Tuesday, September 28, 2010

Lonestar

Roadie had an adorable little baby boy that I have named Lonestar. He has one fairly large spot on his side with a couple spots on his legs. He is mostly white, a bright, bright white that makes Allegra look beige! A brown mouth, eyeliner and footie socks round out his color. Roadie is an experienced, attentive mom that keeps a watchful eye on him. I'm very pleased with his fleece quality and as you know me, you see a white alpaca and in my mind I am seeing a rainbow of color. The babies are already making their own 'gang' in the pasture spending their time together.I haven't had this many babies at one time before and I must admit I am enjoying them. I think I'll go outside right now and play with them!

Talk to you soon,
Tammy

Saturday, September 25, 2010

The First Day Of Autumn

I had quite a surprise on Thursday night when I came home from my production of Disney's Beauty and the Beast. I went out to the barn to check on the babies I already had and found another one out there! So needless to say, at midnight I was out there doing cria care. She is a little darker than Prince and has awesome fiber. Her mother, Vidalia, is a devoted mom even though she is a light milker. This is a cria I will gladly help bottle feed! Her sire is Laredo (yes, another girl for Laredo! I can't believe it!) Of course Prince keeps pestering her wanting to play and she is too young and Allegra keeps stepping in the middle of them acting like a big sister. Its going to be quite a fun fall around here! I am anxiously awaiting Roadie to have her cria next. Talk to you soon, Tammy

Wednesday, September 22, 2010

Ta Da! Vienna!!

May I present, after much anticipation, Venus' Vienna! She is a beautiful, dark rose grey female. She is Venus' first cria and she is a super, dutiful mom. Vienna was up and trotting across the barn floor in under an hour. Her sire is Laredo. Laredo is 7 for 8 female crias now. How do I not breed this guy? lol And Laredo is 7 for 8 grey crias. I have had the name Vienna picked out for Venus' first girl for a couple of years now. The name really suits her. Prince is happy to have a buddy out in the pasture although Vienna is not at happy about it yet. I told Price to give her a few days and she would like him more. Georgie, the self-proclaimed guard, is happily keeping a watchful eye on her babies now. It is a good day today. Talk to you soon,  Tammy
 

Monday, September 20, 2010

From A Frog To A Prince

Last week I helped deliver a breech birth little boy. I have been trying to figure out a good name for a little guy who came into this world ass-backwards! lol As I was in the pasture yesterday I took this picture of him. It seems my little frog has turned into a Prince! And it is fitting as I am currently in a production of 'Beauty and the Beast' and I like to name babies after characters in the play I'm in. I had thought of 'LeFou', but calling this handsome guy 'Fool' just doesn't seem right. I'm still waiting for the four other girls to have their crias. They are still sucking them in. Maybe tomorrow. Talk to you soon,  Tammy

Wednesday, September 15, 2010

The Bellies of Fall


These are our 'Bellies of Fall' on our farm. The grey girl is Venus and is due to cria at the end of the month. The white one is Vidalia and she is due at the end of the month, also. An alpaca's gestation is 11 1/2 months and a term pregnancy can go 3 weeks prior and after that date. I have been anxiously awaiting 'the day'! As you can see, the girls are ready to deliver. They have the usual disposition of a female right before she has her baby. Cranky and hungry. Both have milked up. I just need more        patience to get me through. Talk to you soon , Tammy  
      
  

Wednesday, September 8, 2010

Surprise Birth

We got home from Bethel late Sunday night. On Monday, I set about catching up on things around the house. I counted heads on everything. When I went out to feed the alpacas I noticed the odd behavior of Canela. She was at the other end of the pasture, away from the other girls. When I opened the barn to let the girls in to eat, no Canela! Now that isn't normal. She came in a few minutes late and was humming at me. She doesn't usually hum, either. She did eat her grain. I told my husband that she was in labor, in the afternoon. Alpacas usually deliver in the morning and afternoon babies usually mean trouble. I stayed out in the pasture for about another hour waiting for her to deliver and deliver she did. I had to break her water and when I did I saw a tail where the head should be! Oh no! A breech birth. Instantly, everything I ever read starting flooding my mind. Rips, vaginal tearing, stitches, c-sections, oh no! "Maybe its an ear", I thought. Then I saw a bump next to her vagina. The buttbone. Luckily for Canela I have small hands. I ran two fingers all the way around the outside of her vagina and put two fingers of each hand in and caught the joint where the leg and the hip meet and with each contraction I pulled. She was contracting every 20 seconds or so and it took three contractions to pull him out. I saw maybe a teaspoon of red blood. Then no more bleeding. Whew! That's good. Canela passed the afterbirth about an hour later with no problems. She is fine. He was a little wobbly the first day and I bottle fed him. I milked out Canela and fed it to him.

I'll keep you posted on his progress. What a day! These are pictures of him a couple of hours old.
Talk to you soon,  Tammy


Back From Bethel's World Sheep Festival

We couldn't have asked for better weather for Labor Day weekend in Bethel! The temps were in the low 80's. Considering there have been years when the temps were above 100, it was incredible! and no rain, either. Everyone was walking around smiling. I think I will have a vendor booth next year. It seems that Bethel is on an upswing. Vendors were there selling their products and the sheep to shawl competition and the sheep sales and on and on. For a fiber person, it is like heaven. My classes went well and the students left happy and ready to do more. I recommend going next year. It is worth the time.
Talk to you soon,  Tammy

  

Friday, September 3, 2010

Off To Bethel's World Sheep Festival!

I've got these alpaca batts packed up for the core spinning alpaca class I'm teaching at Bethel on Sunday afternoon. All the feltball supplies are packed, too! The weather looks like it will be co-operating so it will be a wonderful weekend. Lots of socializing and shopping. Hope to see you there.

 Talk to you soon, Tammy


Wednesday, September 1, 2010

Fantabulous Felt Bracelet

I'll bet you were wondering just what was I going to do with all those feltballs! Make cat toys? What can you do with a lowly feltball? Well, I decided to take feltballs 'uptown'. The bracelet pictured is what I will be teaching at Bethel's World Sheep Festival this weekend. The class is on Saturday afternoon. There are still openings in class so come join us! Yeah, this bracelet makes you think differently about feltballs, doesn't it? It looks really good on, too.
Talk to you soon, Tammy