A Long Awaited Cria Arrives

 

Finally its a girl for Theresa!

Finally it happened, at 11:10 on November 10^th (now how’s that for coincidence being born at 11:10 on 11/10) Theresa’s cria was born – and after five boys in a row Theresa had a girl!

Theresa was bred on November 15, 2008 so by my calculation she had a gestation of 360 days – phew!

We suspected that Theresa was finally thinking of having her cria when she started acting differently late in the day on Monday.  We noticed Theresa was standing a lot, not eating as much as usual and when she did cush it was very slowly.  By 8 p.m. Theresa had started to hum which was a bit concerning as it was an indication that labor was getting closer and we didn’t want a cria born during the night.  Apart from the humming though Theresa seemed otherwise comfortable.  I monitored her until 1:30 a.m. on Tuesday and as she still seemed comfortable at that time I made tracks for bed.

Of course you never really sleep that well when you are wondering if one of your alpaca girls is outside in the throes of labor, by 5:15 a.m. I was up to check on Theresa and could see that she was still cushed comfortably.  Theresa ate well at feeding time, although the humming was still continuing, but after feeding she isolated herself from the herd and then I was certain her cria was on its way.

By 8:50 a.m. Theresa was starting to push.  I have known Theresa for many years and have seen her give birth several times.  I know that with Theresa labor does not progress quickly and just when you start to think you should call the vet she gives a huge push and out pops her cria.   Theresa’s labor progressed as I expected and by 11:05 a.m. I could just see the tip of the crias nose.  Next came Theresa’s usual huge contraction and at 11:10 a.m. her cria was born.

By the time the cria arrived the other alpaca girls had gathered round to check out the new arrival, much to Theresa’s annoyance, so as soon as Theresa was rested and up I took her and her cria and put them in a catch pen to bond.

 

Theresa's cria tries out her long legs

 

 

For Theresa there had been a long gap between crias, following the birth of her last cria she had developed a uterine infection which took a long while to clear up.  Once the uterine infection was gone Theresa was bred again but sadly lost her cria at 90 days gestation when the crias umbilical cord became wrapped around the crias neck.  We have not had that happen before, it was an unfortunate accident but there was nothing we could have done to prevent it and nothing we could do about it.  Theresa was bred again (after we had allowed her body to recover from the loss of her cria) and this time all went well.   Theresa had a good pregnancy, even though it was another long one.

So now Theresa finally has a daughter and what a good looking girl she is.  Her fleece is very curly and soft and like her mother she loves to eat (or in her case nurse).  Theresa’s cria wasted no time in getting to her feet and having a nurse as soon as she was able and Theresa was more than happy for her to do so.

Our congratulations go to Theresa’s owners Troy and Mary Ogilvie of Timber Lodge Alpacas.  Troy and Mary were very patient during the process of getting Theresa bred again, through all that happened their only concern was that Theresa be healthy and given all that was needed to help her have a good pregnancy.  Troy and Mary’s patience paid off and now they have been rewarded with a beautiful female cria.  I am sure Troy and Mary will love her when they get to see her, and knowing them I am betting that will be soon!
Rosemary

Welcome to Our Newest Arrival

Our newest cria - son of Ana Lynette

 

Now this is the sort of cria delivery that is fun.  Here I am on vacation in England while in New York one of our newest additions to our alpaca herd “Ana Lynette” delivered her cria – a beautiful light fawn boy.  Talk about a stress free delivery – well it was for me anyway!  A big thank you to Lindsay Butkiewicus of Wild Thyme Farm for keeping us updated on the cria’s delivery and for looking after Ana Lynette and her cria until we are able to move them to our farm.

Ana Lynette is being a wonderful mother, very attentive to her cria and producing lots of milk, while her cria is enjoying life as crias tend to do.  Lindsay says that there is a chance that the cria may be more rose grey than fawn, which is a distinct possibility given his genetics (black sire and beige dam with black in her background).  Some greys become more apparent as they age so time will tell for our little boy.  Now we just have to come up with a name for him (and if you have been following our blog you will know how boy crias always prove a challenge to us when it comes to names)

 

We will not get to see Ana Lynette and her cria until after I return from England.  We want the cria to be at least three weeks old before he travels as it will be a long trip for him and Ana Lynette.  Hopefully by late November Ana Lynette and her boy will be with us and maybe we can even get our new junior herdsire Champ on the transport too.

