Cinnamon's new cria
Our first cria of the fall arrived yesterday at 12:35 pm. Cinnamon delivered a healthy, vigorous beige boy who weighed in at 15.3 lbs. Cinnamon’s cria is out of our dark male herdsire Tobiano, whose crias have all been in the 13 –15 lbs range so far. They tend to be study little crias with broad chests and a very square frame and this little boy is no exception.
We had thought that the breeding of Cinnamon and Tobiano would produce color, but alpacas love to outwit us humans and Cinnamon and Tobiano combined gave us a beige cria. Alpaca color genetics are so much fun!
Cinnamon’s little boy is a real character. He tried to kick me when I dipped his naval, kicked out at Cinnamon when she sniffed him, was scratching his head with his hind leg before he could cush and boy can he talk! He really is a chatty little fellow. He was up on his feet looking good about an hour after being born, not wobbly at all, but steady and skipping around. He also was hungry and took no time in finding Cinnamon’s udder, which had plenty of creamy colostrum. I think the recent addition of a little alfalfa to our girls diet gave Cinnamon some help in the milk department, although Cinnamon’s dam Chai is an excellent milk producer and milk production does seem to be a heritable factor in alpacas as it is in other livestock species.
Cinnamon had a textbook delivery with no assistance required, she even took a break to chew her cud after the cria’s head and legs were delivered! As I dried off Cinnamon’s cria, she stretched her neck out to me, looked me right in the eye and then planted a gentle alpaca kiss right on my forehead, what a sweet girl.
Although she is a maiden Cinnamon is proving to be an excellent mother, she is very attentive to her cria, humming to him and sniffing him and she stands stock still while he nurses from her.
So our visitors to our farm will have a special treat today as they see our new young man prancing round, checking out how fast his legs will carry him! For this boy we are going to need a name that is full of spirit, vigor and character just like him!
A Taste of Life at Windrush Alpacas 
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