Weanling Boys Shearing Pictures

OHVNA The Cavalier (will be 1 years old in July)






We were very excited to see Cav's fiber. As we predicted, the crimp in his fiber up by his skin is incredible. I just knew he'd be better as he grew. I can't wait to see how it grows in, he's going to be amazing!

And
Golden Retriever (fiber boy): Golden's fiber is very soft, but he is not very dense, and he is on the small side. Perfect fiber for spinning, but not herd sire quality.





Except that now, unless I look really close, I can hardly tell these two boys apart!

Big Boys Shearing Pictures

Not all the boys were very cooperative with pictures. Since I wanted to get these posted as soon as possible, I took what I could get. Most often I take neat pictures, then blog about them, so this one is sort of backwards. But given shearing was this weekend, I just have to blog about it.

Before and after shearing pictures:

Our Peruvian Navigator (4 years old): Navigator weighs 155 post shearing. He had a total of 5.6 pounds of fiber shorn off, with a 3.4 pound blanket.





My Peruvian Georgio (3 years old): he weighs 125.4 post shearing. He had a total of 7.6 pounds of fiber shorn off, with a 3.2 pound blanket.





Apollo's Griffon (3 years old): Apollo weighs 229 post shearing. He had a total shearing weight of 5.2 pounds of fiber, with a 2.2 pound blanket.





SA Peruvian Greyt Exxpectations (2 years old): Greyt weighs 122.6 pounds post shearing. He had a total of 9.8 pounds of fiber shorn off (this is impressive! He is the biggest fiber producer on our farm, in a compact package). His blanket was 4.4 pounds.







Sancha's White Lightning (2 years old): Lightning weighs 130.4 pounds post shearing. He had a total of 7.6 pounds of fiber shorn off, with a 3.4 pound blanket.





Snowstorm (gelding): he weighs 180 pounds. We did not weigh any of his fiber because his fiber is very coarse (this is why he was gelded). Snowstorm is an important figure in the field and keeps the peace at the boys' barn. This is his job.

The Shearing

We did our shearing with Ashton Stone Alpacas, and since they have a nice big barn, we took all our animals over to their farm. Because the plan was to start shearing at 8 a.m. on Saturday, we started taking over our animals already Friday evening. It takes us about an hour to load up a trailer full of animals (by the time you halter them and get then in the trailer, it's a time consuming activity). We started with a trailer load of young ladies, weanling boys and a couple bigger boys. Then we took over a trailer load of the really big boys. We did not take over our 2 girls going to the National Show this coming weekend. They will show in full fleece. At the show, there are shearers who will shear those animals. Then on Saturday morning, we took over our pregnant girls. We wanted to limit stress to our pregnant girls as much as possible.

Here are the animals, still in full fleece, in pens at Ashton Stone Alpacas:





The shearer has straps that they wrap around the animals legs. Then they pull the rope and stretch the animal out straight. When shearing, they roll the animal to get both sides, and they loosen the strap at one point to get the chest and inside of the legs.





It works best if everyone has an assigned chore. I learned the hard way that stepping in on a task you don't really know what to do can mess things up (I didn't know I wasn't supposed to let go of the alpaca yet, thankfully no damage done, but it did throw everyone for a loop). It is really important to do your job and do it well. My job was to halter our animals and weigh them (we wanted to get before and after shearing weights so we know how much fiber they produced). Emma helped me with this. I also did some collection of fiber. Other jobs are cutting toe nails, holding the alpacas head (this was often J's job), pulling the rope to drop the alpaca, sweeping up fiber, doing shots, cutting teeth etc.

Some alpacas do get upset when shearing them. For those that spit, we put a sock over their mouth. That way the spit isn't getting all over everyone (it has a very strong smell of stomach acid), and for many, they stop spitting because they don't like it in a sock on their own face. Some alpacas scream the entire time. There isn't much we can do about that. We try to comfort them, but the main thing is to get the shearing done.

With fiber, there is a blanket (the wonderful fiber I can't wait to spin), seconds (neck fiber), which on the little ones is quite soft and usable, and the 3rds that are like the leg fiber. I didn't want the 3rds, and some of the seconds I didn't take either (on the older ones). Now I have multiple bags full of fiber ready for skirting and washing and spinning. After having almost no blankets left in the basement, I now have lots to work with! I will be getting raw fiber on my ETSY shop soon. I'm sure I'll post about my skirting etc. when I get to doing that (no time in the next couples week at least). But I will be sure to show what I do with the fiber. After all, the fiber is the product of our farm.

Here are the animals in their pens after the shearing:



And with some girls who are due with babies soon, you never know if shearing can put them into labor. They say if it does do that, they were ready to deliver anyway, so it's not a bad thing to have happen. We watched Sancha closely, because that baby was doing some dancing in there:



No babies born, and actually, after checking Sancha when we haltered her to leave, J thinks it will be a week or two yet. I was already predicting it will be after we get back from Nationals. It's really hard to say with Maddie, being a maiden, but it did not look like she was ready yet. She's not bagged up with milk (which Sancha is staring to do). Based on looks, Sancha will deliver sooner. But, you never know, sometimes labor starts sudden and goes fast, with no impending signs. Only time will tell.

I am going to post before and after shearing pictures of each animal, but it will take me a bit to edit all the pictures, and post these (we only have dial-up here at our house so these posts really do take awhile to do, the down side to living back in the woods, technology isn't as available). I hope by tonight to have up a post with the big boys before and after shots. Then tomorrow I'll do the little boys and little girls, and by Tuesday I hope to have up the pregnant ladies. We leave for Nationals on Thursday morning, so lots to do this week!

Shearing Day!!!

Today is shearing day. This is the day we look forward to all year, but also dread in a way.

We look forward to it because:

* we get nice fiber off our animals - our product
* we often are curious how our animals will look, after they are shorn (how many times have I said that, sometimes you can see different things about their color etc once they are shorn)
* as the weather warms up, these animals get uncomfortable with their heavy winter coat. In fact, they can get so hot, there is a risk of heat stroke. I know especially the pregnant moms want that warm coat off.
* it could put a mom into labor (if it does, that means they were ready anyway, I certainly wouldn't want to encourage a premature birth), I'm always eager to see these little ones. And if it doesn't start labor, it means cria season is coming very soon. I love cria season! 2 of ours are due this month, ready to birth any day now (Sancha and Maddie)

The dread is, the work involved:

* there is the prep work prior to shearing day: plan when it is, where the alpacas will go, make sure we have bags and tags and food etc.
* shearing on the day takes a good 1/2 to 2/3 of the day. Add on the prep work before and the clean up afterward, it is one very busy day
* and once that fiber is off them, and into bags, then I need to sort it and get it ready for sale (either raw, or spin it into yarn, or make it into something)

It's busy and a lot of work. But, this is what will keep me busy the rest of the year. And looking at my ETSY shop, I only have 1 raw fiber left there for sale (one small 4oz lot of Tucker's fiber).

