Wild and Whacky Weather

This past week we have experienced some beautiful spring weather.  Our town is still cleaning up the devastation of last Friday’s tornado and the warm calm weather has been most welcome to those working at the tornado sites.  This Friday however was a different story, having been told that on Thursday a cold front with more stable air would be moving into the area we were prepared to things to cool off a little.  Indeed Thursday brought us a day with slightly cooler temperatures, but then today things changed completely.  Whereas last Friday brought us a tornado this Friday brought us snow!  Big flakes of fluffy white snow that fell rapidly – whatever next!

The alpacas cushed down as the snow fell, once alpacas are cushed their fleece acts as a vacuum seal to the area that they are sitting on and helps them to create a warm spot where they lie.  On a frosty morning once the alpacas start moving around you will see what a friend of ours calls “alpaca eggs” – egg shaped frost-free areas on the ground where the alpacas have been sitting overnight.

Rebecca’s cria got to experience her first snow and also got to keep her cria coat on all day.  Our daytime high was supposed to be 39 F but the best our thermometer showed all day was 36 F.  With a cria so small around the farm we were concerned that she not be allowed to get too cold, so her coat stayed on all day and we put down deep straw in the shelters so that she could cush down in the straw and stay warm when she felt the need.  Rebecca is a bit of an independent alpaca and tends to sit out on her own quite a bit, so there were a couple of times that we carried her cria back into the shelter to make sure she at least got some time out of the wind and cold.  As the sun set the temperature fell and so that evening the little cria got to wear two cria coats to keep her warm.  A late night check showed us that she was not shivery and was cushed in a shelter so all was well for the evening.

While the weather brought us a little extra work, it was really no more than a bit of an inconvenience, for those working at the tornado sites it was a different story.  Their job is tough enough without throwing snow and cold into the mix.  The tornado victims are starting to realize their true situation, many of them have nothing left but the clothes they were wearing that night and the few personal items they have been able to salvage from the wreckage of their homes.   There is still a long road ahead for these people; the wheels of government aid agencies and insurance companies turn slowly.  The Red Cross, Salvation Army and the United Way are doing their best to help but the situation puts a large strain on their resources.  Today again a request for volunteers to help those agencies was put out, along with a request for more donations.

If you are reading this and would like to help the tornado victims of Clovis, New Mexico there are a couple of web sites that are able to accept your donation they are as follows:

 http://www.redcross.org 

 www.unitedwayenm.org  

Donations can also be mailed to The Salvation Army, P.O. Box 900, Clovis, NM 88101.

Please indicate at the time of making your donation that you wish it to be used for the tornado victims of Eastern New Mexico.

Additionally the Clovis Animal Shelter is currently housing many pets that have been recovered since the tornado. Our animal shelter is not large and it is expected that the longest they will be able to keep these pets is two weeks.  If you would like to make a donation toward extending the stay of the recovered animals please call the Clovis Animal Shelter on (505) 769 7893 to make arrangements for your donation.

Whether you donate $1 or $1,000, those affected by the tornado, both two-legged and four-legged will be most appreciative of your donation.

 Rosemary

The First 24 Hours

The first 24 hours of a cria’s life are very important.  During that time the cria is having it’s first encounters with the big wide world while the cria’s body is starting to function for the first time on it’s own.

As soon as the cria is born we start our assessment of it.  After years of birthing crias this is now a natural series of observations, but for the first several crias we kept a check list handy to make sure we covered all the essential points.

We like to make our observations with as little disruption to the dam and cria as possible in order to give them the opportunity to bond.  We watch and listen for things such as a low or high body temperature, labored breathing and the activitiy level of the cria.

Unlike humans alpaca crias do not exchange immunoglobulins (antibodies) with the dam prior to being born.  At the moment of birth they are totally dependant on the dam for their initial antibody protection.  The cria will obtain his or her antibody protection from the first milk or colostrum that the dam produces.  For only a short period of time after birth the cria’s intestines are premeable and allow the immunoglobulins to be absorbed into the cria’s system.  So colostrum is a very important thing to our alpaca crias, which is why we focus on getting our dams to produce good quantities of high quality colostrum.

