Content Critters

 As I looked around the farm yesterday it was good to see everyone looking content and happy.  One group of boys had been let out in the back pasture for the day and was busy exploring and rolling; the other boys had full hayracks and were happily chomping on the hay.  The girls too had their hay ration, although some had already finished their initial attack on the hay and were contentedly chewing their cud while sitting in the sunshine.  The day wasn’t the warmest but for an alpaca in full fleece it was a nice temperature and great weather to be enjoyed. 

In the horse pasture our two horses Savannah and Saber were taking their daily constitutional, strolling around and looking for extra to eat.  With our drought conditions there isn’t much for them to graze on, we feed them hay morning and night and their weight is good, but their instincts tell them they should be out in the pasture looking for whatever goodies they can find to eat. 

Back at the house, Tripster and Missy the two outside dogs were stretched out side by side in the exact same position, worn out from their morning walk and with full stomachs from their morning feed.  Sandie one of the two inside dogs was enjoying her time out in her own special yard (Sandie does not play well with others, except Toby and so has to have her own yard to exercise in).   All of our dogs are rescues and it is good to see them enjoying the lives that most likely would have been ended had they remained on the streets or in the local animal control center. 

Inside the house Six Toes our six toed Manx cat was going along with his usual routine of finding a patch of sunlight to curl up in for a nap, while Snuggler, our barn cat who was attacked by a dog and who now stays inside the house for most of the day, was curled up on top of Six Toes.  Six Toes is not too thrilled with Snuggler’s love of being so close, but Snuggler is a persistent little cat and will not take no for an answer. 

Then of course there was Toby, still gradually making progress from his recent illness.  He has now gone from having to be syringe fed to eating on his own and at his last vet check had gained 0.2 lbs.  Toby’s recovery will be a slow one, but day-by-day he gets a little stronger.  Today we have to take him in again for blood work to see what progress has been made.  His blood tests have been run every 3-4 days and show good improvement although he still is not producing enough red blood cells, fingers crossed that will change soon. 

It’s a good feeling to have such contented critters around us, when I walk into an alpaca pasture and have to walk around the alpacas that are cushed, rather than have them jump out of my way, I know that they are happy, secure and content in their environment.  That contentment and relaxed attitude goes a long way to securing their good health. 

What a great life our critters have, they cannot speak as we do but in their own way they tell us that they appreciate life and all we do for them – and in return they provide the same great life and contentment to us too. 

Rosemary 

What does 100% alpaca really mean?

Every year as various catalogues arrive in our mailbox I always look to see if they contain any alpaca items.  It is exciting to me to see how many more alpaca garments and house wares are for sale throughout the US.  Some of the items are US made; many are imported from South America.

It is interesting to look at the pricing of the items, and to many the pricing of these items raises questions such as “why is this alpaca sweater $30 while another is $130”.  Both sweaters in question may be marked 100% alpaca making the price difference even more baffling to a potential buyer. 

So why is one sweater so much more expensive than the other?  There can be several reasons for the price difference, but the main reasons are the quality of the alpaca used in the garment and the methods used to process that alpaca fiber.

Without having the two sweaters side by side it would be difficult to make a fair assessment, but chances are that the $30 sweater will not be as soft or as smooth to the touch as the $130 sweater.  The alpaca fiber used in the $30 sweater is most likely of a coarser micron than that of the $130 sweater, additionally the way that the fiber is sorted has significant effect on the feel of the end product.  To sort the fiber correctly involves more labor and therefore would reflect more cost in the end product.

While the label on each sweater may say 100% alpaca, those words do not fully address the quality of the alpaca fiber making up that sweater.  Even if the label says 100% baby alpaca on each sweater there could still be a significant difference.  The term “baby alpaca” leads many to believe that the alpaca used is from a cria and therefore very soft, but “baby alpaca” is the name of a grade of alpaca and actually refers to alpaca fiber ranging from 22.5 to 23.5 microns.  Again the sorting process could have a great effect on the feel of the end product.

