Junuary 2012

Cria coats ~ each cria has a specific coat which has their scent
 on it.  Sometimes the moms don't really appreciate these things we
put on their cria and if it doesn't smell right it can't be good~

June wraps up how it began, grey, cloudy, wet and windy.  Felt as much like January as it did June, but regardless of the weather June always seems to be a month full of activity. Our first cria are born, everyone had to have their own coat to wear this month.  Shearing is done, breedings have begun and we've had lots of visitors this month.  Today, in between rain squals, we had a farm visit to see what raising alpacas is all about and Principe had another one of his arranged dates with 2 girls coming by to see him! 

Staar's new cria sporting her purple rain coat~

Last weekend we had cria born on both Saturday and Sunday.  Saturday during winds that where swirling through our shelter and rain that came pouring down, Moonshadow's Evening Staar delivered our 3rd female cria of the year!  Big whopping 21 lb cria after 350 days gestation.  No wonder Staar couldn't wait for warmer weather to deliver her. 

Staar's friend MO must have been inspired and delivered her 2012 cria Sunday morning.  We didn't have quite the dramatic weather for the arrival of this little one, but with some needed assistance MO delivered a healthy 18.4 lb female!  Exciting to have girls back to back and now 4 in a row, but also, both these new girls happen to be 100% Moonshadow from home grown Moonshadow Sires and Dams.  Anyone following this blog may remember the MO-line from last year.  This is 3 girls in a row for MO and one of the first 2012 cria to get a name.  Let us introduce Moonshadow's Mohini.

MO grazing away with her new cria Mohini never far from her side~

It is always amazing how every alpaca on the ranch seems to know when there is a new arrival.  It is not at all unusual to see them lined up in any of the other fields trying to get a glimpse of the newest member of the herd.

Is Junuary the new start to summer month?  Let's hope not!  Hopefully our summer will begin in July, I'm sure there are many states east of us that would love and could use all this rain.

Happy Father's Day 2012

Annie with her 2012 Fury kid~

It really just didn't seem right to highlight our alpaca moms on Mother's Day and not mention the dads on Father's Day.  We do know they contribute 50% to the mix and we can't have good cria without good alpaca Sires.  We have worked hard to put the best combination of traits together in building our herd and have always taken pride in bringing in the best genetics, health, temperment and fleece qualities for our breeding program.  To start off 2012, we've now had our first 3 cria of the year from 3 wonderful alpaca dads.

Coming up with names doesn't seem to get much easier the more cria you have, so it's not unusual for new cria to just go by buddy, cutie or punkin for weeks.  If we need a name to actually keep track for any reason, they'll go by the dam's 2012 cria.  Our first cria was introduced last month and still has no name.  Here is Annie's 2012 cria, Sired by CCNF Andean Fury, who has been a wonderful dad for us and really out did himself with this stunning young male.



CCNF Andean Fury


 

We highlighted Fury in the 2012's 1st Arrival post.  He has definitely been a great Herdsire for us and has sired some of our best colored offspring.  Annie's little guy certainly has the potential to be his best yet!  We like this guy so well we are definitely considering repeating this combination.  Fury did what we were hoping, he brought in color and enhanced the fleece quality both these parents have.  Absolutely a WOW fleece on this little guy from the moment he was dry!



Snowmass Golden Victory

   

Next up this season was a repeat knock out combination of our Madonna and Snowmass Golden Victory.  On June 4th, Madonna delivered another female cria who appears to be just as nice as her multiple Blue Ribbon winning big sister, Moonshadow's Golden Mist.  Sometimes the names come a little easier, we have wanted all the Victory girls to have Golden in their name.  Getting another female out of this pair seems charmed from the start, so let us introduce Moonshadow's Golden Charm.  

 

Madonna looks white, but she really is a beige and  has been wonderful at
letting the color of the Sire come through in her cria~

 
Our 3rd cria of the season so far was born the first day of our shearing on June 9th.  This is also the 3rd time for this pairing and the dad is a home grown Herdsire of ours and another awesome, multiple show winning son of Madonna's, Moonshadow's Gunslinger.  Whisper and Gunslinger have now produced 3 beautiful females in a row.  Maybe we should call her Hat Trick or Triple Crown?  

