Cria Kisses

Last Cria of 2011 Has Arrived And It's A......

2011-11-26T09:02:00.000-06:00

GIRL!!!!! WooHoo! Way to go Delta Dawn!

Meet Dolly.

Dolly was born on November 19, 2011 at just 13.2 lbs. She was born without assistance (but definitely observed!) to Delta Dawn, a first time mom and Romeo, our awesome studmeister.

Dolly was born at 344 days gestation and although that is considered a full-term pregancy she was somewhat dysmature. Her suckling instinct kicked in right away, but her ears were floppy and the tendons in her legs were lax so she walked on her pasterns front and back. She stood and nursed within normal times.

We were concerned that she would not be strong enough to keep up with her momma or that she may get accidentally stomped by our other girls. Rain also came into play the first few days so at night and when the weather threatened we penned up Delta Dawn and Dolly in our trailer. Normally, I wouldn't worry about a cria getting wet or stomped too much but Dolly seemed so small and frail and it gets cold at night this time of year.

Dolly has now made it through her first week of life. She is up over 15 lbs., her legs are straight as arrows and her ears are almost perfectly upright. She's a beautiful girl, too! :)

One last cria for the spring!

2011-07-12T19:42:00.000-05:00

Jacinta finally had her cria. A very nice fawn male. Their owner is thrilled. That's all that really matters! Congratulations Terri!

Here's a cria, There's a cria, EVERYWHERE a cria!

2011-06-05T11:09:00.003-05:00

Everywhere I look there's a cria running around! There is nothing as wonderful as healthy babies. This spring we had 6. One huacaya girl and one huacaya boy. The suris have all been boys.

Allow me to introduce them.
Alora is from Poppy(Papillion) and Eclipse(NightOut). She weighed in at 15.8 lbs and was nursing before she stood up. Poppy layed down beside her and she nudged her way under to nurse!
JackJack is out of Maddie and Abraham. He was a whopping 20.2 lbs and hit the ground running.
Maverick is from our girl Holly paired with Fanfare. WOW! This guy is gorgeous! His fleece looks like it might drip it's SO shiny.
Murphy. What can I say about Murphy? He looks so much like his momma it's like looking at a picture of her as a cria. This guy is out of our now retired Rodie and our (now sold) boy Storm. Couldn't ask for a better outcome (except maybe a girl would have been nice :) He was 17.4 lbs at birth.
Spencer is out of Vanity Fair and Solomon and weighed 19.2 lbs. He's a sweet and personable little guy who might just make it to the show ring.
Diez is our first cria out of Joy, the first cria born here. So Diez is technically our first grandcria born here. He weighed 18.6 lbs, very big for a maiden momma. His fleece is almost pink! Very pretty boy.

We are still waiting on Harmony and Jacinta to deliver. Harmony is due June 18th and Jacinta on July 19th. Harmony started looking "ready" early last month. Her milk came in and her belly is huge. When Joy delivered last week Harmony was going through the motions with her. Everytime Joy would roll or poop, Harmony was right there mirroring her. I thought we might have a two-fer cria day but it wasn't meant to be. I'd rather Harmony wait until her cria is "done".
Jacinta has been sold but will stay here until after her cria is born. Congrats to Terri on her purchase along with Delta Dawn! I always regret selling my girls once their crias are born. This one will be no exception I'm sure. Jacinta is bred to a fawn full Accoyo boy. Can't wait to see it!

Our new male MFI Peruvian Caezar has a drive by breeding today so off I go to prepare for it. I'll give him a little pep talk and maybe a handfull of alfalfa for extra energy. :) GO CAEZAR!! Make girls!

Cria time again

2011-04-12T08:51:00.001-05:00

Well, shearing is done for this year. Now it's cria time.
We have seven more girls due this spring. Pictured here is Holly(the grey) who should deliver today. She is 362 days pregnant and I've given her a shot of Estrumate to help her along. Right now it's raining but starting to clear. The girls are all cold and waiting for the sun to come out.

