Mags Takes A Step In The Right Direction

 

For some time now we have been trying to persuade Mags, the orphaned cria, that trying some alpaca pellets would be a good thing to do.  For those new to the blog, Mags was orphaned the day after he was born and has been having a trying time learning that he is in an alpaca not a human, or that humans are not alpacas.

 

Behaviorally Mags has made slow but steady progress.  He is much calmer around humans and has learnt to keep a respectful distance.  Once in a while he will transgress in his behavior, usually when we have had a farm visit, but he is still young and there is time to get him on the right path before hormones kick in and complicate things.

 

One of the things that is a delight to see is Mags joining in with the evening cria play.  When he first arrived he was very much the loner, with the exception of Song (another orphaned cria) he rarely interacted with the other alpacas voluntarily.  Now he will sometimes join in as the other crias race and prong around the pasture.  Slowly but surely he is becoming part of the herd.

 

At 56 lbs and five months old Mags really does not need the three bottles of milk a day we have been giving him.  With Mags though, the bottle has become more of a security blanket than a nutritional need and the sight of his bottle also seems to instigate some of his bad behavior.

 

Last Saturday I decided that it was time to cut Mags and Song back to two bottles.  It had been a busy day with the birth of Melody’s cria and I went past the time of the mid day bottle.  Both Mags and Song did not seem bothered, going about their business eating hay and lying in the sunshine.  I watched the two throughout the afternoon and neither one came and paced by the fence, so the mid day bottle was dropped and has not returned.

 

Having dropped the mid day bottle the next challenge was to get Mags to try some alpaca pellets.  Song has been eating pellets for a little while now and needed no encouragement in eating, but Mags had, to date, refused to have anything to do with the pellets.

 

Every day we had been putting him in with the other crias in his age group, hoping that their behavior would encourage him to eat pellets too.   Mags though would not join in, preferring to sulk in the corner.  Occasionally he might take one pellet in his mouth, roll it around and then spit it out again, but that was the best that he would do.  Hay was not a problem to Mags and he ate that willingly, but pellets just didn’t capture his attention.

 

On Sunday I happened to have a bowl of feed with me when Mags came into one of the shelters.   No other alpacas were around and so I offered him the feed bowl to see what he would do.   At first he did his usual trick of taking one pellet and spitting it out, but then very gently he tried another one and this time he chewed it and swallowed it – progress!  For several minutes Mags slowly took small mouthfuls of the pellets and ate them.

 

At evening chores Mags went into the cria pen as usual, the cria group eat out of communal troughs and are quite comfortable establishing their place at the troughs, but for Mags I felt that perhaps the troughs were too competitive, so I took him a small bowl of pellets and set it down in front of him.  Slowly he lowered his head and started eating.

 

The next day at feeding time I was prepared to do the same for Mags, but before I could put his bowl down he already had his head in one of the trays and was eating – finally!

 

So Mags has taken another step in the direction of acting like an alpaca, for the moment he is quite timid in his approach to eating pellets which surprises me given his usual boisterous personality.  Maybe in time that will change, maybe he is still adjusting to the fact that he is an alpaca and feels he is low in the pecking order in the cria group.  Still there continues to be hope for Mags.  I feel he will always need mindful handling, especially as he approaches and reaches breeding age, but we have time and experience on our hands and I hope with those two commodities Mags will one day be able to be a well mannered breeding male who produces champion offspring.

 

Rosemary

Paca Jammies!

Clarissa's Boy Wearing His Paca Jammies

 

With the last few evenings having temperatures in the 30’s I have been putting the three smallest crias and their dams in a sheltered stall overnight.  The first night the dams were not at all impressed, they did lots of humming and poked their heads through the stall panels.  Once I made the situation more appealing by adding a little alfalfa to their hay feeder the dams decided that it was not really that bad of a deal and have got into the routine of being taken over to the stall every night.

 

The crias love to bed down in the straw in the stall, and their cria coats give them some added warmth.  When I check on them through the evening I can feel that their little bodies are warm under their coats, which is exactly what I want.

 

Clarissa’s cria has had a slow start with his weight gain and so has been the cria that I have been most worried about keeping warm.  He just doesn’t have any extra calories to waste on shivering and trying to keep warm.    I had a little dog coat that I put on him in addition to his cria coat, and while I could get it on it wasn’t the best fit.

