Birth Day Pictures

Our newborn Snow Lily and her mom, Sancha. J found Snow Lily already walking and drinking off mom. We missed the birth, though it appears it was not a difficult one. Welcome to our farm, Snow Lily!







Mom and baby out walking around, Lily already can run! Notice our other two moms not to far away (both are brown):



Here are pictures of just Lily (though mom can be seen lingering in the background).



Sancha is a good dotting mom. When Lightning Bugs was born, we had to assist due to a dystocia. Sancha let us help and let us tend to him after the birth. This time, she did it all on her own and does not want us near her baby. When we weighed her, she stood by screaming the entire time. Baby and mom appear to have a good bond.

Beautiful Baby Girl

Today we came home to a beautiful newborn cria! Sancha finally had her baby, a white girl, named Snow Lily.

I was at work today. J was home, fed the alpacas their morning grain. He had a feeling Sancha was going to deliver (but then there have been other days he thought so too). He said she barely ate and was humming a lot. He decided to go golfing, because of course, if he stays home she won't have that baby. When he arrived home, he found a baby girl, already feeding on Sancha.

It appears this delivery went smoothly. Sancha did it all on her own. J found the baby eating and the placenta in one piece in the pasture. Lily is alert and we cannot believe how well she is walking around already! All looks well.

I'll try to get pictures up on Thursday. Sorry for the delay (a technical difficulty with our computer and camer set up).

Shearing Day 2009

For shearing this year we took all our alpacas over to Ashton Stone alpacas, where the shearer came to shear all of our alpacas. On Friday night we made 2 trips, first brought over the girls, then the boys. We could have fit everyone in on one trip, but decided it best to keep boys and girls separate. Ashton Stone has a nice big barn and could fit everyone. We were worried because rain was predicted for Friday night, but we got everyone in the barn fine. Of course, then it didn't rain.

Sancha was due with her cria on shearing day, and we had hoped shearing might induce her. No baby yet. Ashton Stone had one due a couple weeks before shearing day, and she also did not deliver (though she may be doing so today - I hope!).

This shearer has a rope set up that lays on the ground. Last year we used a table so this was a different set up. I thought the ground would be worse but we found it to be even better. It was much less strain on our backs and it seemed to hold the alpacas better (no fear of them slipping since they were already on the ground). It was a huge help to have Ashton Stone there too, so there were more adults around to help (last year we counted a lot on the kids and our nieces, who were a great help but not quite like having other adults there).

Everything went well and everyone got shorn. I got some pictures of Shelby strapped up and in process of shearing:





During shearing one person holds the alpacas head. All legs are pulled in ropes so that they cannot move. Some alpacas really hate this and scream the entire time. We had a couple who spit (a sock over their mouth prevents spit from getting all over everyone who is there to help). Other alpacas lay there and just let us do the shearing without a sound. The alpaca does need to be flipped over so that all sides of them can be shorn. If they are very pregnant, like the 2 who were due on or before shearing day, you have to be careful flipping them so it does not create uterine torsion. For the girls who are less far along in their pregnancy it doesn't matter. Some alpacas need more holding, the squirmers do. Others are fine with just one person holding their head. Other helpers pull the rope and loosen the ropes as needed, and there are people gathering the fiber and putting it in bags.

We decided to weigh our alpacas before and after shearing so that we could get a total weight of what was shorn. We also weighed their prime fleece to find out how much blanket weight they have. You can trim their nails and teeth while they are strapped down (might as well do all those things you can). We had the fighting teeth on both Tucker and Apollo trimmed. You can also give shots, and any other herd health thing you desire.

Here are all the alpacas outside after being shorn:

Pregnant Ladies - before and after shearing

Victoria Full Fleece:


Victoria Shorn:



Kateri Full Fleece:


Kateri Shorn (after she laid in the leaves):


Sancha Full Fleece:


Sancha Shorn (it doesn't seem like their narrow neck should be able to support their big heads):

Maiden girls - before and after shearing

Our four maiden girls in their full fleece:


Shelby full fleece (I love all that face coverage):


Shelby Shorn:



Tehya Full Fleece:


Tehya Shorn (her mouth is hanging funny because she was just spitting, we call this "spit lip". When they spit, they bring up stomach acid that burns in their mouth):


Sommerfield Full Fleece:


Sommerfield Shorn:


Maddie Full Fleece:


Maddie Shorn:

Boys - before and after

Lightning Bugs Full Fleece:



Bugs Shorn


Tucker Full Fleece


Tucker Shorn


Apollo Full Fleece


Apollo Shorn


Snowstorm Full Fleece


Snowstorm Shorn

Shearing Day

Shearing Day is this Saturday. I plan to do before and after pictures like last year, so stay tuned.

