I hoped and prayed and wished and was blessed with 2 beautiful girls this week! Both are half sisters out of Rubio’s Ramon and are fiber rich!
First came on Monday and we named her Calypso of Dutch Hollow because it was Talk Like A Pirate Day. First cria I’ve ever seen come out and was up and running in under 20 minutes. After 6hrs her IgG was already at 2400! She has the tightest and most dense little curls all over her body. This one is going to be a show stopper!
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I have a theory, when one alpaca has a cria all the others within 2-3 weeks of their due date follow shortly after. Crystal decided to have her little girl 2 weeks early on me. Little Liberty at Dutch Hollow was born yesterday. I shouldn’t say little because she weighed in at 21 lbs but you could tell she needed to cook just a little longer. She was a bit shakey on her new legs and tendons aren’t tight yet in her hind legs, but everything else was good. Good heart, lungs, suck reflex, HUGE ears, and teeth already erupted.
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Unfortunately mom didn’t have milk yet because she went so early. Her bags looked full but when I milked her just dribbles came out. *sigh* Thankfully we have a HUGE milk farm next door to us and gave me a gallon of fresh bacteria free colostrum. Liberty didn’t want anything to do with the colostrum until I mixed in some vanilla yogurt though, boy for being only a few hours old she sure had fussy taste buds. She drank down 3 bottles for me throughout the day. This morning I made up a bottle and checked mom before feeding her cria. Squirt, squirt! Milk came out of her as if I was milking a goat! She’s got tons of the stuff now. WOOT! No more bottle feeding.
Well that wraps up my week.
Remember this weekend is National Alpaca Farm Days so visit a local alpaca farm.
It also happens to be National Hunting and Fishing Days so if you’re in the WNY area stop by the Avon, NY DEC Headquarters and come say hi to us. I’ll have a booth set up as well as some of our alpacas.