 

Regina Dart had suggested to me that I try a children’s sweatshirt on Clarissa’s little man to see if that would help.  I had mentioned this to my neighbor Darlene, who has been dropping by to check up on me and help with the chores when she can while Ric is away.

 

On Sunday Darlene invited me to her house for Belgian Waffles (and very nice they were too), once we had finished eating Darlene told me that we had a project to do.  She then produced a small hooded zip up sweatshirt with a soft fleece lining – an extra coat for Clarissa’s little man.  Darlene cut the hood and the labels off the sweatshirt and we tried it on Clarissa’s cria – it fit’s!

 

The sweatshirt doesn’t unzip completely so you have to be a little crafty about getting the crias back legs through, but once that part is done it is quite easy to manipulate the crias front legs into the sleeves of the sweatshirt and behold – Paca Jammies!

 

The extra effort to keep Clarissa’s cria warm is also paying off as he is showing more regular weight gain and now starting to act like a cria should, with some bucking and kicking and running around the pasture.  

 

I am not really one for dressing up my pets (I believe that my dogs have fur for warmth and don’t really need the addition of any doggie clothes), but I have to admit that Clarissa’s little boy looks incredibly cute in his new outfit – what do you think?

 

Rosemary

 

Another New Arrival With An Interesting Quirk

 

Yesterday was a beautiful warm sunny day, too nice for one of the three remaining pregnant girls not to give birth.  This time it was Melody’s turn.

 

Melody is a maiden alpaca, so this was her first time birthing.  She went into labor shortly after she had been fed, taking herself away from the herd, sitting rolled on one hip and flaring at the nostrils.   Melody made several visits to the poop pile, initially passing poop and then not passing anything.  Textbook signs of labor in an alpaca.

 

Melody’s labor progressed well and I could start to see a nose arriving.  It looked dark and I called Melody’s owners (Bob and Regina Dart) to give them an update.  I went into the house to get my usual collection of supplies and towels and when I came out I could see more of the crias nose was presented but the amniotic sac was still in tact.  As I looked at the cria I could see that it was actually had a light nose but it looked dark because the amniotic fluid was a deep yellow color.

 

Usually the amniotic fluid on an alpaca cria is a clear color, I had not seen this yellow color before.  I burst the sac to release some pressure, which would help Melody make some progress.

 

The delivery went well, and Melody delivered a beautiful white male cria, except he wasn’t quite white, he was bright yellow toward the rear!  Bright yellow is certainly not on the color chart of the Alpaca Registry, so what was the deal with this bright yellow coloring?

 

In addition to the bright yellow we could see the cria had what appeared to be poop on his hind legs.  By this time Bob Dart had arrived along with Mitch Murry from Sandy Acres Alpaca Farm, who was visiting Bob and Regina.

 

We decided a call to the vet was in order, our concern being that maybe Melody had torn some of her bowel during birth.  Being a Saturday the vet’s phone went to his voicemail so we waited for him to call back.

 

In the meantime Bob called Regina to tell her the latest news on the cria and Regina got on her computer and did some research to see if she could find any reference to bright yellow amniotic fluid and feces in the amniotic fluid.  Regina quickly found a reference to just what we were seeing, except it was in goats.

 

Apparently sometimes prior to or during labor and delivery goat kids can pass their Meconium while still in the amniotic sac.  This causes the yellow coloring and poop on the cria’s hind legs that we were seeing.  This does not usually cause any problems with the cria unless the birth is difficult and the cria aspirates the fluid into the lungs.  Melody’s cria had a good birth, certainly not traumatic so it seemed as if everything would be okay.

 

I later went online and found a reference to this situation in goats at http://goat-link.com If you scroll down to the heading “Meconium” you will be able to read a little about this condition and if you scroll a little further you will see a picture of a goat kid whose fleece looks like Melody’s cria’s fleece did due to meconium staining.

Feeling a little more reassured that all would be okay with Melody and her cria we went about the usual routine of drying of the cria, dipping his naval and ensuring he was able to get up and nurse from his dam.

 

Melody seemed fine for the rest of the day, eating hay and keeping an anxious “new mother” eye on her cria.   Her cria nursed and slept as newborn crias do.

 

Today is supposed to be another nice day and so it would not surprise me if we have another cria born, only this time it will most likely not be yellow!

 

Rosemary

Travelers and Toilers

 

It’s been a few days since I posted anything to the blog, no problem alpacas thankfully (and touch wood), just a case of getting things organized prior to Ric setting off on his trip to England to see grand daughter Aida.  Yes Granddad finally has got to see Granddaughter after waiting six long months to see her.   At six months old, Aida is making noise and standing as long as she has something to hold on.  I am sure she is going to keep Ric entertained and busy during his visit.