Moonshadow's Gunslinger

 

 

So Happy Father's Day to all the dads out there!  Alpaca dads aren't ever involved with their offspring, but we never under value their contribution to their kids!

Whisper & Gunslinger's 3rd girl on the left snuggled next to Golden Charm~





2012's 1st Arrival...

Dreamboat Annie saying hi to her new cria moments
after he hits the ground~

It always seems like we wait the longest for the first one to arrive to kick off each new year of cria.  Seems like the Spring cria take the longest, maybe it is nature's way of protecting those Spring cria from the cold, wet weather we tend to have in the Pacific NW.  After 355 days of waiting, the first cria was born last week on May 24th.  This Spring we have had some nice stretches of warm, sunny weather that would have been wonderful for a new cria to get their start.  Though we did miss that stretch, we did have some moments of sunshine and break in the rain the day of his arrival.

CCNF Andean Fury

Moonshadow's Dreamboat Annie is a proven mom, this is her 3rd cria.  Annie is a 2nd generation production dam out of one of our original females purchased.  This has been a very dominant white line, but we took a little bit of a chance last year and decided to try to bring out some color and bred her to our dark brown Herdsire, CCNF Andean Fury.  Fury has been our most color dominant Herdsire, and has produced 100% colored offspring.  More impressive when you know he's mainly been bred to white or light colored females.   Adding color to an elite white fleece has not been part of our breeding plans for several years now, but we thought if the cria inherited the best both these parents have to offer in fleece quality we could potentially have a real knock out. 



A few hours old~

Can you always tell with a newborn cria whether you hit a home run or not?  No, not necessarily, lots of things can happen before that cria grows up and matures.  However, it's really hard to ignore those first impressions where you go "Wow!" or "oh hum, didn't expect that?".  By the time this little guy was dry enough to get a good feel and look at his fleece, we were both saying Wow, this is definitely what we were shooting for!  His fleece is super dense, crimpy and blindingly bright.  Beautiful coppery color, with kind of a smokey brown head.  Since this is the 3rd boy in a row Annie has produced for us, it is good to see he appears to have stud potential right from the start.  Annie's first guy, Moonshadow's Bootlegger, is now down in Oregon as a Herdsire for Alpaca Alley, LLC.  Her second son, Moonshadow's Victory's Triumph, will be going to Idaho to be a Herdsire at Eden Criations.  They were both show winners in very competitive white male classes.  We know this new guy comes from 2 show winning parents, both proven to produce show winners too.  He comes from an impressive pedigree with generations of winners on both sides of his family tree.



Day 3, never far from mom~

 We have a couple more moms who are imminent and I thought certainly they would be inspired by Annie's delivery, but no, so far they are keeping us hangin'!  Madonna is now at 352 days, Whisper 345 days.  Every time we have a little break in the rain we are watching and hoping to see nose and toes to get those cria out in the open with some sunshine to help warm them up and dry them off.  Like all babies, we know they come when they are ready.  Cria season 2012 has begun at Moonshadow.  Yesterday we had the vet out to do ultrasounds to confirm a few of the Fall breedings we did and the first Spring breedings and the cycle continues.  Birthings and breedings all bring great hope and anticipation for the future!

Happy Mother's Day!

Due date schedule, maybe we should post it in the barn for the
mom's to see?

Happy Mother's Day to all our 2 legged and 4 legged friends!  We are on cria watch for our first new alpacas of the season to arrive.  It would be kind of special to have 1 or 2 born today.  We are having another gorgeous NW Spring weekend and could be perfect weather for a new little one to get their start on life.  From this list you can see we are already past our first due dates.  Wind Song was sold and now living at Snowmass Alpacas, we haven't heard whether she's had her cria yet or not.  Annie and Madonna are both looking VERY pregnant, but not so inclined to let go of that bun in the oven.  So it goes for cria watch, we base our due dates on an average of 340 days, but really there can be a 3 week swing before or after.  We have tried to track trends on individual alpaca gestation lengths, but in the end they come when they are ready.  For me, I am really just being selfish and like to be home for the births, which seems to happen less every year.  Deb is here for most of them, it is pretty rare anymore that we are both gone and come home to a newborn.  In our first couple years that was more of the norm and we look back now and realize how lucky we were that everything went so well.

