggs from the chicken coup in the mornings, mountain biking, a 4×4 trail and a lot more that we didn’t get around to doing on this visit. Will definitely be going back at some stage.” (Paul Gouws, visited February 2014)

“We absolutely loved our stay here. Not only are the cottages beautifully and tastefully furnished, but they are equipped to a level of detail not many self-catering facilities can boast. Will definitely be returning.” (Carla Viljoen, visited February 2014)

Naked sheep and a clean-shaven Don!

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Last week the sheep shearers visited Landmeterskop. Now our herd of pregnant ladies are running around somewhat naked! Even Don Carlos had to pay a visit to the barber, and lost a lot of fleece, but none of his dignity! And, no, if you have wondered, we have not converted to a nudist-farm!

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Yes, we are expecting! Lambs… singles, twins and multiples!

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Flock

We recently scanned our ewes for pregnancies, and 412 of them are bearing!

Look at them! Those with the red mark on their faces are bearing either twin or multiple foetuses; those without a mark are bearing singles, and the dry ewes are marked with green.

Pregnancy scanning is a great management tool to improve profits for meat and wool enterprises, particularly those running higher stocking rates and when paddock feed is in short supply. The rams had been sent in with the ewes on the 15th November last year, and were taken out on 31 January this year.

The commercial availability of ultrasound scanning for pregnancy in ewes has been a major development for the sheep industry. It enables farmers to know the pregnancy status of their ewes about two months before they are expected to start lambing. Information on the pregnancy status of ewes enables farmers to:

• Identify and manage ewes separately according to pregnancy status

• Identify and potentially cull dry ewes from flock

• Identify early and late conceived single bearing ewes

• Calculate lamb losses between scanning and marking

We expect our new babies to be born from the middle of April 2014!