 

Ana Lynnette and her cria

Here in England it is still sunny but the temperature has dipped to the mid fifties, still not too bad for October.  Ric reports that things are cooler in New Mexico too and so I think we can say fall has arrived.

This evening I will be attending the Baldock Knit Together Group.  I tried to attend the group last year when I was over but was unable to do so.  Since then I have kept in contact with the group organizer Rhona and we are looking forward to meeting in person at the meeting tonight.  Of course I will be taking my latest alpaca knitting project with me, and I am sure I will pick up many new tips and free patterns during the course of the evening.  It is wonderful that knitters and crocheters the world over always welcome each other and enjoy admiring each others knitting projects while being willing to pass on tips and tricks.  Being part of a knitting or crochet group is a great way to meet some lovely people who share a common love of fiber arts.

Tomorrow my mother and I will set off by train to go to Totley in South Yorkshire where we will visit my Dad’s cousin Stella.  I have many happy childhood memories of times spent with Stella.  There were at least two summers when my brothers and I went to stay with Stella for a few weeks and had a wonderful time exploring the Yorkshire countryside and learning more of our family history.  It has been at least 20 years since I was in that part of the country and so it will be nice to visit again and enjoy the many beautiful sights of South Yorkshire.

So on that note I had better turn my attention to packing my bag for my trip.

 Rosemary

And Next We Welcome

Our new girl - Hagen Heights Ana Lynette

Hagen Heights Ana Lynette!

It’s interesting how you can be searching for a black herdsire and then find yourself purchasing a beige female – hmm, how does that happen!

Well it happens when you are looking for offspring of a well know beautiful black Bolivian alpaca called Bolivian Vesuvius.  Bolivian Vesuvius was born in the US out of two parents from the Acero Marka ranch – the top alpaca ranch in Bolivia.  Over the years Bolivian Vesuvius has sired multiple award winning cria in a multitude of colors but predominantly black.

During my search for a black herdsire some of the criteria I used in my search were that I wanted the alpaca to have known, proven bloodlines but I also wanted bloodlines that were uncommon in the southwestern United States.  I wanted to bring some fresh bloodlines into the area.  In the end Alpaca Knights Challenger’s Champ, the black herdsire we purchased fulfills these criteria but the offspring of Bolivian Vesuvius would have also filled them.

As it happened I didn’t find a Bolivian Vesuvius male that I could afford, but did come across a female called Acero Marka’s Bonnie who is a sister of Bolivian Vesuvius – and Ana Lynette is Bonnie’s daughter.  Even better still Ana Lynette is out of WC Magnitude who is also a full Acero Marka Bolivian offspring  and she is bred to Silver Cloud’s Sunsplash (a true black male) and due to deliver her cria in early October.

Many alpaca breeders have overlooked the Bolivian alpacas which is a shame.   There has been less marketing of the Bolivian alpacas than say the Peruvian alpacas and yet many of the founding herd of the Acero Marka ranch are said to have come from Peru.  We already have some Bolivian alpacas in our herd, our male Tobiano is 3/4 Bolivian, his dam Theresa who we owned for several years is half Bolivian and one of our foundation dams Ivanna is half Bolivian.

It has been my experience that many of the Bolivian alpacas have outstanding fleece qualities, they tend to have very consistent and soft handling fleeces and organized crimp, they also tend to hold their fineness over the years, a quality that I really appreciate in my alpacas.   Many of the Bolivian alpacas I have seen have also been colored, making them valuable to a breeding program focusing on high quality colored fleeces.  Interestingly the offspring of my Bolivian alpacas have all sold easily.  Ana Lynette’s previous owner Theresa Reyes-Stassel of Hagen Heights Alpaca Farm told me that she thinks of Bolivian alpacas as “Peruvian’s in disguise”.  If you are familiar with Bolivian alpacas you will understand what she means, if you are not familiar with Bolivian alpaca then you might want to take a closer look at them as they really have some beautiful qualities that can easily enhance someone’s herd.

