Did She or Didn’t She?

I realize that I did not follow up on my post Back to the Waiting Game   where I thought our TeQueely was in the early stages of labor.

Well …… still no cria!  We were convinced that we would have a cria last Saturday following TeQueely’s uncomfortable behavior, but no cria arrived and TeQueely has been happily eating and chewing her cud since.  We can see TeQueely’s cria move and TeQueely is huge but there are now no signs of impending labor.

So I guess TeQueely’s cria was just doing some serious rearranging the other day, or for some reason changed its mind about coming out into the world.  We have had some stormy weather in the area with areas of high and low pressure appearing quite rapidly, sometimes those pressure changes will trigger labor, but not in the case of TeQueely’s cria.  That little one has decided that it is quite happy sheltered from the weather while lounging in TeQueely!

Last year TeQueely was a couple of weeks overdue in delivering her cria and that may be the case again this year.  With our temperatures really starting to heat up and highs expected in the 100’s for the rest of the week I am hoping that TeQueely does not go too long past her due date.

Still there is nothing we can do but sit and wait for an uneventful labor that results in a beautiful healthy cria.  I’ll keep you posted!

Rosemary

Au Revoir Shiimsa and Rio

Shiimsa and Rio

Sunday saw the departure of Shiimsa and Rio from our farm.  Their new owner Terri Faver collected them so that they could start their new life at Terri’s farm, Almost Canyon Ranch in Canyon, Texas.

Shiimsa is a little bit of a nervous girl and so we gave her some Rescue Remedy to help relax her during her move and also gave both Shiimsa and Rio some MSE Probiotic and Enzyme drench to help their digestive systems adjust to the change in their surroundings.

Shortly after we had finished morning chores we loaded Shiimsa and Rio into Terri’s trailer and they were on their way.  The day was a nice cool one, ideal for traveling alpacas.  Shiimsa showed some concern by humming as we loaded her up, but what she didn’t realize was that once she arrived at her new home she would be reunited with Anya and Serenity who Terri had also purchased from us.  As far as Rio was concerned as long as his dam was there all was okay, I am sure he will miss playing with our other crias, but hopefully Serenity will feel still young enough to join in with his cria games.

What Shiimsa and Rio were also unaware of was that they will soon have access to grass pasture, as Terri has been working hard to get her pastures set up so that the alpacas can go out and graze.  Now that will make them happy!

So we said our farewells to Shiimsa and Rio, but it was really more a case of Au Revoir as we will be seeing them next weekend when we take Regent and Zin over to Terri’s ranch next weekend to breed Anya and Shiimsa.

Rosemary

Back to the Waiting Game

With five crias on the ground and pronging around the pasture we are back to playing the waiting game for cria number six.

Our special alpaca TeQueely (see her story on the blog entry for December 6, 2007 ) is due to delivery any day now, as I write this blog entry she is sitting in the pasture showing a little discomfort and definite puffiness under the tail.  It’s a little late in the day for a cria to be born (it is close to 4 p.m. as I am writing), but not unheard of.    I can see a lot of movement at the base of TeQueely’s tail as if the cria is stretching out its legs one last time before making his or her appearance.  Quite often when you see that much activity under the dams tail the cria will be born in the next day or so.

My suspicion is that TeQueely is in the very early stages of labor.  Often those very early stages are unobserved and the alpaca will continue to eat and move around the pasture looking quite normal.  Sometimes those early stages will occur overnight when most of us humans are not taking a stroll around the pasture. 

It would not surprise me if we get up tomorrow morning (or this morning to those reading this blog entry when it posts) to find TeQueely with a cria by her side.   We have a frontal system moving into the area this afternoon and the change in pressure can often trigger a birth not only in alpacas but also in humans.

For now I will keep TeQueely under observation and will check on her late into the night.  I would rather lose a few hours sleep than miss an alpaca having a problem delivery.  In all probability though TeQueely will deliver her cria just fine and we will have something extra to celebrate on July 4, Independence Day.

