2010 Postings

2009 Postings


Sign Up Now to receive the Abenaqui Alpacas Newsletter

June 2009

The Eagle Has Landed - Well one anyway

Date: Sunday June 28, 2009

Introducing 'Princess Olalie Agate'. She came to us on Saturday morning. Her first-time mom Odanak did an amazing job. Her water broke around 7 a.m., that cria hit the ground at 728 a.m.

I am always pleased when things go as they are supposed to. As my friend Carol Karsten says, "Odanak clearly read the birthing manual". That cria came out feet first, mom and she bonded right away, which can be a concern with new moms. Her milk came in immediately - I believe the fact that we begin feeding our expecting moms an herbal lactation formula a month ahead of time that it helps.

Olalie is a white female with a few peachy spots on her. I was surprised by her markings as I thought her lineage was completely white. Her grandsire is Pachacuti, a direct import, her granddamme is Bonita Linda, also a direct Peruvian import. As I researched I discovered that Bonita Linda was a medium Brown female. Must be where the spots came in. Olalie's sire is StudMaster male K-2. We were excited when given the opportunity to breed to this fantastic male. I cannot wait to see what Olalie's fleece turns out like. So far, so good. But then again, she is only a day old. All cria fleece is amazingly soft.

Once Olalie hit the ground I began to dry her off. It was a damp morning here, clouds were low. In the mid 60's. I immediately took her temperature. She registered at 94 deg, so I ran into the house to get the hair dryer. My neighbor Lynn came over to watch the birth, so she went into action grabbing and setting up the heat lamps.

The text books say you need to have their temperature between 100 and 102 degrees for optimum colostrum uptake. I took that quite literally. After about 40 minutes of attempting to increase her temperature greater than 99.4, I called my vet.

Dr. Nicole should really charge for consulting. Everytime I have a cria, I swear I call her with silly questions. She is always so calm and understanding. I truly appreciate her experience. Anyway, Dr. Nicole stated that 99.4 deg should be plenty warm. We stopped all efforts to warm her and let Odanak and Olalie bond. I am so happy Odanak's mothering instincts kicked in. She is a great mom.

Once Olalie was up and walking, the next order of business was to record her nursing. Cria must take in the colostrum within 12 hours of birth to obtain maximum antibodies and boost their immune system. Once I saw Olalie up and trying to latch on in the general vicinity, I decided to back off and give the new mom some space.

I am trying to be 'hands off' when it comes to cria birthing. This is a method Farmer Steve and I decided on as at first we were very hands on with the births. We decided it was best for our moms if we were simply observers. Only stepping in when absolutely necessary.

After 6 hours of periodic observation, I hadn't really seen Olalie latch on and nurse. My mom, who came down immediately upon my phone call that Odanak was in labor, had stuck around all day to spend some time with me and help out as needed - and I went and haltered Odanak. Although I knew her bag was full, I wanted to be sure there was milk available. Once haltered I reached under Odanak to try and milk out the colostrum and rub it on her teats as well as Olalie's nose. Colsotrum is a very sticky substance, very different from the rich white milk. Once I had that colostrum from each teat, I knew it was available, but was not convinced that Olalie had gotten any. I called Dr. Nicole again. Did I mention she was pretty awesome?

Dr. Nicole indicated that she had run into 'closet drinkers' all the time. These are the cria and mums who simply nurse when no one is looking. As long as that cria was up and active, things would be okay. Dr. Nicole would be here the next morning to perform the neonatal exam, she will be fine until then. She was right. The cria was active and appeared normal. I calmed down, and just increased my watching. Sure enough, around 6 pm I found her latched on, as if she had done it many times before.

The neonatal exam indicated heart, lungs, and gut sounds were all normal. Her one floppy ear would straighten out, she was up on her feet strong legs, straight tail. Her bloodwork indicated she has gotten plenty of colostrum. Welcome to the world Olalie!

Cheeeeeeeese

Date: Sunday June 14, 2009

Like I need another hobby; another little thing to "pass the time". Rainy days are no good for one reason only, it generates idle minds around here. Idle minds well, Farmer Steve and I tend to use that time to become mad scientists and engineers. Farmer Steve is a home brewer. I am a home brew connoisseur. There is a home brew supply company on my way to my home office in Massachusetts. I stop by every couple months to pick up the yeast or other supplies Farmer Steve may need to keep our drinking habit in full gear. Last time, in May, I noticed they started to carry cheese making supplies in addition to the home brew and vintner supplies. I almost bought the rennet and citric acid when I was there, but convinced myself I did not need to take up another “hobby”. After all, I have a farm, there is plenty to do every day. No need to make up more stuff.

Well, this week as I was picking up some yeast for Farmer Steve I realized I did not have enough cash on hand (basically I had NO cash) and I did not meet the minimum to use my debit/credit card. The choices were: Option A. buy more stuff; Option B. wait until I came south again to pick up the yeast. [Option B. would not have been tragic, as there is a Hef-weizen in a carboy in my pantry waiting to be kegged, thus providing us with plenty of libations in the coming weeks.] Rather than going with Option B. I chose to buy more stuff. That is all it took. I bought supplies for making cheese. For just eight dollars, I bought enough Rennet, Citric Acid, Lipase Powder, and enough bacteria to make up to 8 pounds of cheese, at least.