We always check the dam after birthing to make sure she does have a good supply of milk for the cria.  We remove the wax caps from the dams teats and squeeze a little drop of colostrum onto each one to help the cria scent his or her way to the teats.

One of the main sources of infection in alpaca crias is through the umbilical stump, so once we are happy that the cria is healthy and vigorous we dip the cria’s naval in a 7% iodine solution.  We typically will do this at least three times in the first twelve hours.  We also check to make sure that the umbilical cord is not bleeding and that the cria does not have an umbilical hernia.

Another thing we watch for is the passing of the meconium plug.  The meconium plug is the material that was digested by the cria during development.  Typically meconium is darker than the crias regular feces will be while nursing.  The majority of crias pass the meconium plug without problem, but if it does not get passed and the cria becomes impacated it can cause problems.  If we suspect that the cria has become impacted we will administer a mild dish soap and warm water enema

Weight gain is another important factor in monitoring a crias health.  Healthy alpaca crias should gain at least 0.25 lbs. a day or more. We have had several that gain 0.75 lbs a day.  We weigh our crias daily until they get to 25 lbs at which point we weigh them every other day until they reach 30 lbs.  at that point they are weighed monthly like the rest of the herd.

Crias should nurse for a good 2-3 minutes every hour or so, if you see your cria trying to nurse frequently it could be a sign that he or she is not getting enough milk.  If you see this type of behaviour and your cria is losing weight then you most likely have a problem on your hands and will need to feed the cria supplemental milk.

There really is quite a lot to watch out for in those first crucial 24 hours of a crias life, fortunately there are several books available that detail what to watch out for and what to do if you think you have a problem.  These books are invaluable, mine are well used and well read but have paid for themselves many times over.

Rebecca’s little cria that was born on Wednesday is showing all signs of being a healthy cria, she nurses well, is stong and vigorous and had gained 0.7 lbs in weight the day after her birth.  We have had the vet out to draw blood from her for an IgG test, a BVD test and for her DNA registration card.  I fully expect the test results to all come back as good. 

We will continue to keep a close eye on Rebecca’s cria as like all new borns she is a little vulnerable, but hopefully she will not encounter any problems and we will be rewarded with the sight of her playing and growing.

Rosemary

Surprise – it’s your birthday!

Well finally the day arrived – yesterday (Wednesday) at 2:20 pm Rebecca delivered her cria.

Rebecca did not show too many signs first thing in the morning that she might be about to have her cria.  We did notice that right after feeding she took herself over to the other side of the pasture and sat away from the other girls.  We had checked her udder during feeding and it was not really enlarged, but Rebecca’s behaviour made us keep a close watch on her during the morning.

By 1 p.m. we were pretty certain that Rebecca was in the early stages of labor.   With some of my girls I can stay close to them throughout the birthing process but Rebecca is a little more wary of people and so we watched her from the living room window using a pair of binoculars.  Unfortunately it turned really windy this afternoon, but Rebecca is a smart girl and headed off into one of the shelters to deliver her cria.

The birthing presentation of the cria was normal and by 2:20 pm the cria was fully delivered – a beautiful 16.1 lb. chocolate brown female cria.  We dried her off using a towel, which also helped stimulate her too.  Rebecca’s cria is strong and appears healthy, within 30 minutes of being born she was standing and looking to find the milk bar (Rebecca’s udder).   Once everything calmed down we called Rebecca’s owners and gave them the good news.  They were thrilled that everything went well with the birthing and that they are now the proud owners of another female alpaca.  I am sure they will be paying us a visit soon to see thier new girl.

Rebecca has handled the birthing process really well and is proving to be an excellent mother.  She has great milk and stands still to allow her cria to nurse.  She also gets concerned if her cria gets too far away from her.

We always leave new dams and their cria in a small pen for the first 3 – 4 hours following birth to allow them time to bond.  It also gives us a good opportunity to make sure that the cria is nursing well and that there are no problems with the cria.   After the bonding period we let the dam and her new cria out into the herd and the other alpacas in the pasture will all crowd around taking it in turns to check out the new arrival.  The llamas too will come over and see what all the fuss is about.