Waiting for Spring

2011-02-07T10:46:00.000-06:00

Wow, this winter has been crazy! We've had more snow than this area has seen in many many years. It's bitter cold for a week, then 50 and sunny, then cold, then rainy. Sheesh. Enough already.
Yesterday was one of the nice 50 degree sunny days so I was out spending extra time with the alpacas.
I see them several times a day but when they are out enjoying the sunshine they seem to look different. Happy. Relaxed. Fat!
Those girls who are bred for spring crias seem to have suddenly gotten enormous. Vanity has 95 days until her "due date" but not only is she visibly pregnant but I've seen the cria kicking and rolling already.
Maddie is due next month. She's laying around alone and already elongating and relaxing "back there". I've seen crias bumping and rolling inside Holly, Rodie, Joy, Jacinta and Poppy so far.
Come on Spring!!! Bring me some girls!

A Little Recognition

2010-11-16T08:14:00.000-06:00

The Royal Alpaca Challenge was a great time this year. We loaded up our alpacas Angelia, Juliet, Cristo, and Randy plus Blizzard from Stone's Throw Alpacas and Serafina owned by Helen Price. They were all very well-behaved and excited about the roadtrip.

Cristo

We arrived and checked in with only a couple of small microchip "glitches". Cristo's chip went missing and had to be replaced and Juliet's paperwork had the wrong number on it. Nothing we couldn't handle! Yeah!

As Magnolia Sponsors this year we were stalled on the end of the barn nearest the arena so we didn't have to walk far and also had good exposure of our stall display to visitors.

We swept out our stalls, lay out our stallmats, brought in the hay and water, then unloaded the alpacas from the trailer. They were quite happy to be out of the cramped trailer, but not too sure of their surroundings. They were just glad to be with (part of) their herd so they followed us without question into the appropriate stalls. It was dinner time for them so we removed their halters, fed them and left them alone while we unloaded and set up the stall display.

After that, it was off to the hotel for a little well-deserved rest. We could have stayed around the arena for the sponsor party but our son Brian was with us and he's not much for adult parties.

Angelia

Saturday morning dawned bright and early and we were all ready to go. The exhibitor's mandatory meeting proved to be very chilly and the metal roof over the arena dripped condensation on our heads as the sun heated it. The judges were introduced, Canadian Kathy Merkley for the suris and from the UK Nick Harrington-Smith for the huacayas. I thought it was great to have some fresh faces (and opinions!) in the ring.

Basic instructions were given and we were dismissed to get ready for the show to start. Production classes were to show first so we had quite a bit of time to wait.

When all the animals were finally shown we ended up with some nice ribbons. Angelia placed 1st in her class, Juliet got 4th, Cristo was 1st, Randy placed 5th, Blizzard and Wendy brought home 6th, and Serafina won 1st. Angelia also won a blue ribbon in Performance with Brian leading her for his very first time in the ring. We're so proud of all of them (and us)! A good time was had by all.

Fall babies

2010-09-29T20:13:00.000-05:00

Here they are. The last of our 2010 crias. All girls. All fabulous!

Destiny - Amber CeBonne X Our Peruvian Navigator

Dream a Little Dream - Dominique X Edmunton Prairie Royale

StarDust's cria - Lofty Pine Star Dust X Pumpernickel Fanfare

Another Successful National Alpaca Farm Days

2010-09-29T20:03:00.000-05:00

For those of you who don't know, this past Saturday and Sunday were National Alpaca Farm Days. Once again we opened our farm to visitors (like we don't have visitors every day).
Saturday started out with a bang. Dominique decided to have her cria just one hour before the event was to start. She blessed us with a gorgeous dark silver grey female. Oh Yeah! Just what I ordered her to have. She's a great foundation dam! We've named her Dream a Little Dream. Here she is...

Perfect at 17.6 lbs. Dominique delivered by herself. We walked out to check on her just as the cria hit the ground. She was up and walking within 20 minutes and nursing in about an hour. Now all she does is RUN! Love, Love, Love her!

Then Farm Days started officially. We had a steady stream of people all weekend. Several were actually considering purchasing alpacas. Our store was a big hit. Many people purchased alpaca treasures to take home. Wendy Stone was here to lend a hand. She's always a big help and fun to have around. Her mom Pat and neice Morgan came out on Sunday as well. Laura Brewer was on hand both days demonstrating her spinning and carding skills. My mom was providing backup as always.

We really appreciate all the help from everyone. It wouldn't have been possible without everyone of you!

Here's a picture of some of the kids who visited. They are leading Leopold and Juliet through the obstacle course.

