June 15, 2009

Well hello...

I just wanted to post that we have welcomed our newest boarders to the farm. On Saturday Carousel and her son Mangini came along with Princess Lea's dam Dora. They will be here for the next five years and seem to be settled in already.

KHA Carousel is a very pretty pinto. She's mostly white except for a saddle that looks like a can of dark brown paint was turned over on her. She's on the thin side having just delivered her 2009 cria 17 days ago. So she, as a nursing dam, has a place in the dining room for feeding... (more on that later).

Her son is Victor's Mangini. Victor Valenzuela is his sire and Mangini is a former Jet's coach. Her owners follow the Jets so it was a good fit for them for a name. He's very friendly and adorable. And big. We haven't weighed yet but he is as tall as Black Perl who was born on April 29th! He was 21+ pounds at birth. Big boy. No wonder his dam is thin!

Dora and Princess Lea had a nice reunion. Princess plugged right back in to the milk bar only to find that it was no more. I worried a bit that she would persist and bring Dora back to milk but she didn't and Dora had no interest in allowing her to anyway walking away as soon as she tried. Phew!

On Sunday we bred Carousel with Nottingham Hollow's Archer. She wasn't especially interested until we brought some hay into the pen and she decided she could cush and eat while it was going on. The fact is, it was Archer's first time and he was initially a bit clueless. Once she cushed it dawned on him why he was in there. We will give him another go at her on Wednesday morning since it was his first time. We aren't sure he had swimmers but feel he will have produced some between Sunday and Wednesday...

In the meanwhile, all is well. On Wednesday we have to do herd health but hope to work out front on Thursday and Friday. We had planned on doing that this past weekend but ended up having to repair the house roof and later clean out under the overhangs out back at the boys sheds. Between the water leak we had at Tuck's hydrant and the rain we have had this spring we were starting to sink up to our ankles walking into the sheds. So, that had to be taken care of before work continues out front.

I have also changed my plans and want to put Jacob and Victor out front with the other older males. Then we will only have females and one yearling/weaning paddock out back. I have to keep the yearlings out there so that Quinn will have someone to be with. Then in the fall we will maybe move the yearlings out to the front and Mangini in with Quinn. It's ever changing around here...

So, I had better end this for today and get out to do chores before it rains or just plain gets too hot to be out there. The girls are looking towards the house so they are probably out of hay and water already...

Until the next time!

June 9, 2009

It's raining! Again. The ground is so saturated that we just do not have room from more water from above. I am getting very worried that this will end up one of those years that it is too wet to grow hay. That's one of the downfalls we face here being dry lot. Or more like mud flats these days. I just looked out and see a patch of blue up in the sky so maybe the day won't be a total washout.

Anyway, back to posting about our female alpacas! Lets do the boarders first!

Holly has been bred to Marathon's Dynomite, a beautiful grey. Since she and Dynomite got together after she gave birth to Black Perl we were able to catch her at the optimum time. Holly should deliver in mid-April 2010...

It sure looks like Black Velvet "took" from her December breeding with Tuck! My friend Dawn owns an u/s unit and was able to see a pregnancy. Yeah! We will be looking for her to deliver the end of November or beginning of December 2009. I think Tuck has to be black recessive since his sire is TB and if I understand correctly could only throw black. In spite of Tuck being LF I always hope for TB!

Princess Curiosity was a hold out - now that breeding season is about over she has finally "gone down" for Tuck. He wasn't the intended sire so we are kind of up in the air as to what steps will be taken next. If I had to guess I would say she probably didn't catch (yesterday) as it was her first time. Only time will tell.

Dora isn't actually back here yet but she is claiming to be pregnant, just ask Ray Tubbs' stud that was used for spit testing last week! She covered him with green so much so that he spit back! Go Victor. Dora was here for breeding and looks to have taken back in January. We will be watching for a New Years eve cria. Can't think of a better was to spend that holiday! Well, yes I can.

Carousel just gave birth last week (or was it the week before already?). She is still over at Evening Skies Alpaca Farm with Dora - they both will be coming here in July and joining Dora's 2008 cria Princess Lea. Along with Carousel will be her cria Victor's Mangini, a little male who will keep Holly's Black Perl company... I digress from the topic! Before coming here in July Carousel will be bred to her intended sire at Evening Skies...

Now for the Nottingham girls!

I am very happy to say that Whitney allowed us to see her cria's ribs, cord and spine when ultra-sounded on May 18th! Too cool. She's due to have her Amerikhan Legend cria on or about November 10th. I can hardly wait - I am trying to imagine what color. Whitney is a maroon with white markings on her face & topknot. She has been popping out grey spots for years now so we call her genetically grey. That's our term; Andy M. calls it poorly expressed grey. Doesn't that sound classy? :-) Well, Legend is MF. Whitney in the past has produced CDSG bred to CMSG, CMRG bred to DB (TB recessive), MB bred to DB and MF bred to TB.