Cria Watch Continues

no baby, yet. Everyday we take a good long look at Sancha. And it seems everyday she does something that seems like it *could* be impending birth. No baby yet. She has 4 days until she's due and last year she went over that by 6 days so I'm thinking we have about 10 days to go ;)

The votes are in on the baby. Emma says it will be a white girl, Zack says a white boy who looks just like Sancha, I say a fawn boy and J says a fawn girl. We all agree it will be big. Lightning bugs was 21 pounds and I'm guessing this one will be close to that.

On that note, Kateri, who isn't due for about 2 months, looks huge! I mean, huge! This is only our second year with cria, so I don't have a lot of experience, but she seems like she is carrying a really big baby this time. I think Tehya was 15 pounds, so there is room for a little bigger. It also could be that Kateri is carrying it very differently this time. I say that means we are getting a boy from her. We'll see.

Spot

Spot is our guardian dog. His job is to keep any other animals out of the alpaca's area. In our location the biggest threat to alpacas is loose dogs. A bark from Spot will send just about any dog running. We've found he also hates birds. If a bird lands in the pasture he will bark and run.

Zack loves to go out and play with Spot, they are good buddies.



This is Spot's favorite spot to lay down, right by the fence near our patio and dinning room. He uses his sad eyes to entice us to let him in the house. Nice try, Spot. He's a working dog, not a house/pet dog. But we do give him attention as he needs that too, we go out there to him though.


Here is Emma giving Spot some attention. He loves it when the kids come and play with him. The kids say their favorite thing to play with Spot is "follow." This is where they walk around and Spot follows them everywhere. I find he does this to me when I'm out there doing chores.


It has been interesting to watch the alpacas accept Spot. Initially when the alpacas came back here Spot was an outcast. Slowly, I've seen him sleep closer and closer to them. This past week we had a lot of rain and they even let him in the barn with them. It's as if he's one of the group. We've also found that when there is a danger issue (Spot barking at something) the alpacas let him deal with it and they do not appear nervous like we use to notice before Spot came here.

We have been very happy with our guardian dog. He's a big help on the farm and he's fun to have around when I'm working on my chores alone.

New Alpaca Area

Last summer we started working on the new shelter and pasture land right in our own backyard. Early this spring, we finally had it all set for the pregnant girls to come back here. It's so nice to see them right outside our windows. Being on cria watch is easy when all you have to do is glance out the window.

This picture shows the pasture land (minus the snow). The first enclosure is our immediate backyard which is fenced in for Quinn (our family pet, American Eskimo). Beyond the first fence is where the alpaca's land starts (including the kids swing set as seen in the 2nd picture - the alpacas don't mind it at all but they do tend to watch the kids when they are out there playing).



The shelter is the steel tool shed in the distance. While not fancy, it's an inexpensive way to house the alpacas. Sure a barn is ideal, but they only require a 3 sided shelter with a roof. Alpacas are inexpensive to house and feed in comparison to other animals. This last picture was taken from inside my dinning room.

Ohio Show Pictures

Here is our stall all set up with fans and our farm signs. We usually hang their ARI certificate on the stall also (show's their name and their dam/sire). We have a shelf with our sales book and business cards set out.



This picture shows better how much room they have (that first picture made them looked cramped but they really aren't). Also you can see our chair, which we never seemed ot have time to sit in anyway.


This is a picture of J standing in line before Tehya showed. They have you line up so that when the class ahead is done, the next class can come in.


This is near the end of judging Tehya's class, note she's in the 2nd place spot. Next the judge gave out the ribbons.

Cria Watch

We start cria watch about a month before their due date of 350 days. There are different ways of deciding when to start cria watch, but for us, this is what we have decided on. Some farms set the due date at 335 days, and watch from that day on. There are as many different ways to do this as their are farms out there. However, no matter when you start your watch, everything seems like a sign of impending birth.

Sancha is on cria watch (see that ticker at the bottom of the page moving closer and closer to due date). The ticker due date is set at day 350, but full term could be a month before or even after that (yes, after!). Lightning was born on day 356, and I like to believe moms tend to have their babies near the same gestation day (though I have no stats to back up that theory). There are many theories out there, like spring babies go to a longer gestational day than fall babies. This fits in my mind with survival, you want the spring ones to stay inside until it's warmer out. For fall, you want the babies up and moving before the really cold weather hits. So I'll buy into this theory also. I've heard the mom won't eat on the day they deliver (this we can strike out as false, all our girls ate the day they delivered last year). I've heard they cush more near delivery. But the big thing is that the baby will come when it's ready, signs or no signs.

