Alpaca Training

I thought our show alpacas could use a bit more halter training. On Monday I asked the kids to help, which they often are eager to do. It was beautiful sunny weather. I'm not so sure it really counts as haltering training, I think the alpacas ended up training the kids (the extra child is my niece, who oftens hangs out on our farm):





Cavalier was the one who walked the worst on the halter when we were at the show. I've been referring to him as an ADHD boy, because his behaviors fit it so well (that must be the social worker in me coming out). He's a cutie, but his antsy behavior, where he can't stand still and keep bucking, is not fun at the show. Zack snapped a shot of me walking Cav around:

1st Place and Reserve Color Champion

OHVNA Pocahontas!!





We don't have a picture of her color reserve banner, because they did not have one. Of the animals registered, there were not supposed to be enough in the indefinate class to have a color championship. During color check, animals were added to the class (Po being one of them, we had her registered as Dark Rose Grey). We are supposed to get a banner in the mail, and will get a picture of Po with that when it comes.

? spring ?

This is what we woke up to today:





I knew we weren't done with snow. It's too early in the season to hope for that. It's OK. I'm still nursing a cold, and love to have the excuse to snuggle in a blanket on the couch. I'll wait for nicer weather to go clean out the garage.

Hay Shelter

We've learned to be creative when it comes to farming. As I've mentioned before, we built our house in 2000/2001, before we ever considered being alpaca farmers. Had that been the plan, we would have done things differently (most likely we would have bought an old farm). But, we've learned to make what we have work. This past year we stored most of our hay in a small barn up by the boys. We now need that barn for our male weanlings. We store a little bit of hay in our garage, for the girls. The boy's barn is about .16 miles from the girls, I'm not hauling hay that far every feeding time. So we had several bales of hay in our garage, right by the girl's area. Thankfully we built an oversized garage (we took plans for an oversized garage and even added more space to it). And, I drive a small economical car, so that there was room in the garage. But still, we had to restack hay every couple weeks to keep up with the girls' eating.

We put the hay behind the bins of grain:



There was only room for 1 pallet there (we like to stack our hay on top of wooden pallets):



To free up our garage and to clear out the male weanling barn, we decided to put up a hay shelter:



Pretty impressive that we have that up already! I can't take any credit for it. I've been at work, and I caught a miserable cold. We've had incredible warm weather and J's been home. After the show all weekend, J had until Friday night off of work (the benefit of working 12 hour shifts three times a week, he ended up with over a week off without taking time off.... but now he works 6 out of the next 7 nights). Anyway, the shelter is up and inside we can fit 3 pallets from left to right, 5 lengthwise. It is huge compared to the 1 pallet area we had back here before.



J still wants to put dolomite on the floor of the shelter. We will need more pallets and lots of hay.

American Express Commerical

Click here for link

I love the alpaca making her comment, and his socks :)

Spring!

The weather has warmed up. The snow is melted, and the sun is shining. This is the view from my bedroom window:



Here most of the girls are looking out in the woods because the kids are out there playing:



I love spring time, it is by far my favorite season. I fear though that spring is not really here. We do live in West Michigan, and this is a bit early for spring. I'll take it for now though!

fiber craft update

I haven't posted much about my spinning or knitting adventures because I have been spinning a bunch of fiber I promised for Christmas presents. I injured my hand just before Christmas and couldn't do anything, so I had to spin up a bunch of yarn after Christmas. I spun up a neat twist of Tehya and Shelby yarn. Then I spun up a bunch of Sommerfields's fiber. These skeins have now been sent to the individuals I promised them too.

I had some remnant yarn left, some Sommerfield and a twist I did with Shelby and Sommerfield. On the ride down to Ohio for the show this past weekend, I knit this:



This is actually 2 baby booties on the needle. I have learned to knit them at the same time so that they turn out the same size. I thought I would finish this on our trip, but I had no time at the show, and on the ride home it was too dark for me to knit. I'll finish them this Saturday when I watch the kids at swimming lessons.

The Best of the US Auction

We have never been in an auction before, and the only one we have attended was this one last year. It was suggested we put Shelby in the auction, and after some thought, we decided we felt comfortable doing that. We have had a lot of interest in buying Shelby, but no one has come through with actually putting down money for her. We have been offered some very tempting trades, but, I feel some animals I am not willing to use in a trade, and Shelby would be one of those. We applied for the auction, she was accepted, and we paid our entrance fee.