We are excited to add Ana Lynette to our herd.  As Ana Lynette was so far into her pregnancy we have left her at her home farm until after she delivers her cria, we didn’t want to travel her and risk losing her cria.  Hopefully she will be able to join us in November/December once her cria is old enough to travel.

Once Ana Lynette arrives at our farm she will be spoilt for choice for dates – should we try a Accoyo/Allianza/Bolivian cross by breeding her to our Enchantment’s Prince Regent, or perhaps stick with the Bolivian genetics and breed her to Tobiano.  Of course there are also Zindel, White Blast, Treasure and Champ to consider – so many potential choices, all of which could result in beautiful cria!

Rosemary

Introducing our new Junior Herdsire

Alpaca Knights Challenger's Champ - Head Shot

Alpaca Knights Challenger’s Champ

After many months of searching for a black herdsire who would complement our herd, we finally found him in Alpaca Knights Challenger’s Champ.

I had just about given up on us acquiring a black herdsire.  I looked at many during my search.  Some were extremely beautiful but also came with a beautiful price tag too.  That’s not to say that they were not deserving of that price tag, but it was not within our budget.

Some of the black male alpacas we looked at were strong in some characteristics but lacking in others.  We had definite qualities in mind for our black herdsire.  Our current herdsires have been producing black and colored offspring and we needed a male we could use to breed to those offspring and have available for clients who had already purchased offspring from us.  We wanted to make sure that any male we used was going to be able improve on the great qualities we already had in our herd.

The color genetics of alpacas is a complicated subject and there are some differing opinions offered by the experts on alpaca color genetics.  At times trying to figure out if a certain male was a good match for our herd left my head spinning (as competitive as white alpaca show classes are and as advanced as white fleeces are I still feel it is somewhat easier selecting a white male alpaca than selecting a black male alpaca!)

When I came across Champ, it was almost by accident.  Having received an email blast from his owners about some other alpacas they had for sale, I decided to take a look at their website and there was Champ.  Champ has some bloodlines that I wanted in our herd (Peruvian Aladdin, MFI Peruvian Black Mesquite), he is a good looking boy and then there is his fleece – as soon as I had my hands on his fleece sample I knew he was the one.  His fleece has a luxurious soft handle, well organized crimp, bundles, density and brightness.  For those interested in histograms his first histogram was 16.9 micron, 3.7 SD, 22.1 CV and 1.1 over 30 Microns, pretty nice for a black male alpaca.

So the deal has now been done and Champ is ours, we just have to find a transport coming our way to bring him to us.

We are hoping that Champ will be ready to start breeding in spring 2010 and suspect that once he starts breeding his date book will fill up rapidly!

Rosemary

How Precocious!

Well our new bay windows have certainly paid off already.  While having lunch yesterday I gazed out of our new beautiful windows and could see one of the alpacas by the fence line.  As I looked I realized something was wrong with the picture.  What was wrong was the alpaca was walking out of the pasture gate and was now on the wrong side of the fence!  Our Annochia had just executed a pretty smooth exit from the pasture!

Annochia is now 15 months old and her hormones are talking to her.  She has been cushing for the male spring crias who enjoy trying out their future role as herdsires and she has also been mounting other females.  Because of Annochia’s behavior we have moved her from the main female group and put her in with a smaller group of more mature females who will not tolerate her mounting them.

Annochia has settled in well with her new pasture mates, but apparently still has her mind on other matters.  So it was that yesterday she managed to work open the gate latch and head straight for the male alpacas.   Obviously in Annochia’s mind we have not been paying attention to her needs, she feels she is ready to breed and was heading off to find a suitable date.  While we appreciate Annochia’s ingenuity it is a bit early for us to start our fall breedings and we usually don’t breed our maiden females until they are at least 18 months old.  So Annochia is going to have to wait a little longer before she has her first date.

Of course once Annochia’s pasture mates saw that Annochia was out they soon followed suit.  Willow (our usual escapologist who must have now passed on her knowledge to Annochia) galloped off leaving her cria Whisper behind (bad Willow!), Bjorn and her cria McKinley were next out of the gate and then Carissima brought up the rear.