Until then it’s back to the waiting game!

Rosemary

A Special Little Girl Arrives

 

Here's Moonbeam!

After our recent run of boy crias we were starting to wonder if we would have any girl crias this cria season.  On Tuesday June 23, Ivanna answered that question for us when she delivered a beautiful white female cria – finally a girl!

Ivanna’s little girl has bright shiny white fleece with lots of little bundles and she looks to have good fiber coverage all the way to her toes.

We didn’t get to see Ivanna’s cria being born as she was already delivered and sitting sternal when we went to check on the girls first thing in the morning.  I think our girls are being extra smart this year delivering their babies early in the day before the heat hits us.  With temperatures in the high 90’s to 100’s the days have been hot and now we have had some rain there is some humidity added in to the mix creating a higher heat index.  Usually our girls are pretty predictable in delivering their crias between 10 a.m. and 2 p.m., but this year we have now had two of the girls deliver early in the morning when the air is still cool.

Ivanna’s little cria was none the worse for her unsupervised delivery, she was quick to get up on her feet and she was hungry!  We put Ivanna and her cria in a pen in the shade to allow them time to bond and then continued with our chores.

I like to think that all of our crias are special, but this little female cria is extra special.  Not just because she is our only female cria this year, but also because she is the last cria from our herdsire Moonie who passed away in April.  Moonie only has four offspring, three of which are males (including our Little Man), so our little girl will be the only female Moonie offspring and I suspect she will not be going far from our farm.

It wasn’t hard to name our new little girl, I wanted to include something in her name that would reference Moonie and with her bright white fleece a name immediately sprung to mind.  So say hello to Windrush Moonbeam our extra special little girl.

Rosemary

Meconium Matters

 

Meconium or rather the passing of meconium from a cria really does matter, a point that was reinforced at the farm recently.

Following the birth of Shiimsa’s cria Rio all seemed well.  We found a good sized meconium plug in the pasture the following day, Rio was lively and alert and gaining about a pound a day.

The following day though Rio had a large weight gain, Shiimsa was producing lots of milk so the large weight gain was not too out of keeping with our expectations.  Rio was still looking good, running around the pasture with the other crias despite the high temperatures.  I kept and eye on the crias throughout the day for signs of overheating and was pleased to see them taking frequent breaks in the shade, napping and nursing from their dams.

At evening chores though it was apparent something was not right with Rio.  He was squatting funnily with his rear end.  I watched him, he did not appear to be straining to poop, but Rio was obviously uncomfortable.  In addition to the squatting, Rio would also hang his head down and then eventually cush – he was not a happy cria.

Having seen the meconium plug in the pasture we were dubious that a blockage from meconium was the problem, but whatever the problem was it was bothering Rio’s hindquarters.

We took Rio’s temperature and it was slightly elevated, but in a young cria even a slight elevation can be a red flag. 

Of course Rio’s problem appeared outside of the hours of the veterinary clinic, while his condition did not appear life threatening it was concerning.

Our first suspicion was that Rio perhaps despite us having found a meconium plug in the pasture Rio had retained a piece of meconium.  This would prevent him from being able to poop properly and could cause him discomfort, it might also explain the larger than normal weight gain.  We gave a shot of banamine to help keep his temperature down and to help him relax, we then gave him an enema to see if he would pass anything.  The banamine seemed to provide Rio with some relief and a little while after the enema was administered he stood up and started to strain.  First Rio passed a black thin sticky stream that did look like meconium, and then he passed a much harder lump.  This harder lump was about the size of a large peanut, but it was definitely hard and large enough to have caused a blockage.  Once that hard lump had passed Rio continued to pass what appeared to be normal fecal matter.

It took a couple of hours before Rio was looking truly at ease again, but by the morning he was back to his usual self, chasing around the pasture and nursing up a storm.