By last night Rebecca’s cria seemed to be doing well, we put a cria coat on her as it was a little chilly outside and we didn’t want her to spend valuable energy on keeping warm.   

We will now start the routine of weighing Rebecca’s cria every morning to ensure she is getting adequate milk.  Later today our vet will be out to draw blood from the cria for an IgG test, BVD test and for her registration DNA card.

So it was an exciting day today, you really can’t beat being present at the delivery of a new life and watching a cria draw it’s first breath and take it’s first steps.

All crias are special, but this little girl and I share a common bond for today was my birthday too!  While I don’t own this cria being present at her birth was a pretty neat birthday present – Happy Birthday little girl, may your life be as full and happy as mine is!

Rosemary

Making The Most Of Things

Through our years of experience with alpacas we have come to understand that nutrition is a major key to healthy, productive alpacas.  Your nutrition program will vary depending on where in the world you are, so what we feed here in New Mexico may not be the right mix for an alpaca breeder in another part of the country.  We really feel it is worth the time, effort and expense to have your hay, pastures and water tested and to have any grain or minerals you feed to your herd adjusted to create a good nutritional balance.

We have used a probiotic with our feed for several years now.  Prior to becoming a full time alpaca rancher I worked for a large dairy and saw the beneficial effects of probiotics on dairy calves, to me it was a natural step to include probiotics in our alpaca feed program.

Two years ago I was introduced to a probiotic product called MSE.  In addition to it’s probiotic qualities MSE contains certain enzymes and minerals that help improve the digestibility of the feed.

I had heard from several alpaca breeders about the positive effects of MSE on their alpacas and decided to try it.  I have certainly been pleased with the results.  We feed the MSE granules to all of our herd with their daily pellet ration and use the MSE drench for alpacas in stressful situations (shipping, birthing, illness etc.)

We were fortunate enough to be asked to take part in a field trial of MSE.  For a year we fed the granules to our alpacas and used the drench when necessary.  We submitted monthly health and weight records to Naturs Way, the company that manufactures MSE and also had our fleeces tested prior to starting feeding MSE and after having fed it for a year.  The field trial is currently being analyzed and written up and hopefully will be published soon.

MSE was originally developed for the cattle industry and one of the benefits of the product to cattle producers is that it helps cattle to gain lean muscle.  While we want our alpacas to have good muscle tone we certainly did not want them to “beef up” if you’ll pardon the pun.

During our trial year of using MSE we did find that we had to make some adjustments to both the quantity of our feed and the dosage of the MSE, for the first few months our alpacas did gain weight, but after making the necessary adjustments we were able to keep the weights stable.  We noticed during the trial year that our herd seemed to have an extra vigour about them and that we had fewer minor health issues.  Our crias were also very vigorous and healthy.

One fear that we had about MSE was that while the MSE was allowing the alpacas to extract more nutrition from their feed perhaps it would do so to the detriment of their fleece.   When we had our fleeces tested at the end of the year we were pleased to find that in the majority of alpacas our fleeces had improved. 

So MSE is now our probiotic of choice.  We keep both the granules and drench on hand and quite honestly would not be without it.  It is just one component of our nutrition program and I am sure it is not solely responsible for the good results we see in our herd, but combined with the other steps we take in regards to our nutrition program it certainly seems to ensure that the alpacas make the most of what we feed them

For more detailed information on MSE you can go to the manufacturer’s website http://www.naturs-way.com/ and check out their product page. 

Rosemary

In The Spirit of Cooperation

This weekend I received the 2006 Annual Report of the Alpaca Fiber Cooperative of North America, Inc. (AFCNA)

The AFCNA is an agricultural cooperative formed and owned by alpaca producers in North America for the purpose of collecting and processing alpaca fiber and distributing alpaca fiber and related products and the profit from them to its members.  Founded in 1998, AFCNA has now grown to over 1,000 members.

We have been members of the AFCNA for the last two years and have been impressed by the progress made by AFCNA in that time.  The Co-operative got off to a somewhat rocky start in its early years and that rocky start made many alpaca owners reluctant to join the Co-op.  The Board of Directors have worked really hard to overcome the issues from those early years, like any other business in the start up phase mistakes will be made, but the Co-op Board have turned those mistakes into learning experiences and are now turning the corner to head along the road to success.