It will take me a bit to get up pictures of shearing day, so don't expect any posts on that yet today. I will get before and after pictures, and some of the shearing.

For today I'll post a link to other stories from farms on their shearing:


Alpaca Shearing Arrives at an Oregon Farm

Island Alpaca's Shearing Day

More on genetics

Since I know I'm not the best teacher (ie: I don't explain things that well), I'll post some links to articles about alpaca genetics.

I want to preface this by saying that I did read over these articles. Most are factual. There also are some opinions in there. I can't say I agree with everything in these links 100%. So, don't take my posting a link as me saying "this is the best information ever". I think any information can be useful, but I do encourage after you read it, to consider what it is saying, and come to your own conclusion. I am, of course, always interested in a neat discussion about these things, so feel free to post a comment or send me an email. I'd love to chat about it.

Alpaca Color Genetics


Alpaca Color Genetics: The Genetics of White Markings


Jiggling Genes


Color Inheritance by Gene Linkage

I also wanted to add:

I find genetics very interesting, especially alpaca color genetics. I am always eager to find new articles and information on it. J and I both like genetics, do a lot of reading on it, and often shake our head at things other alpaca farmers say. Our favorite quote is one farmer who stated "you never know what color you will get" (in reference to the color of a cria). Ummm, most of the time we do know. Now, we don't know for sure which color the parents will pass on, but we know the possibilities available. The only cria we have had born on our farm that was a surprise is Pocahontas. We did not expect a modern rose grey (even though she has shown as an indefinite dark, the only difference between the two is how many grey fibers are displayed, the same genes are at work, it's only a matter of degree that determines the number of grey fibers vs other colors). But, even the alpaca color genetic experts say they are not sure how those genes work (modern grey). Looking at her pedigree, we can see a lot of grey. Maybe it's a case that each of her parents has a grey gene hiding (recessive grey). Some say that grey isn't recessive, so having grey ancestry doesn't matter. Her dad is black, her mother is brown with a black secondary. The outcomes should be: bb x Bb = bB, bb, Bb, bb. She had a 50% chance of being brown (B), and 50% chance of being black (b). The other explanation is that Kateri could herself be a rose grey (she does have some grey on her back line, and sprinkled other places all over her body). We've read mixed reviews on if Kateri herself could be a rose grey (poorly expressed) or not. Some say at her age this is due to old age (it did not appear until she was 4 years old). But even then, we've read that modern greys are unlikely to pass on grey, so even if Kateri is a rose grey, this is not a typical outcome. I figure it was all a lucky fluke, because I REALLY wanted a dark rose grey and Pocahontas is everything I so wanted, in a cute package. For now, I'll take luck as the reason, but you bet I will continue to seek out exactly how it happened.

There are still many questions we don't know about. I do think overall we are more knowledgeable than the average alpaca farmer on this topic (mostly because of our interest in it, I know not everyone enjoys learning about it like we do). We really do sit around and talk about secondary colors and dilution gene and so forth :) But, I also know we do not know everything. So things I've posted, this is just my understanding of it at this time. Anything is subject to change, as new information is gathered.

Victoria

Victoria is the last female due with a cria on our farm this year.

Victoria has had 3 cria already. The first one we do not own, she was born before we purchased Victoria. That one is Contessa. She is a fading fawn color. Shelby is Victoria’s second cria. She was the first female born on our farm. Shelby now is at Elite Alpacas. Then last year, Victoria had a boy, Cavalier. He is also a fawn.

I’m sort of glad Victoria is the last one to talk about, because I can’t talk about her color genes without going into: dilution gene. I tried very hard to find an expert article on this, because I know I can’t adequately explain it. And to be honest, when I first heard about it, I thought it was the “experts” way of saying “if my 2 color theory doesn’t work out, then it’s a dilution gene.” Sort of like an excuse for any situation that doesn’t fit their model. For example, if you breed two black animals together, you should get black (bb x bb = bb every time). Except, there are times two black animals create a fawn (or another color). The experts say this is due to a dilution gene. If an animal has 1 dilution gene, it does nothing. But if you have 2 dilution genes, it will lighten the animal’s color. They call these animals “stealth black” meaning while they appear to be another color, they are really black. When bred to a black, who does not pass on a dilution gene, you will get a black cria (it would take 2 dilution genes, one from each parent, to lighten the color).

The first time we thought about Victoria having a dilution gene is when we read that maroons (Victoria is a reddish brown, often called maroon) are really diluted blacks. I have since read that other experts do not believe this to be true (and all they would have to do is show one time that was not the case to prove it’s not always true). But, in Victoria’s case, I do think she is diluted black (I have no idea if they all are).

As proof of this, her sire (father) is black. She had to have gotten a black gene from him. Her mother is a white, but she has produced black offspring, so her mother’s secondary color is black. Victoria’s parents would be: bb x Wb = bW, bb, bW, bb so Victoria should have been white or black. She is a maroon brown. Now if both parents have a dilution gene, and together they lightened her up just a bit, that would explain her color. She’s a lightened black.

I mentioned before about two blacks producing a fawn, so why isn’t Victoria fawn? Well, what I’ve read says that the degree of the dilution has to do with how it works in the individual alpaca. Sometimes the dilution is only a shade lighter, sometimes it lightens all the way down to white, or anywhere in between.

If you look in Victoria’s family tree, you can find other times dilution genes are at work. I do think this is more then just an “excuse” explanation. But I admit, at first I was pretty skeptical of this whole idea.

For Victoria, this mean she is really a black, but because she is lightened, she has 2 dilution gene. Her color graphed would be “bb” but each time she will pass on a diluted black. This dilution gene will only affect the color of the cria if the sire also passes on a dilution gene. Shelby’s father is a fawn with a black secondary color, so this would be Fb x bb = Fb, Fb, bb, bb = either fawn (Fb) or black (bb). Shelby is brown just like her mother, so her sire had to have passed on a dilution gene too. If he did not pass on a dilution gene, if he just passed on black, she would have been black. We don’t know if Cavalier is diluted. He is fawn, and his father is fawn, so he likely got a fawn color gene from his father. Cavalier’s secondary color would be black, from his mother. This means if Cavalier is bred to a black female, they should produce black (unless they both have a dilution gene and pass it on). Cavalier *could* be diluted to fawn, but there is no way to tell that for sure (if he had a lot of cria on the ground, we might be able to, but right now there is no way to know).