Today, a rainy day. Farmer Steve is down in the basement implementing the design of his second beer fridge. The first was a prototype. Worked well, but not perfect. Right now I hear him whistling away while drilling holes in the side of a perfectly nice fridge he salvaged a few years ago from a home renovation he was working on. Some wealthy home owner in Biddeford Pool had a 2 year old fridge that didn’t match the house. He asked Farmer Steve to get rid of it to make room for the new stainless steel side by side SubZero model. Of course, Farmer Steve brought it home. As I helped him lug it into the basement I remember asking him why on earth we needed with another fridge. He said he was keeping it for a beer fridge, a newly designed keg-o-rater. He explained that the one we were currently using was merely a prototype. Mumbled something about how it wasn’t big enough, couldn’t keep the right temperature. There were changes and modifications that needed to be made that would enhance its ability to provide us with more delicious beer. This new one will hold up to four soda kegs, at 5 gallons each. [Not sure we will ever have that much beer at once, goodness if we do, and you are our friends, please intervene. It cannot be good.]

While Farmer Steve is down there clanging and drilling, I am in the kitchen above him, making cheese. I have completed my first batch of cheese, a fresh mozzarella. It was so easy and finished in about 30-minutes. Out of 1-gallon of fresh milk, I have 2 pounds of mozzarella cheese. It is so yummy! And it was so darned easy! I cannot wait to make more. The next cheese I want to try is a goat cheese. I will go through the farmers network to find a local goat farmer to get some fresh goats milk. That should be totally yummers. I read that you can make cheese from just about any milk producing animal. Yaks, sheep, goats, and of course cows.

I am just a little curious about making cheese from alpacas, but quickly discounted it for several very good reasons. I know from experience, they are not fond of being milked, they do not produce much milk, which would make collecting enough for making cheese nearly impossible.

Now I have a gallong of whey which is really high in animal protein, can be used in soups and stews, as well as to make other types of cheese. Better still, I hear it is perfect for fattening pigs. I plan on freezing this batch of whey until the piggies arrive.

On another note, still no babies. I am hearing through the grapevine that dams are holding on up to an additional three weeks.

Pig Nipples

Date: Saturday June 13, 2009

I love the fact that I live in a place that when I go in to a farm supply store and kindly ask the unsupecting man at the counter where they keep the pig nipples and he quickly responds with "follow me". Farmer Steve's jaw drops as I say this and he quickly distances himself from me, giving me one of those looks.

Yeah, pig nipples. You see, I came up with a better way to water the piglets. Last year we struggled constantly with keeping their water bucket full of water and not upside down in a puddle of mud. No matter what we tried, those pesky critters kept turning it upside down, or spent their afternoon lounging in it. I did some research and found that the larger pig farms use these kind of check valves connected to a water line that the pigs walk up to, press the tip, and water dribbles out. I mentioned the design to Farmer Steve, he finished the engineering so it would work in real life. Only problem, we needed the "pig nipples".

When we arrived at Tractor Supply Company I could not remember for the life of me what they were called. So, when the nice young man asked if he could help me find something, I blurted the first thing that came to mind..."where do you keep the 'pig nipples'?" To my delight, he smiled and asked me to follow him. Sure enough he knew exactly what I was asking for. Now we have some really nice shiny pig nipples so our little piggies do not get thirsty this summer.

Here is a full image of the final design. The green part is a quick connect that will attach to a hose. Then there is steel pipe and various fittings that connect to the nipples. The two pipe clamps will connect the entire set up to a post. By using these clamps we will be able to raise this nipple contraption as the pigs get older so they will be less likely to use it as a scratching post. That is the plan. Check back in a few weeks to see if this whole thing works. Took about 20 minutes to make and ten dollars in parts.

Jewelweed

Date: Friday June 05, 2009

I used to LOVE jewelweed. In the fall this tall plant has these little orange flowers, that just after blooming if you touched or poked the closed buds, they would snap open, tossing their seeds about. I always thought that was so cool, much before I knew any better.

Well dearies, all those walks in the woods or along roadsides of my youth, where I sought out these plants and spent what could have been hours making those seeds shoot out have come back to get me. I am fighting a losing battle with this stuff. It is a terribly invasive species that is taking over my buffer zones. (Buffer zones are zones of 'untouched' land between our brook and the developed portions of the property.)

The problem with Jewelweed, also referred to as 'touch-me-nots' [apparently because of the feature I described above] is that although it is highly invasive it is a natural remedy for many skin irritations caused by other plant species. It has some really great skin healing properties.

The leaves and the juice from the stem of Jewelweed may be used as a treatment for poison ivy, oak and other plant induced rashes, as well as many other types of dermatitis. Jewelweed [a member of the impatiens family] works by counter-reacting with the chemicals in other plants that cause the irritation. Poultices and salves from Jewelweed have been indicated as a folk remedy for bruises, burns, cuts, eczema, insect bites, sores, sprains, warts, and ringworm. [Thankfuly I have not had to try it out to treat warts or ringworm. - but this is good to know should I get warts or ringworm.]