The alpacas (and Leopold) all did very well. We used mostly our yearling girls and Stallone, too. We wanted to get them used to more handling.

New Additions to the herd

2010-07-08T12:51:00.000-05:00

We've got a few new faces on the farm these days. Last week we picked up these beauties from Susan Darling at My Little Darlings Alpacas...

Delta Dawn is a true black huacaya with a few brown spots. We're happy to add her Augusto genetics to our herd. Then there is true black suri Otono who is a Pardner grandson and also Overtime who is a sweet brown suri gelding. Stop by and meet the new kids when you get a chance!

We're going this week to possibly do some trading that may bring our huacaya herd a couple of new faces and force us to say goodbye to some of our beloved suris. I'll post more when things are finalized.

Update on Crias

2010-06-29T18:19:00.000-05:00

Here are the rest of our gorgeous spring 2010 crias...
Bella had a GIRL! She looks so much like Bella we named her IsaBella

Vanity had a great looking HUGE boy whom we named Stallone

And Lucy had a perfect little man we call Leopold

The crias are all perfect and wonderful. Unfortunately Lucy had a bad episode of choke and developed a fatal infection. She died 4 days later leaving us with Leopold at only 6 wks old. He's doing fine though he refuses a bottle. He's grazing alot and stealing sips of milk from the other moms. He's very loving and likes to be petted. We're being careful to let him know that we are NOT llamas and he is expected to respect our space. We don't need a berzerk boy.

With sad hearts we accepted my best buddy Kathy's kind offer of a replacement guard llama. Her big black and white girl Cassadaga has always been one of my favorites so we brought her home to our herd. She's fitting in just fine and even though we will always love and miss our first llama Lucy Cassie has a much more pleasant personality.

Cute isn't she?

Tomorrow we go to pick up a few new animals we're getting from My Little Darlings Alpacas. Two girls-one for me and one for our friend/customer Jim and also a couple of suri boys for me. I'll post pics once they are here.

Pronking into Spring

2010-04-11T20:35:00.000-05:00

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!

Nothing but Trouble

2010-04-04T06:31:00.001-05:00

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!

Goodbye my friend

2010-03-13T11:52:00.000-06:00

If you've ever been to my farm you know who Patty is. The beautiful tuxedo grey girl that everyone wants to take home with them. Well behaved, graceful, and a great mom.

It is with a heavy heart that I say that Miss Patty passed away peacefully last night. She had been fighting a losing battle against what we think was a respiratory infection. We buried her in the pasture that she loved the most and planted a tree in her honor.

If you have the great fortune of being a keeper of alpacas please take a minute today to appreciate each one for who they are. Patty was not just livestock or a pasture ornament. She was an individual and a friend. She will be greatly missed.

Patty's Big Smile

No Trailer? No Problem!

2010-03-13T11:37:00.001-06:00

We have a trailer. We use it all the time. BUT, there are times when I just don't want to haul the trailer: bad weather, when I'm hauling just one alpaca, and/or on long trips. We recently experienced all three on one unavoidable trip. A mid-February trip to Cleveland, OH just after (and just before) a snow storm to bring home an awesome true black suri male. Ugh!
How do I solve such a dilema? Jeep Liberty to the rescue! Fold down the back seats, put down a tarp and a stall mat, bag of hay to munch on and off we go. Meet Cristo...

Cristo didn't seem to mind the 12 hour ride too much. After living in northern Ohio all of his life he seemed to rather enjoy looking out at the snow from the warm and cozy Jeep. We stopped at the occasional rest stop, got him out to stretch and get a drink of water. Of course there were plenty of stares and photos taken by the other travelers but he took it all in stride. He even waited until no one was watching to "go" in the grass. Good boy! Welcome to our herd. Please don't poop in the shelter.

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2010-01-19T05:32:00.000-06:00

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The New Year with The New Wheel!

2010-01-15T14:06:00.000-06:00

Happy New Year to you and Happy New Wheel to me! WooHOo!
That's right. I am now the proud owner of a Majacraft Pioneer spinning wheel. She's lovely and talented. Quiet, yet outspoken when it matters most. She is a modern take on the ancient art of spinning. Take a deep breathe and behold the beauty...

And my first yarn on her, white huacaya alpaca.