Victoria is now bred to Tucker. Tucker is a tuxedo light silver grey. Tuxedo grey breeds differently than modern, at least many experts believe they does. For Tuxedo grey, their color combination is usually grey and black (Gb).

Victoria (bb) x Tucker (Gb) = bG, bb, gG, bb

So, we should get a grey (bG) or black (bb) out of this breeding (50% chance of either one). I believe the grey would also mean a tuxedo grey. Except, of course, if Tucker has a dilution gene, in which case a lighter color could result. That could mean a brown, or a rose grey.

Recently I read that animals from Peru are more likely to have a dilution gene. This fits with the fact that Peru bred for light animals (white mostly). Even if they had no idea about the dilution gene, they would breed the light animals, including diluted ones, more and more to keep getting the lighter diluted colors. But, the interesting thing about this, is that Victoria is 100% Chilean. Makes one wonder.

For Victoria’s cria, we have decided to name them after cars. We have a Shelby mustang, and The Cavalier (for our stud-ly but pretty boy). There are tons of names ideas for this family tree theme.

Kateri

Kateri is the third mom due this year on our farm. She is due July 6, 2010. Just in time for a 4th of July fire-cracker!

They always seem to pose the best for a picture when they have spit lip:



Kateri is a light brown girl. Her 2 color genes are Brown and black (her mother is a true black, so she had to have gotten a black color gene from her mother, Kateri shows her lighter color, brown).

What is interesting about Kateri, is that she has had 3 cria - all girls, and none of them are solid colored. I would also like to point out that every one of them has won a 1st place ribbon at a level IV show! She is our best production female, you can't ask for more than what she has given us. I think she may be due for having a boy this year, but J wonders if maybe she's prone to having girls and may continue that trend. For the color, her first cria, Princess, was bay black, then, Tehya, a fading fawn, and lastly a dark rose grey (indefinite dark), Pocahontas. Kateri has grey on her back line, and some throughout her blanket. She has a lot of grey relatives in her ancestry, and her brother is grey. We wonder if maybe she is a poorly expressed rose grey. Or, maybe there is a variation gene that she passes onto her cria. I am very curious to see what color this year's cria is.

Kateri is bred to Express's Accoyo Adonis, from Autumn Alpacas. Adonis was a fading fawn as a juvenile, but after shearing, he turned white. I don't know what that means his primary color is, is he white or fawn? His mother is white and his father is medium fawn. I don't know their secondary color (I could figure it out given enough time with their lineage, but I haven't taken the time yet to do that). So, at least for now, I don't know Adonis' secondary color. Kateri is the first female he has been bred to, so we do not have any offspring records to look at. With a male, the offspring records are the quickest way to figure out their secondary gene color.

We have been expecting a white or fawn out of this breeding (basing this on likelihood, not actual facts of the color genes, so if the baby is not white or fawn, it means we need to actually research the color genes in Adonis' family tree). Adonis likely is white and fawn, and since the lighter color trumps the dark one, the white or fawn will trump Kateri's brown or black gene. I personally predict a fading fawn, since Kateri seems to have multiple color offspring. But we will see how this plays out. She could have a solid white one, or even one that starts as a fading fawn and ends up white like Adonis did.

For Kateri's cria, we have been using the theme of "Native American". Kateri is the name of a Mohawk princess. The first baby she had on our farm is actually her second cria, we named her Tehya, which is Native American for precious. When she was bred to Buccaneer, we wanted a name that meant outlaw (pirate) in Native American. We settled on Pocahontas for that one (she was after all a rebel of sorts). There are a ton of Native American names to pick from.

Maddie

Maddie is the nickname for KSF Midnight Masquerade. I think of Maddie as our first baby. She wasn't born on our farm, but came to our farm right upon weaning. She was the first little one we had here. She was such a cute cria too.

Maddie is the second mom due on our farm this spring. While she is due after Sancha, it is very possible she could deliver before Sancha. Sancha tends to have long pregnancies. I've already started watching Maddie a little closer (which translates into: I sneak out to the barn to take a peek at her to see if she is in labor at various times throughout the day, and take any behavior to mean birthing is imminent). And being a maiden, we are worried how her milk will come in. We've started her on lactation herbs, to be proactive and head off any lactation problems.

This is Maddie's first time being bred. We bred her in May of 2009, when she was 20 months old. There are a lot of opinions on when to breed a girl for the first time. Most farms breed their girls somewhere between 15 and 24 months of age (sometime between age 1 and 2). Some farms set a firm rule, like when they hit 120 pounds or when they are 2 years old they will breed them. We decided to base it on each individual girl, to do what is best for her. Maddie's birthday is in September. I did not want to have her due in the fall. For one, the fall can be cold, and hard on a little one. I think that is especially hard for a maiden mom. Another reason is that each year their due date gets pushed back a bit. They are pregnant for 11 to 12 months, then rebred 2 weeks later. So if they deliver at 11.5 months exactly, and are rebred exactly 2 weeks later, they would have the same exact due date. But, many of ours go longer than 11.5 months, and sometimes they don't take on that first breeding and/or it takes longer than 2 weeks to arrange the breeding date. I guess it's possible the following year due date could move forward or stay the same, but we've found on our farm that the date moves back a bit each year. So if we bred her in September, then slowly over the years the due date would inch into October and maybe even later. It's not good in our climate to be having cria that late in the year. We knew we did not want to wait until she was 2 (in September) to breed her. We felt better with a spring birth, so we bred her last May. With a May birth, even if the due date over the years slowly inches in June it's still perfect for our climate.

We bred Maddie to Smokey, a modern dark silver grey. She did not take on her first two breedings, so she bred 3 times (this is not uncommon for a maiden, sometimes the act of breeding is what starts their cycle so they can get pregnant the next time they are bred). Another time I can go into what induced ovulaters are. We do keep in mind that it's possible she did actually take on one of the earlier breedings, so her due date could be earlier. Based on her last breeding, and based on 350 days gestation, she is due May 28th.