Unfortunately, there were some unforeseen issues that came up. I don't know all the details, and it's not my story to tell. What I will say is that some people/farms did not come through on what they promised and dropped out of the auction at the very last minute. This left the organizers hanging. At one point they canceled the auction. We got a call late last week telling us it was canceled. Shortly after that we got a call from the organizers explaining that a backer come forward, and the auction was going to happen. Some of the farms that had put animals in the auction dropped out. It was offered to us that we could drop out, or, we were also offered the opportunity to add another animal in the auction. After some discussion, we decided to stick with the auction and we added Lily to our auction animals (hence my post last week about her being in the auction). We have several reason for Lily to be the one we added into the auction. For one, I wasn't giving up Po (and this was before she gave us a color banner). I have wanted a rose grey and she is exactly what I have wanted. It would take a lot for me to part with her (don't get me wrong, they all have a price on them, and for the right amount of cash I'd pack her up and send her off, it is a business, but I wasn't ready to part with her yet with the uncertainty of what she might get at an auction having never been shown). I also thought Po and Shelby are fairly similar and might distract from each other, as the same buyers might be interested in both of them. We just acquired Rosco and I think she will make a great foundation animal for us. That left Lily. Lily is white, which is not what we are breding for. We have Lily's mom and brother, and if we want, we live near the farm where her sire is, and could bred to him again. These are genetics we have access too fairly easily. Lily is quite different from Shelby, so could would appeal to different people. Lily is cute, and friendly, she could be engaging at an auction. I know there is a farm out there where she would have a great home.

Lily was in lot #10, Shelby in lot #23.

The auction started, and at first no one was bidding (initially I thought the first lot did not sell, but I have since heard that it did, just for a low amount, not many bidders). This was not a good sign. J and I decided it was ok if our girls don't sell. We can take them home and chalk it up to a good learning experience. We weren't planning to put Lily it the auction until a couple days ago, and Shelby will make some amazing cria that would be welcome on our farm.

Some lots sold, some got no bids, some did not hit the reserve.

I won't often talk money. For one, money tends to give me anxiety and it's better if I just don't go there. I am not a risk taker and that part of the alpaca business scares me (ok, freaks me out). J and I make a great team in that he pushes our farm to strive ahead (he's the risk taker), and I hold us grounded so that we don't lose our house through bankruptcy (he'd buy every great deal he could). We balance each other. As for the auction, it was what I would consider a risky thing, so I leave those decisions up to J. He's more level headed, he's more in tune with what is going on in the industry as a whole (what is a fair price, etc), and he did everything to get us into the auction. This is his thing. I trust him. In the big picture, we do make these decision together, but in the fine details, I leave that up to him. He always has a plan, and if I butt in, sometimes I mess up his plan. So in this situation, I left the details up to him, though he ran everything by me for a second opinion, and to make sure I was ok with it.

Another reason I don't talk money is that I feel these things are a private matter. The specific details of deals between farms are private. Sure I'm free to tell whomever I wish, but the other farm involved might not want people to know for one reason or another. I'd hate for my blog to blab something that another person did not want to be public knowledge. But, an auction is done in the public, these are not private deals, anyone could sit in that room and hear it all. And I'm sure there are lists of what the animals sold being posted on alpaca forums. So for this situation, I'll post about money.

We set the reserve on Lily at $5000. I know that may sound low to many farmers, but the economy is what it is. We've seen bred females listed for less. Also, keep in mind that at this point, Lily had never been shown. While we think she's great, it's not been confirmed. We set the reserve on Shelby at $7000. We had wanted more for her, and I'm sure she is worth more. But, after a year of many people showing interest in her, no one has ever come up with a cash deal (we have only been offered trades and/or breedings). We felt these reserve prices were on the low side, but priced to allow these very good quality girls to be considered a great deal.