So what happens during cria watch? Not much. It amounts to the alpaca owners watching and waiting and insisting anything that mom does must be a sign of impending birth. Last weekend Sancha stayed in the barn more than she has typically so we thought that might be a sign. This morning Kateri and Victoria were walking and grazing while Sacha was cushed down - that's a sign, right? Any unusual behavior must mean the mom is in labor or preparing to be in labor, or so cria watchers believe. This morning Sancha ate her grain while in a cushed position. Now that is something I have never seen before! I've seen dogs do this, but never an alpaca. Is this a sign of impending birth? Or just that she's extremely pregnant and large and that felt right to her this morning and birth is still a few weeks off. When you witness these "odd" or "atypical" behaviors you think this has to mean she's in labor. But, then hours later you realize, no, she's just a very pregnant mom doing what she wants when she wants.

So cria watch continues. Last year we found once we gave up on reading the signs, then Lightning bugs made his appearance. I also found once our last cria of the year was born, it was a let down that cria watch for the year was over. After all those "signs" we watched for, then there was nothing to watch for. So I'm trying to enjoy cria watch, but really, it's still a matter of waiting and wanting to see those new little babies.

The great alpaca escape

We haven't had too many problems with alpacas escaping. They don't generally challenge fences (there are a few who's personalities are such that they do, but of the ones on our farm, we don't have any who do. And I'd say the typical alpaca does not). Fences are more to keep predators out. Alpaca do tend to run from people, it's their only defense (spitting is a last resort if running doesn't work).

Well, this weekend I was lax while doing my barn chores and accidentally left the gate from the boys barn open. I was getting water out of the girls barn when I noticed Snowstorm strolling out of the barn into the driveway. I yelled to the kids who were playing nearby. Zack instantly saw the issue and screamed "alpaca loose". This is one time children running to the barn from the direction of the alpaca is ideal. They chased him right back to the barn. However, as I was trying to get him into the barn, Apollo and Tucker jetted out of the barn, past the children and into the wooded area between the pasture and the road. Now this is a bigger issue. I had to make sure they did not get into the road. A vehicle driving by at 55+ mph was not going to stop in time.

I got Snowstorm and Lightning Bugs locked into the pasture so that I could leave the gate to the boys barn open. This way, once we got Tucker and Apollo to the barn, they would walk in.

I decided we needed a plan to get them back into the barn, using what I know of herding dynamics. I'm not a great herder, yet. And with only children under 10 as my helpers, I was a bit nervous if we could pull this off. I had told Emma to call J, but somehow in all the activity, that message didn't get to her.

Basic herding is that you need to be on the other side of the alpaca of where you want them to go. For example, if you want them in the barn, it needs to be you, the alpaca then the barn. You walk towards the alpaca, they flee from you and end up in the barn :) In our situation it was alpaca, us, then the gate to the barn. Somehow we had to get on the other side.

I decided to have Emma and Carlie run around the barn and pasture to get on the other side. That way the alpacas would be between E&C and the barn. Perfect set up. Once they are on the other side of the alpacas, if they start walking towards the alapcas, the alpacas will walk towards the barn. Emma and Carlie did a great job running around the entire pasture and meeting the alpacas. Apollo and Tucker started walking. I was standing with herding sticks parallel to the road so that they did not run into the road. Zack was positioned so that the alpacas would not keep going past the barn, but turn into it. All was on track, it as working. Then, just as we got them to the barn, it is discovered the gate to the boys barn is closed! (no one ever fessed up to who did that). When I tried to open it, the alpaca boys got scared and ran right back to where they were in the wooded area! Since the plan had worked, we did it again, this time with the gate open.

I had fears I would never get those two boys back into their barn. It was not easy with only children under 10 to help, who really don't understand how to herd well. But we did it, and I would have never done it without the kids' help.

That was my hard lesson on the need to make sure gates are closed.

(I editted this because my first version was not writen well - sorry! must have been in a hurry that day)

Exactly 1 month to Sancha's due date

and that due date is set at 350 days. I've heard farmers who set their due dates at anything from 320 to 250 days. Last year we went with an earlier date and it was so frustrating waiting for the little one (born on day 356). So this year we are setting the due date at 350, but will start watch and be prepared a month ahead. It's a month ahead!

This past weekend J was concerned about how Sancha was acting. We got her into the catch pen and he felt her abdomen. He said he could feel baby parts and there was some movement. I have noticed less movement this time than when she was pregnant with Lightning. I've heard theories that there is more movement with boys. J also pointed out that for the most part, Sancha has alternated between boys and girls (holding that 50/50 % to a tee). Also, it seems like Sancha is carrying this baby further up in her ribs than she did Lightning. So is it a girl? Or all those things just myths? I already put in my guess of a fawn colored boy, but I also thought Shelby would be a black colored boy LOL I was right on with Tehya. J said that Sancha did not seem to be bagged up yet, but her teats are starting to swell and her ligaments are quite loose (I compared them to Kateri's and Sancha is much more loose). We estimated about 2 to 3 weeks (from this past weekend), based on the fact she still needs to bag up and we remember how low and loose she got last year. We'll see how accurate that is when this cria makes it's entrance. The reality of it all is that this baby will come when it's good and ready. I'm ready :) and eager... but that's not what matters.