Dreamboat Annie with her last cria on his first day~

Moonshadow's Dreamboat Annie is at 344 days today.  She has had 2 previous cria with an average of 345 days gestation.  Not a lot of data to determine any strong pattern, but we'll see.  Madonna la Boliviana is at 331 days today.  Her average is pretty close to Annie's, but this is her 8th cria and she has delivered her cria from 333 days to 370 gestation.  In her case, more data to just prove there is no predictable pattern.  Both these dams have been great moms, no birthing issues and know how to take car of their cria.  Sometimes I think they don't want us hanging around messing with their newborns and do all they can to wait and deliver when we are gone.   These dams also both had a year break in between cria so we've been waiting 2 years for them to give us another.  Annie comes from a very dominate white maternal line of alpacas, but we think she has some color potential from her Sire.  She is bred to our Herdsire, CCNF Andean Fury, who has done an amazing job of bringing out color from the lightest dams.  Fleece combination from these two parents has the potential to be phenomenal!

Madonna and her last Golden Victory cria,
Moonshadow's Golden Mist

Madonna la Boliviana is one of our first alpacas from the original 5 pregnant females we purchased when we started raising alpacas.  When choosing those first 5, I will admit she was not necessarily one of our first choices.  The things you learn and if only we knew then what we know now, we would have never hesitated and are so glad we did purchase her!  From her very first cria, Madonna has always produced something very special.  After 10 years with us, Madonna has really never failed to disappoint.  Her last cria was born in 2010 and if you are following our blog at all, would recognize the name Moonshadow's Golden Mist, our highly awarded show girl.  Golden Mist was one of the first cria from our Herdsire, Snowmass Golden Victory and we new she was a winner from the day she was born.  There was never any question that we would breed Madonna back to him.  Madonna is now getting up there in years and we are doing all we can to help her maintain, which included giving her a year off from pregnancy.    We are anxiously awaiting her latest Golden Victory cria and are certainly hoping for a repeat of the last one, whether it's a boy or a girl. 

Coming up quickly behind Annie and Madonna is Whisper.  Another mom that had a year break in between cria and bred to our rose grey Herdsire, Moonshadow's Gunslinger for the 3rd time around!  We've done several repeats, but this is the first 3x'r that we done.  This combination has produced such gorgeous fleece in a lavendar grey and a rich dark brown.  Whatever the color, the fleece quality, overall look and style of offspring and personality have been definite ranch favorites.  Oh, and worth mentioning, Gunslinger is one of Madonna's past show winning cria!

The combination of Gunslinger and Whisper has produced 2 show winners so far,
3rd time has to be a charmer also!

Well it doesn't appear any of our due soons are inclined to become new moms on Mother's Day this year.  As always, raising alpacas is a constant reminder in patience and recognizing not all things are in our control.  We are always excited when the new cria do arrive and we get to see the results of decisions and planning from months past.

Is Spring finally here in the NW?

Just enough sunny days have been scattered here and there this month to believe it might be.  We have had 3 beautiful weekends of sunshine in a row!  For April in the NW this can be rare.  Then we'll have days of rain during the week to remind us where we are.  It's been great to be able to get outside and start to clean up on some of the Winter storm damage and get prepared for what warmer weather means for herd management. 

Herd management this past weekend meant weaning our last four cria who were born in the Fall.  Our minimum age for weaning is generally around 6 months, most of the time it seems to push closer to 8 and we watch for signs of the moms to start doing their own weaning.  Some cria handle this better then others.  Some moms let go easier then others.  This particular group of moms and cria are all pretty tight and none of them took to the separation very well.  As you have read in previous posts, this is never one of our favorite times.  We were hoping with a nice sunny day and new fields of grass for distraction things would go a little smoother.  Eh, this was a pipe dream, we had some unhappy cria who were looking for any way through or around the gates keeping them from their moms. 

