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Little Blessings Alpacas and Shih-Tzus
La Veta Roberts
79809 Stewart Creek Road
Clatskanie Oregon, 97016
Call us today
503-701-1167
E-Mail
littleblessingsalpacas@gmail.com |
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Herdsire & Jr Herdsire
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Females |
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7/11/10 |
Savannah delivered a male cria on Friday. But
unfortunatly something was not right. He was unable to breath
and died right after birth. The next day Cireena delivered a
healthy baby girl. Savannah tried to steal her baby and I had
to move her to a different field. Mystic is the
next girl due to deliver.
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7/7/10 |
July 4th Cassandra delivered a baby boy. She was
at 378 day when he arrived. He weighed in at just over 13 lbs.
He is was we call dismature. He was not showing signs of being
fully cooked. His ears are floppy and his legs are not
straight at this time. As he ages and matures all of these
things will happen. He is nursing well and gaining well.
So you will most likely not know anything different about him from
the cria in a bout a week or so.
Today was such a hot day , tomorrow is going to be
hotter. The girls who are due soon were just really hot and
uncomfortable. They should be delivering any day. Maybe
the heat will help motivate them.
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6/28/10 |
Well, I am still waiting for cria to arrive.
Cassandra is still holding out. Today was 372 days for her. In
case you are wondering alpacas typically deliver between 335 - 355
days. There are exceptions but that is the average. Joy,
and Savannah are due any day now as well. Cireena and Mystic
are due around the 5th of July.
I have been having more fun watching Sequoia's and
Beauty's boys playing with the birds. I almost think that the
birds are playing with them as well. The bird in question will
land in the yard and the boys will see them and go to investigate.
The bird will fly over their head and land a little ways away and
the boys will run over to the bird and the bird fly's again and this
can go on for several minutes until either the bird or the boys get
tired of the activity. I have seen them do this on several
occasions.
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6/22/10 |
Wow, hard to believe that it has been almost a month
since my last post. A lot has happened. Angel's daughter
died for some unknown reason. Tessilya had a baby boy and
Eliana had a baby girl. Cassandra has been pregnant for 366
days today. She was acting stressed today. The vet
thinks that the baby must have been putting pressure on her
diaphragm. I gave her a little Banemine to help make her more
comfortable. Still no baby but she seemed better this evening.
Another thing that has happened this month is the
decision to lay the alpacas and the ranch at the Lords feet. I
have put the herd and the ranch up for sale. Not exactly what
I want to do but without some income coming in I am going to get to
a point where I may not be able to buy feed or pay the mortgage.
I am not at that point yet but could if things don't change. I
believe in the alpaca industry and it's future. However, with
the loss of my husband and his income I can't afford to wait for
things to turn around and I have to make some tough decisions.
If the Lord would allow me to start selling my alpacas then I would
be able to stay on the ranch. However, if that doesn't happen
then I need to liquidate most if not all of the alpacas so that I
can find a job off of the ranch. I would prefer to stay here
and raise the alpacas but my life and this business is the Lords and
I need to be willing to do and go where he leads. So only time
will tell what will happen.
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5/26/10 |
The new cria are all gaining well. The boys are
both over 21 lbs now. The girl is just about 18 lbs.
They had some sunshine today and seemed to enjoy themselves in it.
So fun to watch them running around. The boys have been
jumping on each other. The little girl she is more petite and
feminine.
Today, I met with a realtor to list the ranch.
This is not something that I want to do but I am open to what the
Lord has planned. If I could find a couple who wanted to buy
the property and hopefully the animals or at least some of the
animals that would be ideal. I would work a great deal for
someone who wanted to buy the property and animals as a turn key
operation. This would be a great way for someone to walk in
and have everything set up and cut a lot of the learning curve out.
I would even be willing to stay on for a while to teach the new
owners about the animals and the property. I will be leaving
everything that I use to operate the business, that way there won't
be anything to buy. Well, maybe hay but other than that
everything else is already here.
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5/23/10 |
Today we had our 3rd baby of the year, another boy.
He is the first cria out of our boy Jeremiah. He weighed 18.9
lbs and is a pinto.
I have been loading all of my animals online.
I am preparing for a herd reduction / liquidation sale. I am
not sure what God's plan is. I just know that the dream for
the ranch was to build the business and herd for the day Kurt would
retire and we would work the ranch together. It has been
nearly 2 years since his death and I just am not feeling it. I
am laying the business and ranch at the alter and putting everything
up for sale. If it is his will the animals and the ranch will
sell, if not then he will open up my eyes to how he wants me to
proceed. Even if I sell all of my animals I will be available
to give advice and help to people who buy from me. I still
love the animals and the industry I just don't want to continue
doing this on my own. I have been asked what I will do if I am
not doing this. To be honest, I have no idea but have put it
to prayer and I am sure that God will open the doors that will show
me the way. I think that it would be fun to be a consultant or
maybe help others in developing their programs. I am just
keeping my options open and waiting on the Lord.
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5/10/10 |
Well so much for being nice. I woke up to a long
and deep trench dug by the Great Pyr. She is still in the yard
thanks to one of those anchor kind of things you screw
into the ground. Although she even had that almost out of the
ground. Hopefully her owner calls today. I called a
Great Pyr rescue and if that doesn't work then off to the pound for
her before she does anymore damage.
The new baby did not loose anymore weight after I
started supplementing. She has stayed so hopefully with the
addition of the goats milk she will start to gain. Mom is
doing well but the baby just hasn't figured out to be more assertive
in her suckling.