Show Results

The first one we showed was Shelby. After all the attention she got at the Best of the Midwest show, we were anxious to see how she was going to do here. Unfortunately, she was very hot and sweating which does affect their crimp and bundling of their fiber. We also get the impression the judge has a preference for zipper crimp. As I've stated in the past, I wasn't sure how Shelby would show because I have heard zipper crimp is prefered. At the Best of the Midwest show it didn't matter. That judge looked at how uniform the crimp was, not what kind of crimp it was. There she placed 2nd. Here in Indiana she took a 4th, out of 12.

To back track a bit, let me explain a bit more about how the show works. Each alpaca is put in a class to show based on the type of alpacas, their age and color, and fiber length. Shelby was in the Huacaya Full Fleece Medium Brown Juvenile Female class. Huacaya is the type of alpacas (all of ours are Huacaya, the other type is Suri and those are in separate classes). Full fleece means that she has more than 2 inches of fiber (I've talked about the shorn class before, look to our fall show posts to see my vent on that). Shelby is Medium Brown in color. And she is under a year so she is classed as Juvi (over a year is "yearling" and over 2 is "2 years and older" class). They are put into classes based on these criteria. A class can have up to 14 before they split it into 2 classes. In Shelby's class there were 12, not enough to separate into 2 sections of her class. They give ribbons up to 6th place, all other ones "get the gate" (no ribbon and no feedback from the judge). Tehya's class was separated, as was Lightnings. If they do more than one section of the class, they separate by age. The alpacas in each class are listed in age order with the oldest first. That way the judge knows right off the bat who is older than who (so you can see the size comparison). If the class is split into two sections, then the older 1/2 goes first, then the younger 1/2.

Shelby got a 4th out of 12 in her class. The judge's comments on her include: she has a good frame and is proportionate (meaning her neck isn't too long or too short, her body is confirmationally correct), her fiber is uniform, but was less fine and had less staple length than the one who placed above her.

Tehya was our next to show, but did not show until Sunday morning. Sunday was our busy day! We had one animal show right after the other. Tehya was in ring 2, Lightning in ring 1, and Tucker in ring 4. I was worried I might have to show one of them, but as it worked out J did all the showing *phew*

Tehya's class had 17 alpacas in it, so it was split into 2 sections. Tehya was in the second section, being almost in the middle age wise in that 2nd section. Sometimes it is thought there are advantages to being older or younger in a class. For example, the older ones have the benefit of being bigger. The younger ones may be a bit more immature. Being in the middle balances that all out. Tehya showed in the Huacaya Full Fleece Light Fawn Juvenile Female. She placed 2nd in her class! That is a 2nd out of 8. We are very excited about her placing there. The one who beat her is from Sunset Hills, out of their Seena's Goldilocks, an alpaca touted to be extremely good. We are very excited to be a small farm completing with the big farms so closely. The judge said she gave first to the other one because it was the finest. The judge said all the top ones had dense top knots. Tehya was said to be more dense, and to have longer staple length.

Because Tehya placed in 2nd that meant she got to stand in the Color Championship (I explained in my posts from the Best of the Midwest show how the color championship works). So this meant another time J walked an animal into the ring.

The next to show was Tucker. There were 5 in his class, so he was sure to place, but a 5th out of 5 doesn't mean a whole lot. Farms are less likely to take older alpacas to the shows, as usually they make a name for themselves as juvi and yearlings. Tucker had never been shown, so we don't have that background on him. He was a stinker there at the show too. The farm who's pen was next to us was getting a bit annoyed at Tucker's constant climbing the fence. I had visions of him getting loose and running free around are the arena. Thankfully he never did get free, but he sure provided entertainment for all around. It was fun to see him catch people's eye, and they would have to stop and talk to him. He showed in Huacaya Full Fleece Gray 2 Years and Older Males. Because there are less alpacas that show at the older ages they did not separate out Light Silver Grey and Dark Silver Grey, etc. They put all the 2+ greys males together. He was the oldest in his group, which can make it harder because as they age their fiber loses some of it's qualities. Ideally you want a male that does not lose their good qualities, but sometimes the younger ones do have an advantage there because it is unknown how they will hold up as they age. Tucker took 2nd out of 5! We were thrilled with that result. The judge said all these males had good bites. For Tucker she said that he was not as dense as first place, but he has a soft handle and uniform crimp. We are very excited to start his breeding career this year. With a 2nd, this added another color championship for J to show it. Thankfully Tucker's class was the last to show, and the color championship was right after.