Our thoughts are that a small piece of Rio’s meconium did not pass when he passed his meconium plug.  That small piece was enough to prevent Rio from being able to pass poop and as he ran around in the heat he became a little dehydrated making that piece of meconium hard and not easy to pass. 

It is always important to monitor young crias to make sure that they pass the meconium plug; sometimes it is hard to find the plug in the pasture especially if you have long grass.  Often once the cria has passed the plug you will see some evidence of fecal matter on the crias rear, but not always.  A crias behavior can let you know a lot about how he or she is feeling which is why it is important to get to know your crias.  If a lively happy cria starts to become lethargic or uncomfortable that cria is trying to tell you that all is not well. 

We were fortunate that Rio’s problem was easily fixed, if he had not shown improvement as quickly as he did we would have called out the vet, even after hours.  Crias can deteriorate quickly when they are not well and often time is of the essence when it comes to treating sick crias.  In Rio’s case meconium certainly mattered – even if it was just a little piece causing the problem.

 Rosemary

Next Please!

Shiimsa and her cria Rio

With Queen, Chai and Rosie all having had their crias we still had Shiimsa, Ivanna, TeQueely and Willow to go. 

Shiimsa is now owned by Terri Faver of Almost Canyon Ranch.  Shiimsa is one of Terri’s first alpacas and is her first pregnant dam, so Terri has been anxiously awaiting the birth of Shiimsa’s cria.  With Shiimsa being so far along with her pregnancy when Terri purchased her it was decided that Shiimsa would stay with us until after she delivered her cria.

On June 18 we thought Shiimsa was in labor and so called Terri to let her know.  Terri was able to take time off from work and come over for the day, but alas it turned out to be a false alarm and no cria arrived.

On June 21 though it was a different story.  Following chores Ric and I noticed Shiimsa stretched out beside the hay wagon.  Shiimsa typically spends a lot of her day at the hay wagon, but she rarely stayed there to stretch out or sunbathe, so to see her lying beside the hay wagon was a clue that she might have started labor.

We watched Shiimsa for a while and we could see that this time she really was in labor.  I called Terri who was taking part in a horse show that day and left her a voicemail to let her know that Shiimsa was in labor.  A short while later I received a call back from Terri, she had finished showing her horse and so was leaving the horseshow to take her horse home and then head our way.

By the time I spoke to Terri I could just about see the birthing sack starting to emerge.  Progress was a little slow, but Shiimsa is a maiden alpaca and so her body had to do some new stretching to accommodate the progression of the cria.   I decided to go into the house to collect my birthing kit, towels and other supplies, thinking I had several minutes before the cria was born.

By the time I had gathered my supplies I could see two little legs flapping around behind Shiimsa.  From her earlier slow progress Shiimsa had gathered speed and the cria was nearly fully emerged! 

I made it to Shiimsa just as her cria landed on the ground.  I moved the cria onto a clean blanket and started to dry it off and then checked to see whether the cria was a boy or a girl – it was another boy and another handsome boy at that.

Shiimsa’s cria is either bay black or black and has an unbelievably soft handle to his fleece.  His fleece is crimpy, shiny, fine and dense – what more could you ask for in such a dark male alpaca.

We knew Terri had been hoping for a girl, but once she arrived and saw her new cria she was very happy with him.  Terri already had a name picked out for him – “Rio”.
It is sometimes hard to tell the quality of a young cria, so much can change as they grow up, but little Rio is already showing a lot of potential.  Conformationally he is well put together and with that spectacular fleece I see the words “Color Champion” in Rio’s future.  If that is the case Rio will be following in the footsteps of his sire Windrush Jennifer’s Zindel as well as his grandsire Dom Lucilio and his great grandsires Royal Fawn and Acero Marka’s Champ.

Shiimsa has proved to be an excellent mother; she is very attentive to Rio and gets quite distressed when he is out of her sight.  Shiimsa also has lots of milk, a great trait for a female alpaca.  I think Shiimsa has given Terri a great new addition to her alpaca herd.