Anyone who manufactures or sells clothing or household items that contain any kind of wool, including specialty wools like cashmere, camel hair, mohair, alpaca, llama, or vicuna, must comply with the Wool Products Labeling Act.  The Act is long and not really everyone’s idea of a good read but it does outline how an item containing alpaca should be labeled. 

Unfortunately it seems as if some countries that export alpaca items go by their own labeling laws.  The importer of the item is supposed to check the content of the garment and is responsible for ensuring that the product complies with the Wool Products Labeling Act but I suspect very few do.  In some foreign countries the labeling laws allow up to 40% foreign material in an item marked as “100% alpaca”, and so therefore your 100% alpaca sweater could actually contain 40% llama, angora or even acrylic yarn. 

This is not to say that all imported alpaca goods are inaccurately labeled, but there are many that are and a buyer needs to exercise caution when spending their valuable cash on something they feel is a bargain.  That bargain may not be what it seems to be resulting in the purchase of an itchy, coarse garment.  A true 100% alpaca sweater that has been manufactured from yarn that is correctly sorted and graded has an exquisite buttery feel quite distinct from any other yarn.

 I hope that many people are looking to include something alpaca in their Christmas gift buying this year, that would be great news for the alpaca industry provided that the items are of the quality that will encourage them to speak highly of alpaca fiber.

If you do decide to buy something made from alpaca fiber this year, then take the time to ask a few questions of the seller to see if you can verify the quality of that item before you purchase it.  It would be wonderful if you could support the US alpaca market by purchasing a US made alpaca product.  If you should decide to buy something manufactured overseas and the country of origin is a third world country, then try your best to buy something that carries the “Fair-Trade” mark.  The Fair-Trade mark will at least ensure that the producers of your purchase receive fair terms of trade and fair prices for their products.  To learn more about Fair-Trade go to www.fairtrade.net

Rosemary 

Spring or Fall?

Yesterday we behavior tested several of our girls who are on our fall breeding schedule. For most of them that was the second behavior test since breeding, but for one of them it was the first behavior test since breeding.  The girl in question is a proven female but the male we are using is so far unproven.  If our girl does indicate that she is pregnant on the next behavior test we will probably not use the male that we have been breeding her to until the spring.  He is a young male and it might just be a case of needing a little more time to mature.  The female however is proven and usually gets pregnant quickly so we may just try one more breeding to a different male.

By this time of the year though it is a bit of a dilemma whether to breed our female alpacas or whether to wait until spring.  With alpacas having an 11 month gestation any breedings that we do now will result in early to mid November crias, which is something we would rather avoid.

Our fall breeding season is very short ranging from late September to mid November depending on the weather.  We don’t want crias being born in the heat of August and we really would rather not have any crias born past October 15, but once in a while a girl will go longer than the estimated 345 days and we get a late fall cria.

The problem with late fall crias is that not only do they not receive as much sunlight, which is a factor in the healthy development of their bones and muscles, but also they are at risk of being exposed to the cold.  Typically our weather gets colder and wetter from late October onwards.  With a spring cria however as it grows the days will be getting longer and the weather will be getting gradually warmer.

We are fortunate in New Mexico that at least our fall weather still includes some sunshine unlike the North West states which tend to have overcast skies for most of their days during fall and winter.  So for New Mexico, fall crias are not as much of a problem as for other parts of the United States but still consideration must be given as to whether it is wise to have crias born during cold weather.  A newborn cria in particular can become seriously chilled in a very short time after birthing.

Many alpaca breeders worry about the loss of production time when they leave a dam open (unbred) for a period of time.  As with any business time is money and for every month an alpaca dam is left open she is, to a certain extent, losing money, however if you factor in the health of the cria and the higher risk factors with fall or winter crias the financial loss may be significantly reduced.

Some alpaca breeders also worry that it will be harder to get the dam pregnant if they leave her open for several months.  We have not yet found this to be the case, we have had several occasions when we have chosen to leave a dam open and so far have not had any problem getting those dams pregnant again.

We will be testing our girl again at the beginning of next week.  If she cushes when introduced to the male (indicating she is not pregnant) we will most likely breed her to a different male, but that will be her last chance at breeding for the fall season.  If that breeding does not take, we will leave her open until the spring and she can enjoy winter without the demands of a growing embryo.  Fingers crossed though she will reject the male again when introduced to him next week and we can look forward to a cria from that breeding next fall.

