Halter Training, poor J. Arbuckle.

Oh, poor J. Arbuckle, today he started halter training and he was separated for a much longer time from his dam, Bess.  For halter training, I put Frederica, Priscilla, and J. Arbuckle in the catch pen.  We walked around to the right for a while, then we walked to the left for a while.  I looked at their fiber and just hung out with them.  After a while I gently placed a halter on each of the young alpacas.  Priscilla did very well, J Arbuckle and Frederica, who is already halter trained, fought the halters.  I left the halters on the three of them while we patiently walked around to the right and then to the left.  As J. Arbuckle calmed down I removed his halter, next  Priscilla's  was removed. J. Arbuckle was separated from his dam for the day.  Frederica and I took a walk around the farm, something I have not done in a very long time.  I think she enjoyed the walk down through the gardens and through the back yard. I certainly enjoyed it.

J. Arbuckle and Bess were not put together until 10 PM.  Bess was full of milk and went looking for her son as soon as the gate was open.  Ah, life on the farm. . .

Frederica on the right.

Cricket watching from the tree.

Weaning, the slow process!

Weaning is such a slow process, ugh, just when you think you are getting ahead the dam is anxious to nurse, or the alpacas do not cooperate when they are being separated and you are in a hurry to get some place.  Many breeders just separate them and that is the end of it, but I believe it is critical to do it right and the process must be at the pace both the cria and dam can handle.  I nursed 4 babies and I can tell you that each of the babies had different needs.  In fact I had different needs with each of the babies.  So, it is my own experience I draw on when it comes to weaning.  I want my cria to grow up secure and confident.  I want the dams to feel it is the right time and be ready for the nursing to end.  It seems even more important when the dam is not re-bred shortly after delivery.
For now, J Arbuckle is with his dam from night feeding until morning feeding.  That way he is next to his dam in the dark.  I think a couple more days of this and we will not let them together at the evening feeding, but rather when I am just about ready to hit the sack myself.

Observations

It was really chilly out this AM, but of course, in the dead of winter it would have seemed like a heat wave.  It is funny how things change our views.  The alpacas were more hungry than usual, I guess they felt the cold, as well.  Alexi is a fast little cria.  He knows how to hide among the other alpacas so I can't just grab him.  I hesitated to take off his coat, being so cold and all, but the low 40's really aren't that cold for an alpaca.  I know he will need that coat tonight when he will be out in his first freeze.  I put a little extra hay in the manger and began to mentally make a check list of things I need to do before winter.

• Put up wind shields around the corral areas.  It sure would have helped last year.
• Move as much of the poop pile to the garden area as we can.  This will help in two ways.  It will help the gardens and it will get the poop pile down so it can take the winter additions.  There is a lot of good soil under there.
• Now that it has rained, perhaps we can repair some fencing.  I think this is the least favorite job on most any farm.  It is heavy and and intense work.
• Arrange for some independent grain and hay in the boy's shed.
• Get out the heated water buckets.  I hate these buckets, they are so much harder to clean, but so nice for our animals.
• I need to try to insulate the cottage windows so I can use the cottage for more of the winter. 
• Make room in the garage for the car.
• caulk

I think that is enough list for now. I don't believe in too long of lists and this one is plenty long.

Back to observations, I really like to take the time to watch the herd and all the interactions they have.  Eddie is the only light colored animal on the girl's side besides the new cria.  One thing about the herd, they all basically get along , but they do segregate themselves by color when they are grazing and kushing.  Alexi often gravitates toward Eddie and Eddie tries to shed himself of the tiny Alexi. (They are both very light colors.)  I think Eddie is afraid Alexi will try to nurse off him.  Eddie is such a big gelding and Alexi is such a little wisp of a cria.

    Lady's girls try to stay on the same side of the fence with her.  Frederika even tries to nurse when she has been separated from her dam.  Frederika is almost 3!!!  Pippi hums to be on the same side of the fence with Lady.  Bess is anxious to be separated from her large cria, J. Arbuckle.  She has gotten so run down from the nursing demand he puts on her.  She is happy to be put in with him at night.

Our kitty, Cricket, is at the vet being spayed.  It is really silly, but I miss seeing her playing on the deck.  I will be happy when she returns and is chasing  anything that moves.

I better get back to work, thanks for stopping by the blog . . .

Bess

When we put Arbuckle back in with his dam, Bess, she let him nurse briefly then started  kicking him.  she knows this big baby needs to be weaned!  Her weight is way down and he is a  big boy.  We will continue to separate them in the day time and put them back together at night for a while.  But soon we will separate him from her.  It is hard for me to watch, but I know it has to be done.  I think it will really be hard for him when he has to separate from Priscilla.  Being only two days apart they have never been separated and are best friends.  Priscilla is not ready to be weaned.    We will have to watch that Arbuckle does not start nursing off of Freja.  I have seen him do that several times and she has not seemed to noticed.She too is very thin and nursing an additional cria would not be good for her health.


We got some rain later in the day.  The rain is not much, but we are so dry, anything helps.  I worked in the fiber cottage for a good part of the day.  I have a shawl on the 7 foot triangle loom and I am spinning up the fiber I dyed with pokeberrys.  The pokeberries sure made colorful fiber that is making a slubby yarn.

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!