Each spring the AFCNA announces its “Call for Clip” to the members who in turn skirt and sort their sheared fleeces and send a portion of them to a central collection point for the Co-op.  It used to be that AFCNA members had to pledge at least 50% of their clip to the Co-op but these days that rule has been waived in an effort to encourage more people to join the Co-op.  For now AFCNA members benefit from the Co-op by being able to purchase alpaca products at wholesale prices, but eventually as the operation of Co-op improves the Co-op will also pay a dividend to it’s members based on the amount of fleece each individual member sends in.

With over 4,000 alpaca breeders in the United States we really could do with more breeders joining the AFCNA.  Many alpaca breeders are small breeders and do not wish to become involved in the retail/end product side of the business, additionally it is not really a very cost-effective step for each individual breeder to try and produce their own line of end product items.  With the AFCNA these small (and large) breeders can pool their fiber and produce end product that can be marketed in the USA.

We plan on sending over 50% of our clip to the Co-Op again this year, this will still leave us plenty of fiber to sell to hand spinners, have made into our own yarn and other products.  As Co-op members we will be able to enjoy the products made by the Co-op and can also sell them at our booth at Lizzie’s Menagerie in downtown Clovis.  We feel that by continuing to contribute to the Co-op we are not only helping the Co-op to reach it’s goals but are also helping the alpaca industry in general by enabling the Co-op to build a sustainable and successful alpaca fiber industry.

If you would like to see some of the products that are available for purchase from the AFCNA go to the “Products” page on our website and click on the link to the AFCNA – it’s a great place to purchase gifts for family and friends and you could even get a really early start on your Christmas Shopping!

Rosemary 

Would Madam Like Herbs With Her Meal?

At Windrush Alpacas we predominantly use traditional medicine for our alpacas, but we do also employ some methods and treatments that are non-traditional, but which we have found to be very effective. 

One of the non-traditional treatments we use is the feeding of lactation stimulant herbs to some of our pregnant females.  All maiden females (i.e. alpacas that have not birthed a cria before) receive the lactation stimulant herbs, the more experienced females do not get the herbs if I know from past experience that they produce a good volume of milk which is of good quality. 

The lactation stimulant herb is a combination of seven ingredients, you can buy the product pre-mixed, but I prefer to mix my own.  I buy organic herbs and always enjoy the day the herbs are delivered as they smell so good!  The company I buy the herbs from, Mountain Rose Herbs, is particular about the quality of herbs they sell and I have always been really pleased with the herbs I have purchased from them (We have a link to Mountain Rose Herbs on our web site’s Useful Links page should you want to check out their web site). 

I feed the herbs to the pregnant dams about two weeks before their anticipated due date and for two weeks after birthing.  We have always had great success with the herbs, which combined with our nutrition program result in high IgG (Immunoglobulin) levels in our crias, and great milk production from our dams. 

Some dams take a little time to get used to the herbs and we have to mix a little sweet feed with them to get them started, others just love them and eat them without a problem.  Typically those dams that are uncertain about the herbs come around and start eating them in about a week.  I did have one dam who absolutely refused to eat them during one of her pregnancies despite having been keen on eating them during previous pregnancies.  It turned out that with that pregnancy she produced a large volume of milk without the herbs, so she must have known that she didn’t need them, hence her refusal to eat them. 

We have started Rebecca on the lactation stimulant herbs and she is one of those alpacas who enjoys them.  I let her have them in a bowl with a little feed and put her in a pen by herself to enjoy them.  She still has not had her cria yet, even though today was her due date, but as with any baby her cria will arrive when it is ready and not a moment before!  Until then Rebecca will enjoy herbs with her meal and hopefully her cria will enjoy plentiful, nutritious milk from Rebecca when it finally decides to make its appearance!

Rosemary

What A Night That Was!