Due dates for alpacas can range significantly. Anywhere from 335 to 370 days is considered normal. We find most of our girls deliver pretty close to day 350 (Sancha usually a few days after, and Kateri and Victoria a few days before). We also have heard that spring cria tend to be later, and fall earlier (this may be a survival thing, in the spring it's best to wait for warmer weather, whereas in the fall it's better for the cria to be born and moving around before the cooler weather hits). Being this is spring, we figure later rather than earlier. But really, since Maddie is a maiden, we don't know what her typical is. This week she hits day 335, so it could be any day now.

Maddie is a true black, meaning her 2 color genes are black. So we know she will pass black onto her cria. Maddie has the white spot gene (notice the white spots on her extremities). She has a 50% chance of passing on the white spot gene. Now if 2 parents pass on a white spot gene, a blue eyed white (BEW) alpaca results. These are not ideal, because often they are also deaf, and possibly blind, which is a birth defect that is not responsible as a breeder to pass on. I think of a BEW as an albino. They are not *really* white. They appear white because they have no color pigment due to the genetic defect. For Maddie, this means we need to be careful in breeding her, not to allow her to be bred to an animal with a white spot (including a tuxedo grey). Smokey is a modern grey, meaning he has no white spot, and is not tuxedo. So there is no chance of creating a BEW.

The color genetics of greys isn't as clear cut as the typical 2 color gene theory (where the light color is displayed and the darker color is secondary). Not only do we not know, but even the experts don't completely understand grey.

I've heard many different theories on what should happen when a modern grey breeds (modern grey is what Smokey is considered).

I will break it into 3 theories on how the grey will factor in.

Theory One: it's all black
One theory is that a modern grey breeds like their base color, and are very unlikely to have grey offspring. This would mean Smokey is basically a black, with 2 black genes. Black bred to black should always create black:

bb x bb = bb (no matter how you do it).

So in this case, we could completely expect a black animal out of Maddie.

Theory Two: grey in the background
I just found out that Maddie's mother was created by a tuxedo light silver grey bred to a black (I love the search ARI).

Maddie is black, so she had to have gotten a black gene from each parent. But what if grey isn't a simple color, and instead attaches to another color. So, for example, if Maddie's mother passed on a black gene color with grey attached, it might not show outwardly on Maddie (it would be covered by her other black gene), but might be something she could pass on (recessive gene). If Maddie passed on a black gene with grey attached, and Smokey did the same, the cria would be a grey color. If this is the case, 2 recessive grey genes would make a grey animal (so Smokey being grey, would have 2 grey genes). In that scenario, it's possible for Maddie and Smokey to create a grey cria.

This match up would be harder to write, because the grey gene would be attached to the black. I could show this as bg (b=black and g=grey attached).
Smokey (bgbg) x Maddie (bbg) (meaning, Smokey has two black genes with grey attached and Maddie had one regular black gene and one black with grey attached)

bgbg x bbg = bgb, bgbg, bgb, bgbg
bgb = black cria
bgbg = grey cria

So in this scenario, there is a 50% chance of a black cria, and a 50% chance of a grey one.

I recently read an article stating this is not the case, grey doesn't hide and then get passed onto an offspring (it's not recessive). This article indicated that it doesn't matter that Maddie's grandparent is grey. And since this article was written by someone I have found to be quite knowledgeable, I tend to believe them over my little theory here. But, until something is proven, I still look to it as a possibility.

Theory Three: Black and Grey
Another theory on how this work is that Smokey has a black color gene and a grey color gene. In this scenario, if Smokey passes on black, the cria will be black, if Smokey passes on grey, then the cria will be grey. Maddie would always pass on black.
Smokey (bG) x Maddie (bb)=
bG x bb = bb, Gb, Gb, bb
bb= black cria
Gb= grey cria

In that scenario, there is a 50% chance of black, and a 50% chance of grey.

This is actually how tuxedo grey does work. Each breeding has a 50% chance of the grey being passed on. This has been observed in the offspring.

In modern greys, they are not finding that they have 50% grey offspring like the tuxedo. But, they do have some grey cria, so it's more than the 1st scenario. The second scenario doesn't seem to hold up either, though. That also gave 50% chance of grey. I think that the modern grey color is newer and only recently become popular. I think it will take some time for them to figure out how this all works.

To be honest, I am not sure which theory I believe to be true. All along we've sort of assumed that Maddie's baby will be black, because we know the modern greys are less likely to produce grey. But we left it open that the cria *could* be grey. I am curious to learn more about how grey genetics work. We have several modern greys, so I know we will see and learn at lot first hand in the next couple of years. We also keep up on what other people are seeing and learning on their farm, and in the study of alpaca genes.

With any of these outcomes, (because Maddie has a white spot) there is a 50% chance of this cria having a white spot. There is always a 50% chance of a male cria and 50% for a female cria. So, if we say the outcome is 75% black and 25% grey (which is what people claim they are seeing with the modern greys), that also translates into:
37.5% black with white spot
37.5% black solid (no white spot)
12.5% grey with white spot
12.5% grey (no white spot)

Based on how Maddie has been acting, I don't think it will be long before we see this cria first hand and know for sure what color, and sex, it is.

What I think is nature's cruelty is that about the time a girl is due with her first cria, is about the time they lose their teeth and their adult teeth come in. So here is Maddie, with spit lip, and her teeth starting to come back in:



This will be Maddie's first baby. For her offspring, we are planning to use the theme of "mystery darkness and night". This could be names like: Phantom, Midnight Moon, Shooting Star or something along those lines. I am a little worried as the years go by we might have to stretch this one a bit. But it seemed fitting for a girl named Midnight Masquerade, who's sire (father) is Midnight Rider, given the fact we most likely will breed her to dark males for dark offspring.

Sancha

Our only resident pool user:



Our first due female, this season, is Sancha. Sancha is twelve years old. She is white, with a good size fawn spot on one side. We've heard different meanings to that spot. Some believe it means her secondary color is fawn (every alpaca has 2 color genes, one they display, the other is their secondary color that they do not show, but could pass onto an offspring). Others believe the spot is not at all related to the secondary color but instead is a dark spot gene. There is another theory that she could be a fawn animal with a big white spot. I have also heard that dams with these fawn spots are more likely to have grey offspring. While those studying alpaca color genetics know quite a bit, there is still some things they don't know for sure. We tend to believe the dark spot gene theory, but we think in Sancha's case, it just so happens that her secondary color likely is fawn (which wouldn't be the case for every alpaca, just so happens to be for her). If this is a dark spot gene, then 50% of the time Sancha should pass on this dark spot. We have first hand experience with 3 of Sancha's offspring. Sommerfield did not have a fawn spot, Lightning did, Lily did not. (Lightning's fawn spot is on his chest, so it seems it can show up anywhere on the alpaca). That seems to fit that she would pass it on some of the time.