Ric and I will look forward to seeing Rio grow and mature, we will be making a point to monitor this young male’s show and breeding career, but that is all in the future, for now we will have fun to watching him gallop around the pasture with the other spring crias. 

Rosemary

Between Puppies and Crias

Rosie's New Cria

Life has been more hectic than usual on the farm.  Our puppy Blue keeps us busy with her need for play and exercise as well as constant vigilance to work on her housetraining.  She’s a smart girl but we do have to remember she is only 9 weeks old.  The alpaca girls have also been keeping us busy as the crias continue to arrive.

Following Chai’s surprise cria the next dam to present us with a cria was Rosie.   Rosie was due to have her cria at the end of May/early June but instead decided to hold on to that cria for a little longer and did not deliver until June 17.  Once the cria was born we knew why she had waited those extra days, she needed time to make the extra bit to make that cria a boy!  Yes, another boy and certainly this seems to be a boy year.

Rosie’s boy is out of our herdsire Treasure so we were not surprised that this little guy was white.  With both Rosie and Treasure being white the chances of a white cria were high.  Rosie’s cria has that same broad Treasure forehead that Queen’s cria has, and as Rosie herself has a broad forehead she probably contributed some in that department too.  It did mean that Ric and I winced a little as Rosie pushed out her cria, delivering that head took an extra hard push – but Rosie had a normal and unassisted delivery, which was a good thing.

While we own Rosie and Treasure this particular cria does not belong to us as we had leased out Rosie to our friend’s Bob and Regina Dart of Llano Soleado Alpacas.  Regina loves Rosie’s coverage and stylish head and knew I was not prepared to sell her and so we made an agreement that we would lease Rosie to the Darts meaning that her cria was theirs once it was born.  Of course the cria will stay at our farm with Rosie until he is weaned, but it was a great arrangement where we could allow someone to access Rosie’s outstanding genetics without losing her from our herd.

Rosie’s cria is a handsome young man, with nice sturdy bone, a compact body and a stylish head, but what you can’t see from the picture is the crimpy, brilliant white shiny fleece that lies under those cria tips.  Bob and Regina are going to have fun showing this little boy when he comes of age, even in the competitive white male alpaca classes.

Now all we need is a name for the little guy – but I know Regina is busy working on that!

Rosemary

A Surprise in More Ways Than One!

Chai's Surprise Cria

Tuesday brought us a pleasant surprise.  Ric had an appointment in the morning and checked on the girls before he left.  I checked on the girls before I walked the dogs, checked on the girls again before I finished the chores in the boy’s pens and then went into the girl’s pens to turn on the fans before I let Blue out of the house for a potty break.  I was thinking that after I had seen to Blue I could return to feed the girls.

Instead a surprise awaited me as I walked around the corner of the shelter, for there on the floor was a black male cria, cushed and almost dry!  There were several girls in the shelter, but it only took a couple of seconds for me to see that Chai (her real name is AB IYIYI but we always call her Chai) was the mother of the cria.

Chai was just two days prior to her due date so for her to deliver a cria was not really a surprise.  What was surprising was that she had not shown us any signs of being in labor.  No sitting around, no frequent visits to the poop pile, no getting up and down to strain.  Chai had simply delivered her cria very quickly and apparently with minimal effort.  The cria look strong and healthy and Chai was looking surprising undisturbed by her recent delivery!

The other part of the surprise is that the cria is black, as the cria’s sire is our Enchantment’s Prince Regent who is white.  While Regent has thrown a black cria out of a black dam in the past, we had thought that we would get a cria who was fawn or lighter from his pairing with Chai. That’s the fun of alpaca color genetics, you never really know what you are going to get!

Chai’s cria is a handsome boy, tall like his dam with tightly curled shiny fleece.  At the moment he looks to be more of a bay black than a true black, but Chai’s previous cria Kaneka started off being a bay black and was true black by the time she was six months old.  This little boy is darker than Kaneka was so I feel he too may well be more true black as he matures.