Of our two, Lily went up to auction first. It took some time for the bidding to start, and I thought we might just be going home with her. Then J walked her into the audience and the bidding did pick up some. Before the reserve was hit, the bidding stopped, so the auctioneer asked J if he was willing to drop the reserve. We hadn't talked about this option prior, so I didn't know what he would want to do. Since he's more in tuned with what is a fair price, I left this up to him. He did agreed to lower it, and Lily sold for $4,600 (just below our initial reserve). Afterward we met the new owners, a wonderful couple from Hi-View Alpacas. They are fairly new to the industry. They said they don't really bred for white, but felt Lily would be a good addition to their herd. I told them some about Lily, commenting that she is very friendly and loves to follow our kids around. The girls' pasture includes our backyard where our kids play, and Lily will follow them around and sniff their heads. They thought their grand kids will love her. I'm glad to hear she will still have kids to watch. (I do want to note that while she does this, she is not in any way aggressive towards us, as some alpacas can develop a condition where they associate more with humans than alpacas, I do NOT see Lily doing this, she is just an above average friendly girl). They were excited about her, and even more excited when she got a ribbon the next day. I think she has a great new home!

Just to add a note, the next day after Lily won a ribbon in her class, J said he talked to a guy who said he regretted he didn't bid higher on Lily and buy her. I know she sold at a great deal.

We had some time between Lily's lot and Shelby's lot. I decided to go feed our other alpacas. It was getting late, we had chores to do, and I was starved. That way when the auction was over I could go get something to eat. I got back to the auction area just as they said Shelby was sold, I missed it. Before I left J had said he wouldn't go below reserve on Shelby. But when it was just $500 less, he decided that wasn't enough to make that much difference, so he agreed. I know Shelby sold for less than she should have. But, the economy is rough. And it's not just this auction, it's difficult everywhere. Sure we *could* get more for Shelby, but at what point? For the last year we have had a lot of interest in Shelby, but not one person has come through with actually buying her. I know sometimes there are deals that are made after the auction on the ones that didn't sell, but I was leery to wait for that, when so many times over the last year we have been disappointed by interest in her not panning out.

In the end, both of our girls sold. We are happy with our first cash sales, and know that both of these girls have great homes. As it worked out, both farms were able to take the girls home from the show, so we came home 2 alpacas less. Don't worry, we have 4 cria coming this summer :)

Best of the US Alpaca Show

I intended to update my blog throughout the weekend. We took our laptop with us so that I could do that. But, as it was, I just plain did not have time to do it. We were so busy all day long, and got back to our hotel late at night, I was too tired to even turn on the computer, let alone mess with pictures and write up anything. I am finally now getting to work on it.

Friday we left our house in the morning, as soon as the kids left for school, we loaded up our alpacas. We took Shelby, Lily, Pocahontas, Cavalier, and Rosco.

We made our first stop at Ashton Stone Alpacas to pick up some of their alpacas for the show. We picked up Jolie, Riphaeus, and d'Artagnan. We head out to Ohio, on the way the way we picked up their new suri alpaca, Paisley.

The way the show goes, on Friday you arrive, have your animals vet checked, and color checked (so they know what color class they will show in). You set up your pens for the alpacas. They had a meeting at 7 p.m. for all the show exhibitors. And after that meeting, they met with all the farms who had auction animals.

We are getting better at setting up everything, but this show seemed to take a long time. I know we had more animals with us than we have had in the past, but still, it seemed to all go in slow motion. We had intended to check into our hotel and get some supper before the 7 p.m. meeting, but we weren't even all set up by that point. By the time we left the fairgrounds, and got to our hotel, it was at least 9 p.m.

Saturday we arrived early, because we knew Rosco would be showing in the first class (they start with black juveniles). Rosco has good conformation, and good fiber, that is shiny, fine, but not dense. We know she is not that dense so we knew she wouldn't place at the top of the class. Rosco got a respectable 5th out of 8. This is about what we expected. I have said from the start that Rosco is a great foundation animal and next year we will be sure to breed her to a very dense male. Shelby was the next of our animals to show. Shelby has had a mixed show record. Last year at this show she got 2nd place, and almost got into the color championship. Her 2nd show in Indiana she placed 4th, but she was very hot and that messes up their fiber crimp and structure. Then last fall in Michigan she got a first. We were disappointed with her fourth place at this show. The judges only negative comment was that her fiber lack architecture. I don't know that I agree with that evaluation. Shelby has a bolder crimp and there can be a bias in the show ring for the very crimpy zipper crimp. Saturday evening was the action. I'll write a separate post about that. It did mean a very late night, I don't think we left the fairgrounds until after 7 p.m. (that's late for me ;) ).