Our lunch came to an abrupt halt while we rounded the girls up and herded them back to their pasture, where Lady Belle, Keeva and little Whisper were waiting.  A pin has now been inserted in the gate latch to prevent Annochia from opening it again and we had better start thinking who Annochia’s first date will be, before she figures out another way to escape from the pasture in pursuit of romance!

Rosemary

It’s hard to have a cria when your back’s against the wall!

Bjorn's cria - glad to have found his way into the world!

That’s what we had to tell Bjorn yesterday as she tried to deliver her cria.

Yesterday wasn’t particularly a hot day, but it was a humid day making it feel hotter than it actually was.  As we fed the girls in the morning I noticed Bjorn cushed shortly after eating which was unusual for her.  Sure enough she was in labor and once we let her out of the pen where she eats she made her way to the shade of the shelter.

As Bjorn’s labor progressed she wandered around the pasture.  I prepared a pen to put her in once her cria had been delivered.  Being on dry lot I prefer to have a pen with blankets or bedding to put new crias and their dams into so that they can bond after birthing.

Bjorn was definitely seeking out the cool breeze of the fan, but she had strong competition for the prime spot immediately in front of the fan.  Ivanna had already staked her claim to a spot in front of the fan and Black Prince and Buccaneer were cushed there also.

Before long I could see the nose of Bjorn’s cria emerge, but by now Bjorn had firmly wedged herself in front of the fan with her rear pressed up against the wall of the shelter blocking the cria from making any progress.  I tried to move Bjorn so that there was space behind her but as fast as I moved her she moved herself back.  The crias nose came out and went back in again at least twice, and once the cria’s head and feet had fully emerged Bjorn was pushing but there was nowhere for the  cria to go.

Eventually I manage to get Bjorn’s rear away from the shelter wall and with a few more pushes she delivered her cria a large white boy.

Bjorn usually has large crias and at 19.8 lbs this was one of her smallest cria.  You would have thought that Bjorn would be anxious to get her cria delivered quickly rather than position herself to where her cria could not come out.

Bjorn’s cria didn’t seem any worse for wear once he was fully delivered, and was cushed and then up on his feet in a short while.  Bjorn though looked tired after the birthing and took her time resting after the cria was born, but some MSE drench, a bowl of alfalfa and a nice cold bucket of water to drink soon had her up on her feet again.

So we have another white boy to add to our herd.  He’s a handsome looking cria with bright white silky fleece and the dense bone of his sire Zin.  I think he will be quite the good looking lad as he grows up and will be competitive enough to take part in the white classes at the alpaca shows once he is of age.   Now he’s finally out I suspect nothing will stop him!

Rosemary

Beautiful Day, Beautiful Cria

Willow's New Cria

Monday was a beautiful day, temperatures were in the 80’s, a light breeze was drifting across the pasture and everywhere was damp from rain we had received the night before.  It was New Mexico at its best with bright blue skies, brilliant sunshine and some fluffy white clouds in the sky.

Willow must have thought it a beautiful day too for that morning she went into labor.  I first noticed her looking restless at 9:40 a.m., she was sitting on one hip her legs kicked out to one side.  After a while she would get up and walk around then cush again rolling onto one hip or the other.  From there she started pushing a little harder and making those frequent visits to the poop pile that are often a sign of labor in alpacas.  Then her contractions became very strong and she cushed again, rolling onto one hip and pushing hard.

I could see progress was being made and so left Willow alone (that’s the hardest part of watching an alpaca in labor sometimes!).  Soon I could see a little white foot and nose emerging from Willow, followed shortly by another little white foot.  When I saw Willow was between contractions I moved her to a pen so that she could finish labor in peace without being bothered by the rest of the herd.

At 10:40 the cria was born, a shiny bright, snowy white female cria – beautiful!  The cria looked quite small, but when I picked her up she felt heavier than she looked, perhaps an indication of some good heavy bone.  Willow is not a large alpaca and Treasure the cria’s sire is an average sized alpaca and so I expected that the offspring from that pairing would not be huge.  Later when I weighed Willow’s cria she was 14.7 lbs. a nice weight for a smaller dam to deliver.

A Close Up of Willow's Cria's Fleece - if only you could feel it!