Each alpaca has 2 color genes, one they get from their dam (mother) and one they get from their sire (father). Of these 2 colors, only one shows on the outside of the alpaca (dominant color, or primary color). The lighter color is primary, so their secondary color is always a darker color. When they become a parent, they pass one of these genes onto their cria (children). Each time they have a cria, they have a 50% chance of passing on their primary color, and a 50% chance of passing on their secondary color. For most of our alpacas, we know what their secondary color has to be. If you look at their parents and their offspring (if there are any) you can often easily figure out what it has to be. For example, if they have a black parent, they have to get a black gene from that parent, because black is only created by 2 black genes (otherwise the lighter color would be displayed). Even if their parents are two whites, you can figure out what the secondary colors are, if you have enough information on their parents and enough offspring.

With Sancha we aren't completely sure what her secondary color is. Sancha's parents are white and fawn. She is white, so she had to have gotten a white gene from her father. From her mother she either got fawn, or whatever her mother's secondary color is. While writing this post, I decided to try and figure it out. Sancha's mother is an import, which makes it hard to research her to find out what her secondary color is. We don't know her parents. I pulled up a list of her offspring off of ARI (very handy to be able to access that). I discovered that Sancha's mom has had 7 registered offspring. 6 are white (she was bred to white most of the time). One of her offspring is a true black (she was bred to a true black). This means Sancha's mother's secondary color is black. The only way to get black is to have 2 black genes, so she had to pass on a black gene to that offspring. So Sancha either received a fawn gene from her mother, or a black.

Sancha has had 7 cria, 6 of which are white. The other is a Dark Rose Grey. Now, having never seen this dark rose grey, I can't say with 100% certainty if this rose grey is a brown or a fawn base (animals are not always registered exactly right, a dark rose grey should be brown base, but it's hard to know how accurate all this is). That is actually critical in figuring out Sancha's secondary color. If this rose grey is a fawn base, then Sancha's secondary color is fawn. If it is a brown base, then Sancha's secondary color is black (the brown from the dark rose grey would be from the sire who was a dark rose grey himself, then black would be this cria's secondary color). We believe Sancha's secondary color to be fawn, but can't be 100% sure. We won't know unless she has a black cria, proving her secondary color to be black. Or, if she has a fawn when the male is darker, it would prove her secondary color is fawn.

Statistically each time Sancha is bred, she has a 50% chance of passing on a white gene (which would be dominate and would be the cria's color), and her secondary color 50% of the time. With her having had so many white cria, we can't pull out for sure what her secondary color is.

Sancha is currently bred to Apollo. He is light brown (note, the light/medium/dark of the color shade doesn't factor into the 2 color gene issue, it could be any shade of that color, if you have a brown gene, it could display as light/medium/dark differently in each animal in the family tree, all that matters is the fact it's brown). Apollo's mother is white, but has a brown as her secondary color. Apollo's primary color, brown, he got from his mother. Apollo's father is black, so he had to have passed on a black gene to Apollo. This means Apollo's secondary color is black. Apollo could pass on a brown (B) or black (b) gene. Both of which should be darker than Sancha's white and fawn (likely secondary color).

So we have bred (I'll use a lower case b=black because it's not dominate, and to differentiate it from (B)rown. W=white, F=fawn):

Using basic algebra (or you could do those squares they teach in high school genetics)
Apollo (Brown and black) x Sancha (White and Fawn) =
Bb x WF = BW, BF, bW, or bF

Remember the lighter color trumps the darker color so:
BW = white (Brown gene and White gene means the White primary)
BF = fawn
bW = white
bF = fawn

This means we have a 50% chance of a white cria, and a 50% chance of a fawn cria.

Now if we are wrong on Sancha's secondary color, and it is actually black (which it could be, right now we have no proof either way), the colors change for this expected cria. Instead it would be:

Apollo (Brown and black) x Sancha (White and black) =
Bb x Wb = BW, Bb, bW, or bb
BW = white
Bb = brown
bW = white
bb = black

So, if we get a white cria this year, we will know nothing more about Sancha's secondary color. But if we get a fawn, we know, for sure, her secondary color is fawn. If we have a brown or black cria, we will know that Sancha's secondary color is black. I can't wait to see!

Sancha is due the end of May. We set her due date at day 350 because we've found she usually delivers a few days after that (day 356 or so). She has now had 2 cria born at our farm, both were born just after day 350, and both were over 20 pounds. We expect the same from her this year.

With each of our breeding girls, we pick a theme to name all of their cria. Sancha's theme is: nature. So far we have named: Sancha's White Lightning, and Snow Lily by Lord Stanley. After Lighting and Lily, I almost think we have an L theme going too!

Shearing Information

If anyone is interested in seeing our alpaca shearing, you are welcome to stop by. It is this Saturday, May 15th. We are doing our shearing along with Ashton Stone Alpacas at their farm. The address is:

2345 W. 112th St.
Grant, MI 49327

The plan is to start at 8 a.m. and go until we are done (maybe 1 p.m. or so, hard to know for sure).

Mothers

For Mother's Day I can't help but think of our expectant alpaca mothers. We have 4 bred females on our farm this year. Three are proven, experienced moms: Sancha, Kateri and Victoria. And for the first time we have a pregnant maiden, Maddie.

This week on my blog I'm going to focus a post on each individual alpaca mom (dam), to celebrate each of them. And since cria season is upon us, there is so much to think about, I'm sure I'll fill a nice long post on each of them :) Sancha will be first, and I will post that on Monday.

To keep up with other happenings on our farm, keep watch of the Upcoming Events.

Shearing is NEXT WEEKEND!
Then the next week is the NATIONAL show!

So much excitement to come.

more.... about the oil spill

I found this arcticle, where they even mention alapca :) I do think this is an excellent use for alpaca 3rds (there aren't even too many alpaca farmers who use the 3rds, in the past we've let them compost in the woods). We are working on packing up the 2nds we have in our basement from years past. With shearing coming up this coming weekend, we might as well make room in our basement for this years crop. No sense hanging onto last years 2nds that we never got around to using.

