Alpaca ♪♫On the Road Again♫♪

Beth and John picked Slammie (Orion) up last Friday to take him to a 4-H work session. At 165 pounds, he really fills up Beth's van now. ▲ They have been practicing walking up and down steps, side passing over a ground pole (I'm really impressed with this 'cause I remember how hard it was to teach my horse), going over jumps, backing, and turning inside a circle. The picture below show John at practice going over a tippy ramp.

Nancy Rogers and her mom Pat Slagell have started this Alpaca 4-H club and alpacas will be shown at the Alma Fair for the first time this year. I think they have about 15 kids in the group. If you would like to visit their alpacas and farm go here - Alpaca Family Farm.

♥ ♥ ♥

I'm rather disgusted with Etsy right now. I can get into my shop, but can't see images anywhere. They are boxes with descriptions in them. Right now my link on the right here in my blog is showing the no image boxes.

Hats, Hats, and more Hats

For some reason I'm on a really, really big hat making kick. I'm averaging one every two days. I don't quite get this side of me. It's a little compulsive - like when I was making the Mobius Scarves. I can't wait to finish one so that I can get started on another. These are my own designs but I'm sure that I picked up the patterns somewhere in my past. Hopefully, I'm not really copying anyone. ♥ ♥ Remember, you can click to enlarge.

Etsy has really screwed up big time. They were adding new servers and somehow hundreds of us could not access Etsy. I wasn't able to get on from Friday afternoon until a couple of hours ago. Our provider, Casair in Stanton, MI, did some finagling for me this afternoon so that I could get in to my shop. Lots of bad feelings, negative energy over there so I'm staying away for a while. I just hope that no one tried to convo or buy from me in that time.

Granddaughters feeding Cria

Nikki brought the granddaughters up today to see Spot, well, and us too. Can you tell by their faces that they think the little guy is pretty special?

♥

He's doing well. Will be two weeks old tomorrow.

♥

Remember, just click on picture to enlarge.

"Spot, it's lunch time!"

This bottle feeding isn't all bad. You can imagine my smiles when I go out into the pasture and yell out, "Spot, it's time for lunch" and here he comes, leaving the girls and his buddies at a dead run.
We have rigged up a pen in the barn with a small opening so that he and the other young'uns can get in for constant access to supplement. I bought rolled, steamed oats yesterday and hope that he likes them. He is nibbling on grass and hay so I'm optimistic.

We are waiting for one more spring birth. This is Lady Belita on the left below ▼. Thought you might want to see what they look like very pregnant so I took this pict this morning. I have her due date marked on the calendar as this Wednesday, but she has looked huge like this for over a month. The big girl looking into the barn is Golden Shadow and that's little Chinella in between.

Alpaca Alert

I have had folks tell me that when danger is present, alpacas will surround the younger ones to protect them and that is what is happening in this picture. The neighbor's dog was in the field about 1/8 mile away and one of the girls sounded the alarm. It's sort of a high pitched - eeeek, eeek. They surrounded little Spot and Chinella, can you see them? They stayed like this for about 5 minutes until the dog was out of sight. Some of the fiber boys are on the left of the fence and the girls are on the right.
☼
Spot update - he's still not nursing from Ariana but drinks 9 ounces of cow's milk with a little Activia 5 times a day. Feeding times are 8, 11, 2, 5, and 9. Stop by and hold the bottle...... He's pretty cute 'cause when I go out and call "Spot", he comes just a running. It's hard not to cuddle and fiddle with him but the experts say not to, he needs to be an alpaca and respect 2 leggeds.

Cria becomes a bottle baby

First of all, the little guy has a name - Spot. He has a very light fawn spot on the top of his head that is very hard to see, but that's what I'm looking at when he is taking his bottle.

We have pretty much given up on any chance of his nursing from Ariana, she's sore and not letting him near her back end. But frankly, he gives no indication that he knows the milk bar is there.

Today was the first day that he actually took the bottle nipple into his mouth without my forcing his mouth open. Remember, today is his fifth day out in the world. At this feeding he drank 6.5 ounces of cow's milk and a dallop of Activia. When we weighed him yesterday, he had gained 1/2 pound so it looks like he may just make it.

We know that something is just not right and if he were in the wild, he would not survive. If he makes it through criahood, he definitely will become a neutered fiber guy. Although his conformation is excellent and his fiber is beautiful, we would never pass along what ever it is that is making him such a slow starter.

BTW, that's our handsome herd sire, Polaris, in the background ♥☺♥ And - I just know that you are all wondering why the Scranton sweatshirt. That's the university in Pennsylvania where my son, Rob, teaches. Proud mom here.

Cria Still Not Nursing from Mom

Born Saturday a.m. This picture is of the girls welcoming the little guy to our world. He doesn't look white because he's still wet here. He was about 2 hours old. Mom is Ariana, the girl with her head up. Whenever a cria is born, I think the rest of the girls take on kind of an Auntie role and help watch out for it and teach alpaca social rules.
♥
He still isn't nursing from his mom, so we are milking mom and then bottle feeding him. The worse part is milking Ariana. She is sore and really doesn't like us fiddling around. We have an alpaca chute which we put her in that has belly bands to hold her up because she wants to cush. This morning Smitty milked 5 ounces which the little guy gobbled up. I'm having him teach me because it is tedious. Geeze, if my hands can spin they can surely milk an alpaca, wouldn'tcha think?
♥
Mike, our vet, said to try for 3 days before we supplement, so we'll stay with it. In the meantime, I've been researching the best product to use. I'm thinking whole cow's milk with a glug of vanilla yogurt. It almost seems too easy, doesn't it? There are a ton of options like goat's milk and different powders that can be mixed up.