Here's Tulio, Black Bart, Trinity and Duke waiting at a gate to follow their
moms and just ignoring the nice big field of pasture they could be in.

To upset routines even further, we had a couple more "due soons" to bring over to the barn.  We bring all our due soons to this area where we are close to supplies in the barn and can monitor from the house with our barn cams.  Alpacas are very herd oriented and really don't always take well to moves, even from one field to another.  We try to move them in pairs at a minimum, the bigger the group often the easier it is to move them.  When you are talking late term pregnant alpacas they are going to let you know they are not happy with any disruption in their routine.  Again, we relied on the distraction of a sunny day and new pasture.  This worked better with the adults then it did the cria!

All the 2011 cria and the first mom's due for 2012.  In front is
Moonshadow's Evening Staar letting her cria from last year, Klondike,
know she is not there for him don't get any funny ideas!

These girls didn't mind getting out on a new field for the day!

Well regardless of the weather, Spring is here and all that goes with it.  We are officially on cria watch with the first of 2012 due any time.  Shearing will be here before we know it and then we'll be full swing into transitioning to our new location in Bellingham.  Got to get in some fun while we can, next weekend we are off to the NW Alpaca Showcase to wrap up show season.  Could we be hopeful enough for a repeat of 'Palooza?

Halter training....

Seems we are always hitting the age our cria should start halter training in the middle of the Winter.  Who wants to walk around in the pelting rain with a bouncing alpaca on the end of a lead?  If we don't, we don't expect the cria are going to like it much better.  January hits and we start making plans for Spring shows and then we have deadlines to aim for.  Then of course the rain continues here in the NW and we all continue to not want to walk around in cold and wet weather.  I should have kept count of the dry weekend days we've had since registering for our first show, which all of the sudden ends up to be next weekend!

First thing we do is just put a halter on their heads to get used to it.
First thing they do is whatever they can to rub that thing off their heads!

It seems like it has rained almost this entire month.  Fortunately, there have been a few dry days here and there and we've tried to take advantage of every one in trying to prepare our young juvenile alpacas ready for their first show.  Once we think they are a little comfortable with that halter thing on their head, we attach a lead.  To some, you would think we've secured a large boat anchor to their head.  Others can do some amazing acrobatics once they are connected to that lead line. 

Here is Tulio demonstrating the cush, "you can't make me
move" position~

This is Black Bart demonstrating the 4 point stance and showing
how flexible his head and neck are without moving his feet~

This is Tulio, who looks like he might be standing there peacefully, but
really this is the frozen in place maneuver!

This weekend we have had 2 beautiful Spring days to work with those going to the show next weekend.  We've taken long walks around the yard, visited with alpacas in other paddocks and have found exploring may have some side benefits like fresh new grass!  We are taking a couple older alpacas, one from our show string last year who is a pro and will help keep the little ones calm.  Plus our new guy Snowmass Matrix Principe, who gets one show season with us before he settles into his role as our newest Herdsire.

Here is Principe doing a fairly good job of following Deb towards the girls,
hopefully he'll strut his stuff walking into the show ring for the judge!

Today is our last anticipated dry day before show check in on Friday.  The trailer is loaded, everyone is walking around as well as we can hope and we are ready to go.  Our first show of the season is hosted by the Alpaca Association of Western WA, Alpacapalooza.  This is a halter show and a fleece show.  The halter show judges 50% based on conformation, 50% on fiber quality.  The fleece show is a scorecard based judging on the shorn blanket fleece.  We are entering 3 fleeces and 5 alpacas in the halter show.  If you want to learn about alpacas and meet lots of people raising alpacas, shows are the best place to go.  If you can or are planning to be at Alpacapalooza next weekend at the Clark County Event Center stop by and say hi!

We want them to walk in the show ring showing off their gait and form, if they'll
stand like this for the judge to get a closer look at their conformation it would be nice!

Spit Checks...