People, and Poodles, Contributing to Cleanup
By SARAH WHEATON
Published: May 5, 2010

As millions of gallons of oil float toward the Gulf Coast, tons of one eminently renewable — and absorbent — resource are being shipped in to stop it: hair.

And pantyhose.

At least 400,000 pounds of human hair and animal fur (cat, dog, sheep, alpaca), donated from salons and groomers throughout the country, are heading to warehouses in the gulf region. Volunteers plan to gather for “Boom-B-Qs” to learn how to make homemade booms stuffed with natural fiber.

According to Matter of Trust, a San Francisco environmental charity, the ridged texture that helps hair sop up natural skin oils also make it effective at catching crude. The group first started collecting hair 10 years ago, using booms and mats made of hair to help deal with a series of small spills before a major push to clean up the Cosco Busan tanker spill in 2007.

Lisa Craig Gautier, who co-founded Matter of Trust with her husband, Patrice Olivier Gautier, said the group had reached a “tipping point,” increasing its network of donors to 90,000, from 35,000 three days ago.

“It’s truly just a surge of philanthropy,” Mrs. Gautier said. “Everybody can get a haircut and donate.”

Hosiery companies are also donating remainder nylons, including 50,000 pairs from Hanes. Salons and groomers are sending hair directly to 15 collection sites, including 20,000 square feet of donated space in Fort Myers, Fla.

Amanda Richardson-Bacon, whose Clear Point, Ala., home is on Mobile Bay, came up with the idea to hold boom-construction parties with another volunteer from Mississippi. She planned to soon train about 125 people, each of whom would then host Boom-B-Qs.

Ms. Richardson-Bacon said the process was simple: Stuff hair into nylons using PVC pipe and a broom or toilet plunger. Remove pipe, tie at top.

“It looks like a giant hair sausage,” she said. “It’s very nasty looking.”

Matter of Trust has not been able to coordinate with the official response team handling the spill, so volunteers are putting out the booms themselves.

“We learned this with the hurricanes,” Ms. Richardson-Bacon said. “You can’t wait for the government or BP to come protect you.”

Week's update

When I look over this last week's blog entries, I realize there have been quite a few updates.

At the Michigan Breeder's show, Rosco ended up being quite sick. She did not place in her class and it was a horribly miserable weekend for her. Poor girl. As it turns out, Tehya did bring a virus back from the Wisconsin show. It affected several of our alpacas, despite our efforts to separate the infected ones. Like all viruses, it needed to run it's course. They are all happy and healthy now. Thank goodness that is over. Lightning placed 4th in a class of 6. There were quite a few top names in his class, including a few who have won color championships in the past. For a stacked class, he held his own.

Since we started using the DE last weekend, I have noticed a huge decrease in how many flies are in our barn and pastures. It's incredible! We will be stocking up on DE for sure.

Spot continues to seem fine, even with gulping down most of a tub of Sand Clear. He's one lucky dog!

Tehya's anxiety issues have decreased significantly. She hardly ever paces the fence line anymore, even when we are out there. I think she is slowly adjusting. I really think her issue is that she does not want to be the leader of the group, but being the oldest there, they all look to her to lead them. She's adjusting.

Naughty Dog!

Don't let his sweet face fool you - Spot has been one naughty dog lately.




First, when we were gone to the Wisconsin alpaca show, Spot ran away twice! I feel so bad for our farm sitters, who ran all over the woods, down the road, and to a lake a ways away, to chase Spot down. And the thing about Spot is that in the pasture, he is oh so loving and will be right on top of you getting any attention he can. But if he's loose, he thinks it's grand fun to see you, and run faster and further away. He can be so naughty. It seems he has discovered he can slip under our hay shelter tent. I know what a pain it is to chase my own dog down, I can only imagine the pain of chasing someone else's dog.

Then this past weekend (Sunday evening), when I turned my back for a bit, Spot ate the entire tub of Sand Clear!!! I was scared to death it was going to kill him. We worried the fiber would bind up in his intestines and cause a blockage. Or, it would give him some serious intestinal pains/issues. I was relieved to read some where on-line (some horse message board) that their vet claims you can't over dose on sand clear. I was praying that information was true. Thankfully, it's now been a few days, and Spot is fine. Though I can't say if he had intestinal problems or not, he never showed any problems, and I haven't found anything in the pasture to indicate any problems. *phew*

On Tuesday I came home from work to find a huge crater in our backyard. Spot dug the biggest hole I've ever seen. I think I could fit one of my children in it. It seem Spot is bored. We need some more excitement for him. We are adding on a new pasture and as soon as that is fenced in, he will be able to run out there. He needs it!

It's times like these when I think, do we really need a farm dog? He's a great guard, a wonderful dog (other than the naughty behavior, he is very loving to our family, we all love him to pieces) and I do like having him. We live back in the woods and I know we'd have stray dogs wander by (we did before he came here), which are the biggest threat to alpacas (most injuries to alpacas are caused by dogs that are wandering, often neighbor dogs that get bored). I also think we'd have deer come closer to the pasture, and I don't want that being that deer carry parasites that are easily transmitted to alpacas. I'd rather they stay a bit away from our pastures so no parasites are transmitted. Spot barks by the fence line, which I think keeps the deer further away (we see them from time to time, but never that close to the pasture). We sometimes hear of other wildlife nearby, that I know Spot would protect our alpacas from (like last year there was a mountain lion spotted nearby, there are sightings of coyotes and a few years back there was a bear on our private drive, wildlife is all around). Spot has killed an opossum and a mole (I found the remains in the pasture). I also feel better knowing he's there in case a stranger stops by. He won't let us load up the alpacas to take them somewhere, he surely would give a stranger a hard time. I wonder if 2 guardian dogs would be better or worse? I've heard it's better, but then I worry I'd just have 2 bored dogs.

Sand Colic

Before we even got our alpacas, we had visited a farm that warned us about sand colic. This is familiar to horse farmers. What happens is that the animal (usually a horse) will ingest too much sand and it will muck up their intestines causing colic (sore belly). Horses have died from this. A farm we visited reported that they had an alpaca die from it also. They were really mad at themselves for letting it happen, because they own horses and knew all about it. They just didn't realize it could happen to an alpaca. We live in very sandy soil (as you can see from my farm pictures, we have so much sand we can't get good grass to grow). Every time I see the alpacas try and eat grain that has spilled on the ground I worry about sand colic. We have our scroungers, who go around after gain time and pick up every morsel (notably Victoria and Spot). They must get some sand when they try and pick up that piece of grain off the ground.