Aida at Six Months Old

 

With Ric being gone for 3 ½ weeks or so, there was plenty of preparation to be done to make things as easy as possible here at the farm.  With close to 70 alpacas on the farm there is a lot to do just to keep the day to day operations running smoothly and so the easier things are the better.  Hay was moved closer to the feed barn, some fences fixed, feed brought in and decisions made as to how to winterize faucets etc.

 

It’s a good job we talked about winterizing as the weather did turn cold on the day Ric left, (hmm – did her arrange that!).  The wind blew and the temperature dropped rapidly with a nighttime low in the low thirties.  Thursday night too was extremely cold.

 

With small crias on the farm I put out plenty of straw for the girls and their babies to bed down in.  The two smallest crias and their dams Clarissa and Essie were penned up in a sheltered stall overnight to ensure they were kept warm and it was cria coats all round for the fall arrivals.  In fact Clarissa’s cria, still being the smallest of the group, got to wear two coats, one over his back and the other one to cover his belly and chest.  When I checked on him during the evening he seemed content and felt nice and warm.  Essie and Clarissa were not too thrilled about being penned up for the night but a nice tub of hay with some alfalfa added as a treat helped persuade them that perhaps the stall was not a bad place after all.

 

There are still three girls to give birth, Merry Me, Melody and Kimmie.  Kimmie is absolutely huge and surely cannot go too much longer – or can she!  

 

Kimmie - Getting Bigger By the Day

 

 

 

Hopefully the three expectant dams have read the part of the alpaca book that talks about alpacas only having their crias on nice days.  If so this weekend will be prime for a birth or two as the weather is supposed to warm up again.  It could be a busy weekend!

 

Rosemary

And Another Little One Joins Us

 

With four girls left to give birth we have been keeping a close eye on the expectant dams.  Sunday night Melody seemed a little uncomfortable in the evening, sitting rolled onto one hip, then sitting sternal and then rolling back onto her hip again.  So it was Melody we thought would be the next to deliver.

 

Monday was a sunny day even though it was a little blustery, all of the girls ate well in the morning and Melody seemed more comfortable with no more signs of possible labor.  The new crias were having fun chasing each other, interspersed with periods of napping in the sun.

 

In the early afternoon the weather suddenly changed, the sky grew cloudy, the wind picked up and the temperature dropped as a cold front came into the area.  It seemed that the sudden change in pressure had another effect too as I became aware that Essie was walking a little strangely.  She had that same stiff, waddling gate that Clarissa had on Saturday – she was in labor.

 

Essie is a maiden alpaca, this being her first experience of giving birth and the look of her face seemed to say “What the heck is going on back there?”  The poor thing looked quite perplexed!  Essie was soon to discover what was going on as she went on to deliver a beautiful, golden brown female cria.   Having delivered the crias head and feet, Essie took a break to sit down and chew her cud, before delivering the rest of the cria.

 

Both Essie and the cria belong to our alpaca neighbors Bob and Regina Dart.  Bob was out of town on Monday but Regina was able to come over to see her new arrival being delivered.

 

The cria was a little tired after being born and took a nap while Essie delivered the afterbirth (this time with a look of “Now What is Happening” on her face).  Once Essie was comfortable the cria woke up as if on cue, struggled to take her first steps and was soon nursing from her dam.

 

So the new cria group is now up to six, with three more left to arrive.  Maybe today will be Melody’s day, we’ll just have to wait and see.

 

Rosemary

 

 

Well Look Who’s Here!

 

Clarissa's Cria

 

 

 

Saturday morning as we were doing chores we noticed Clarissa walking a little stiffly.  Waddling around with her tail in the air it was apparent that she was in labor.

 

According to our records Clarissa wasn’t supposed to be having her cria until mid November so for her labor was about a month early.  All progressed well though with her labor and she delivered a little white male cria.

 

Clarissa’s cria was indeed little weighing in at only 11.9 lbs, the smallest we have had born on the farm to date, but apart from his small size he was healthy and strong.  He was soon sitting in a cushed position and then was trying to stand looking for Clarissa and wanting to nurse.

 

Once we had dried off the cria and made sure he was nursing well, we put him and Clarissa in a catch pen to give them time alone to bond.  With Clarissa and her cria settled we went back to our breeding records to check when Clarissa was bred.

