Alpacas for my Birthday

Alpaca Trekking

My favourite birthday present is an unusual experience, and over the last few years Mike has done a great job of picking interesting things for us to do. The first year we went to Upper Canada Village for a sleepover. The second year he took me to see Wicked. This year we went Alpaca Trekking in East Lothian.

Last Saturday, Mike and I drove out to Cairndinnis Farm, just past Haddington, where we were greeted by farmers John and Carole, and Carole's brother Bill. We had a chat inside while the clouds squeezed one last shower out and then went to meet the females and their crias. Alpacas living in Scotland have to be fed supplementary vitamin D, which they love. So all the moms and their babies came rushing over when we brought it for them.

Next visit was to the males' paddock. They have to be kept separate from the females or else they fight too much. We fed them and then corralled them and watched John and Carole put halters on them. Alpacas are not as docile as you might think. There was no way they were going to let Mike and I harness them up.

We then went for a walk with three of the males: Archie, Pod and Pod's son Deuchar. This was the "trekking" part of the adventure. We went around some of the farm fields, saw the stone that once marked the burial spot of King Loth (for whom this area is named). and then got onto some public walking paths that took us down to Castle Hailes.

It was a slow walk. Alpacas are incredibly timid--as Carole was fond of saying, they are prey animals and they know it. And an alpaca is heavy enough and stubborn enough that they can't be simply dragged forward if they've got their mind set on standing still. We often had to pause so the alpacas could stare down haystacks, plastic bags, waving branches etc. Retracing our steps didn't speed them up either.

I have now officially given up my dream of having an alpaca in our backyard. They are clearly herd animals as well as being prey. Carole assures me that an alpaca on its own would pine away and die. And we don't have enough room in our yard for more than one. But at least I got to spend half a day with a herd of the lovely animals. And come November I'm hoping to get a couple thousand yards of yarn from one of them so I can crochet myself and nice warm jumper.