We were told that using Sand Clear, like they do on horses, is a great preventative. Sand Clear is sold in most farm stores (tractor supply and such). It comes in a tub:



Inside it looks like pellet grain:



We used it a few times. It was early on in our farm career, I don't remember specifically if the animals ate it well or not. I also don't remember the dosage that we used (like with all things, for alpacas it isn't on the label, everything is off label). What I do remember is that it is supposed to be given for 7 consecutive days, every month. So that means one week a month you are giving this sand clear. It can get really expensive if used this way. Also, it isn't tested on pregnant animals, on the tub it suggests not using it on any pregnant animal. Well, then what do I do for the pregnant ones?

I have also read about using Metamucil, which has the same main ingredient, psyllium husk. Essentially it is fiber that goes through the digestive tract, collecting the sand to pull it out the other end (I know, gross). We had some (generic version) on hand so I tried this method last year.



In the future I would not buy the orange flavor kind, because I think the scent is unfamiliar to the alpacas. They sniff it quite a bit and walk away a few times before they will eat their grain with it. I believe there is an "original" one that isn't flavored and that would be better, I think. I'm also a little leery of the sugar free, because that means it has aspartame (it's listed on the label). That is something I avoided when I was pregnant, so I'm not thrilled to give that to my pregnant alpacas. But in this very small amount, I'm sure it's safe. But I do think there is a version without it, which I'd prefer to use.

Dosage (that I've read) is 1 table spoon per alpaca (this is all off label, as is just about everything with alpacas). I tried putting it on their grain dry, but that did not go over at all. The alpacas wouldn't touch their grain. And the dry powder Metamucil blew all over the place, creating a mess of sorts. So I decided to mix it with water. I mix equal water and Metamucil (here I had 7 table spoons of Metamucil mixed with 7 table spoons of water, for 7 alpacas):



Then I crumble that into the grain bowls (the mixture works to about a heaping tbs per bowl per alpaca):



Sometimes they don't eat much of it. In those cases, I gather up the bowls, and pass it out again the same for their next grain meal. Eventually they eat it. I think ours have finally gotten used to it, because when I put it out this past weekend, they ate their grain just fine. They did sniff and walk around a bit before eating, but they did eat all their grain in the end.

The nice thing about this method is that you can use it as often as you want. If you have really sandy soil, you could do this once a week. If you have hardly any sand, maybe once a month, or twice a season. Whatever works for your farm. Personally I don't use it during the winter when there is snow cover. They don't get into the sand then anyway. This was our first spring dose. Last year I did it about once a month, though given how sandy it is here, I may do it more this year. I'm planning to do it once a week and see how that works.

Oil Spill

I've recently read of a neat use for Alpaca Fiber, to clean up after an oil spill.

More information can be found here.

We do not believe that it makes sense to drill oil to make products that clean up oil spills, when we are throwing away hundreds of thousands of pounds of natural, renewable fiber each day that is far more effective and could easily be recycled and used for this purpose.

DE: Diatomaceous Earth

The first year we had alpacas, I found some DE, Diatomaceous Earth, that I had read was great to spread on poop areas to kill off parasites. My understanding of it is that it's crushed up shells that will cut up insects/worms/parasites and kill them. It is not harmful to the alpacas. Since I'm not a teacher, I'll post some quotes I found that describe it.

Here's what one site said to describe it:

100% Organic. Diatomaceous Earth is the finely ground fossils of prehistoric fresh water diatoms. Kills household and garden pests like cockroaches, ants, slugs, fleas, beetles and many other crawling insects. Works great indoors or out. Insects die within 48 hours of contact. Contains less than 0.1% Crystalline Silica. OMRI Listed for use in organic production

Another one:

Diatomaceous (die-uh-toe-may-shus) Earth, isn't dirt or earth, not even colored like it. It consists of the broken up shells of tiny critters, called diatoms, that lived long ago and died in groups so massive that they can, today, be mined and bull-dozed.

"DE", as diatomaceous earth is abbreviated, has the neat quality of killing insects (insectaside, as some say) It's perfect for natural insect control. (Unfortunately, it kills good ones, like bees and ladybugs, too, so its use shouldn't be indiscriminate.) It is 100% ecologically safe to the environment and non-poisonous to man and beast. In fact, if you've eaten anything made with flour (like Bisquick), you've eaten DE. It's used in commercial grain storage as a means of natural, poison-free, insect control.

I'm quite sure that the first year I found it at Tractor Supply. They only had it in the early spring, then they no longer had any, and I could not find it anywhere. Last year, I couldn't find it at all. When we did have it, I used it on the ground right after I scooped up poop. I figured it would kill any lingering parasite. We had no issues with parasites at all. I do think it helped. I also think it helped limit flies. I don't remember a lot of problems with flies. We have also heard of putting it in the alpaca's grain for them to eat, it is supposed to kill parasites in their intestines. The key being to make sure you buy food grade quality.

We finally found some this year at the mill in Cedar Springs. We bought two big bags:



We sprinkled it all over any place they have pooped, especially all over the older girls' shelter (those nasty girls love to poop in there). On the ground it looks like flour sprinkled about:





We need to research more into how much to put on their food, because we'd like to do that also. While it does kill parasites, it is not a chemical, so there is no worry about overuse which can lead to resistant parasites. I do love having it to spread about the poop scooped areas. It makes me feel like I'm doing something to limit parasites.

Anxiety

Last week we moved the young girls to their new shelter and paddock (their pasture is still in process. On Saturday we did pick up fence to put up, but it's not up yet.) Since moving them, we've found Tehya to be very anxious. She will stand by the fence to the other girl's area and click her tongue and hum. I took this picture from the older girls pasture, you can see Tehya and Cafe right by the fence line. Cafe is eating grain, but Tehya is just staring in:



The first few days after the move, Pocahontas was also upset, pacing at the fence line. But she seems to have calmed down. And actually, when Tehya doesn't know we are watching (we can see them from our dinning room and our bedroom window) she isn't acting that way. I've spied this:



All three of them, Tehya, Cafe and Pocahontas, are kushed in their shelter. Now I had to take that picture from our dinning room, because the second I open the door, Tehya will jump up and go to the fence line again.