Springtime in New Mexico can bring some spectacular weather.  Friday evening was no exception.   We had been warned throughout the day that the conditions were right for some severe weather.  The National Weather Service made mention of the possibility of large hail, strong winds, lightening and as always reminded us that weather conditions such as these can result in the formation of tornadoes. I spent the day making sure that all the vehicles, trailers and equipment were under cover and that items that could blow away in strong winds were secured.  The day was warm and humid, but the skies were reasonable quiet though cloudy.  By the afternoon things were starting to change and the sky was starting to get darker and so I decided that it would be a good idea to start chores a little early.  One of my neighbors stopped by on the way home from work and helped me finish up chores; we discussed the weather forecast and the possibility of severe weather. Having completed chores early I planned on catching up on some office work for the evening – a plan that would not materialize.  After dinner I checked one of the local TV stations and learned that a tornado had been spotted near Arch, New Mexico a small community to the Southeast of Clovis.  I decided to stay tuned to the local station to make sure that I was aware of any developing weather.  Within a short period of time a tornado warning was announced for Curry County and we were advised to seek shelter, the warning estimated that we had about 10 minutes before the tornado hit Clovis. It is interesting to learn what things you decide to take with you when given 10 minutes to pack up and take shelter.  I made sure I had flashlights (including a wonderful dynamo flashlight that does not require batteries given to me by my brother), batteries, water, my purse with all of my identification documents, credit cards and checkbooks, and my cell phone.  I also decided to bring my palm pilot and laptop computer plus all of the necessary chargers, my MP3 player which has a radio built into it and then grabbed the books I am currently reading, the medicines for my cat Six Toes and interestingly enough my current knitting project! We do not have a basement so I went to my walk-in closet, which is quite large, and does not include any outside walls or windows.  My two inside dogs Sandie and Toby and Six Toes the cat came too.  It was extremely hard leaving my two outside dogs outside, but one of them fights with Sandie and to bring them all in together could have caused even more problems.  I took a last look across the pastures at the alpacas and could see they were all in their shelters, I could only hope that they would be okay.  Shortly after I loaded everything into the closet we lost power. As it turns out we were extremely lucky, the tornado hit about three miles east of us.  It touched down on the south side of Clovis, crossed the railroad tracks, continued on a north-east path and then lifted for a short while, it then touched down again in residential neighborhood on the east side of Clovis.  As of today the estimate is that 100 homes have been damaged or destroyed, several businesses are destroyed including one dairy, many power lines are down, some areas experienced gas leaks and many vehicles have been damaged.  As you can imagine there are many people who are displaced and now staying in an emergency shelter.Amazingly our power was restored by midnight, I fully expected it to be down for at least a day.  The local emergency services have been working tirelessly all day and will have some long days ahead of them.  The reports of damage keep rolling in and I am sure we will see footage of the worse hit areas tonight on the news. We have a lot to be thankful for today, we and all our animals are safe and well and considering how close we were to the tornado we have experienced very little disruption.  Our DSL is down and expected to be so for a least a couple of days, so I will be uploading my blog entries through our dial up account, which is still working.  We have received numerous phone calls from alpaca breeder friends across the country concerned for our welfare, the alpaca community is a very caring one and I know that if things had turned out worse than they did our alpaca breeder friends would jump in to help us.  The community of Clovis is a small and close one, and in the coming days I know they will pull together to help those who need it. 

Last night was the closest I have been to a tornado, and I hope that is the closest I will ever get.

Rosemary 

 

Time for School

Next Monday marks the start of Spring break for the students of Curry County, New Mexico but for three “students” at our farm school is just beginning.

Our three fall crias Shiimsa, Echo and Rascal have all reached the age where I need to increase the amount of time I work with them.  Since birth I have worked on gaining their trust so that they do not immediately run away when approached.  I have also worked on making sure they know appropriate behaviour around humans by not tolerating behaviour such as butting or nibbling on my clothes.

Now it is time to take things a step further and work on getting them used to picking up their feet for toe nail trimming, being examined as they will be by a judge in a show, showing their bite and of course halter training.

With young cria training sessions do not need to be long.  I usually start off with five minutes every other day.  The training does need to be consistent though, it would be unfair to a cria to work with it one day and then expect it to remember the training session two weeks later.