It’s always nice to have pleasant surprises and when you find a healthy, good looking cria waiting for you along with a dam who has had an easy delivery it makes for a really good start to the day.  Within a short while Chai’s cria was up and about checking out his legs and then nursing from his dam  – while Queen’s cria sat outside the pen where we had put Chai and her cria anxiously awaiting the time when he could play with the new arrival!

Rosemary

We Have New Additions!

The last few days have brought new additions to the farm, all four legged of course.  But our first new addition is not an alpaca.

Meet Blue our Miniature Australian Shepherd puppy!

Our New Puppy Blue

Blue is just over 8 weeks old and was born April 18th.  Coincidentally our dear Toby who passed away recently was also born in April and so we are hoping that is a good omen.

Following Toby’s death the house seemed very empty without his happy, fun personality.  We decided to start looking for another housedog and were hoping to adopt another Pomeranian, but that was not to be.  We did find one Pomeranian available for adoption in another part of the state but the rescue organization ended up adopting him out to someone in their area. Responsible rescue groups require a home visit, which would not have been a problem except the only other Pomeranians available for adoption were in other states and the rescue organizations did not want to spend their limited funds on out of state home visits.  Understandable, but disappointing all the same.

We did check local rescue groups but did not find a dog that seemed right for us, nothing clicked between us and the small dogs available for rescue.

Our friend Val Smith of Double Diamond Alpacas has a Miniature Australian Shepherd “Charlie” (actually he belongs to her daughter Allie) and we had been quite taken with Charlie when we met him.  He is a very sweet dog and seemed to have that happy personality we were looking for.

We discovered that there was a litter of Miniature Australian Shepherd puppies for sale about 2 hours from us and so last Sunday took the drive to take a look at the litter.  If truth be known Ric would have been quite happy to take the mother dog Morgan.  Ric and Morgan hit it off immediately, but Morgan was not for sale.  It is always good to see the parents of a litter of pups and we were impressed with how smart and fun Morgan was.  After much deliberation we picked out Blue, it was so hard just to pick one cute ball of fur!  If we had not had Missy and Tripster at home we might well have taken two pups, but we thought it best that we pick out just one.

For an 8 week old puppy Blue is pretty impressive, she has already started to tell us when she needs to go outside for a potty break (we just have to be attentive to her signals) and when she is in a playful mood she will play fetch with the tiny ball we have brought her.  At night Blue sleeps in her crate and with the exception of the second night when she did whine a little she is quiet during the night.  Blue is a fun pup to have around and has easily adapted to our routine. Blue loves to trot at my heels when we are outside, she has not tried to nip my heels or herd me (Australian Shepherds can be prone to doing that and need to be discouraged from trying to herd humans) and she just loves to be with us.  In the evenings she is content to play a little and sit with us or lie in her crate snuggled up in a blanket we brought her.

Blue will not get to be very big, no more than 14 inches at the shoulder.   As of right now she is only 8 inches tall at the shoulder and can’t weigh more than a couple of pounds!

And the reason for the name “Blue”?  Well it is mainly because the children of the breeder had already given her that name.  With her Blue Merle coat and her bright blue eyes the name seemed appropriate and she answers to it!  Her registered name will most likely be a little longer, but not much as the National Stock Dog Registry where she will be registered request that you keep the name short and not include reference to the sire or dam’s name (how different from alpaca names!).

Life with Blue will be much different than life with Toby, we cannot replace Toby but we can enjoy the fun and love that Blue promises to bring us and look forward to her being a big part of our lives for many many years.

Rosemary

Timing is everything!

 

There is good news to report from the farm, but it really would be best announced with pictures and my photo editing software has crashed.

So until I can reinstall the software or find something else to do the job I will just have to keep you in suspense.  Who knows by the time I get everything working again there may even be more good news.

Until then its back to looking for my photo software installation disk!

Rosemary