Last to show was Lightning Bugs. It was said that there were 60 juvi white males there! Of course they were split into group, each section had 11 or 12 in it. Bugs was in the first section to show because he is an old juvi (birth date in May, he is almost a yearling). Being that 5 in his class got the gate (no ribbon) we were happy to have him get 4th. We had hoped for more, being that the judge pulled him up to the placing line first, but then she moved them around. White is said to be the hardest class to show in. There are many reasons for this, part of it is because white fleece was improved upon the most in Peru because that is what the European textiles wanted. It also has happened that farms in the US specialize in white and have invested a lot improving the white fleece. Given how colors work, white is dominate, which increases the number of white ones born. Also, given there were 60 in his class, you can see how much more competion there is in that then that 12 in Shelby's class. With that many more of them, there are bound to be some very good ones. Bugs got 4th out of 11 in his class.

Overall we had a great time at the show and are excited to brag about our wonderful babies. Those hard decisions on which alpaca to buy is coming to fruition in how these cria are showing. Given that the reason we bought the moms had to do with these little ones (and their sire), we are excited to see our choices play out in the show ring.

Lightning Bugs is going to go with Ashton Stone Alpacas to show in the spring Michigan show. It is a level 2 show, much smaller than the 2 shows we've done this spring. We wanted to get our alpacas out to some very competitive shows, and have been able to do that. Males seem to benefit most from more exposure. Girls only produce 1 alpaca a year so some exposure and ribbons is great, but males need that background to help when it comes time to sell breedings. For this reason we wanted to get Bugs to another show, and one in Michigan is great because it's easiest to do drive-by breedings with local farm. Exposure to Michigan breeders is ideal. Bugs has at least a year before he starts his breeding career, but it's nice to have some ribbons and exposure beforehand, rather than the situation we are with Tucker having had no previous exposure. That will be it for our spring show season. We are sad to see it ending, as we do enjoy the shows.

Now onto waiting for crias to be born :) I'm watching those tickers at the bottom of the page very closely. Sancha is already considered full term, so any day now. Though, given Bugs was born on day 356, and the ticker is set to day 350, I think it will be a bit before she delivers (the ticker gives us about 5 weeks). J wonders if she might deliver earlier this year because we have Sancha's weight up. We have been feeding her a lot more and making sure she won't be as thin as last year. We will see. I'm eager to see our Lord Stanley baby. And now that the moms are back by our house, we will be able to watch those cria all the time.

Show set up

Every show has a slightly different set up. Most of them have panels already in formation, you are then assigned a number that matches a pen that is for your animals. Some shows require that you bring panels, but that is less common. The ones we have been too have all provided panels. They also provide a bag of cardboard shreads. The idea is that you put the cardboard shreads down for your animals to lay on, and it will soak up urine etc. The Michigan fall show usually has sod laided down, but all the other ones we've been to have the shreaded cardboard. Many farms also buy matts to put down in their pen too. The first show we went to we had sod, then put our matts on top of the sod. This was a dissaster. We came in the next morning to our alpacas laying in poop. It was horrible! After talking to some bigger farms, we were told that putting straw down is best because it will cover the poop and the straw falls off the alpacas on their walk up to the show ring. Some venues do not allow straw due to fire hazzard issues. At the Best of the Midwest show in Ohio, straw was allowed. There we put the shreaded cardboard down first, then a matt, then a bale of straw. This worked great! The urine went through the straw and mat and was soaked up by the shreaded cardboard. The poop was hiden by the straw (we did scoop up what we could, but we did not come in to find our alpacas laying in and covered in poop). At the Indiana Invitational straw was not allowed. There we put our matt down first, then the shreaded cardboard, using it like straw. We bought an extra bag of the shreaded cardboard so we had 2x as much. This worked well, not as good as the straw set up, but we didn't walk in to find poop covered alpacas.

We have also found that the earlier you sign up for a show, the closer your pen stall is to the show ring. The prime pens are for the farms that sponsor the event, but the next nicest ones go to the early birds who sign up fast. We were not one of the first to sign up so at the Indiana show we had a pen near a back corner. However, we were by the photographer, and we did seem to get quite a bit of traffic.

We've found that shows vary greatly in the amount of foot traffic. I don't know if some venues advertise to the public more or how this happens. At the Best of the Midwest we saw very little foot traffic. At the Indiana Invitational we saw a lot of foot traffic. Even though our stall was near the back corned, we had Tucker there who is taller than most of the other show animals and his face is striking so we had a lot of people stop and look at him.

