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| Yara & Yasmina |
YARA AND YASMINA
Meet Yara's new cria Yasmina who arrived at around 9.30 am this morning ... she's very cute, even if she is the wrong colour!
Bliss and Bruno are now out the field with some other crias and their dams and have been running about and playing in the sunshine. Both are bottle feeding on the other side of the fence to us, so hopefully will train onto bottle holders very shortly.
PERU TRIP CANCELLED
I'm so disappointed. News from Peru today that the Alpaca Fiesta 2011 has been cancelled because of their political situation... quite a large group of us were going over for it in November, with all sorts of fantastic alpaca and touristy things planned, I just can't believe it after months of planning. Sod's law I had only booked and paid for my air tickets yesterday can you believe... Apparently they may have one in 2012....
We weighed all the other crias again today and all are piling it on ... this weeks champion guzzler is Bobby Dazzler gaining 4.2 kgs in a week. On close inspection we discovered that Calister has an umbilical hernia, so she is wearing a hernia harness ... fortunately I had one already, never had to use one before and took a bit of working out, obviously made for a smaller cria than her, all the straps fit, except for the one that goes round her chest ... but I think it'll stay in place... a bit odd that just one strap doesn't fit? Hopefully she'll only have to wear it for a couple of weeks.
And here's a couple of pics of Ena when she was feeding Eros and Bliss ....
Meanwhile, back on the farm the bottle feeding going really well now and I think by tomorrow we'll be able to put them out in the field and be able to call them to the bottle ... Bruno has been very quick to learn and has really picked up today, Bliss get's in a bit of a mess in her excitement to find the milk ...
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| Bruno and Bliss |
Bobby Dazzler
And here's a couple of pics of Ena when she was feeding Eros and Bliss ....
PLAN C
So to bring you up to date .. Ena was seemingly happy to feed both Eros and Bliss whilst being kept in, but as soon as I turned them back out in the field with the other mums and crias she had a hasty change of mind and poor Bliss was again without a regular supply of milk and was getting told off by everyone in her attempts to steal milk. Very sad. So on to Plan C, remove Bliss from everybody until she would accept a bottle properly which now she is, thank goodness.
Today we have taken on another cria, Bruno, who has had a similar poor start and needs bottle feeding away from his mum for just the same reasons and the two of them are getting to know one another and are guzzling goats milk every 2 or 3 hours. Maybe we should get a goat ... maybe not .. I had a couple of goat kids years ago, very sweet to start with and used to come along with me when I took the dog for a walk, no leads just like having a pack of dogs, and my cat too, quite a sight ... but then they grew up and were a total nightmare escaping all the time and eating everything except grass, but I do like them, especially the ones with the long floppy ears, and I love goats cheese!
Today we have taken on another cria, Bruno, who has had a similar poor start and needs bottle feeding away from his mum for just the same reasons and the two of them are getting to know one another and are guzzling goats milk every 2 or 3 hours. Maybe we should get a goat ... maybe not .. I had a couple of goat kids years ago, very sweet to start with and used to come along with me when I took the dog for a walk, no leads just like having a pack of dogs, and my cat too, quite a sight ... but then they grew up and were a total nightmare escaping all the time and eating everything except grass, but I do like them, especially the ones with the long floppy ears, and I love goats cheese!
FOSTERING CONTINUES
Well so far so good - Ena continues to feed two crias and seems to be enjoying the rush of endorphins or is it hormones that you get whilst breastfeeding .... whatever, long may it last! I am very carefully stage managing it all, keeping them in a stable with an outside pen onto the yard so they get some sunshine. Tomorrow I'll put them out in the little paddock for a few hours and see what happens. Eros has gained weight and Bliss has put on all of .1 of a kilo but it is a gain and she has refused all bottles offered. Ena is happy on her picked grass and increased feed rations. Poor Bettina is still looking for her Bliss but is calming down and grazing with the others again. I wanted a picture of them both feeding but didn't manage to get one but here they are just enjoying each others company.
We have had around 40 of the Swanmore Guides here the last two evenings - great kids with lots of really good questions about alpacas and fleece - maybe some alpaca breeders for the future?
Eros, Bliss and Ena
We have had around 40 of the Swanmore Guides here the last two evenings - great kids with lots of really good questions about alpacas and fleece - maybe some alpaca breeders for the future?
