I won’t be showing as I don’t like to show when I have new babies in the house, and as of this morning we have eleven new additions courtesy of Precious. All eleven seem perfect, healthy, and full of milk, and Precious herself is in fine form. It’ll be a little while until I can tell exactly what we have so there won’t be any news on reservations until they’re three or four weeks old at least, and I can decide what I want to keep myself. More photos to follow once they’re a bit more silver and a bit less pink.

And of course I didn’t come back empty handed. The wonderful Lisa of Blairwitch Stud dropped off my two new arrivals from Rivendell – a very sweet ivory doe, and something a little bit more unusual …

Please meet Rivendell All That Glitters, who is probably best described as a golden silver agouti. I’m still trying to decide who will be best to mate her to when she’s of age, but I’m sure whoever it is we will have some beautiful kittens from her.

The first plans we have for this year are to move along with our silver agoutis – this is my absolute favourite variety, a bright and striking combination of near black on a white and grey background, completed with cranberry red eyes. Hawthorn Precious Metal and Hawthorn Erasmus will hopefully give me a litter in February of this year. Precious is the best coloured silver I have bred so far, and she knows she’s special – she’s an outgoing and social girl, who is a real favourite round here with visitors. Erasmus was originally reserved to go to Ratoon rattery when he was a baby, but I just couldn’t let him go, and thankfully Lizzi agreed on him staying here. He’s a big, solid boy with the gentle intelligence of his mother, Origami. Hopefully there’ll be news on kittens from this pair to post soon.