There is no doubting that Treasure is the sire of this little girl for she has his outstanding brightness to her fleece and that silky, slightly waxy handle.  The pairing of Willow and Treasure was a good one and I think this little girl will be one to watch out for.

The usual routine of the day went out of the window as I spent time watching Willow and her cria, making sure Willow passed her afterbirth without problem and that the cria found Willow’s udder and had a good nurse.   Later I let the pair out in a pen so that the cria could stretch her legs and have a trot around, and as she discovered that her legs would carry her well and fast, so Willow ran beside her not wanting to let her new baby out of her sight.

Days like those are just one of the advantages of being an alpaca rancher.  For those first precious hours of that cria’s life you can put the routine to one side and just enjoy the miracle of a new life.  I think you have to agree it’s not a bad way to earn a living is it!

Rosemary

Preparing for Baby

It’s interesting to watch our pregnant dams as they get closer to the end of their pregnancy.  Their pregnant bump grows larger and often changes shape as the cria repositions itself during the day.  Sometimes the cria looks to be all on one side, other times the cria looks as if it has dropped right down in the dams abdomen and at the very end of the pregnancy the cria looks as if it is about to pop out of the dam at any moment as it stretches its legs causing movement at the base of the dam’s tail.

Some dams, such as our Queen, develop a voracious appetite and seem to spend their day constantly eating.  Others slow down their eating, delicately nibbling here and there and taking their time to chew their cud often.

When the weather is warm we often find our heavily pregnant dams parked in front of the fan.  The extra weight of the cria they are carrying generates more body heat and they need the opportunity to spend time in a nice cool spot.

We often notice that our late term dams “pick their spot”.   They will spend more and more time in one particular spot in the pasture, often an area a little way from the rest of the herd.  This spot usually ends up being where they go to when they start labor.  Alpacas don’t “nest” as such, but they do seem to find comfort in being in that spot that they have picked once labor starts.  This isn’t to say that the cria will be born in that spot as once labor starts the dams can move around quite a bit as they push and work on getting their cria delivered.   Unless something drives them away from that spot then often the cria will be delivered not far away from the area where the dam has spent many hours in her final weeks of pregnancy.

Willow is due to have her cria at the end of August and she has already picked out her spot in the pasture.  Last time she delivered her cria she did so in our large blue shelter, but the weather had dictated that choice as she delivered during a sandstorm.  Willow is smart enough to know that the shelter was a much more comfortable place to deliver a cria when the wind and dust are blowing.

This year Willow’s spot is in one of the pens that we use to feed the llamas every morning.  It has now become part of Willow’s routine that once she has been fed and the llamas have been let out of their pens that she make her way over to the one llama pen where she carefully cushes on the ground.  Once she is comfortably cushed she sits there for at least an hour, sometimes more, her ears back a little, sometimes flickering as her cria gives her a swift kick or two.  Willow doesn’t look uncomfortable during this time but you can tell something is going on.

You can bet we will be watching Willow as she gets closer to her delivery date, particularly when we see her over in her “spot”.  Let’s hope the llamas have finished eating by the time Willow decides to go into labor, or else there could be competition for that selected spot!

Rosemary

Is it Love?

Is This Love? Black Prince Tries His Luck With Annochia While Little Man Looks On

 

It’s fun to watch the young crias growing up and see the antics they get up to.  To them the world is a great place to explore and they have to check everything out, whether it be by looking, sniffing or tasting.

Chai’s cria Black Prince (who may well become Dark Prince if we decide he is not black when we come to register him) is a curious cria with a neat personality.  Black Prince is nicely curious without pushing any boundaries of inappropriate behavior.  He loves to see what we are doing, following us around when we are putting out hay and coming up for a brief visit when we are in the pasture.  Black Prince has also discovered that the fan produces a nice breeze and is the first in front of the fan every morning.  By the afternoon he has become bored with sitting in front of the fan and will go out into the pasture to play with the other crias or lounge in the sun.

Recently though Black Prince has had other things on his mind as he appears to have fallen in love with Annochia.  Annochia being close to a year old is a lot bigger than Black Prince but does not seem put off by her suitors size or age.  The first time I noticed Black Prince with Annochia they were lying side by side in the pasture, their necks entwined, fast asleep in the sunshine.  From there things have progressed and now Black Prince has turned his thoughts to breeding.