Here are some mom's cushing patiently waiting for a
date.  The cria are not so patiently waiting for their
mom's to get up!

Our sunny days and warmer weather are quickly fading a way.  It is time to wrap up our breedings for the year.  Even now, this is getting late in the year for us to be planning for October cria next year, which is really a bit later then we prefer.  Mainly due to the grey, dreary, wet weather, which starts here anytime after September.  The later in the year, the less dry, sunny days a cria has to stretch their legs, run, play and absorb all that nice vitamin D.  So no more breeding means no more receptivity checks...aka "spit checks".   This is where the anxious Herdsire, ready for his date, gets to go say hi to his potential girl for the day.  Alpaca Herdsires are generally ready to go with any opportunity.  Alpaca females will let you know when they are in cycle and ready to breed and when they are not very clearly.  We call this behavior testing or receptivity checking. 

Flirty young maidens~

This weekend will be the final spit checks of the year. Meaning, if all went according to plan, we have everyone pregnant that we hope to have pregnant.  If we have read the signs of receptivity correctly, we generally will obtain a positive pregnancy in one breeding.  Then we check for signs 7 days later, which we'll continue to do until we are confident the pregnancy is solid or we get an ultrasound done.  These are the days that poor unsuspecting Herdsire gets taken for a walk around the females, thinking he is there to do his business.  Their way of letting him know they no longer require his services is generally to run up and spit in his face.  Some of our females are more adamant in the message they send then others.  These girls don't like anyone near their hind end ever, which is tough in a crowded catch pen!  If a boy is around they will spit profusely at anyone in their way.  As long as you don't get in the direct line of fire, and do maintain some sympathy for the forsaken guy in the story, this can be rather humorous to watch.

Group of females all gathering around waiting for the Herdsire to get there~

We often have visitors new to alpacas ask us how do we tell one from another and remember all their names?  Spend any time around alpacas and you will quickly learn how individual they all are.  They are so animated and definite in their behavior you too can quickly tell them all apart.  So put me in the house looking out the window at a group of white alpacas, no I can't tell them apart just by looking at them.  However, there are definitely some nuances that are unique to some and I will be able to tell you who is who by those actions.  Knowing our herd as well as we do makes behavior testing even easier by noticing changing moods.  We do always confirm pregnancies by ultra sound, but by the time we have that done I can tell you we are pretty darn accurate and have very few surprises.
 
So at this point for 2011, who ever is pregnant is and if they aren't they'll be waiting until next spring to breed again.  Everyone is now spitting off that we expect to be pregnant, which is a positive sign.  This means we could have up to 14 cria born at Moonshadow in 2012, less any we sell before they deliver.  So there's been plenty of spitting over the breeding season to get to this claim, with less then half of those now confirmed by ultrasound. This is a pretty big crop for us in one year, 10-12 being more of our norm.  As much as we love each year's new cria, anticipating the next group is always just as exciting.  


A couple Golden Victory boys with future stud potential!



A couple other young guys hoping
to have a chance in the future!



It's amazing how quickly the birthing season comes and goes.  Doesn't seem that long ago that we were watching all the new cria arrive and have watched how fast they've grown.  From the first cria born in June to the last in September, you can see all the 2011 cria born at Moonshadow on this Flickr set.




















The Milk Thief...

Our first breech baby, this is Tulio, doing
very well at about 6 wks old here~

Most alpacas moms are excellent mothers and produce plenty of milk to sustain their cria.  Seems like there always has to be one in every crowd that needs to be different.  We have one mom whose milk is a little slow to come in and we have always supplemented her cria with a little bottle feeding for the first few weeks.  This year, that mom also happened to have our first breech delivery ever.  Her little guy started out additionally challenged from the start coming out backwards his rear legs were a little weak and he was a bit wobbly.  We were prepared to supplement feeding again, but he would have nothing to do with a bottle.  There is a point where forcing this can do more harm then good and he was getting some milk from mom so we decided to let nature take its course.  For the first week he gained about .2 lbs per day, typically we like to see a half to a full pound weight gain.  This little guy seemed to be a fighter from the moment he was born and when it came to getting enough nourishment he took matters into his own hands so to speak.

