Picture of the Cria

I quickly did  barn chores and was able to take a few pictures  of the cria.

Priscilla, Delilah, Alexi

Priscilla, Alexi, Delilah

Alexi is growing up.

Alexi with her dam Delilah.

Priscilla Queen of the Midwest

You can see that Bess's back bone is showing and her cria, J Arbuckle is nearly as big as his dam.

Arbuckle is a Bully!

The other day we separated the girls into two groups because J. Arbuckle was playing rough with brand new Alexi.  H would jump on top of Alexi or knock him down and chase him all over.  so, after a few days of being separated, I tried to put them back together and there was J. Arbuckle after Alexi, once again.  This time he was actually biting him right above the tale.  Once again the girls are separated.
I sat and watched the herd trying to understand the behavior I was seeing.  I think J. Arbuckle does not want to share Priscilla.  Arbuckle has bee acting very male lately and I think Alexi, being male is the problem.  For now I am putting them all together while I am cleaning the barn and feeding them, then separating them.  In the day time Bess is in with Delilah and Alexi, but she is back with her cria at night.

Time to Wean!

We found J. Arbuckle in with the new cria.  The day before, we had to separate him from the cria because he was playing rough with Alexi.  This morning  seemed a perfect time to begin the weaning process, so Mom went in with Delilah and Alexi and others and J. Arbuckle went in the other pasture with Priscilla Queen of the Midwest and her dam Freja.   Usually we would hear a lot of humming and carrying on but Bess was more than happy to be free of her big boy for the day.  This evening when we went to the barn dam and cria were reunited and J. Arbuckle could be hear slurping all the way across the barn.  Tomorrow morning we will separate them, once again for the day.

Alexi is now 14.1#.  He is growing fine.  He is full of energy and becoming more of a challenge to catch.  I got a good look at his  fiber, how nice to see the tight bundles and the popcorn look!  Oh I cannot wait until I can get my hands on his tui (fleece from first shearing) fleece!

Males Jumping Fences

Wow, nothing gets the adrenaline pumping harder than seeing the wrong alpaca in the young male pasture.  It seems Fionn and Maverick jumped the fence to the front pasture.  Maverick was interested in the greener grass and Fionn wanted to put the youngest male in his place.  This is  done by chasing, neck wrestling and mounting the youngster.  Fionn is a very big male and he does know that.  Rich and I quickly got the two larger ones back where  they belonged only to find Maverick was back over and the rest of the mature males were scanning the fence line to find a weak point where they too could cross.  Rich repaired the fence and we are set for another day.  We know we need to replace some fencing . . . soon.  We are just pleased that we do not have any fencing that is common for the males and females.  That can give a very different ending to the story!

I took Illapa on a walk.  He hasn't been haltered for a while, so it was nice to see he handle so well.  I like to take them out of the pastures and out among the gardens and pines for their walks.  Delilah and Alexi seem to have a stronger bond and she has become a very attentive mother.  I think she knows she feels better when he nurses.

Catching You Up

It has a been a busy time on the farm since I last posted.  Weather has been changing, cria born and an unexpected death Sigmund.  The weather could not be nicer and I feel a real rush to do all the the things I have put  off.  It is almost overwhelming.  


On Wednesday I went out to the barn, a bit late because a had a call from one of my kids that needed my attention.  I could see Delilah  in the back corral where all of them were waiting for me to feed them.  I really didn't think anything about it, so I started cleaning up the poop piles in the barn and in the corral on the east to of the barn.  I was getting ready to get the grain to feed them when I heard a little noise, certainly not a hum.  I went to the barn door expecting to find a mouse or bird being tortured by Critter our kitten.  To my surprise there was a small dusty cria stuck in the corner of the fencing.  Oh, what a surprise, as I really expected this one, at the earliest, next week.  At first I thought he was a dusty white, but I soon found him to be a beautiful beige.  Yea, a new color on the farm and one I can dye!  He has now been named Alexi Laiho by our son Isaac.  Pippi is a bit confused by it all as she recently lost a cria.  I think she will be Alexi's second mother.  Alexi only weighed in at 13#, the next day he was down to 12.6#.  That is normal for a cria to lose up to a half pound on his second day.  I am anxious to weigh him tonight.