Luckily Jewelweed has a shallow root system and is easily pulled up, but I have hundreds of square feet of it. It would take me forever, and I am not sure it will not come back. It is a native species here in New England and it allegedly attracts hummingbirds. Although I am not too concerned about attracting them, Abenaqui Alpacas has been built on an old perennial farm, so we are all set with flowers and attracting hummingbirds. I heard somewhere in my travels, long ago, that it was poisionous to Horses. I am hoping that is not the case for my alpacas, as this weed is covering the perimeter of an area that is our new pasture. Great, just what I need to do, with all the other stuff we have going on, this battle against the Jewelweed just may do me in.

UPDATE: I just had a fantastic laugh. I was just surfing the net looking for confirmation of its toxicity if ingested, and I ran across a gardening forum where people were exchanging its seeds in the hopes it would take root in their gardens! COME TO MY HOUSE AND GIT IT!!!

Strawberry Moon

Date: Thursday June 04, 2009

As you probably could have guessed, native americans did not have traditional calendars, instead, as with many other cultures, they relied heavily upon the phases of the moon and the seasonal changes to keep track of time. It should not be a wonder that they named the full moons based upon major milestones or local events that occurred during those months.

Full moon names were regional, for instance, the lakota refer to the June full moon as the 'Making Fat' moon, the early europeans refer to it as the "Rose" moon. The Algonquins (for which the Abenaqui are grouped together with) referred to the June moon as the Strawberry moon. Here in the northeast, June is the marking of the strawberry ripening season. As I walked my property yesterday I noticed the small native ground strawberries were ripening. They seem a measely morsel, much the size of the low bush native blueberries. I can imagine fields of these little dainty vines and fruit being coveted by our early ancestors for their sweet juiciness.

The coming of this full moon has a little more meaning for me, in that I anticipate these cria I have been waiting for are soon on their way. It is not just folklore that the rate of births increase during the full moon. Ask any livestock breeder, obsetetrician or hospital worker and they will tell you, they prepare differently on the full moon. My anxiety is no exception. I noticed some major changes in Odanak today. I am hoping that the Strawberry moon expected this weekend helps to pull my girls through and we can stop waiting for these cria to arrive.

I really want to share the birth photos with all of you. Some of them may be a little graphic. I apologize in advance. If you do not want to see the birth photos, simply look away, close the page. You have the power to choose your own fate. Keep Odie and Clover in your thoughts. Hope for fast, incident-free births.

Crud - Mending fences

Date: Wednesday June 03, 2009

As usual, got up early this morning. Decided to skip the gym and take a ride on the tractor. Of course it wasnt a joy ride. I wanted to do our poop-patrol in the paddocks and spread lime etc. So, off early this am I was to accomplish this task. Farmer Steve has been tired lately, lots of time at the shipyard has kept him up early and home late. Not much motivation to do all this hard work. Unfortunately, I thought I was going to get this task done so he had one less thing to help me with this afternoon.

Tough luck! I ran into the gate separating the girls from the boys this morning. Completely tore the dang thing off. Practically broke the fence post, definitely broke one of the cross members. Yes it was a corner post...

So, here I am trying to do the farm a favor and now I end up spending an extra amount of time trying to fix the dang fence. It is not as easy as one might think. The gate is a 10-footer. Typically you have one person on the other end holding the non-hinged end up so you can set the pins on the hinges on the post end. I had to find something to raise up the other end while I set the pins in the post, then set the brackets from the gate to the pins. The first set up I was lazy and used to feed bcukets on top of each other. that didn't work and the end of the gate kept falling off. Finally I realized I just need to go hunt down something more substantial. I settled on two scrap pieces of four-by-fours. That did the trick.

The whole time I am fixing the gate, the girls and boys are looking over my shoulder, tails in the air, snorting at the boys. Giles is in the mood for lovin, which made it a little more difficult as the 245 pound male was pacing the worksite of the broken gate picking out which open femail he would like to bed first. *ugh* With the tractor strategically placed and a few hand tools, the rake and shovel, I created a temporary barrier. That and a few times of me standing up, waving my arms and grunting and yee-hawing at them to scatter.

I finally fixed the gate, although temporarily. I had some extra 'green-gates' lying around that I set up on the boys side of the gate. Giles likes to rub up against that gate and section of fence throughout the day. I know it could not withstand his mass, so I decided to cordon it off with two 'green-gates'. I will keep my eye on it, but am proud that without Farmer Steve I was able to temporarily fix the problem. If I did not have to report to my office this morning, I would have gotten out a drill bit and redrilled the hole for the pin that was ripped out. Maybe I would have even tackled setting a new corner post. awe heck, who am I kidding, I am too chicken to run the post-hole auger.

I already called Farmer Steve at work to give him the good news that poop-patrol was not on tonights list of things to do...but we had to mend a fence. He took it well. Afterall, I have only run in to two fenceposts since we got htis tractor, he has managed to tear down a great deal more...next anniversary present idea - tractor driving lessons?