Sunday we knew we needed to get there early because D'ar from Ashton Stone Alpacas would show in the very first class of the day. There was also the time change, so it felt an hour earlier. What we didn't expect was that the hotel clock automatically moved forward that hour, we moved forward an hour, so we ended up 2 hours ahead. Plus, I slept terrible that night. I was overtired, but finally fell asleep, then woke up around 1 a.m. and couldn't get back to sleep. I was running on very low sleep all day Sunday.

3 of our animals showed on Sunday (plus 2 of Ashton Stone Alpacas). Another busy day! First up of our alpacas was Lily. Lily has soft fiber with good crimp, and she has rock solid conformation. However, white classes are by nature very difficult. White is the color that was most improved prior to coming into the States, and many farms specialize in white, making it very competitive. Just placing in a white class can be a challenge. Lily placed 5th out of 11 alpacas. We are happy with that placement, given the tough competition. The only negative the judge stated about Lily is that she had some cross fibers, which I think is what I sometimes call webbing. I can't say I have noticed that on Lily, but I have on other alpacas. After Lily, Cavalier had his chance to show. I have to back track and say that my own opinion is that Cav will be better next year than he is this year. His fiber's crimp isn't consistent the length of the fiber. His cria tipping is so soft, his crimp falls out. My opinion was to wait to show him until after he is shorn this spring. I think he is going to blossom into a nice male, but until he's shorn, his fiber isn't really showing his full potential. We took him to the show, wondering how he'd do, and it confirmed what I had already said about him. He did not place in his class, he "got the gate", meaning we walked out of the ring gate without a ribbon. Last of ours to show was Pocahontas. Pocahontas showed in the Indefinite Dark Class. We have her listed as a dark rose grey, a dark brown that has grey fibers running throughout. I still believe this is what she is (or will turn into), however, at this show she color checked as an Indefinite Dark. What this class means is that she has too many grey fibers to be considered dark brown, but too few grey fibers to be considered a rose grey. I would argue that the lighting in that forum is not the best, because when we are outside I see much more grey than I did inside, but this is how she colored check as (we had the judges decide which color class she should show in and this was their decision).

Pocahontas got 1st place!!!! Add her to our list of 1st place ribbon winners (with Sancha, Kateri, Tehya and Shelby).

and

POCAHONTAS GOT COLOR RESERVE!!!!!!

This was our first color banner, something we have been eyeing for awhile. How the color championship works is the 1st place winner from each class in a color go up against each other. This class was a little mixed because it was Indefinite Dark, Indefinite Light, and there were juvi classes and yearling classes. All the first place winners (four of them) went against each other. The top one gets Color Champion, the next top one (sort of like 2nd place) gets Color Reserve. Our PoPo got color reserve! We are very excited!!

After this, we stayed around to show Shelby and Cav in Produce of Dam. This is really a class for the mom, Victoria. Three judges evaluate the 2 animals from the same mom to see if she puts her stamp on them (ie her traits come through). We did this on a whim, since we were already staying late for Get of Sire, and this was our only chance to have Shelby there for this, we decided to just do it. Victoria got 4th out of 6 entries. We are happy with this result. This is about how Victoria herself did when she was in the show ring. And, the only fault the judges mentioned was that Cav and Shelby's crimp were different. However, I happen to know that Shelby's was similar to Cav's last year, before she was shorn. I think he will look more like her's after he is shorn. This may be a Victoria trait, and may mean that we show less of Victoria's cria as juvis. We might as well wait until they are yearlings and their full potential comes through.

We also showed Smokey in Get of Sire. We had d'Ar, Jolie, and Rosco there to represent him. We were a little worried that Rosco isn't as much like the other two (less crimp, and her face looks different) but that wasn't part of the feedback we got. He placed 3rd out of 4 entries. The feedback on Smokey's offspring is that they are very bright, very fine, but lacked density. This is what we have already thought, but it was nice to have our own thoughts confirmed. At least we know we are on the right track. To maximize Smokey's potential, he needs to be bred to dense girls who could use fineness and brightness.

Here are some pictures from our weekend. I did not take a lot of pictures. Part of it is that I didn't really have time, we moved from one event to the next at a quick pace. Also, I have found when my camera is on me, the animal doesn't place well. The times I do not have my camera with me, they place better. I know that's not really the case, but it sure feels that way (and makes me less likely to have my camera on me).