I'm a great-grandma

That's what Emma tells me anyway. Her cat, Fluffy, had kittens this past weekend. We came home from the show to find 2 little kittens in a box safely tucked behind Fluffy. This is Fluffy's third litter, but none of the others have survived. This time Fluffy is being very careful not to leave their side. I'm a bit worried about her because she won't even leave the box to eat or drink. I've been putting food up next to her to get her to eat. She needs her strength.

April 15th update:
I'm sorry to have to say that neither of the kittens made it. I really thought this time they would. Fluffy was so attentive. On Sunday we found one of them in the box with Fluffy, but taking her last breaths. We don't know if there was a fatal birth defect, or if she suffered some injury (could she have fallen out of the box and hit her head?), we don't know what happened. J tried to revive her but it was not to be. I wanted to move the box with the remaining kitten in case it was an injury from falling. I did not want to risk that happening again (the box was set on top of a stack of hay bails). However, when I tried moving the box, Fluffy refused to go into it with the kitten. That remaining kitten would not have survived even a few hours without it's mom. So, knowing that Fluffy was already mourning the loss of one baby, I kept the box in it's place in hopes she would not reject the remaining kitten. Fluffy did get back in the box and I prayed it would be ok. The next morning I found Fluffy in the box and the one remaining kitten doing well. I waited a day, then moved the box to a lower location. Fluffy went into the box with the kitten and it seemed ok, however, the next time I came to the barn, the kitten was missing. Fluffy cries and cries when I come into the barn, but I have no been able to locate the missing kitten. I assume it has also passed on. Without Fluffy's constant care it could not make it on it's own.

This is one reason why having barn cats isn't the best idea. I know there are dangers out there, and there are consequences of having a barn cat. We do need to have Fluffy fixed so that she is not going through this. I hate to see the loss of life.

I have wondered if Fluffy passes on a type of genetic birth defect that account for why none of her kittens survive. There has to be some reason none of them survive. I have read that maybe 40% of all kittens born do not make it to weaning, but for none of Fluffy's to make it seem rather harsh odds. I also find it odd that her litters are all very small (first litter was only 1, the next 2 were litters of 2). If not a birth defect, it may be some other issue at play. I've read things like Feline leukemia virus infections can cause stillbirths and fading kittens (sort of like SIDS in humans). We have never seen Fluffy give birth, it is possible there are stillbirths along with the live kittens. It seems there are a number of reasons why this could be happening. Sad none the less.

Switching Animals On the Show String

We decided to make a change in our show string for the show in Indiana this weekend. Instead of taking Maddie, we are going to take Tucker. Maddie has now been shown in both shorn and full fleece. We know her strengths, and her weaknesses. In sum, we need to breed her to a male with great staple length, bigger build, and bundling in his fiber. That is what Maddie needs to be a great show animal. She has a lot of great traits, but those weaknesses are holding her back. Now that she's about ready to breed, we will make sure to get those traits for her offspring. We did not feel taking her to another show would help us learn anything new for her. Tucker, on the other hand, has never been shown. We plan to start his breeding career this year, but want some outside opinion on his strengths/weaknesses.

It won't change our stall assignments. Maddie required the same space as Tucker will. The only difference will be that we won't put everyone together as we did last time. Tucker being a male ready to breed should not be with the littler ones. We plan to put Tucker and Bugs in one stall, since they already are housed together they should be fine together. That will leave Shelby, Tehya and Jolly Roger in the other stall. I do think Tehya will miss Maddie, she's become a surrogate mom to her.

If only I had my sweater out of Tucker's fiber complete! Wouldn't it be cool to wear that while showing him ;)

Spring

We had a hint of spring arrive here in Michigan. We even got to the point the snow was melted and my crocuses were starting to bloom. I LOVE spring! I love the flowers starting to bloom and the animals coming to life again. Even the alpacas relish a nice pronk in the pasture after a long cold winter (where they seem to stay within only a couple feet of the barn).

We were able to get some work done raking leaves off the pasture before the bad weather hit on Sunday. This included some snow, rain, bitter cold wind and cloudy overcast skies.

On the plus side, a snowy blistery day forced me to stay inside and get some much needed housework done. It seems this former neat nick has let farming become a priority over a clean house. I didn't get as much done inside as I should have, but I got side tracked with spinning some yarn ;) I am working on knitting a sweater for myself out of Tucker's fiber and I wanted to make sure I have enough yarn to take with me on our travels this weekend.

Herd Health Day and a sick alpaca

We've come to find that herd health day is a workout for us, and usually leaves at least one of us slightly injured. Wrestling those little cria is more work than it looks. But, this is what insures their health. This herd health day involved ivermectin shots (for prevention meningeal worm that they can get from snails that carry it from deer, which we do have in the woods here). We also weighed most of them and checked them over throughly, and trimed teeth on those that needed it. We did not realize how to care for their teeth so some of our younger ones had longer teeth than they should have (we should have trimmed them a long time ago, then through their regular eating they could stay trim for the most part). This was a live and learn experience. Now that everyone is trimmed, most of them should maintain that through regular eating and we won't have to trim them again.