Rosemary

Always, Always, Always Close The Gate

(Or how to get your wife to go from calm to irate in 0.6 seconds!)

Whenever we have visitors to the farm we are careful to check that as we enter and exit the alpaca pastures the gates are closed behind us.  We are also vigilant of small children who may feel it is okay to leave the pastures at will and not close a gate behind them.  The majority of visitors we have are careful to keep a watchful eye on their children, but we have had a couple of cases where parents have not been to concerned about their children and before you know it there is an open gate, a missing child and the potential for loose alpacas.

As we do morning chores we have an unwritten rule that all pasture gates need to be closed after entering or exiting no matter how short the time will be before that gate is used again.

Recently I had noticed that Ric had been pushing too but not latching one of the boys’ gates as he worked on that pasture in the mornings.  I warned him that eventually the alpacas would realize that the gate had not been latched and then they would be out of that pasture as fast as butter on a hot knife.

Well this morning was the day that the alpacas realized the gate was not latched.  I was in the house and out of the corner of my eye caught a fast movement outside.  I looked outside but did not see anything for a few moments.   Thinking it must have been a bird or a cat I was about to turn away from the window when I saw the movement again – galloping down the driveway was our champion herdsire Zin!  Also going down the driveway (but not galloping I might add) was Ric.

Fortunately our front gates were closed; also fortunately Zin being the herdsire that he is was occupied by strutting his stuff in front of the girls and sniffing at them through the fence.  I started to head out to help Ric catch Zin and then noticed that all of the males from Zin’s pasture were out running around the farm.  They were having a great time, snorting, kicking, bucking and running and of course also ended up by the girls.

So the next 20 – 30 minutes were spent persuading a group of male alpacas that they didn’t want to hang out by the girls, or even spend the day exploring the farm.  They did eventually go back to their pen, and apart from a little disruption to our morning no harm was done, but had the front gates been open and one of the alpacas had decided to head out onto the road it could have been a different story.

As you can imagine Ric quickly learned that I was not at all amused by this incident.  So the moral of this story is if you want a quiet and peaceful life and you want your alpacas to be safe and well, always, always, always shut the pasture gate behind you!

Rosemary

Do I have to wear my coat Mom?

With the temperatures being so low over the last few days we decided to keep Kanika’s cria coat on her both during the day and at night.  Kanika is now over 27 lbs. in weight and the cria coat barely fits her, but we felt it was important that she have some extra protection from the cold.  We did take her coat of for an hour or so on Saturday but she quickly started to shiver and so back on the coat went.  Kanika is pretty good about wearing her coat, but as she gets bigger and stronger it gets more challenging to catch her to get the coat on.

So how do you know it’s time for a cria to stop wearing it’s cria coat.  Well it depends on several things and really is a matter of common sense.  If the cria is below 30 lbs. and the temperature is dropping down into the 30’s over night you probably need to be putting a cria coat on him or her.  Sometimes it is hard to see if a little cria is shivering and you may actually have to pick him or her up to be able to feel if the cria is shivering.  If the cria is one that has been sickly or slow to gain weight you would want to consider leaving the cria coat on and help prevent the cria from burning off extra calories.  Of course is the cria is one that is “at risk” you probably want to keep him or her inside a shelter or barn with their dam and maybe one or two other companion alpacas.

One thing to beware of is putting a cria coat on a damp or wet cria.  That can make things worse rather than better.  If your cria is damp or wet you need to try and get them to somewhere that is sheltered and dry where they can dry off either on their own or with assistance from you.  Usually alpacas fiber is only wet the top surface, if you part it the fiber is dry close to the skin, so blotting with a dry towel and gentle blow drying is usually sufficient to dry off that top layer.

Cria’s are not the only ones who need extra protection from the cold, older or thinner alpacas who may also feel the effects of severe cold.  Those alpacas may need to be kept in the barn or shelter overnight, or may need a coat of their own to wear.  We have only ever had one adult alpaca that needed to wear a coat, but it definitely helped her on those cold winter nights.

