Sunday, April 11, 2010

Pronking into Spring

Finally, after 352 long days of pregnancy, Rodie had her cria.
The beautiful day brought us a lovely little girl. Yeah!
Thank goodness that's over, now just 3 more babies to await in the next 3 weeks!

Sunday, April 4, 2010

Nothing but Trouble

We picked up 5 new suris on Good Friday. When you get new alpacas there is always "something" you have to deal with, be it worming, skin issues, attitudes, or bad fleece.

Here comes Trouble...

Looks like Trouble wasn't shorn last year huh? Unfortunately this pic is from last year and when we picked him up on Good Friday he STILL hadn't been shorn. In fact, I don't know if he had ever been shorn in his 3 years of life in HOT Alabama. Sad, yes. Uncomfortable, yes. Matted, dirty, hot and disgusting-YIKES!

Welcome to Hidden Gem Ranch Trouble!
Our suris are shorn every year, even if we have to use scissors.
Dennis & Melissa to the rescue!
15 minutes with 2 pairs of household scissors and poof! Brand new alpaca. Thankfully,Trouble was a complete gentleman about the whole situation. Up until that point he had been skittish at best. He stood quietly while Dennis snipped off one side and I snipped the other. He's certainly not going to win any beauty contests with the new "do", but he is free from all that hot hair. We clipped off 12" of matted ropes! He's a brand new man now and just a sweetie. Bring on the summer!