This time we also had to check for illness. It seems Lightning Bugs is not feeling well. He had some loose stool and was not eating like he usually does. Sommerfield had a bit of loose stool too, but her's cleared up with some immodium and it never affected her appetite. Bugs has had a harder time recovering. We put bounce back in his water and we tried to set up some grain for him that the other boys couldn't get too. He would take a couple of bites then walk away. We thought if we left some grain out for him he'd eventually eat it. This did not work as Snowstorm busted into it anyway and ate it all. Of course. This morning Bugs ate much better, so we think he's on the mend. J also bought some rolled oats to see if he will eat that. Not eating can be very detrimental to an alpaca (it is for any animal but more so for an alpaca). If they completely stop eating it will stop their digestive system which can cause death. They have a more complex digestive system (that I do not fully understand) which involves three stomachs, and they need to eat periodically or it will shut down. So we are watching him very closely.

The only other concern noted was some dematitis on Tehya's foot. That we are treating with athlete foot medication and should be fine in a couple of days.

All the alpacas are gaining weight and doing well. I think Maddie was the only one who didn't gain as much as we'd like so we are going to add some shreaded beet pulp to her daily grain. Sommerfield scored on the thin side so we will add shreaded beet pulp to her grain too.

Other than my being sore today, thankfully I did not sustain any injury. J said he's sore too. Who knew herd health day could be more of a work out than running!

New Pastures

We managed to get things done in the shelter and move the pregnant moms back by us on Saturday. Kateri did not want to leave her baby, and who could blame her? But, it's time to wean and time for more pasture lands. Last year the girls ate up all their grass faster than it could grow. This year with 2 more girls on the land, it had no chance. So the three pregnant moms, Sancha, Kateri and Victoria are now on by the new shelter on new land. We didn't seed the pasture yet, it's too early in the spring to do that, and we did not have it far enough along last fall to seed. There is a lot of woods grass back there that they seem to prefer over the hay. We did make sure to cut down anything that could potentially be poisonous to them.

They are slowly adjusting. I think initially Kateri was most upset to leave her baby. She kept going back to the gate that we first led her in at and humming. But Sancha seems to be the one who is having a harder time adjusting now that they are back there. I wonder if Sancha has always been with a good size herd and can't wrap her mind around there only being three of them. Hold on Sancha, you will have three babies born back there in no time. They do not like the shelter, they won't go near it. But I remember way back when our first 3 alpacas arrived at the other barn, they didn't want to go in there either. It takes them a bit to get adjusted.

The young ones who were left up front seem to be adjusting fine. They have the advantage of staying where they were at. I suspected Maddie would take over as leader. I know at the show the little ones looked to her and she mothered them (when we took one off to show, Maddie to hum for them to come back). Sommerfield may need to be moved back with the moms because she keeps flirting with the boys in the pen next to them. She is very ready to breed. However, we don't want a baby born in early March so we are trying to hold off a few weeks yet.

Moving

This weekend we hope to move our pregnant moms to a new shelter back by our house. We want to keep a closer eye on the pregnant ones, and watch the cria run and play once they are born. Right now they are all about 1/4 mile away from our house so we have to walk to go see them.

The plan is to move the 3 pregnant ones back by us. Then Maddie, Sommer and all cria (Shelby, Tehya and our visiting Jolly Roger) will stay up at the bigger barn. The boys will remain in their barn. This way there should be more pasture land for the little ones up there.

I hope it is good weather so we can get this all done!

Less than 2

In less than 2 months Sancha will be having her cria! I can already see the little one bumping around inside there. Sancha is older and her belly hangs lower than the younger moms. Of course we are taking bets on if it will be a boy or girl and what color is will be. I'm thinking dark fawn girl. (I was right 2 out of 3 last year)

Kateri isn't due until July but she looks huge this time! I don't know why. J wondered if maybe she was carrying it differently than last year. I'm wondering if she's going to have a boy. I'd love a true black boy from her. She's bred to The Buccaneer, a true black color champion (and Victoria's half brother).

Victoria is her usual self, not showing she's pregnant at all. But if she even see a boy she's ready to spit, so I'm sure she's pregnant.

Show Girls!

We are very excited to announce that our 2 goldsmith daughters did great at the show!