FOSTERING- A QUICK UPDATE
Beulah and Bobby Dazzler are just fine.... so thats good. Bettina and her cria Bliss have continued to be a bit of an ongoing saga... yesterday I noticed Ena feeding another cria as well as her own. Bettina has virtually no milk and Bliss refused to take a bottle preferring to suck on mums no-milk teats and was losing weight and energy. So I took the decision to take Bliss away from Bettina and stable her with Ena and her cria and see what happened... with bottled milk as back up too of course. During the course of the day Bliss got more and more confident and started taking the odd suckle from Ena... fingers crossed it may work then. Thought I might try putting the two pairs together in a paddock for the night and maybe Bliss would have her mum for comfort and Ena for milk. I was wrong - she just spent all night trying to nurse off Bettina and lost the weight she had gained the day before.
We learn constantly with these animals.... So, this morning I put Ena, and Eros (her cria) and Bliss in a stable and have left them there tonight too. After just a few attempts Bliss is feeding one side and Eros the other ... sorry I don't have a picture to show you as I forgot the camera, but very cute as you can imagine. I really hope this will continue and Ena will foster Bliss, I will weigh both crias every day and keep a very close watch on Ena too of course. Would be great if it worked wouldn't it?! Have any of you had similar success?
We learn constantly with these animals.... So, this morning I put Ena, and Eros (her cria) and Bliss in a stable and have left them there tonight too. After just a few attempts Bliss is feeding one side and Eros the other ... sorry I don't have a picture to show you as I forgot the camera, but very cute as you can imagine. I really hope this will continue and Ena will foster Bliss, I will weigh both crias every day and keep a very close watch on Ena too of course. Would be great if it worked wouldn't it?! Have any of you had similar success?
WORRIES
Whatever young stock you may be breeding you will inevitably get a few problems and worries along the way and alpacas are no exception. The more experience you have the easier it gets, but none the less when the problems come, if you care, they are still a worry. Today I have worried about Bettina and her cria, who have had a good start and been fine until now. I have been busy with visitors most of the day, but every time I looked across at the cria group this little girl was trying to suckle off her mums elbow... what is going on? After a little thought I believe it's because with all the rushing in and out of the shelter with the rain showers Bettina has got all uptight about feeding with everyone else too close by... she has been knocking Bliss over whilst telling off everyone else and the safest place to get close is her elbow - but not very sustaining! She has had a bottle and now that the showers have subsided they are back in the field again and are beginning to settle down..... I hope.
Worry 2 - Beulah and her cria, now named Bobby Dazzler, after the night in they were ready to go out and all was fine, but poor Beulah has so much milk that her teats are beginning to swell to an un-suckable size, so I am having to milk her out every now and then - what she really needs is a nursing bra with savoy cabbage leaves inside - worked for me!!
Hopefully these problems will resolve themselves in a couple of days .....
Worry 2 - Beulah and her cria, now named Bobby Dazzler, after the night in they were ready to go out and all was fine, but poor Beulah has so much milk that her teats are beginning to swell to an un-suckable size, so I am having to milk her out every now and then - what she really needs is a nursing bra with savoy cabbage leaves inside - worked for me!!
Hopefully these problems will resolve themselves in a couple of days .....
MONSOON
Blimey, so much rain! Poor Beulah has been humming very noisily yesterday and this morning, and walking in a very peculiar way, so we knew it wouldn't be long. Being the wise paca mama that she is, she waited until there was a gap in the weather and delivered her enormous and stunning cria, by Snowmass Incan King out in the field.
I prefer to leave them outside for the first few hours if at all possible so that they learn to get up and walk and find the milk bar without crashing into walls and trying to suck off any old dark place they can find. So I put a coat on him and went off to the Chiropractor to be stretched and cracked! Now they're cosy in the stable and his dry colour is beginning to show - wow - he gleams and its a gorgeous orangutang kind of shade under electric lights. Will probably have to get the colour chart out for this one. He hasn't got a name yet as we can't agree on one!
The multi-talented Dave's been here today with his wonderful JCB and squashed down all the rabbit warrens so I don't have to worry about anyone falling down the holes - bunnies will have to go elsewhere!
I prefer to leave them outside for the first few hours if at all possible so that they learn to get up and walk and find the milk bar without crashing into walls and trying to suck off any old dark place they can find. So I put a coat on him and went off to the Chiropractor to be stretched and cracked! Now they're cosy in the stable and his dry colour is beginning to show - wow - he gleams and its a gorgeous orangutang kind of shade under electric lights. Will probably have to get the colour chart out for this one. He hasn't got a name yet as we can't agree on one!
Lunge ring or duck pond?
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