There are various places where you can buy cria coats, Useful llama Items and Quality Llama are just a couple of places that specialize in alpaca supplies.  We now make our own cria coats, we have figured out a pattern for them and adapt it to the size we need (it also can make a pretty good dog coat too).

Hopefully today will live up to it’s promised forecast of being warmer and Kanika can have her coat off at least for the day time.  Whether her coat is on or off she is always the instigator of the cria races these days, it’s her own instinctual way of keeping warm and a lot more fun than wearing a coat!

Rosemary

Getting Creative – Llama Pillows

The last couple of days have seen some really cold temperatures.  Our daytime highs dropped suddenly from the high 70’s to the low 30’s – brrr.  On Thanksgiving morning we were also treated to a snowfall, nothing too heavy, but snow all the same.  Following many weeks of dry conditions the moisture from the snow is very welcome.

With the cold though come some challenges, little Kanika has to wear her cria coat day and night to make sure she stays warm, and we have put straw bedding in the shelters to give the alpacas a warm surface to lie on.  One of our main challenges though is freezing water faucets.  The water hydrants we have installed are supposedly frost proof, but in certain cold conditions they still freeze and by Thanksgiving morning only one or two of the hydrants were working.

Ric got to work with a heat lamp to defrost the frozen hydrants.  Having fresh water available in cold weather is just as important as having it available in hot weather.  Even in cold weather an alpaca can become dehydrated if it does not drink enough water and that can lead to all sorts of other problems.

Having defrosted all of the hydrants and got them working we now had to figure out a way to stop them freezing again.  During the summer Ric and I had discussed the possibility of using alpaca fiber as insulating material, we had various ideas about how it could be used, but put the thought to the back of our minds.  Now was our chance to get creative.

Having sent a lot of our lesser quality fiber off to be processed into rugs, we hated to use our really fine fiber for an insulation experiment, so instead we settled on using some of the fiber shorn from our llamas for the project.

Ric took the llama fiber and stuffed it into old feed sacks making “llama pillows”.  The trick was to have enough fiber in the sack to provide good insulation while still allowing the “llama pillow” to be molded around the hydrant.  Once the sacks were taped closed they were wrapped around the hydrant and then covered with an inverted trashcan.  Voila!  One protected hydrant!

So far our llama pillows are working well, but if we were to do this on a more permanent basis then we need to adjust our prototype.  First we need to put the llama fiber into something that is breathable but yet which would prevent moisture from getting into the llama fiber, which could cause it to rot.  Then we have to establish exactly how much fiber provides good insulation and in which form would it work best.   Would alpaca or llama batting be a better option than the loose fiber?  The trashcan cover works but is a little unsightly and awkward to handle, so a different cover would be a good idea.

So there are many refinements to be made to our project but in the meantime our crude prototype is keeping our hydrants working.   Llama pillows are wonderful things!

Rosemary

Expect the Unexpected

  When the phone rings at 7:30 a.m. on Thanksgiving morning it usually means someone has a problem.  That was the case this Thanksgiving morning.  The caller was a young lady who recently adopted some llamas from llama rescue, she had gone out to check on the llamas in the morning to find one of them had a swollen head.  The poor llamas head was literally swollen up like a balloon and there was blood coming out from the llama’s eyes.

As there was not one area of swelling it seemed unlikely that this was an injury, a more likely cause was a snakebite.  The temperatures over the last few days have dropped dramatically and so most snakes would have gone to ground by now, but there was at least one still out there and active.

I told the llamas owner that she really needed to call the vet, but I knew realistically it was going to be difficult to find vet on Thanksgiving who was working.  Even more of a challenge was that the llama that needed treatment was on a ranch many miles from the nearest town.

I asked the llama owner if she had any banamine on hand which might help ease the swelling, but she did not have any.  All the owner had on hand was some penicillin.

I suggested that the owner still try her best to get hold of a vet, but also suggested that she start calling neighboring farms and ranches to see if they had any medicines on hand that she could use. 

