2010 Postings

2009 Postings


Sign Up Now to receive the Abenaqui Alpacas Newsletter

August 2009

August is here. Finally some nice weather. Looks as though we will get a bit done on the farm.

End of Summer

Date: Friday August 28, 2009

I cannot believe August is already over. While I have been busy travelling for work, Farmer Steve has been holding down the fort. The piggies have done a great job of clearing the first section of pasture. We are preparing to move them on to the next. Hay is scheduled to be here September 4th, so we are diligently working our tushes off trying to make room in the hay loft.

Seems that space is very valuable on the farm. Once space opens up, we put something else there. So, although we were able to get plenty of hay in the hay storage area, we have mucked up that workspace with lumber and building materials as the hay has been divied up to the herd throughout the last few months.

Farmer Steve is also in panic mode as he wants to keep the hay storage out of his workshop this year. AHHH! That means he has about four days to build a new hay loft to hold about 80 bales. I am sure we will get it all done. Perserverance and patience.

Cria Season is officially Over

Date: Thursday August 20, 2009

Pep had been pregnant for 375-days. She was so uncomfortable. After 7 days of temperatures in high 80's to 90's...I felt for her as she lazed around in front of the fan. After I returned last evening from a day on the road, Pep started labor.

After 10 cria being born on this farm, since the beginning of our farming career, I had never viewed a labor like this. As Pep was so late term, I of course was a little more sensitive to her behavior. Last week I had spoken with my vet to discuss her later term pregnancy, to see what, if anything I should be watching for that would indicate distress. The one thing everyone kept telling me was to watch for a torsion. This is when the uterus flips, essentially twisting things up, requiring we untwist so the baby can be born. The behavior typically associated with this includes a very uncomfortable dam, often up then down, maybe some rolling, pushing without any produceable results.

When I got home from my road trip my first stop was the barn. I found Pep lying on her side in front of the fan, not cushed in her normal position. She wasn't pushing or making and noise. I went inside, got out of my city clothes and prepared dinner. Farmer Steve and I ate dinner on the porch so we could keep an eye on Pep's behavior. Within 20-minutes, Pep had gone to the "pile" three times. Each time not really pushing, easily producing poo or pee. Then she would wander to the hay feeder, put her head in, moan, drop to the ground and roll from one side to the other. She would lie on her side, groaning, not really pushing. Of course I became a little concerned. Could this be the dreaded torsion?

We continued to observe Pep for another 20 minutes, still the same behavior, only she had begun to push with no results. She was quite dialated, and groaning. I called my vet, who said it did not sound good. I asked her to come right over...Within 5 minutes of that call I noticed the amniotic sac appear, then finally break, and a nose appear. I called my vet, asked her to not come and that things were finally presenting normally.

Pep had this entire labor while lying on her side. I have seen dams have portions of their labor cushed, most of the time standing up, but never like this. Of course, Farmer Steve thought I was over-reacting, I know I was aware of all the right things. Had she had a torsion, we needed to have the vet there ASAP, not after we fully determined the torsion. It takes our vet a minimum of 20-minutes to get here. Pep was struggling so much, I know it was her first, but later term pregnancies can have a few complications.

Good news! It is a healthy baby boy. An ElToro, K-2 boy. My hopes is he turns out to be an amazing stud male. He has some potential with those genetics in his lineage. Oh, and no color, well almost no color. He is an apricot, like his mother - Pep, ElToro his grandsire, and the same color as all his aunties of the same lineage.

Me picking off some of the amniotic sac.

Farmer Steve and new cria on the first official weigh-in. Mom Pep not too far.

He looks all peachey, almost orange creamsicle colored.

Cria Shearing

Date: Sunday August 16, 2009

Farmer Steve and I set out to shear our cria today. We were both quite nervous as this was our first cria shearing on our own, AND our first alpaca shearing without the assistance of a professional. This was my first time putting them down on the mat and holding heads. I was so anxious. I really didn't even want to do it, but knew we just had to suck it up and get our hands dirty.

We chose to start early in the morning. The weather men were promising temperatures in the mid 90's. Neither of us wanted to have stressed cria stretched out on the mats in 90 degree heat, nor did he and I want to add that heat stress to our already frazzled brains and nerves.

We put Ollalie down on the mat first. Once I got the hang of holding her steady, things seemed to go quite smooth. Next MoMo went down. Farmer Steve did a fantastic job with MoMo and Ollalie. Fantastic for his first time. He was really nervous as well. Sure, the heads could be a little more even, the legs maybe more symmetrical, but overall the two girls came out fantastic.

Our last victim was Moos. The littlest of all.

Things were going okay until Farmer Steve got to Moos' chest. The area under the front legs/armpits is always the point at which I hold my breath. Whether there is a seasoned professional behind the shears or if it is Steve. There are many skin folds there that the shears can grab onto a cut right off. Well, it happened to us with Moos. Farmer Steve accidentally cut a quarter sized hole in Moos. We kind of panicked for a moment. Farmer Steve more out of guilt and self loathing, me just because I somehow lost all sanity.

I immediately called Dr. Nicole for advice. She said she would come over if we felt it necessary to sew it up. "No. No." I said, "We will try to take care of it. I just wanted to see what you thought." Dr. Nicole agreed that the super glue method would be a good first try.

By this time of the morning the temperatures had reached 90 degrees. We grabbed the super glue and started to apply it. Moos was sweaty, I was sweaty, Farmer Steve was sweaty...I couldn't get the skin to stick together. As I kept applying the super glue, I was getting it everywhere. All the skin I did not want to stick together was adhering fine, just not the cut. There was not any blood at this point, not that it bled very much to start. But now the cut was covered in a nice clean layer of superglue. Farmer Steve was getting a little frustrated with me, so I asked him to give it a try. He put on the nitrile gloves, cleaned and dried the wound again (which was encased and crusted with super glue), and tried his hand at it. Well, that did not go much better. He held the skin together in hopes the glue would bind the edges. No such luck for him. Instead, he attached the nitrile glove. AHHH!

After the struggle and realizing the heat and stress was going to get to Moos long before this cut could get infected, we decided to quit. Yes, the wound was still open. Yes, he had a nitrile glove glued to his chest...what were we to do? We trimmed up the glove, so only a small patch of blue was stuck and hosed him down to cool him off and relesead him to get comfort from his mom [July's April].

We sat for a moment contemplating reality. We have had experience with worse open wounds. This had not made it past the fascia. This was a surficial wound. I realized that I could easily treat this with a topical salve, clean it twice daily, observe for elevated temperature or infection. This would likely granulate in just fine. [and it did].

Doctor Nicole called back a little while later to get a status report.

"Oh, things here are fine. Moos is okay, other than napping right now because he was exhausted from the experience."..."Yes, we sort of closed the wound. We covered it in a thick layer of superglue, and a nitrile glove."..."Yes, I was kind of hoping that glove would fall off eventually. Thanks for the giggles and reassurance that it will be okay." I love Doctor Nicole. She agreed that my course of action over the next few days would suffice.

Moos survived, we survived.

UPDATE: The glove has since come off. Farmer Steve wants to fix all the cria cuts to make them perfect...I am dragging my feet. Making excuses. I know. I know. We will have to do it at some point.