The way shows run they start with black and work their way up to lighter colors. Shelby was the first of our Goldsmith girls to show because she's a darker color. I was a bit concerned how she would show because she has different fiber than I've seen before. I love it, but I was concerned how it would go over. I've heard that zipper crimp gets the preference. Her crimp is very bold and not zipper like at all. However, we noticed that as people walked by her, they often commented on her. When we haltered her and brought her up to the ring she got a lot of attention.

In the ring the judge had a very difficult time deciding on first and second place. In the end she put Shelby in 2nd. For such a hard show, we are very pleased with that placing.

Our Shelby:


In one ring they were showing girls, in another ring the boys were being shown. As sometimes happens we had one going in one ring and one ready to go in the next. J had Shelby in the ring, and I ran to get Jolly Roger for his class. I almost had to actually show an animal! But it ended just in time. J did all the showing *phew* Though I was running around when the judge was talking about Shelby.

The judge said Shelby has perfect conformation and that her fiber is incredibly uniform. I believe she gave the other one 1st because it had more fineness (that's what I think J told me she said).

All the first and 2nd place winners of each class stand in the color championship of their color. The 1st place winners are considered for Color Champion. The Reserve Color champion is then picked from the 1st place winners who did not get color champion and the 2nd place in the class of the one who got Color Champion. In Shelby's color championship there was a mix-up and Shelby was standing in the place of the 1st place winner (J said the ring steward put him in that spot). Shelby was being considered for the overall color champion, which a 2nd place winner is not supposed to be. I was in the audience and a man next to me said "that judge really likes that one little on there" referring to Shelby. He could tell by how the judge was going over her and kept going back to her. He had no idea that was my baby :) until I told him. Then it got sorted out that she was supposed to be in the 2nd row, not to be considered for champion. There were rumblings in the audience that the judge was going to pick that one. Well shoot! I really think if Shelby had placed 1st in her class she would have won the color champion. I don't know if the judge then regretted her decision on 1st place, because the 1st place from Shelby's class did not get color champion or reserve.

On day two Tehya was up to be shown. I've heard that it is very hard for fading fawns to win because they have different colors running through their blanket (in Tehya's case the top of her back is medium fawn, and it goes to light fawn and even beige). Different colors make it very hard for the fiber to remain consistent (sometimes the different colors can cause places with more crimp than other places and different levels of softness). I was nervous how the class would work for Tehya and almost hoped they put her in indefinite class instead (there they all would have a variety of colors working against them). She was placed in the light fawn class (which was determined by a judge, we had signed her up for that class, but the color check people were not sure).

Tehya also got 2nd place. In this class the judge said she had 3 that she really struggled over where to place them. I believe she said that both 1st and 2nd had good conformation, but that 1st had a bit more density. She was impressed with how uniform Tehya's fiber is (so much for fading fawn hurting her, it didn't, she's uniform anyway).

Our Tehya:


In this color championship Tehya was in the 2nd row like she's supposed to be. The 1st place winner from Tehya's class did win Color Champion, so Tehya was brought forward to be considered for Reserve Color Champion. The judge said to J, "you aren't making this easy on me," referring to how nice Tehya is. In the end she did not get reserve, but it's very rare that the 2nd place winner does. It can happen, but when it does it causes a lot of waves. Usually one of the first place winners from the classes gets the Reserve Color Champion.

We are very excited and proud of our girls!

Shows

Our first show is coming up this weekend - the anticipation, anxiety and excitement is coming to a peak!

We love going to shows. We like meeting up with other farms that we have met along the way. We love seeing all the various alpacas under one roof. J seems to like showing our animals (so far I have avoided leading them into the show ring, though one of the these days we will have to show 2 at once and I will have to). I am very curious to see how they will do. We have 3 cria who have never been shown before.

I am trying to get my week organized ..... so much to do, so little time!

Farm Guard

We now have a guard for our farm. This past weekend J went to pick up Spot, our new Great Pyrenees. Spot was working at South Haven Alpacas, until they had to sell off their herd. We were very fortunate to find an experienced guardian dog.

We are working on finishing the barn and pasture back by our house so that we can move some of the alpacas back there. Spot is already guarding the area. We hope in a couple weeks to be able to move some of the alpacas. Last year they ate up the pasture up front so quickly that we know we need more land for them to graze on.

Spot arrived on Sunday and the kids could not be more excited. Both of my kids and my two nieces spent the afternoon playing with Spot. They tell me he likes to play "follow". This is where they walk or run around and he follows them. Spot has been great with the kids. While they say he's big and reminds them of a bear, he's as gentle as can be with them.

The first night he did bark on and off all night. We knew this would happen with a guard dog. It is after all his job to watch and guard the land. I'm sure it was even worse because he's in a strange place and with the woods so close by there were bound to be some animals lurking out there. His second night he did not bark nearly as much (or I managed to sleep through it).

Spot is a great addition to our farm. I'll get picture of our gentle giant up soon.