In the pen, Rosco wanted to rest on top of Po's back:




everyone resting:



Haltering before going into the ring:



In the ring:




We were one of the last farms to leave the fairgrounds. Most of the farms packed up and left throughout the day on Sunday. We showed in the very last class, Get of Sire, so we were there to the bitter end. And, because we were so busy all day long, we didn't have a chance to pack up much before that last showing. We had a lot of animals to pack up and get home. It is a long drive from Ohio, especially when hauling a trailer. We arrived at our house at 12:45 a.m. Monday morning. I am so glad I didn't plan on going into work on Monday. And so very thankful the kids' grandparents were able to watch them all weekend. I did get up Monday to make their lunches, morning came way too early for me.

Auction Girls

We have decided to enter two of our girls in the Best of the US Auction that will take place on March 13, 2010.

In Lot 10 is our Snow Lily by Lord Stanley .



Cute Face:



And her fiber, note how bright white it is, with crimp and bundling, and the dirt ring is further out, which is a sign of good density.



In Lot 21 is our Victoria's Shelby.



Cute wooly face:



Her fiber is so shiny, she literally glistens in the light. She has crimp and bundling and a great handle:




My plan is to update my blog each evening after the show, so stay tuned for weekend updates on our adventures :)

Spit Happens

It's not too often that our alpacas spit. Occassionally during herd health they will get mad at us for grabbing them. On herd health days I dress for the chance of spit. Yesterday I was dressed for work. I was putting down bowls of grain down for our girls, when Maddie spit at another girl. I think she was defending her right for food (you know, pregnant woman stuff). I caught the bad end of it and spit landed on my forhead. Ugh! All ready for work, smelling of spit. And the spit smells bad. To add to it, I was getting my hair cut later on in the day. How nice to show up for hair cut smelling of alpaca spit. I'm sure the hair dresser would have no idea that's what the smell was.

Farm Sign

With show season just days away - ack!!! I'm part excited about that, and part freaked out. I might actually have to show an animal this time around. We have 9 animals that we will be responsible for at the show this coming weekend (as in 4 days from now!). I know I can do it, and I really need to just do it. I've always been one who sits in the stands when J walks the animal in the ring. I do think this weekend that will change. But back to the point of my post, we got signs for our truck. Here is our truck and trailer from a distance (notice the oak trees, we really do live in an oak haven):



And the sign up close:



We are really happy with how these signs turned out.

You Know You Are a Farmer When....

Your husband buys you:



and you think it is the sweetest thing!

This winter I started hauling the hay out to the alpacas on one of the kids' sled. I started doing this when I hurt my hand and was doing chores one-handed. I couldn't hold hay and open the gates. When my hand healed, I kept using the sled. It was so handy! Now the snow is melting and hauling hay in the sled doesn't work quite so well.

I came home yesterday to see this wagon. It's perfect! The handle is even padded for extra comfort. I love it!!

Adding On

Last spring we moved the girls back by our house. This year we are going to add a new area so that we can separate some of the girls. We'd like to do a dam (mom) and cria (baby) barn, and have the maiden/yearlings in a separate area. This will mean that last years cria, Lily, Po, and Rosco, along with our yearlings, Tehya and Cafe, will move into a new area. This will leave the pregnant dams (moms), Sancha, Victoria, Kateri and Maddie in the current area. They will each have a cria this spring/summer. This will allow the moms to have space to tend to their babies.

The new area doesn't look like much now, actually it looks like a mess (I can use this picture as a before reference when we are done):



Here is Spot sitting at the far corner of our current pasture. The area behind him, behind the fence to the left, is where we had our garden last year. That is where the new area will be:



We have decided not to do a garden. Up until about a week ago, we were still planning on it. But, then we got to thinking about it. We really did not get as much out of the garden as we thought we would. For one, it was such a dry summer last year we spent a lot of time watering it. It ended up being a lot of work. True, it likely will not be so dry this year, but something will end up being work about it. Gardens are work. I don't mind work, if I feel like I get something out of it. Well, here, I didn't. Because another big problem is that I don't really like fresh veggies. I wish I did. I would love to be a healthy type person. But it's just not in me. We had hoped we could get the kids interested in fresh veggies, but as it turned out, J is the one who ate most of what we grew. I loved the fresh salsa, but it's not worth all the effort, cost, and time for a garden just for salsa. We can buy enough fresh stuff to make a nice batch of salsa (which will be my request for my birthday meal). I was open to doing a garden again, but when J said he didn't think he wanted too, given he actually did eat the produce, we decided not to have one. So, by not having the garden, we have that area that we can use for the alpacas.