The llama owner asked me to call Pat Little at Southwest Llama Rescue, which I did.  Pat is one of the “angels” of Southwest Llama rescue who not only helps coordinates a lot of the llama adoptions, but also houses many of the llamas that are looking for new adoptive or foster homes.  Pat has many years of experience with llamas.

I hated disturbing Pat’s Thanksgiving morning, but knew that Pat would want to know about the llama with the snakebite.  Pat was soon on the phone with the llama’s owner giving her advice as to what she needed to do.

Unfortunately despite calls to three different vets no one was able to come out to treat the llama.  Fortunately though as of yesterday the llama was doing much better, her eyes were starting to open a little and she was eating grain, which is encouraging.  The llama’s owner had given the llama some penicillin and also gave her some Claritin that she had on hand in the house.  I am not sure what effect the Claritin would have on the llama but so far it does not seem to have had an adverse effect, and who knows maybe it helped.

When you are raising livestock you need to be prepared to expect the unexpected.  Who would have thought that a snakebite would occur on a cold and snowy (yes it snow during the morning) November day, but it did occur and unfortunately the llama’s owner did not have the supplies on hand to deal with the situation or at least buy herself a little time while she found a vet who could help her.

It would be unrealistic to expect every alpaca and llama owner to have a full veterinary supply cupboard of medicines and other veterinary supplies, but they should at least have some basic supplies on hand.  Over the years we have accumulated various supplies and learnt which medicines to keep on hand.  We do not have a high incidence of snakes in this area but if we did I would certainly have the medicines on hand to treat a snakebite.  

Usually your veterinarian can advise you what you should keep on hand in case of emergencies, and I am sure it will vary from area to area depending on different threats and risks.  Having established the supplies that you need, make sure that you then go out and get them, it’s Murphy’s Law that emergencies happen after hours or on holidays.  When the unexpected happens having a basic medicine kit on hand could mean the difference between life and death.

Rosemary

Happy Thanksgiving and Re-Post “Cold Feet? Warm Socks!”

Today’s post will be short and sweet as it is Thanksgiving Day and there is a lot to do.  First the alpacas and all of the other animals need to get their Thanksgiving breakfast, which will be the same food as they get every day, but we will wish them a Happy Thanksgiving as we feed them.  We will also give thanks that they are in our lives and that they bring us so much joy.

Following morning chores it will be time to get ourselves ready for our Thanksgiving feast.  Amazingly by the time we have eaten our Thanksgiving meal and cleared up the kitchen it will be time for chores again!  Something to do with shorter days and earlier sunsets I suspect.  We haven’t decided how we will spend Thanksgiving evening yet but I am sure we will come up with something special to do.

On the subject of thanks, a big THANK YOU goes to my dear friend Linda who very kindly informed me yesterday that the text was missing for my post of November 20 -“Cold Feet? Warm Socks!”   I usually check my posts after I have written them to make sure they are displaying properly but with my time being devoted giving extra care to Toby I did not check that post.  So for those who would like to read the text of that post I have reposted it on the blog entry for November 20.  I have checked it and it is displaying correctly as of the time of my writing this post so fingers crossed that the gremlins do not return and remove the text again!

So Happy Thanksgiving to all who read this blog, some of you celebrate this holiday and others are in countries where different holidays are celebrated, but to all of you may you have a wonderful day filled with appreciation for all that you have.

Rosemary 

Progress Report

Well something seems to be working!  After three days of little Zeus not gaining weight at all he gained a whole pound yesterday.  This is the biggest single gain yet for the little guy and makes me optimistic that as he transitions to eating more hay and pellets he will start to show a better growth rate.  So what caused this good gain, well I did give him 5cc of the MSE drench, and in addition to that I have started putting him and little Kanika in a pen for a while with some good hay and some calf manna.  Kanika is too young to be interested in the calf manna, but she enjoys the hay and keeps Zeus company.  Zeus is happy to have some time where he can eat without being challenged by the other crias.  Now we just have to see if we can get him to gain weight well on a regular basis.  Fingers crossed he will show another good gain today when we weigh him.

Chai is also making good progress, her second set of blood work showed that she was still fighting an infection so back on the antibiotics she went.  She has already gained weight and is starting to look a lot better.  In addition her facial abscess is now healed, there is some scarring but over time that will fade, and the All Species Poultice really helped draw all of the pus out of the abscess and keep the surrounding tissue healthy.