I've heard that it's worse to move them if they can see through a fence line. It's actually better to be completely out of sight. So that might be part of this. I thought since they are already weaned, this wouldn't be an issue. Tehya is almost 2 years old, and been to many shows. You'd think she'd be ok being just over the fence from her mom. I also realize that when we've moved animals before, we have not only moved them out of sight, but to where we don't see them that much. Like the young weanling boys, we moved them up to the boys area. I stop by the feed them twice a day and every time we leave the house and come home we drive by them, so we do have regular contact with them. But we don't see them all the time. These girls are literally in our backyard, I can see them from where I am sitting in the house right now. So we see them constantly. For all I know, the weanling boys paced and whined for days after their move too. The only other move like this is when we moved the pregnant girls back here last spring. And if I remember right, that was difficult too. I remember Kateri standing by the gate humming and looking (I think for her baby), and Sancha was on edge. I think her issue was that she has never been in such a small herd. That move seemed difficult too, and it was the same sort of thing, where we can see them right in our backyard. We see all their behaviors. Maybe all moves are like this. It makes me sad to think they are upset. They must feel so powerless. Our plan was to make two areas, so that we can wean easier and so that the pregnant girls can have their new babies without worry about the yearlings. I know many big farms have lots of separate areas, even with fence lines that meet up. It seemed like such a good idea, until I look at Tehya there pacing and clucking. I hope they adjust to this move soon.

Typical Morning

I know I posted almost an identical morning a few weeks back. This just goes to show how typical this is.

I came out to feed our girls, and when I stepped out the back door, I could see Sancha and Victoria peer their heads out of the shelter. They are nosey creatures, and wanted to see if I was going to get grain. If so, they were going to run to the gate to greet me.



When I got the grain and brought it into their pasture, I discovered that had been a fight. Seems Maddie and Kateri got into a spit fight about something. Here they are with their spit lips:





When they were finishing up their grain, Sancha came over by where I was filling water buckets. I fill them daily and rinse them out at least every other day. About once a week I scrub out the buckets. We are lucky in that we have really good well water here. We do not have much trouble with things growing in our water. I've heard horror stories from other farms where they have to scrub water buckets everyday. When I dumped out the water to wash the buckets, Sancha tried to kush in the water:



So I filled up her new pool for her:



This is a fairly typical morning here at the farm. I do find on the weekdays, I'm in more of a rush. I also tend to be wearing dress clothing, so I limit what I do in order not to ruin my clothes (on occasion I have had to go and change clothing). My job sometimes requires my testifying in court so I do have to look professional. Alpaca spit and hay on my collar really wouldn't work :) I've tried to come up with other weekday morning routines so that I don't wear my nice clothes out to the barn and pasture, but that seems to be what works best. On the weekends, I'm more likely to fill the pool and stand out there for awhile just watching them. I love watching the cria in their belly moving around. It's not uncommon for me to go out there and feed them their morning grain, and not to make it back inside the house until lunch time.

Pregnancy Test

There are several ways to pregnancy test alpacas, however, no method it completely fool proof. I've heard of farms that do a progesterone test. From what I understand this is not that accurate, as it can indicate pregnancy, but if the alpaca absorbs the fetus, that is not detected. I've heard absorbing rates as high as 25%. Another method is the "spit test". This is where you take a girl you think is pregnant and put her in with a male to breed her. If she is not pregnant she will kush to breed. If she is pregnant, she will spit at the male and won't let him near her. Though this is not fool proof, because a girl could act pregnant when she isn't. Some girls just like to spit and might spit at the male, but not be pregnant. Farms have relied on this method only to have no cria ever be born. Another method is through ultra sound. Now this sounds like a great way to do it, but surprisingly, it is very difficult. I've heard many farms say their vet either does not offer this service, or is not very good at it so readings aren't accurate.

In our first year with alpacas, they came bred. We already had confirmed pregnancies, which resulted in Lightning, Shelby and Tehya. The second year we opted to have ultra sounds done. We are very lucky in that not only does our vet do ultra sounds, but she is very skilled at reading them. This ended up in the births of Lily, Pocahontas and Cavalier. This year we had 4 girls to bred. We opted this year to use the spit test. The benefit being it's free. The ultra sound from the vet costs about $30 plus the office visit fee. We did spit test our girls last year too, and after witnessing their breeding twice, we feel we have a good grasp of how they act when pregnant and when they are open. The exception being Maddie who is a maiden. Not only are we not sure what her behavior is, she's new to it too.

We relied on the spit test and felt confident all our girls are pregnant. This past weekend J decided to feel their bellies to see if he can feel the cria. I tried too, but he's the trained nurse, I couldn't feel anything but a round belly. He tried Maddie first. While Maddie is due (day 350) the end of this month, it's not obvious she's pregnant:



J wasn't sure if he felt anything on Maddie, so he tried all the other girls. Sancha we know has to be pregnant. Just looking at her you can see her big belly, and if you watch, you can see the cria move:



Sancha doesn't like to be touched so she did spit at us, but J could feel legs moving inside there. He predicts another very big baby for Sancha (the two she has had on our farm have been 20 and 21 pounds). He then felt Kateri. He was shocked how pregnant she feels. She isn't due until later, but he could really feel her baby. I do think she carries the baby out more than many of them. J then felt Victoria who is due last of our girls and he could feel a cria in her. Then he went back to Maddie to see if he could feel something now. We were a bit worried she might be open. He said after feeling the other three girls, he knew right where to push to get a response from the cria (if you push in the cria, it should push back). He said then he could feel the cria, so she is pregnant. The cria was more up in her ribs and hidden than the others, but he could feel some legs. He expects her cria to be smaller, more around 15 pounds (closer to average size). But then Maddie is smaller and so is the sire, Smokey.

Since we had each girl caught to feel the cria, we decided to also body score them. We are in the habit of doing this anytime we get our hands on them. The first year we didn't realize how thin Sancha had gotten. It was not a good situation. Now we body score them any chance we get to make sure any change is quickly detected. We did realize that Maddie has gotten a little thin, and Victoria has put on a little too much weight. Now we will separate them at meal times (grain). Victoria will have to eat alone (which we have done in the past, more recently I tried letting her be with the others in hopes it would work, but clearly that didn't). The skinny girls, Sancha, Kateri and Maddie will eat together now:



and Victoria will be alone so we can limit her grain:



We also are going to start giving Maddie lactation herbs (we'll start in a week or so). Being a maiden, it's common for them to be slow to get their milk in. We've heard that lactation herbs really help, so we are going to do that. We know our other three moms have plenty of milk. J already ordered the herbs and we have them ready to add to her food. I'll have to read when we need to start adding them.