Fortunately Black Prince is nowhere near breeding age, if he was we would put him in the junior male pen safely away from the females, but Black Prince doesn’t realize that and has been making attempts to breed Annochia.  His inexperience shows though as often we find him on Annochia’s neck facing her rear end.  Other times he is facing the right way, but he is so small compared to Annochia that he ends up sitting on top of her with all four feet tucked underneath him.

Annochia is very tolerant of her young paramour and sits chewing her cud while he clambers all over her.  When Black Prince is in her way one quick shake by Annochia unseats him from his perch on top of her and deposits him in the dirt.  Not that Black Prince is offended by Annochia’s unceremonious dumping of him, he just dusts himself off and either goes off to play with another cria or settles down to cush beside Annochia.

It’s funny that often young male crias will find one female in the pasture who they are particularly attracted to.  When Windrush White Blast was a cria he fell hard for a visiting young female called Annie.  Windrush Zindel’s Pride was besotted by our girl Windrush Ashling’s Dream (although with that pairing we did separate them as Pride was getting close to six months old and Dream was actively cushing for him).  Now Black Prince has his sights set on Annochia, a pairing that I don’t see happening at any time in the future, but until Black Prince gets a little older we will allow him to enjoy his first love!

 

Rosemary

So Which Handsome Prince Created Sleeping Beauty?

 

 

Sleeper Enjoys Some Hay

I finally got around to sending in the last of the fall cria ARI registrations the other day. With the online registration complete, I mailed in the crias blood cards for DNA analysis for parentage verification. We often wait before sending in our ARI registrations for a few reasons. First we want to make sure that the cria makes it through the first few months of life. You hate to think of losing a cria but if does happen then it is usually within the first 30 days of its life. Some may argue that it would be useful to have the cria registered for the national herd records, but at the end of the day economics comes into play and to me it does not make sense to pay to register a cria who is no more.

 

Another reason we hold off registering our crias is that sometimes they change color as they mature. We have had several crias who start off beige at birth and change to white by the time they are six months old. Our Kanika looked to be dark brown or bay black when she was born but by the time we came to shear her she was the most beautiful true black. A client of ours delivered his dam to us for breeding with her white cria by her side. When he came to pick his dam and cria up he was surprised to see that the cria’s fleece was no longer white. The fleece looked white from the outside but when you parted the fleece the fiber inside was a definite light fawn (and no it was not staining from our red dirt!). Crias definitely can change color.

 

So often our crias are five or six months old before we register them, sometimes even older.

 

The registrations I sent off the other day were for Chandra and Sleeping Beauty (whom we call Sleeper) and they are both definitely older than six months. Interestingly in my herd book I show that Chandra and Sleeper could both have been conceived on the same day November 11,2007. I say “could” have been conceived on the same day because when it came to their birth dates there was quite a bit of difference. Sleeper was born on September 27, 2008 and Chandra was born on October 17, 2008. Chandra’s birth date is in the range of her being a full term cria. Sleeper would have been a little premature (and that was the note I had in my herd book).

 

Going back a little further in the herd book I could see that Sleeper’s Dam Keeva bred about three weeks prior to the November 11 breeding, so maybe that was the breeding that resulted in Sleeper, if so that would mean that Sleeper’s sire is our herdsire Travesura’s Altiplano Treasure rather than our herdsire Tobiano – hmmm…

 

My records show that we had tried breeding Keeva to Treasure but the breeding didn’t seem to take. As Treasure was in his first breeding season we didn’t like to force the issue and so decided to put Keeva with Tobiano instead at the next breeding attempt. Tobiano and Keeva bred without a problem and from then on Keeva was not receptive to any male alpacas, so we assumed that Keeva was carrying a Tobiano cria.

 

Thankfully when you go to register a cria you have the option to list two potential sires, and so that is what I did the other day. I personally feel that Sleeper is Tobiano’s cria, she has certain traits that I have seen before in his offspring and Keeva as an experienced dam is not likely to cush for a male when she is already pregnant.

 

Now we will wait and see what Sleeper’s DNA blood card reveals – is she a Treasure cria or a Tobiano cria? Time and DNA will tell.

 

Rosemary