Our dear dog Toby has made some minor progress too.  We had more blood work run on him on Monday and while he is still not out of the woods yet his levels showed some slight improvement.  Unfortunately he is not eating despite our best attempts, as is evidenced in our refrigerator which now contains all sorts of bowls of various foods we have tried him with.  So we have had to resort to syringe feeding him.  It is a stressful task for him and us but unless he starts to eat he will develop further complications.  Syringe feeding Toby is a two-person job (how can one Pomeranian be so strong when he is really very weak!) but at least he swallows the food once it is on his tongue.   The good news is that the food is staying down and Toby is a little livelier.  As our vet said, we still have a long way to go but we can have a little optimism.

So some progress in the right direction on our three patients, great news indeed.

Rosemary

Cold Feet? Warm Socks!

It’s hard to believe it is the middle of November; our daytime high for yesterday was 81 degrees, which even for us is much higher than usual.  According to the weatherman though we are in for a drastic change as a cold front rolls into the area causing our daytime temperatures to fall into the 40’s and 50’s – that’s going to be a shock to the system.  The weather then will continue to deteriorate with a chance of rain and snow from Thursday onwards!  How strange that is, to go from 80 plus degrees and sun to 40’s and snow all within a matter of a few days, but that is often the way here on the high plains of New Mexico.

We will need to be prepared to help the alpacas through the sudden change in the weather; a dramatic drop in temperature can put their systems under considerable strain.  To help the alpacas cope with the temperature change we will make sure they have a nice layer of bedding in their shelters.   During evening chores we will put most of the hay in the feeders inside the shelters and only a little in the outside feeders to encourage them to go in for the evening.  We don’t lock our alpacas up in shelters overnight (unless we have one that is sick and needs protection from the elements), but we do allow them to roam into the shelters as and when they please.  If the weather is cold I can guarantee we will find alpacas in the shelters, they will sit together as a group out of the wind and cold, and just that action will provide some additional warmth for them.

We often have visitors ask how the alpacas cope with the cold and are pleased to be able to tell them that the alpacas do very well.  As long as they have available shelter from the elements, good hay to eat and water to drink (thank goodness for heated automatic waterers) they really do very well.  Of course if we have a significant accumulation of snow we have to make paths in the snow to allow the alpacas to roam around the pastures

As for the humans at our place, well they will get to don warmer clothes when doing chores.  Our chores clothes range from a t-shirt and shorts in the summer to heavy insulated coveralls for the thick of winter – and then there are the socks.

For the cooler months both Ric and I will don a pair of alpaca socks, made from the fleece of our own alpacas.  We had our first batch of socks made about four years ago and they are always a firm favorite with our retail clients.  It’s pretty neat too to have something made from the fleece of our very own alpaca herd.

What I really like about alpaca socks is that they are warm to your feet the instant you put them on, no waiting for the material to warm just instant warmth.  With alpaca being a natural fiber the alpaca socks are breathable and then there are the additional qualities of alpaca fiber such as excellent moisture wicking properties, stain resistance, odor resistance and fire resistance, all good qualities for a hard working sock to have.

In addition to the socks made with fiber solely from our herd we also now stock socks from the Alpaca Fiber Coop of North America (AFCNA).  The Co-op socks may still contain some of our alpaca fiber, as Coop members we pool some of our fiber into the AFCNA pool.  The outside of the AFCNA sock is less fluffy to the touch than that of our herd socks but they have a terry style lining which makes for a lovely, soft cushioned bed for your foot and the tighter knit makes them a little more durable and therefore a better work sock.

The socks make a unique and useful Christmas gift suiting a wide range of people from home bodies who always have cold feet to those who work outside on a regular basis and need to ensure their warmth and comfort while at work. 

As the holiday season continues we anticipate that our sock sales will increase, especially if our weather does take a cold turn.  So if you’re looking for a unique Christmas gift or two then drop us a line and we can tell you more about the socks we have available for sale – you’d better be quick though as we expect them to sell out early!

Rosemary