A fuzzy phone pic, but best proof of our
dual nursing dam~

Our next cria was born about a week later to a first time mom.  Sometimes new moms will do things other more experienced moms won't tolerate.  She was a great mom to her new cria from the start, let her nurse, had plenty of milk and was very nurturing.  Our little breech boy bonded with her new cria immediately.  He also learned if he could sidle up next to the new girl when she was nursing he could sneak in and get a little for himself!  It is extremely rare for an alpaca mom to let any other cria nurse.  Some don't even like other cria around when theirs is nursing.  So to watch our little milk thief get away with it was rather humorous, plus we were thrilled to see him getting a little extra to drink.  We didn't think this would last, but instead the new mom seemed to start accepting him and just let it continue.  Her cria didn't seem to be lacking, it didn't seem to be taking too much of a toll on her so it was truly all good. 

Well we all know good things don't always last.  After a couple weeks something clicked and she seemed to realize none of the other moms were sharing their milk with other cria.  We had been hoping we might have one of those gems who tolerate being surrogate moms, but no, she started to kick him off.  Knowing where the milk bar is isn't an easy habit to break.  He is constantly at the side of this mom's cria and she seems to help him sneak a drink whenever possible.  It still makes us smile when we see him get away with it, his sneakiness and persistence is a marvel. 

The dam is Patience, the black cria is her cria, Trinity.  Here is Trinity on
the lookout while her buddy Tulio sneaks a drink.

Trinity warning Tulio, drink fast she's catching on!

Busted!

Out of luck~

One more try~

Game over!

A Working Ranch...

 

These little faces are great motivation in keeping everything
on a working ranch moving forward!


I have really always liked the sound of being a "working ranch".  It never occurred to me when we started just what exactly that meant and that what it really meant to me would change over the years.  By next spring we will have owned alpacas for 10 years and there have certainly been a lot of changes that have influenced what that does mean to us.  What it really means is that YOU are working all the time!  Whether we see the signs in the weather and scenery telling us the seasons are changing, we always have our seasonal events to care for the alpacas and keep the ranch working.  Fall seems like the biggest scramble in preparation for winters, which seem to be more unpredictable in harshness and length every year.  So for the ranch to keep working through winter we need to bring in hay, for our herd we like to put 12 tons, which we need to creatively fit into our space only designed for 3!  This is also the final push to have all the shelters prepared, fields mowed and any other required pasture maintenance.  For the house, this is also the time we bring in firewood, our preferred heating method over the oil furnaces in our old house.  This is typically about 8 or more cords per year.  We have evolved our methods of dealing with this daunting task every year.  The cost of split wood has risen so drastically, we now have logs delivered.  Luckily we have good friends that like to come over and work with us, and a wonderful neighbor with a super duty splitter he lets us use!

Last year's log pile, this year's was just delivered yesterday.  Never thought
looking at a pile of logs in my driveway would make me so happy!

Then there are all those other ongoing projects that need to get done, though fortunately, they don't happen every year.  This year one of those has been to clear out some really over grown trees at the front of our house.  We assume these were all planted when the house was built, now going on 40 yrs ago.  We hadn't quite intended to do as much, but sometimes once you get started the project just seems to grow as you go.

View from the field.  The hen house is in progress, as well as the garden, you
can barely see much of the house from the field...until now~

Our growing mountain of debris, still more to add before the chipper comes, the
pile is growing to a daunting size! We'll use what we can for firewood and
 chip up the rest for ground cover.  It's great to be able to see out to the
fields from the front of the house!

We finally got our garden boxes planted this year with 3 years worth of alpaca poo compost.  It was a little experimental to see what responded best in such rich soil.  We learned radishes don't like a high nitrogen soil and they grew like crazy into trees on top and very little radish below, which were like tree bark.  It also seemed a little rich for the lettuce we planted, or we just need to learn to stagger planting so it's not ready to harvest all at once and then goes to seed before you can use it.  Sugar snap peas, green beans, cucumbers, green onions, tomatoes and strawberries grew like crazy.  So crazy we realized we really need to allow more room and be prepared for such a huge harvest!

