Tenbury Wells’ Diary
Last Diary, Doll Tor told you about the llamas at Old King Street Farm breeding with some llamas from off our farm. Let me tell you about my exploits!
Well, as you know, I was singled out for special attention from Hoggle who is 18 years old. I am 2. He knows what he’s doing and I’m new to it. Our people have been keeping Hoggle in the yard and the herd has been cavorting round Bottom Field for a spell. I was introduced to Hoggle who was temporarily penned in. We both still had our halters on and our people held our ropes to see if we got on – and we did, like a barn on fire. We snorted at each other through the railings, and our people removed our ropes and Hoggle was released. He chased me around the yard and I very stupidly got myself boxed in between the llama trailer and the barn where we mated. Hoggle went through his repertoire of funny noises. A mating male llama orgles which is a very strange sound indeed.
Mating can take quite a long time and after 45 minutes or so we stopped. I expected Hoggle to be all dominant and a bit of a bully, but no, he was a right big drip. He was very submissive to me and I ruled the roost for the rest of that day! I went to the manger and he wouldn’t sit near me. Hoggle was so miserable he didn’t approach me again. Ho hum. Our people had hoped we might mate again, but no chance with him! The next day I went back to the herd and they were very pleased to see me.
Five days later I was put back in with Hoggle. The idea is that if I’m pregnant I’ll reject the boy by spitting lots at him. But this time, after ten minutes I was ready to lie down with Hoggle. He orgled and frothed at the mouth, and dribbled ALL over my neck. My people felt quite sorry for me and stroked my head and fed me some hay which was nice as a girl’s got to keep her strength up. There we are in the pictures on the right. This time, Hoggle and I mated three times, and our people got stuck in and helped Hoggle position himself correctly.
And then five days later there was a third mating which everyone thought went very well. So, as Doll Tor explained, the idea seems to be to re-introduce the female to the male and gauge from the body language whether she may have ‘taken’. Well everyone was pretty hopeful, but then I went back for a fourth time and yet again mated. No spitting, Nothing. However, just two days later I saw Hoggle again and gave him a bit of a spit to be going along with. So everyone thought I might be pregnant, but the next visit we mated again.
Today I was put in the yard with Hoggle and this time I REALLY rejected Hoggle. He was dead keen, but I refused to lie down and screamed a spat and him. After a while he got the message and I stood by my person so he could halter me and take me back to the field. Long Meg was haltered and put in with Hoggle just to see what happens. She’s certainly been showing a lot of interest in Ringsbury in the last day or so. Well, they mated immediately, so she probably wasn’t pregnant from her mating with Gilbert last month.
Our people and we will continue to wonder who is going to have a baby all the way to next Spring. We female llamas have to do all the work, but the amount of time, worry, energy and plain old ‘is she, or isn’t she’ our two legs put into this makes us almost feel sorry for them.
The last few days have been glorious in Herefordshire. We’ve had lovely weather and have spent lots of time with our people who love us dearly. Softies. We’ve allowed ourselves to be groomed, and have lain in the sun in the yard and in our green, green pasture.
Bye for now