The other change is for our 2 young boys. They are getting old enough they can't be with the girls much longer. So, they will be moving up to the young boy barn. Right now our young boy barn is where we are storing the hay. Lightning seemed old enough to go in with the big boys, so we had all the males in one area. We have since seen quite a bit of fighting there. We don't feel it would be safe for the little boys - Cavalier and Golden, to be in there. We will add on a hay shelter, so that we can clear out that barn for the young boys. Since it is only Cav and Golden, we will either put Lightning in with them, or if he is too rough for them, our gelding, Snowstorm, would work well. He has been in with young boys, young girls, any combination and done a great job. He's a good uncle :)

Going to the vet

In order to participate in an alpaca show, the alpaca has to pass a vet exam. The exam consists of the vet checking the animal over, and taking their temperature. Shows want to make sure an animal with a contagious illness does not attend. No one wants to go to a show if they are risking illness to their most prized animals. When we were first starting our alpaca business, there had been issues with an illness referred to as "snots". This was before our time in the industry, but from what I have put together, it was just like a sounds, a bad cold. It sounds like it made the rounds at shows, and while not a super serious illness, it concerned people when they arrived home after a show and all their animals had the "snots." I have heard theories that it lead to some premature births, and possibly pregnancy absorption. But other than that, I haven't heard much more about it. During our time in the show circuit, we have not run across anything significant. One year Lightning had a bit of an upset tummy after a show, so he may have picked up some virus. But like I said, nothing significant.

The vet fills out a CVI (certified vet inspection) form for all the animals going to the show. You take this with you to the show, in order to prove the animals passed the vet exam.

We have linked up with Ashton Stone Alpacas. We are taking 4 of their animals to the Best of The U.S. Alpaca Show & Auction and in return they are farm sitting for our animals while we are gone at the show. We also decided to go to the vet together. In a way, I looked at this at a trial run, as I'm not sure how J and I will handle 10 alpacas away from home.

Thankfully Jillian from Ashton Stone Alpacas was able to come with us to the vet. As a trial run, we have some fine tuning to attend to before the real deal - in 10 days! At our farm, Cavalier broke out of his halter and was almost running loose in the woods. Lesson learned that we need to make sure all halters are on very well, we don't want any escapees. We also learned that Lily should not be put into the trailer first. She freaked out (ie she was screaming and running around the trailer in a panic) until we could get some friends in their with her. Then at the vet, we almost lost Po when she jumped out of the trailer before we were ready for her.

On the positive, we found out that indeed we can fit 10 alpacas in our trailer. There was plenty of room, so we could fit more if we ever need to. We also saw that all the alpacas are halter trained. Some better than others ;) but they all are doing ok.

Our issue is that we have a 3 prong led that we can lead 3 alpacas from one led. However, we can't fit all 3 through the door of the trailer. So somewhere along the way we have to go from 3 separate leds to 1 led of 3.

By the time we got home from this visit I was beat! I can only imagine how exhausted I am going to be when J and I are on our own at the show. It's gonna be a very busy weekend!

Pregnant Bellies

Alpacas are prey animals. As nature would have it, prey animals do not show their weaknesses. If they did, predators would attack the weaker ones. This is why alpacas are stoic and do not show when they are sick (if they are showing their illness, they are actually much sicker than they appear). And pregnant alpacas do not show their pregnancy like other animals.

For example, with cats, you can pick a cat up fairly early on in their pregnancy and feel that they are pregnant (feels like lumps in their belly). Cats also have a short gestation, so if one week you think that cat might be pregnant, within a couple weeks you are sure. And I've seen cats later in their pregnancy, they hardly walk around, and waddle when the do. Alpacas seem to run all the way to the day of delivery. They don't seem to show until very late in the pregnancy, and it's hard to feel or tell. I've thought I've seen a cria move, only to later realize it was the mother's breathing. There comes a point where I'm sure it is the cria, but earlier on, it can be hard to tell for sure. I have found as the females age, it's easier to tell they are pregnant. Now that this is our 3rd year with breeding females, J is getting pretty good at feeling for the cria.