Don't be calling wanting me to spin up all your fleece for you. I've got a whole room full from my own animals just waiting for me. Shearing 2010 is in just 2 1/2 months so I don't have much time to make room for more. AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHH

Speaking of shearing season, we are using a new shearer this year. Last year we had over 50 alpacas and llamas here for their annual haircut. That's alot to shear so we've hired a team from BioSecure Shearing to do it for us this year. We've heard great things about them and look forward to working with them. The really good news is that they assured me they can get them all shorn in less than ONE DAY and all we have to do is bring them the alpacas and bag the fleece. No sore knees and backs! No chiropractor trips when we can't stand up the next day. Hurrah! I'm more excited about shearing this year than ever.
Everyone is invited to join in the fun. I'll post the date when I get it.

Maybe you've heard, maybe you haven't but we are having our annual BIG SALE! to make room for spring crias and to get more people interested in alpacas. The sale is going GREAT but will be ending soon. We're only selling a few more at these rock-bottom prices and then the sale is ending. People are calling every day. If you've been considering buying any of our animals now is the time to act. These prices won't be available again. Here are some of the alpacas we've sold recently...many thanks and continued success to our customers!

Marc

Ester and Riga

Ember

BlackBerry

Rudy

Another Christmas done

2009-12-26T15:20:00.003-06:00

Christmas has past, it's time for taxes. Hurrah!Hurrah!

I sold my spinning wheel, an older traditional of unknown origin. Thanks to Ravelry's Mariaknittedit for a smooth transaction.

Now I think I'm going for a Fricke Double Treadle like this...

It's closer to the style I learned to spin on and it folds for travel needs.

All of the animals are doing well. We had a close call with Bella getting sick, but after some wonderful care by Dr. VanAmstel at UT-Knoxville she's well on her way to recovery AND she held onto her pregnancy. Unfortunately they had to shave both sides of her body so now she's wearing a nice warm coat all winter.

A special thanks to Melody Johnson for mentioning us in her blog Fibermania. Check her out for tons of creative stuff... Fantastic quilts, art, knitting, etc.,etc.!

Time flies

2009-12-03T05:56:00.010-06:00

Time flies! Since my last post we've had National Alpaca Farm Days, which was a rain out on Saturday and awesome on Sunday. About 50 people showed up! We were expecting maybe 10. Sweet! I was so busy I didn't get to take many pics, but here's Wendy and Kevin playing with a new cria in the rain.

My first SAFF was a BLAST! Kathy Swift-Lawson and I spent the entire weekend learning and shopping and shopping and learning. We did a fair amount of eating, too, but that's a whole other blog! We learned how to spin, I learned to crochet and needlefelt and nuno felt. It was a whirlwind of fiber! I got to try out lots of spinning wheels and see several alpaca friends. I could have stayed another week! Can't wait to go next year.

Skipping ahead, we just recently took some juvies to the Royal Alpaca Challenge, the first GA alpaca association show. It was a nice venue but would have been much nicer without the rain and if Brian hadn't lost his Nintendo DS. Our good pal Wendy couldn't take her boy Blizzard but we asked her to show Juliet to get some practice. She did better than all the others! Thanks Wendy!

Juliet brought home a 2nd place ribbon, Ember had a 4th because he was in a tough class of older boys who had all been previously shorn-he was docked for having "weathered" tips, Serafina got 3rd and Trinity a 6th. Tim Lavan didn't care for our "open locked" suris appearantly. Oh well, there ARE other judges. We love them all like banner winners.

We're looking ahead to Southern Select! I am planning to take a surprise attack, our newest addition-Eclipse. He's our new true black stud!

Oh yeah, he's a HOTTIE! And sweet as the day is long. We already love him and we're putting him to "work". His grand daddy is Silvio of Magical Farms and he's got tons of other gray in his background. We can't wait to see what he produces.

We're still deciding who else to take to Southern Select but a couple of our soon-to-be weanlings are looking really good. Rudy, the light fawn with dark fawn eyelashes is drop dead gorgeous!

And Marc, the beige suri, is shaping up very nicely.

My instinct is telling me to take Angelia, too, who will be in the yearling class of light suri girls.

The youngsters I took to GA will probably get to go as well if we can get enough stall space.