Also due right about the same time is Miss Wise Obsession. She has also been bred to Amerikhan Legend. Miss Wise is TB. Legend should be black recessive so the hope is that if we get any males this fall we will get a TB Legend male! I have great names picked out for her cria no matter which gender!

Our dear Clara, herd matriarch is pregnant again as well. We have had a talk and she agrees that it is time for a daughter - her last four cria have been male. Clara has been bred with CVA Cadbury and is due around the end of November. CVA Cadbury is a black - I thought BB but he sure looked TB to me. Clara is a pinto who used to allow the sire's color to pass through. That was until she produced a "mini me" with the arrival of Robin Hood! Archer was he second here for us and his sire was the same as Robin's; Archer ended up dark fawn. Darby, the little guy that passed away (lesions on his heart)was out of a brown roan or rose grey and was medium fawn with a white upper neck and head... So, a black girl sounds great this time around!

Tabitha has been somewhat of a challenge to get pregnant and no one could have been happier than I was yesterday when she spat at Tuck as we walked him through the girls! We had bred her in December with Legend, good breeding but no results. Next we tried El Fuerte, again - seemingly good breeding but no results. We lost the late fall, early winter window and next tried her last month. This time we drove her to All About Alpacas and she bred with a Dom Lucilio son, Bodacious. That apparently took so we will be looking for a mid-April delivery for her as well. (She and Holly should go about the same time).

That only leaves Nottingham Hollow's Lady Emma.... What a character she is. She comes from two head-strong parents and it is so easy to equate her with a human teenager it is almost not funny! Her story is almost a saga it's so convoluted! We need to go back to December for the full impact. In December we had Legend and Dynomite here for breeding. They came to breed Emma and Princess, Whitney & Wise. Well, you know that Whitney & Wise took and Princess has just recently understood what it means to be a paca woman... Emma cushed next to the breeding pairs in December but when it came her turn she all of a sudden wasn't quite sure what was going on... That was okay with me because she wasn't going to be 2 years old until March 1st so it was a tad early by the calendar... In January the males came back. The proven females dutifully spit them off; Princess could have cared less they were here and Tabitha had another beau... We decided to try Legend and Emma again and "captured" them in a 10 x 10 pen to make things easier for him. Emma went ballistic! "You want me to let him do what?!?(&^$%($" "I so don't think so!" She was totally intent on jumping the five foot fence and when that wasn't working almost took a six foot panel with her trying to get out and away. I swear I saw Legend give Dawn a look as if to say "I thought you liked me mom, how come you want to put me with that?"... We were freezing our butts off anyway and decided it was just too cold and we'd wait until spring and she turned 2 years. Like that was some magic moment or something. Fast forward to May. (April would have been better but there just isn't enough of April to breed thanks to shows and shearing schedules...) This time we haltered both Legend and Emma. They were in a larger area but still contained. Initially she ran him around with him on her back. That got old fast for everyone and she next took the stance. Experienced breeders know this stance. Rear legs planted for the optimum leverage against the dreaded cush! There was no way she was going to go down, that's all there was to it. I was beginning to really get bummed because I really wanted her to start her breeding career and I really, really wanted her to be pregnant by Legend. All he needs fiber wise is staple length. She has that and a pairing of the two should give us a phenomenal cria. Well, I ended up asking the vet for a shot of "Torb" to relax her in the event we managed to get better signals from her the next time. Well, the next week I was out cleaning up poop. I was coming out of Tuck's paddock and she was standing at the gate. Just for giggles I held the gate ajar and asked if she wanted to go in. SHE DID! I thought this was pretty interesting. Usually I am in there with them when they breed but I know a lot of people field breed and let's face it - alpacas have been doing this for ages without help. So, she's in there, no tail wrapped, me on the other side of the gate... I watched while Tuck jumped on her and rode her around for awhile orgling. Then she took the stance - I sighed (yes, I remember sighing!) and walked into the next paddock to continue picking up poop. The next thing I saw was her relax the stance and now she was just standing there - quite relaxed but standing. He got off, walk up next to her and cushed. About thirty seconds later he got up, mounted her again and she went right down! They bred for what I think was about 20 minutes or so. I never checked the connection - I was picking up poop - didn't feel like it was a good idea! I saw them reposition about half way through too! I tried leaving them together after - briefly tried to check on the advisability of leaving her with him for a few days - quickly decided that with the pacing she was doing there was no way she'd start a pregnancy worrying the way she was. Emma will lead when haltered but it isn't her favorite thing and I figured that would be the only way I would get her back in with him... Not so. Last Sunday we did the "gate dance" again only this time I helped the decision along with herding her in using the rake. Tuck got somewhat excited but never got close enough to smell her much less mount. She is either so not at the right point in her cycle or she's pregnant. She ran, kicked and as she flew by me out the gate I distinctly smelled spit. The next day she practiced evasion when we brought him down through the girls to test Princess. I will have to see where her mood is on Thursday. Maybe I will try a different male so he doesn't get so frustrated and she won't expect anything...

