Surprise on ME!

Maddie had her cria!!!

Here we had plans for today, J was on a trip for something :) a surprise I spoke about in yesterday's post. He had problems with the truck, and was stuck in southern Michigan. I was home with the kids. I went jogging for an hour this morning, then Zack and I took a walk in the woods for an hour. When we got home I checked on the girls. Maddie was in the barn, chewing cud. No signs of labor. We ate lunch and I was ready to relax. Zack chose to go out front and play in the sprinkler. He got bored, so I suggested he go out back and hose the alpaca girls down. They love that.

Zack said he went in the back yard, and hosed off the young girls. He was walking over to the pregnant girls area, and found a baby! Of course, as is so typical, the cria landed in the poop pile:



He yelled in the house "there's a baby!" I ran out of the house to see. Indeed, there was a black and white cria laying in the poop pile. By the time I arrived, the cria was starting to sit sternal, and Maddie was passing the placenta. As the cria was struggling to get up, I could see it is a GIRL! She looks like a mini Maddie.



This feisty girl instantly tried to walk, and in no time was ready to run around. She still had parts of the birthing sac on her!



Cute face:



I was amazed how alert, and how active she was already. I looked and saw that her teeth are erupted. Given how long Maddie's pregnancy went, the cria does not seem overly big or overly grown. Though her fiber is long. She seems to be healthy and doing very well.

The cria seemed to want to nurse, but Maddie was not very receptive. I was a bit concerned about this. I've heard sometimes maidens have a hard time nursing. The cria was running into the corners of the barn, and running into me, trying to nurse. I separated Maddie and the cria from the rest of the herd, thinking that might help. But, then Maddie ignored the cria and ate hay. Though, if I touched the cria, Maddie would scream at me. Maddie is always so calm, but as I suspected, she is a doting mother.



Maddie still was not letting the cria nurse, and the older girls wanted back into the barn area. So, I opened the gate, thinking maybe the older girls in there might prompt her to let the cria nurse. This appeared to help, or maybe it was just the passage of time, that Maddie was ready to consider that the cria needed her milk.

The cria had a few mis-attempts at nursing. The one time she fell out right between Maddie's back two legs:



Other times the cria was in the wrong spot:



After many mis-attempts, they seem to have worked it out on their own *Phew* I did not want to have to intervene. I think nature usually does know what is best. Here is the cria and Maddie, hanging out together:



Maddie seems to have everything under control.

We don't officially have a name for this cria. As usual, we need to talk about it and agree as a family what the name will be. We always have a list of names we are considering, but so much depends on what the cria looks like. So, we wait to make the official decision after the cria is born. Mini Maddie might be the most appropriate! But I'm sure that won't be the name.