Our new boy

2009-09-16T10:17:00.005-05:00

I felt bad after my last post having not taken pics of our new suri boy. So here he is, his name is Pumpernickel Fanfare...

New cria and preparations

2009-09-16T07:06:00.003-05:00

Some females seem to have the same cria every year no matter who you breed them to. Star Dust is turning out to be one of those girls. Last year she was bred to a big strong 3/4 Accoyo guy (white) and had a great little white tight locked male (who sold at just 10 months old). This year she was bred to a small Peru import who's a rich mahogany color. She just had a great little white tight locked male, again. I can't pin a name on him so I think I'll let a visitor to our farm days name him.

Of course I was hoping to get Star to throw some color. I guess we'll try again. We just purchased a black suri male named Alpacaria's Pumpernickel Fanfare that I think we'll try on her. He's a good looking boy. I haven't taken a pic of him yet, mainly because I don't like his haircut. I know, I'm too picky. He was "belly shorn"; just his underbelly and legs were shorn making him look like Moe from the Three Stooges. It's a suri "trick" they use to keep their fleece long with the locks intact while shearing their belly helps them stay cool (as if!). I'll try to force myself to take a pic today. Then I'm going to shear him!

We're staying busy preparing for National Alpaca Farm Days that's coming up Sept 26 and 27. Since I'm not very meticulous about keeping the yard trimmed and stuff there is much to do. We are planning to have a spinner doing demos, Kathy is bringing her hand-knitted scarves and I'm sure she'll be doing knitting demos, we've purchased some product to sell, it's Peruvian but quite frankly that's what we could afford at this point. I hope that someday we can have nothing but US made product, but in this area the folks just don't have that kind of money. Dennis and I will be coming up with an obstacle course for kids to walk the cria through, there will be a pen to play with crias, another to pet some males, I want to have a felting station, and we'll also have some wet and needle felted items that mom and I have made for sale.

Posters are going up everywhere we go and the media has been alerted. There will be an ad in the local newspaper and the following week they said they will come and interview us and run a story on our farm! WooHoo! Our first article! {finally}

Another new cria!

2009-08-14T13:06:00.000-05:00

It always seems like a VERY long time waiting for alpaca babies to arrive. You spend months deciding which male will improve on each female in your herd, you breed them, then you wait to see if it "took". After waiting and testing, and waiting more and testing more, you finally take a deep breath and convince yourself that she is, indeed, pregnant. Next is the REAL wait. Nearly a year later (and sometimes even longer!) you spend every waking hour thinking "When is the cria coming?", "Is there something wrong with the cria?", "Was that the cria kicking I saw?", "Is the cria positioned right for birthing?", "Will I miss the birth?", "Has it been too long?", "Should I DO something?" and a million other questions and doubts that mean exactly ZERO to the mom or the cria unless you act on your worries and get the mom stressed out, at which time she kicks it into 'low gear' and effectively delays the birth until you leave her the hell alone long enough to get the job done without any "help".

That's the stance I took with Halle Berry. Just let her have her cria on her own time. Well, she finally did, and I missed it. I had been gone for less than 10 minutes when my cellphone rang with the news that she was in heavy labor. We turned around and, in trying not to kill anyone, we were too late to see it hit the ground. When we arrived, just trying to stand for the first time was a gorgeous black boy next to Halle. The wait was finally over. He was perfect.

His sire's name is Black Mist and with his mother's name being Halle Berry we combined the two to come up with his name... Black Berry.

Monday's suck

2009-07-27T20:16:00.000-05:00

I go out to feed the girls this morning. This is what I find trapped in their water trough.

A (insert expletive here) RAT!

I've lived here for 4 years and I have never seen a rat on my property, now I've got them vacationing in my girl's drinking water!

I can deal with possums, racoons, moles and mice. Anything but rats. The only animal that I truly, at the root of my core, HATE! I'm not afraid of them I just find them disgusting and evil. They eat anything, destroy everything, and they are nearly impossible to get rid of. They are the cockroaches of the animal kingdom.

Now, what to DO about this rat? Let it drown? Get it out and try to kill it? Shoot it? Or just let it go? I chose to let it drown. How long does it take to drown a rat? A VERY long time appearantly. I waited over 8 hours and she was still swimming. Now what? WHACk-A-RAT!!! I grab her up by her tail, drop her into an empty feed bag. Lay the bag on the ground and WHACK! with the biggest shovel on the planet. Wow! I've never killed before. Is it wrong to get actual pleasure from ending a life? Probably. But that damn rat will not be bringing her next litter to the "swimmin' hole" anytime soon.