 

Clarissa actually bred four times, once on October 27, once on November 10, once on November 20 and then again on December 2.  The first three breedings had been to our junior herdsire Travesura’s Altiplano Treasure and at that time Treasure did not have any confirmed pregnancies.  Having tried Clarissa and Treasure three times, apparently without success we then bred Clarissa to our herdsire Windrush Moonlight Surprise who is a proven herdsire.  Following Clarissa’s breeding to Moonie she had three behavior tests where she rejected the male and then was confirmed pregnant, so we were thinking that the breeding to Moonie was the successful one.

 

But now we have a cria, who really doesn’t look like Moonie, and apart from being small looks to be full term.  So the question is for this cria “Whose your Daddy”!  Is he a premature Moonie cria, or is he a small full term Treasure cria?  Well once we send in his blood card to the Alpaca Registry the DNA testing will reveal all, until then all we can do is guess.

 

At this point I am suspecting that our latest little boy is a Treasure cria; both Treasure and Clarissa are small which might explain the cria’s small size.  Moonie is a larger male and I feel that if the cria was over a month premature we would have some other indications that he was premature such as floppy ears, teeth not being emerged or being down in the pasterns.

 

Until we get the DNA results all we can do is speculate and be happy that we have a healthy but tiny cria (and he’s quite adorable too!).

 

Rosemary

Update on Chai

With looking after all of the new arrivals life has as usual been busy.  In addition to the good news of the new crias we have also had good news on Chai’s arthritic leg.

 

Chai had recently been diagnosed with arthritis and our vet had suggested we try her on some form of arthritis formula supplement.  I decided to try Dr. Pollard’s herbal arthritis treatment, which I knew was safe to give to alpacas.

 

For the first two weeks we had to give Chai the arthritis formula twice a day.  The formula is a fine green powder and initially Chai was not too interested in it, often leaving much of the powder in her feed bowl.  We tried various ways to tempt Chai to eat the arthritis formula, but have found the most success mixing it in with some soaked beet shreds and then putting the shreds and formula mix on top of a small handful of alfalfa. Chai likes that combination and will  clean up the contents of  her food bowl.

 

By about the eight day of treatment Chai was still favoring her leg and I was starting to wonder if the formula was going to be a success.  Sure enough by the time day fourteen came around, Cha was no longer favoring her leg and the swelling in her leg had gone down.  Success!

 

Now Chai gets the formula once a day, although we may go back to twice a day if the winter weather causes Chai’s arthritis to flare up again.  Fingers crossed though the daily feeding of the formula will keep Chai’s arthritis at bay.

 

Rosemary

I’m Off The Farm For One Day ……..

Victorian Glow - Pasture Queen

And a new cria arrives!  Victorian Glow (who belongs to Bob and Regina Dart of Llano Soleado Alpacas) decided to keep Ric entertained by delivering a beautiful dark brown female cria at 2:30 pm.  The delivery went well and the cria seems to be strong and healthy. 

 

Glow is an older female and a solid producer of beautiful crias.  She has had several male crias in the past so for Bob and Regina to get a female cria from her is exciting.  To me Glow is a very true to type alpaca with a compact body, great bone density and of course super soft fleece.   Glow is also a “pasture queen” ruling the pasture in her own quiet but very definite way.  The other girls know not to mess with Glow.

 

By the time I came home from the Crafters Mall it was too dark to take a picture of the new arrival.  Bob and Regina had come over to visit their new girl and had fitted her out in a cria coat to keep her warm during the chilly night.  Let’s hope the other crias leave her out of their “Remove The Cria Coat” game which they still are having fun playing.  The temperature was a little cool last night (46 degrees) but today it is supposed to get up in the 70’s which will be nice weather for the new cria to check out her new world.  It is also good weather for cria deliveries so who knows we may get another new arrival.

 

Meanwhile while Ric was delivering crias my day at the Crafters Mall was a quiet one, which allowed me to learn the ropes and get acquainted with the various booths in the store.  I was also pleased to discover that we have already sold some product from our booth, which is promising.   I am assured by the other vendors at the store that as the holidays get closer the pace will pick up at the Crafters Mall, so I had better brace myself for busier times on my next volunteer day in November.  By then hopefully all the new crias will have arrived – only five more to go!