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5/09/10 |
Today was Mothers Day. I was blessed with phone
calls from my 3 children. On my way in to town today I found a
Great Pry who had a long chain with a tire on the end of it attached
to her collar. Didn't seem right to just leaver her. So
I put her in the back of my truck. Hoping to find her
owner before I end up sending her to the pound.
The new baby has lost some weight. These early
ones sometimes are a little slow in getting everything figured out.
I waited until late after noon before intervening. By late
after noon she has gone from 22.6 down to 21.9 so I had no choice.
I am now supplementing her with goats milk. It should only
take a couple of days for everything to kick in.
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5/8/10 |
Today we had our first cria of the year. As is
true so often not the one I expected. Angel delivered a very
healthy female sired by Rico Suave. She appears to be light
fawn like her mother. She was born at a gestation of just 224
days. She was an impressive 23.6 lbs. Perhaps with the
mild winter and good feed is the reason for such a large cria.
It will be interesting to see if the other cria follow suit.
We have 4 more due this month. Sequoia was due yesterday.
The other girls are due around the 22nd. What a beautiful day
it was for a birth. Got a bunch of mowing done. However
not as much as I had wanted. One of the belts on my mower
broke so it slowed me down. Perhaps tomorrow I will get caught
up on the mowing.
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4/24/10 |
Today I learned how to use the roto tiller on my
tractor. It was very frustrating but now I have it figured
out. I am preparing a small field to plant pumpkins for fall
field trips. I thought that it would be fun for the kids to
see the alpacas and pick out their own pumpkins.
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4/20/10 |
Today I was able to move 2 groups of girls to the back
of the property on the brand new fields we prepared last fall.
At first the girls thought it was great. But then they
wondered why the gates were closed. They can not figure out
why they can't go home. I used this opportunity to wean 3 of
the crias. The first cria of the year is due May 7th. I
have 5 due in May up to 22 total for the year.
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4/13/10 |
This last weekend I went to the Alpaca Western
Extravaganza show and participated in the Hidden Treasures Pen Sale.
I think that it went well. I was able to sell 2 of the girls
that I took. I met some really great people who had great
questions about alpacas. Hopefully, they found the information
they were looking for. One of my clients who have had there
animals here for nearly 2 years have almost removed all of them.
3 more left yesterday. Down to the last 2 and then there will
only be my animals on the farm. My goal for this year is to
get down to 20 breeding females and 15 males. I have 15
females and 10 males to go. Lord willing I will be successful.
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3/30/09 |
Well, another years harvest has been collected.
We sheared 54 animals on Saturday. Friday I received an email
from my shearer saying that he was not available for Saturday.
My sorter had just arrived from Idaho for the shearing. To say
the least I was a little concerned. But after several phone
calls the Lord provided an even better shearer than I originally
had. Eddie Dunham was a God send and he was able to shear all
of the animals in about 7 hours and we had a lunch break in there as
well. I so appreciated Eddie answering the call for help at
such short notice. I also was so blessed by many volunteers
helping to get the job done. A successful shearing is not able
to be accomplished by only a couple of people. Over the course
of the day we had 13 people not counting the shearer or sorter.
I am so thankful to everyone who came to help, I couldn't have done
it without them.
I am now looking forward to the Hidden Treasures Pen
Sale at the Alpaca Western Extravaganza, April 10 - 11. I will
have 6 females available for sale. I will be having my own
silent auction on 5 of the females. I will also be selling
raffle tickets on one of the females. The proceeds will be
split with 50% going to the Quechua Benefit and 50% to myself.
I am offering Athena for this raffle. She is a beautiful girl.
Talk about the cute factor, she catches everyone's eye. Maybe
she will catch yours.
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3/5/10 |
The weather is so great. I did some more fencing
off of the new roads. I am able to let all of the girls in hay
barn out on their own section of road. The studs are happy
guys, the grass is looking really good in one of the fields outside
of their stud barn. So I let all of the boys out together
yesterday. There was some fighting but not as much as I was
concerned about. By today I hardly heard anything.
They are just so glad to be out grazing.
I am putting together information for the girls who
are going to be in the Hidden Treasures Pen Sale being held in April
at the Alpaca Western Extravaganza Show. I have about 20 crias
due this year. I am willing to make some deals on some of the
girls to make room for the new cria. They should start coming
in May and be done by October.
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2/25/10 |
Well, I'm nearly done with all of my fecals things are
looking good around here. The rains are trying to come back.
Makes the ground slippery when I am cleaning the alpaca areas.
I am now doing everything here by myself. It's a lot of work
but doable. I had 86 animals to care for. I needed to
lower my numbers to reduce my work load and feed bill. This
new development has caused me to look at some alternatives which
will help me to lower my numbers some. I have been able to get
down to 78 so far.
We will be shearing in a month hopefully the weather
will hold and not throw too many surprises at us.
I found that I am not an online kind of student.
The Dream Weaver class left me with too many questions and no way to
get real time answers. I think that I am going to table that
idea for a while. I also, decided not to be a vendor this
season either. I think that perhaps I need to wait on the Lord
to some degree and stop trying to do everything in my own power.
Since making this decision the Lord has opened some doors for me.
I found a yarn store in Astoria who is now carrying some of my yard.
I have developed a new product which I found some buyers for
instantly. I have a number of animals who I have reduced their
prices to make it easier for people to get started and to help
reduce my numbers some more.
Well the sun is out so it is time for me to go scoop
some poop. