3 new crias this week

We had a wonderful week here at Heronview. We had 3 new cria born. The babies are all doing well and are as cute as can be. On Monday Jazzy had a male cria by Cameron Briggs, He is a beautiful baby boy.

Tuesday Morning Holly had a gorgeous fawn girl. Her dad is Myster Luv. this girl has fibre to die for. She is a good size cria and has the cutest face.

All day Inocense was restless and laying down and then moving to another spot. I kept a close eye on her and finally at 6pm I had to intervene. She was laying in the barn and not stressed to much but was pushing everyonce in awhile. I went inside and felt around. The cria was not coming out on his own. He was really big. I repositioned him so he could head out :-) She gave a few big pushes and out came the biggest cria I have seen so far. He is a white boy by Sunny Delight. His fleece is amazing. He is a solid big boned boned boy. I am looking forward to watchng this boy grow up.

We had a new cria today

Today a new cria was born. It is a boy and a very handsome one. He is a bay and has a very dark head. His fleece looks great even though he is only a new born.  I had a call from one of our Alpaca owners checking to see if their Alpaca looked close to giving birth. She is also over due !!  While I was talking to her I looked out the window not to concerned as I had been out to check on them recently. When all of a sudden up pops a little head. I said crap I have a new cria gotta go !!  He is feisty and runs all over the place. I will upload some pictures later. Gotta go check on the little guy

We lost our new cria

I am so sad right now. My beautiful little girl that was born on sunday died yesterday.  It was a really silly injury that she died from.  ON Sunday afternoon I had to go out for an hour. She was fine and was nursing and running around.  I cam back and she was chused in the field. I went to see how she was doing and just check her out. She had some blood on her and I thought maybe her imbelical cord was bleeding. My hand came away wet with blood.  I turned her over and she had a small puncture wound. This was weird as we have nothing she can hurt herself on.  I looked after the wound and wrapped it etc.  She got up and was walking around and trying to nurse. Yesterday I changed the dressing and thought it was wetter then it should be. Called the vet who said no that is fine best to be draining.  She was peeing and nursing so I did not worry (to much)  I was not happy thought with her attitude. It was nto sharp enough. She enver startled at all when I came to check her. I thought maybe she was getting so used to me hovering. I gave her a bottle of goats milk just incase she was not nursing enough. just a couple of ounces so she would get more emergy and be able to nurse more from mom.I called my vet to come out and look at her because I just felt she was not right. You just get a gut feeling.  I went inside for an hour and when I came out she had died. I was heart broken. My vet arived 1/2 hour later.  He was so surprised. Then he looked her over and told me she had not infection. He opened up the wound to look at it. What a surprise. inside that little would she had torn her muscle so he figures she lost more fluid inside. They are so small that losing blood can send them into shock and this is what he thinks happened. You always question yourself and how you could have changed things.  The only thing we can think that happened is she got poked with a branch. We have a pile of vranches in the field from trimming the trees. My Alpacas love to eat the leaves and scratch themselves on the branches. We left them there for their enjoyment. A baby has paper thin skin and I guess she must have wandered into the pile and got hurt. Figures doent it. Her mom is breaking my heart following me around and asking me where he baby is. Everytime I turn around there she is with those big sad eyes looking at me and making a sound  that  is like a question.I love my animals and would never change but it is times like this when I hate doing what I do.

The girls are out to drive me crazy

Ok how can 6 Alpacas all hold off on having their cria.  I have 5 girls who are all over due and one who is due now.  I am watching and watching till they are sick of me looking underneather and watching them nap. I see them laying on their side and go and watch them.  A week ago one of the girls fooled me and she was my last one due and she gave birth to a gorgeous little boy. What gives there is no rhyme or reason to them. I swaer the laydown and they take bets to see how long it will be before I am checking them.   I think when they deciede it is time they will come like popcorn or should I say papcacorn

Reggie and his mom are just too cute

I went outside and reggie and Raven were giving each other little licks. Alpacas do not really lick. They can do little tiny licks and this is what they were doing. Then I walk to the other side of the field and here are a few of the Alpacas laying there like they had been placed. All in a row. I thought it was pretty funny.

Archemedies is here for a sex week vacation

What how can I say those words !! Well Archie is an amazing Alpaca Stud who lives in Ompah Ontario. Yes it is a fun name to say !! We had bred Alicia to Archie last year and sadly she aborted twins this spring. So we are trying again. Archie was Supreme Grand Champion at the Alpaca Ontario show in 2006. We had set the date for Alicia and Archie even before he became such a famous guy. they both really complement each other. We are also breeding him to Margarette, so I am hoping for 2 spectacular crias next year.

Camelidynamics Clinic

June 28th and 29th I attended a 2 day Camelidynamics course with Marty McGee Bennett. This course is similer to Tellington touch but has been changed and evolved to work with Camelids. Marty is a fantastic presentor and makes it all look so easy. What I loved about this course was seeing that what we have been doing all along is pretty similar to what Marty teaches. I of course learned a lot about the way an Alpaca thinks and different behaviours. I plan on taking the week long course she offers in Oregon.

My goal is to train all my alpacas the Marty way now and to help my customers learn also. So this is a win win situation for the Alpacas.

Reggie the cria

We had a new cria born thursday. He is a Myster Luv baby and has amazing dense fibre already. He is a real cutie and today thought it was a good idea to meet Sadie our Leonberger. Sadie is a really gentle girl and was careful with him. Here is a video