Chores are calling...

May 2009

Greetings! I am totally embarrassed to be here three months after my last blog entry! That's way too long...

So, what has gone on since February? Lot's!

I attended the Carolina Alpaca Celebration in Concord NC for the first time as a spectator. I have been friends with the Barn Manager for a few years and always meant to be more supportive and go to their show as an exhibitor but I end up with having animals too young to show. After hearing about how nice their show is I decided to go this year with a friend. I got to experience it as an exhibitor and have to say that it is a show not to miss unless you really, really have to. The CABO affiliate does a wonderful job on this show from start to finish. I was so impressed with the ease in checking in I can't begin to say enough good things about it. What stuck in my head and what I took away from this weekend was that I could not remember seeing one frown on any volunteer. They set the stage for a great weekend! And it was. Since I wasn't there as an exhibitor really I had plenty of time to smooze and visit with lots of folks that I know but don't often see. Oh yeah, I even had dinner with Marty McGee Bennett - totally by accident - who knew that was the head table???? :-) I guess the very best take-a-way from the weekend was the fact that I was offered the show superintendent job for next year's show. Do I have to tell you I accepted? So, on February 12-14, 2010, come visit us in Concord, NC!

In March I attended the Virginia Classic, this time with my friend Carolyn's alpacas but without her. She needed to stay home to continue treatments on one of her males. I felt badly that she couldn't be there - going to shows together is something we both look forward to. It is sort of like a girl's weekend out. With a lot of work but ladies, you know what I am saying! Anyway, we were across from show friends the Tenney family and their daughter Danielle was kind enough to show Carolyn's boys for her. She did a very nice job. It really was a rainy, damp and dreary weekend and sometimes hard to keep spirits high. Oh - it was pretty cold too mostly due to the dampness. This years VA Classic was different. There was nothing in the show book by way of classes and that really was bothersome to many. I hope that decision is re-visited for the next show.

While all of this was going on I had registration happening for the two spring shows that I was show superintending, the Palmetto Classic and the California Classic. The PAC show was the first weekend in April and we ended up increasing attendance by around 70 alpacas over the year before. That was very encouraging to me in this questionable economy. The show still remained a Level II but makes me think that next year (2010) we will finally see it a Level III. If the farms that cut back on their shows this year had come we would have made it easily this year. Again, a great group of people. There are areas of improvement needed and some energizing of the volunteer base would be helpful. We will figure out a way to do this - just watch!

My last spring show was the California Classic held in Pleasanton, outside Oakland and across the bay from San Francisco. Okay, I have to start out with a bit of complaining... I hate flying. The flight from Richmond to NY was actually nice. There was leg room on the small jet and the seats were very comfortable. I flew into JFK and didn't have any trouble finding my gate for the next leg of the trip. JFK was clean and the only complaint there was the seating at our gate. They had these modular seats where people could lounge and sleep. Real chairs would have been more appreciated. Okay - so my complaint? If Richmond is an International airport why is it that when flying out of Richmond to another major airport one always has to go someplace else first? When flying to Nashville you have to go to Charlotte or Detroit or Philly first... Makes no sense to me. Anyway. The second leg of the trip really wasn't great. While the actual flight was only five and a half hours, the plane although larger was so uncomfortable I can't begin to complain enough! I will tone it down though and just say that there was hardly any leg room and the seats were very uncomfortable. The final complaint is that the sweater I wore leaving home at 4am was most certainly not needed upon arrival in Oakland... :-)

Flight(s) aside, the weekend went well. I had misunderstood and ended up spending an extra day there but the hotel was nice. They booked me an executive suite! La dee dah! The show went well, the weather was very cool! I wouldn't have believed that I would actually have been cold in CA in April but being that close to the ocean there were very cool breezes - the hot weather the day I arrived was the anomaly. I am looking forward to next year now and will make sure to have the right clothing!

April 29th was the day Holiday Weekend decided to have her cria. Holly is boarding here and is owned by Jim and Valarie Hartley of Flying Dragon Alpacas in Florida. She had a TB female who is just the cutest thing! Aren't they all? Well, sure but this one is special. Again, aren't they all? :-) She is Miss Independent and a little impish. I love watching her interact with the others.

We managed to get our females pregnant this year and did u/s and found that four out of five had taken. Not bad. We have since bred number five and Lady Emma and are hopefully looking at spring deliveries for those two.

Have to run - I will be back later!