Our garden boxes September 2011

Hunter, one of the barn cats, will be very happy when the
new hen house is completed.  He is really getting tired of the
hens invading his napping perch in the hay~

I could go on and on because the work truly does never end!  However, there is great return for the work that is done.  Our goal is to be a sustainable farm, where we can support our herd, ourselves and this lifestyle we love.  We are constantly trying to stretch our imagination in re purposing items and having multi-purposes for our fields, what we raise and how we can keep the cycle moving forward to sustain us, our herd and our ranch in the future.  Though it's not for the faint of heart, there are tough times and hard lessons to learn sometimes that happen regardless of preparation.  With all that we learn it just helps us for the next step forward.  I can't think of any better ways to be rewarded by the work and effort put out!

As the summer days come to an end

Okay, so it's been a few weeks since my last post.  Seems like the more there is going on the less time there is to sit down and write about it.  Since the last update we have had 4 more cria, taken down 7 trees around the front of our house, trying not to bury ourselves in tree debris in the process and made some major effort on getting the new hen house ready for winter.  We were already seeing the summer days wrapping up and looking around at all that needed to be done in preparation for winter so we've definitely been on a major push.

The exciting events, of course are always the birth of a new addition to the herd.  These last 4 that were born are the final 4 of the 2011 crop.  The start of this final push was this little guy...


Tough beginning, but he's not phased at all!

 We've had around 90 cria born now and we had our first breech baby.  He was not only aimed with his rear headed out, but also had his legs positioned forward.  We have an amazing friend, Gina Martin of Mak-Ky Corral Alpacas, who prides herself in resolving challenging deliveries and was close by.  We knew we had a female in labor who wasn't progressing, but we couldn't tell exactly what the problem was.  We also had our friends J&J over who had never seen an alpaca delivery.  So with all this help, as well as Gina's son Kyler and his girlfriend, we managed to get the mom up over a bail of hay so Gina had the best angle and helping getting this cria out.  The biggest concern with a breech is getting that baby out quickly once the umbilical breaks so they don't suffocate.  I won't go into all the graphic details, but I know we were all feeling very sympathetic for the mom, Serenade, that the amount of stretching she was having to endure was beyond any expectation of motherhood!  Gina was definitely the hero of the day and we so appreciate everyone else that was there to help.  So after a majorly stressful start to life, the picture above is after almost 2 weeks.  He is doing great and getting stronger every day!

We've definitely had some of our firsts, and with all luck, our only experiences in some extreme birthing challenges this year.  So having those normal, no worries, typical alpaca births are always appreciated.  Monday we had a double header.  Deb hadn't gotten all the last due soons moved into the same field yet and got her work out with 2 moms, in 2 fields, go into labor back to back.  Fortunately, they timed it nicely so the first to hit the ground was thriving, sitting up and working at getting on her feet, while Deb ran to check on the mom in the next field.

This is Patience with her new girl.  She is just adorable and is certainly worth
the long wait it's been for her to finally arrive~

Beautiful medium rose grey, this guy is already quite macho!
Over 20 lbs @ birth and gaining over a lb a day~

Then to cap off the 2011 birthing season, the final cria was born Thursday.  No one was even home for this birth from one of our tried and true moms, Whitney.  She is the example of those proven moms who have their cria on their own and they are up and nursing before anyone knows they are here.  So far this last guy born is the only one with a name yet, for some reason Black Bart has been in my head if Whitney were to have a black boy....I know I should have been thinking girl names!  Though he is cute as a button and sweet as ever.



Moonshadow's Black Bart



We have the final 4 separated from the other cria just until they are ready to run and play with the big guys.  They are the friendliest little group we've had together, not minding saying hi and giving little cria kisses.  So this concludes the new additions and cria watch is officially over for 2011.  This year has definitely had some ups and downs, but we focus on those beautiful cria that we have with us and start looking ahead to next year's show season and the next crop of cria, while we watch these grow up and fill out with all that gorgeous baby alpaca fiber.