I have heard that since their gestation is so long (11.5 months on average), the cria is very small and wouldn't show until late in their pregnancy. Now having been pregnant myself, I don't completely buy this line of reasoning. The baby may be small, say 2 inches long, but by the time you add in amniotic fluid and the placenta and so forth, it feels like a lot more. Maybe I'm jaded because I have unusually large babies, but still, they are hard to hide. Though, the alpaca body is built better to hide it, with their rib cage and long torso.

I thought I'd get some pictures of our girls' bellies and let you see for yourself. To me, I think I notice the belly bulge just past their ribs, and how their belly hangs down lower. I swear near the end of the pregnancy Sancha hangs so very low. Near the end of the pregnancy, they all get a indentation just in front of their hips.

This is Tehya, who will be 2 years old in June. She is NOT pregnant. This is to give you a frame of reference. Note how she is tight past her ribs:



I think the smallest pregnant belly on our farm belongs to our Maiden, Maddie. Maddie is due in May but this is her first cria (making her a maiden). I think she looks pregnant, but this may be because I knew what she looked like before. I'm not so sure she looks pregnant to people who don't know her.



She doesn't seem quite a tight behind her ribs as Tehya is:



I remember when Victoria was pregnant with Shelby. Shelby was her second baby, but Victoria hardly showed at all. Even the day she delivered Shelby, it was hard to tell for sure that she was pregnant.

As she's gotten older, I think Victoria is starting to show more. This is her 4th pregnancy. She is due in August 2010, just under six months from now. Note in typical Victoria style, I caught a picture of her while she was eating, mid chomp of her hay:



Victoria seems to be hanging pretty low there, especially given she's the one who is due to latest of any of our females. She's got awhile to go.

I think Kateri did show near the end of her pregnancy with Tehya, her 2nd cria. Then last year with Po, she really showed, and early on too. Po was born the same size as Tehya, but Po was born early, so she was actually bigger per gestational age. This pregnancy she seems to be hanging pretty low in the middle like she did with Po. This is Kateri's 4th pregnancy, and she is due in July.



Sancha is our oldest alpaca and she is the first one due this season. Now from the back, I don't think she looks pregnant:



But from the side, wow!



I have heard a theory that a cria that is more in the mother's (dam's) ribs indicates a female cria will be born. I haven't found this to be true, my biggest example is that Kateri looked completely different when she was pregnant with Tehya than with Po, and both are girls. I haven't been able to find any link between how they carry and the sex of the cria. I am curious to hear if others have theories.

Boys and cleaning up

We had a slight thaw = which means the snow on top started to melt and cause a mess, but the ground underneath did not thaw at all, so the melting snow/water had no where to go. There is a solid layer of frozen tundra preventing water from draining into the ground. Even though I had this great plan this year to avoid poop soup, it still found it's way into the paddock. I cleaned up what I could, to lessen the mess the best I could. This meant wheeling 3 wheelbarrows full of poop out of the boys' paddock.

I debated taking picture of this ugly mess. The reason to do so would be so that anyone reading this is clear what I mean by "poop soup". But, I figured my farming friends know what I am talking about. My non-farming friends don't want to know. So we will leave it at that. Unless of course there is an out cry and people demand pictures. I'm willing to oblige :)

Instead I got some pictures of the boys. When I arrive at the barn, walking with my wheel barrow (remember I need to wheel this about 1/3 of a mile back and forth from the boy barn, they can see me almost the entire walk), they are instantly curious and pose very well for me.



From left to right: Navigator, Greyt, Lightning, Snowstorm (his back end) and Apollo (further back).



Lightning and Greyt:

Typical Farm Saturday

I often spend my weekend afternoons relaxing inside and working on alpaca fiber. Here I have all my stuff set up next to the chair. I have a bin of washed but raw fiber, my flicker, and a bin for the flicked fiber. I also have the laptop computer set up on the armrest. I often surf the web while I flick fiber. We have dial-up internet (I know, the dark ages here. Our only other choice is satellite service that is more costly per month than I am willing to pay). So I multi-task.



Bin of washed but raw fiber:



notice how the raw fiber is lumped together, and has some vegetable matter in it (ie: hay):



Here is the flicker:



Flicking:



The fluffy flicked fiber:



A bin of flicked fiber:



Once all the fiber is in here, I am ready to spin it into yarn. I vastly prefer spinning to flicking, so seeing this fill up brings joy to my heart.