I like to work with two or three cria at at time.  I work with them in a small catch pen and it helps them to feel at ease if they have the company of another alpaca in the pen.  If we only have one cria that needs to be worked with I will often bring their dam or another calm alpaca into the pen to provide a calming influence to the training session. 

Each cria has it’s own distinctive personality.  In the case of my three cria Echo is laid back about being handled by humans but is very “studly” in his behaviour to the other two cria.  Typically I work with him first and then let him out of the pen or else he will interfere with the other two as I am working with them.  Shiimsa is more wary of humans than Echo.  I have had to take things slowly with her and be sure to keep a space between us that she feels comfortable with.  Each training session the space between us gets a little shorter as her trust in being handled grows.  Rascal lives up to his name, he has taken to walking on a catch rope well, but would really rather be eating and so throws his head around when the rope is first put on and needs some time to realize that I need his attention on what we are doing rather than on the hay feeder.

I do not put halters on the crias until they are big enough for a halter to fit correctly.  It is important that the nose band of the halter sit up high on the alpaca’s nose close to the eye in order that the alpaca can breath properly.  With crias their noses are shorter so unless the nose band of the halter will rest on the right area of the cria’s nose I will not put a halter on them, preferring instead to work with a soft cotton catch rope.  The last thing I want to do is scare a cria with it’s first haltering experience, so it is worth being patient and waiting until the cria is big enough for the halter. 

Our three crias are making steady progress, each training session I see a little improvement and in a few weeks I am sure that all three will be walking well wearing their halters.  There will still be more training to do to get them ready to show and to ensure that they are easy to manage, but a good start and a build up of trust will make the rest of the training easy and fun.

Rosemary

It’s 4 a.m – Do You Know Where Your Dog Is?

Yesterday we were rudely awoken at 4:30 a.m. by the sound of barking on our property.  The barking was not coming from our dogs and so we got up to see where it was coming from.  I could see that Inca one of the guard llamas was looking over toward the hay barn where our barn cats stay.  The barking continued and so we dressed and went outside taking a flashlight with us.  This is not the first time in recent months that we have been woken up by barking on our property or one of our neighbors properties, but to date we have not been able to identify the dog that was causing the disturbance.

As we turned the corner from the house I turned on the flashlight and aimed it at the area where the barn cats stay.  As soon as the flashlight went on we saw two border collies and another medium sized white and black dog run from the area.  We recognized them as belonging to one of our neighbours.

Sadly we could also see in the beam of the flashlight that one of our barn cats had been killed by the dogs.  We walked over to where the cat lay to make sure that she was in fact dead, and could see that indeed she was.  Her fur was damp from the dogs saliva and she had bite marks on her body.

We have spoken to our neighbour on a previous occasion about his dogs, unfortunately he was not receptive to our suggestion to keep the dogs confined to his property.  After finding our cat dead I debated for a while what to do.   Obviously our talking to the neighbor had not made any impact on him.  Now we had a cat that had been killed by his dogs, and we wondered what the next tragedy would be if we did not get something done about the situation.

In this part of the country there are many people who hold the belief that “country dogs” should be allowed to run free and that you cannot contain them.  Unfortunately while the owners of such “country dogs” are at work during the day or asleep in their beds at night the dogs are often causing problems.  The owners of the dogs don’t have to deal with them as they are away or asleep, instead people like ourselves are left to sort out the problem of roaming dogs.

As I debated what to do, I thought about the little cat that had died.   I hoped that her death had been quick, but knew in my heart that she must have experienced terrible fear in her final moments.  I decided then that I would call the sheriff’s department and see if there was anything they could do to help us.

A deputy sheriff came out to see us and told us that there was definitely something we could do.  Allowing your dogs to run loose in this county is something for which the sheriff’s department can issue a citation and which carries a $1,000 fine.  The sheriff was very pleasant and told us that we should have called about the problem with the dogs when we first encountered them roaming and that in the future we should call if we have a similar problem.

I made a written statement to the deputy and he went to deal with the owner of the dogs.  It saddens me to think that the owner will most likely blame the dogs for this incident and take out his frustration on them.  The dogs were not the ones really responsible for this, they were behaving as a dog will when allowed to roam, the one firmly responsible for this incident is their owner who can’t be bothered to take the time to ensure that his dogs stayed on his property and who has absolutely no consideration for his neighbors.