 

Rosemary

A Different Days Work

 

Today is my first time volunteering at The Crafters Mall in Clovis where we now have a booth selling our end product.  One of the conditions of having a booth at The Crafters Mall is that each vendor has to volunteer one day a month to work at the store.

 

It will be a different day dealing with people instead of alpacas.  I am sure it will be a nice change in many ways (out of the rain and mud for a start!), but I know I will miss my fleeced friends who usually occupy most of my day.

 

Of course I will be packing a knitting project in case of slow times at the store.  I am not sure if knitting will be permitted while “on the job” so as to say, but if it is I will be prepared.  If not there is always lunchtime to fit in a row or two.

 

It will be a nice chance to meet some other crafters and also to meet potential customers; with the holiday season rapidly approaching I am sure there are some people already working on their holiday gift shopping.

 

At home, Ric will be minding the farm including the remaining girls who are due to have their crias.  The very wet weather has meant that the girls are still hanging onto their crias, but the forecast is for the weather to start to warm up a little as we reach the weekend.  So there is a chance that one or more of the girls will start to go into labor.

 

The three crias that are already with us have finally learnt that when it is cold and rainy a cria coat is a cozy thing to wear.  The last few days have been exceptionally wet and yesterday was not only wet but also cold and windy.  When it comes to the evening cria races however, Dutchesses boy still thinks that tugging the coats off the two girls is a lot of fun – boys will be boys!

 

By the time I get home in the evening all the chores will have been done, so maybe I will take the chance to catch up on some paperwork, or work on the website.  Not before I’ve paid a visit to the pasture though to say hello to the herd.

 

Rosemary

The Basics of Alpaca and Llama Care

 

Yesterday I received an email from Sheila Fugina who is a participant in Camelid Community 2008.  Sheila is also on the Board of Directors for the International Camelid Institute.  Camelid Community occurs annually and is the only national forum that offers the opportunity for dialog among representatives of national, regional and local camelid organizations as well as interested individuals and owners.  Camelid Community provides a unique opportunity for an assessment of the “state of the union” of the camelid world.

 

Sheila’s email had attached to it the final version of a brochure “The Basics of Alpaca and Llama Care” which was produced at Camelid Community 2008. 

 

As the alpaca population grows some alpacas are being sold through sale barns, auction houses, petting zoos and “backyard breeders”.   Llamas too are being sold at these venues.  People who purchase their alpacas or llamas at these type of venues are often left high and dry when it comes to the necessary information to ensure that their alpaca or llama has a happy healthy life.  They do not receive the mentoring or support that a reputable alpaca or llama breeder would give them.

 

A reputable alpaca or llama breeder will take care to make sure that people who purchase their alpacas or llamas have the necessary knowledge to care for their alpacas or llamas.  A reputable breeder will mentor and support their alpaca or llama clients and will maintain contact with those clients to ensure that their alpacas or llamas are well cared for.   A reputable breeder will never sell a single alpaca or llama to someone who does not already own alpacas or llamas, unless that person has made arrangements to board their alpaca or llama at a facility that has other alpacas or llamas to provide company. 

 

Quite often reputable alpaca and llama breeders will find themselves being contacted by people who have purchased alpacas or llamas from a less reputable breeder.  The new alpaca or llama owner is bewildered as to why their alpaca or llama is not doing well or is failing to interact with them.

 

To help educate potential and new alpaca and llama owners the Camelid Community have produced “The Basics of Alpaca and Llama Care” brochure.  The brochure is a simple, inexpensive document that can be distributed to outlets such as sale barns, feed stores, vets and shearers.  The document even has a field left blank so that whoever is distributing the brochures can put their contact information on the brochure, providing a local contact for those who pick up a copy.  The document can also be posted on organizational and individual web sites for others to download and print the brochure.

 

I think this is a great idea and I am grateful to all at Camelid Community who volunteered their time and skills for this project.  Hopefully the availability of this document will help some people make a better-educated decision as to whether they are really ready to own alpacas or llamas and also provide a way for new alpaca or llama owners to make contact with local reputable breeders who can answer their questions and help them raise their alpacas or llamas successfully.

 

Sheila’s email mentioned that the brochure will be available for download on the International Camelid Institute website at www.icinfo.org.  I went onto the International Camelid Institute website yesterday and could not find the brochure there, but I am sure it will be posted in the next few days.  In the meantime if you would like a copy of  “The Basics of Alpaca and Llama Care” document, feel free to drop me an email and I will send you a copy.

 

Rosemary