FINALLY...Patty has her cria!

2009-07-19T18:25:00.003-05:00

The wait is finally over. Patty had her cria today and it's a GIRL!!! Check her out. She looks just like her momma but a smidge darker. She was born without assistance while the whole family watched. I thought I was videotaping the birth but somehow it didn't record on my camera. Oh well, maybe next time.
She tips the scales at a whopping 22.2 lbs making her the largest cria we've had here so far.
Patty and her (as yet unnamed) cria are both doing fine and resting after a tough morning. The other crias are just overjoyed at the new arrival. They take turns sniffing the baby and getting spit at by Patty.

The Trouble with Crias

2009-07-13T16:46:00.000-05:00

Yesterday afternoon I delivered one of our recently sold juvenile males to his new home. It's a great place and I was happy he was going to be with 2 other boys that had come from our farm, not with a bunch of "strangers". I was also happy he would be with a great couple just starting out with alpacas who fell in love with him the minute they saw him. All was fine when he was delivered. He found his friends and seemed content with them. He had 3 other alpacas, a goat and a dog to play with and lots of nice green pasture. I left after we had all decided he liked his new home.

9:30pm I got a frantic phone call from the lady. The little guy I had dropped off earlier had been attacked by the dog! He was bleeding all over and she didn't know what to do. Trying to remain calm, I asked if she had called the vet yet. She hadn't, so I told her to hang up, call the vet, and I would be there as fast as I could. I was just over an hour away so I packed up all of the first aid supplies I had and hit the road, trying not to speed.

By the time I reached her the vet had been there and left. The alpaca had puncture wounds all over his body and was (not surprisingly) very shaken up. I could see him sigh when he saw my familiar face and heard my voice. The vet had cleaned him up, given him a shot of antibiotics and steroids and given them directions to try to keep him calm as the stress could kill him but he didn't feel his wounds were life-threatening. The lady was very upset, feeling it was her fault. Her beautiful little boy was hurting and could die. As we sat in the barn trying to soothe our sweet baby a storm blew up outside. It seemed appropriate. When he seemed settled and began to eat a little I felt sure he would make it so I gave the lady a hug and headed home to a worrisome night of no sleep.

The next morning when I dragged myself outside to feed my alpacas I was still worrying about the young male. As I approached the girls pasture something yellow caught my eye laying out in the field. My bloodshot eyes couldn't ascertain what it could be until one of my juvenile girls came running up at top speed looking like this.....

Never in my life have I laughed so hard. That is giant fly paper that we use in our shelters. She had unraveled an entire roll and it was stuck to her fleece from head to toe. She had wrapped it around her mouth and couldn't eat. It covered one of her eyes and held down both of her ears.

While I was unsticking the fly paper I got a phone call saying our little boy had made it through the night and was well on his way to recovery.

That's the trouble with crias. They make you laugh, they make you cry and I wouldn't have it any other way.

How to entertain your alpacas for hours

2009-07-11T16:11:00.005-05:00

While on cria watch today with Patty...

who is clearly uncomfortable and ready to pop, I noticed something moving slowly across the pasture. Upon further investigation, since I was getting pretty tired of staring at Patty's behind waiting for the inevitable, I found a small turtle that the alpacas hadn't yet seen. I went and picked it up and placed it in the middle of the area where my females were all relaxing in the shade. They all ignored it until it began to emerge from it's shell. All at once everyone was up on their feet and dancing about. One would get close, sniff it, then leap back when it moved. Then another girl would do the exact same thing... get close, sniff, leap back... until nearly all of them had checked it out, then they began the rotation again!

This continued until the poor turtle had finally made his way to the fenceline only to find that he couldn't get through the fence! I felt sorry for the little fella and rescued him. The alpacas stood and watched him until he was completely out of sight. Maybe I should have left him trapped inside the fence so the alpacas could have a pet turtle of their own??? They would probably forget to feed him, then he'd die, I'd have to go to the pet store and buy them another one before they noticed... you know the story. Better to just let him go on home.