I hope that the visit from the sheriff had enough of an  impact on our neighbor to make him ensure his dogs no longer roam.  If not I now plan on calling the sheriff whenever I see those dogs out roaming the neighborhood.  Perhaps over time a series of $1,000 fines will get the message home.

I like to think that our little barn cat did not die in vain this morning, her death caused me to take steps I probably should have taken before.  As a result of the steps I took today I now have a better understanding of where the law stands on the matter of roaming dogs and know that in future I will report them immediately to the sheriff.

Unfortunately where our front gates have always stood open to welcome visitors onto our property we now feel that have to keep them closed.  They are only a partial defense against another visit from roaming dogs, but we hope that physical barrier will be some deterrent and allow us once more to sleep at night.

 Rosemary

One good female is all it takes

As I did chores this morning I noticed that Regent was not in the best of moods.  He was being decidedly grumpy over the hay rack, not due to anything other than he wanted it all for himself.  As I watched his behaviour I was reminded of his dam Enchantment’s Peruvian Jennifer (Jenny), and as I continued chores I thought about how strongly Jenny made her mark on our alpaca world.

Jenny was our first alpaca.  When we went to look for our first purchase I had an older female in mind, as it happened Jenny was also in the pen and as I looked at her I knew that she was what I wanted for the cornerstone of our breeding program.  After a little deliberation I decided that Jenny was to be our first purchase, and she was I purchase I have never regretted.

Jenny was to bring us many “firsts” – our first cria (Enchantment’s Prince Regent), our first cria to be delivered on our farm (Windrush Ashling a Maidin), our first blue ribbon winner (Enchantment’s Prince Regent) our first Reserve Color Champion (Enchantment’s Prince Regent) and our first Color Champion and multiple Color Champion (Windrush Jennifer’s Zindel).  Jenny also was the cause of my first trip to Colorado State University Veterinary Hospital an eventful trip that was also my first 12 hour drive on my own and my first experience of getting stuck in a snow storm for three days along with Jenny and her cria at that time Braveheart.

Jenny was most definitely a character, once pregnant she made sure we all knew it, for she would change from being a sweet girl to being grumpy and hormonal for the next 11 months.  She loved her food and she also loved her crias.

Sadly we lost Jenny in 2004 when she lost her battle to a debilitating illness.  Those last months with Jenny were difficult ones as she had to be medicated daily and as her illness progressed life became difficult for her, but Jenny being Jenny hung on until the cria she was carrying was born and old enough to survive on his own.

As I look at our herd today, Jenny’s mark is most definitely upon it.  She always produced outstanding cria and gave us a direction with our breeding program, and that is how it should be with your first alpaca. 

We could have gone with a less expensive choice than Jenny, but I felt at the time of choosing her that we were better to have one really good female than compromise our breeding program with two lesser quality females.  At that time the alpaca world was not as competitive as it is now, but Jenny and her offspring still gave us the edge that would enable us to build a solid alpaca business even as a small farm.

We agisted Jenny when we first purchased her, our property was not ready at that time to accept alpacas and it would not have been fair to her to keep her on her own.  Alpacas are very much herd animals and need the company of others. 

I cannot write about Jenny without mentioning the people we purchased her from, Rick and Ann Evans.  Rick and Ann not only sold us a fine alpaca but were our mentors as we started in the alpaca business.  Throughout the time we agisted Jenny with them and way beyond they have mentored us, entertained us and become our good friends.  The people you purchase your first alpaca from are as important as the alpaca itself, they should be people you are comfortable with and who are prepared to mentor you along the way, Rick and Ann Evans are a perfect example of that.

I still miss Jenny to this day, but thankfully I have my memories of her and also some outstanding offspring from her who will continue her legacy.

So if you are reading this and contemplating buying your first alpaca, remember that one good female is really all it takes to get you started.  I hope your choice is as good to you as Jenny was to us (and that you give us a call to see if we have that perfect alpaca for you!).

Rosemary