And baby makes 5!

I was casually working across the road when my parents happened by and asked if ..."we had a baby?" I was shocked only to cross the street and see as they saw...a young cria under a new mom! It was Joy standing in the pasture with a cria suckling under her. It was her cria...a little over a week early and the spitting image of her! It was a male that was criated out of our very own Marcus. It was thier first pairing and her first male cria after two females. This new young male will make a beautiful herdisre for the farm someday (we don't have any brown herdsires!). Although each cria born to the farm makes you think about another alpaca for the farm. But as my husband says...everything is for sale...and we are geting up there in numbers...and continue to sell a few here and there! We now stand at 30 alpacas on the farm. Three left to go this season...2 alpacas and 1 llama. One alpaca is due this week. We have been fortunate that most of the cria this season have arrived unannounced and healthy. This is far less stressfull than past birthing seasons where we spent the summer on "cria watch"...there is no way to desribe the agony of it! For today we are thankful and with each birth we fall in love with alpacas again!

Got Water???

Yes, it is that time of year. Any alpaca farmer knows that it is a big day om the farm when the pools come out! Well Joy could not wait...she literally followed me down the pasture when my son Tyler and I began putting out pools. She could not wait and quickly jockeyed into position in the pool...then proceeded to defend her spot in the pool. She is a "pool lover" there are also alpacas who have absolutley no interest in the "alpaca pool"...but prefer to be sprayed! The pools are wonderful but need maintenance...dumping, cleaning and monitoring when there are cria about! We don't tend to put them in a pasture when there are cria in it...but move the mom and cria to a different pasture and back once the cria is able to be near a pool and the herd. Even though it only contains a few inches...one never takes chances with new cria. ;-) PS: the next day she had a beautiful male cria!

Saturday Surprise!

Well, we were going about your average Saturday...when I saw my husband Jay in a fast canter up from the girls barn...with that look that says "we've got a baby!" There is nothing like the excitement of a cria birth on the farm!

We have been looking at each other for the past few weeks and saying NO Way is Lacey going to make it TWO months! But I had double checked my records and checked the gestation tables and yes....that was the calculated date...but I knew Sat. when I saw him running up (in a controlled way) from the barn that we had a baby...and when I met him half way I called out...Lacey had her baby didn't she? The answer was yes! Any alpaca breeder will tell you that we alpaca breeders know our due dates! We plan, we calculate... select or herdsires, we check... we chart and we re-check. In looking back over my records the only thing we can figure is that last season she went down, bred and we calculated based on the last breeding...when in actuality an earlier breeding took? This makes you wonder...was she just in the mood? Enough of that, we could be here all night discussing the breeding habits of male and female alpacas, their breeding habits etc...!

Well I am sure you are curious at this point...the cria and mom were fine, healthy, up and enjoying HER Saturday! Yes she is a beautiful white female weighing in at 16.5 lbs. Not bad and the best part...no waiting, no butt watching and pre-delivery stress. Alpaca breeders will actually drive themselves crazy watching the expectant mother...for days, hours, minutes, and even seconds. Literally staring at the alpaca's butt, it is as if if we watch hard enough... a tiny head will peek out from under the tail and say "Hi, I'm here". Of course everyone wants to be around for the birth of the cria's on the farm in the event they really DO need our help:-) ON this day we were blessed.

All kidding aside it is the first unobserved birth where I have found the mother with slightly bloodied teats. I think she may have actually nipped at her own teats to "unplug" her teats as we alpaca farmers deem necessary :-) A quick clean up with a sterile wash and all is normal. The two are fine...and did it all by themselves. Imagine that. This Saturday had a happy ending. It was after all "D Day" and in honor of D Day and our surprise we have named her ATFA's Normandy "Mandy" for short.

(We will let you know if someone on the farm just can't live with "Mandy")

Recovery time...a week!

Okay, you know you are getting old when it takes you a week to recover from shearing day! Seriously though...doing 36 animals in two days doesn't sound to bad but we did it a little different this year and due to the excitement of the day I will have to do separate blogs!

This year we used a different shearer and we were very happy for the most part. Let me explain. In the past we have used a skilled sheep-shearer turned alpaca-shearer. The difference...care of the alpacas! This shearer used a table and took the time needed to make the animal look fabulous! This meant that the animal was walked to the side of the table and gently tipped on it's side and strapped to the table. There was literally little to no struggling and the animal was gently tipped back off the table. It was great. Once you have used a shearing table you will most likely never go back. It was a little more time consuming compared to the usual wrestling and flipping of the alpaca...and more gentle on the pregnant females. This process also allowed us to sort the fiber as it came off the animal, inspect the animal and take care of shots, teeth trimming (if needed) and nails! It was a great couple of days but tiring doing 36 animals over two days. It is like that family trip when you had children...best to some times get in the car at 4 am in order to have a quick quiet trip rather than dragging it out over two days...but if and when we do it again...it is still worth the loving gentle technique used with the table rather than the wrestling match that sometimes ensues with the ground/mats. Alpacas first!

Birthing Season 2009, Cria #1

We usually keep our births posted...and the dates of our pending summer birth schedule is posted on our website...but the posts are coming in slowly and for that we apologize. We work multiple jobs and the farm is a passion we enjoy before after and sometimes during work!
This cria was 18 lbs and is a real spitfire. He was born in the late evening but we were fortunte enough to catch the birth in person. A visiting friend of a relative told us Yulo meant "night" in Japanese...so he shall be...since we recently found out that the original name we had chosen..."Kulo" meant something not to nice about an individuals rear end...in a few other languages...Thus the change ;-) We'll keep you posted and catch you up to date over the next few days. It is a busy time on the farm as we are preparing for shearing day in the farm this Sat. May 9th.

Rudy it is!

Well I was thrilled to be in the barn today...I came home from my school at lunch time to help "nurse" a mom and cria...only to find that the new cria we had Sat. had in fact just started nursing! It is exactly like when you make the appointment at the pediatrician and then realize your kids are better. I had the vet coming in the afternoon and voila..she's nursing and her borderline high temp was lower! We were thankful. While standing there watching one cria nurse, my husband...who is a man of few words...refers to cria # 2 as Rudy. In that moment I knew he was right. It looked like a Rudy...after the movie...little... but mighty! Rudy has made his debut at Angel Tree Alpacas!

Look, look, look...Feliz, Feliz, Feliz!

Translation: Happy, Happy, Happy!

This is the meaning for our alpaca mom's name...and this is how we felt yesterday. Happy...when our cria finally arrived at 5:20pm yesterday afternoon. We have been waiting for this birth from our favorite elderly alpaca (for 350+9 days!). This past year we couldn't resist but give her one last try for a rose grey girl...she came through on half of the gamble. We had a rose grey...boy...so it is hard to complain. (This alpaca pairing has produced a rose grey boy, medium brown girl and now another rose grey boy).He was 9.4 oz and a little small but is doing well. When you have a healthy, nursing alpaca you are a happy alpaca farmer. Within seconds of the birth my family was prodding me to "look"..."look"..."look"! Not only have we been lucky enough to be present for the first two births of the season, we have had healthy crias and they are nursing and on their way! Alpaca owners know about that moment when you are standing over a brand new cria on the farm...time stands still and you hesitate, taking a deep breath...before lifting the leg to look in order to determine if you will call it "he" or "she". Then it is over. The long wait, the anticipation. Then you quickly remind yourself how lucky you are to be a part of this incredible animal, to witness the birth of a magnificent creature that will surely win your heart within moments...whether it is a boy or a girl!

No name yet...forward suggestions and help name the cria!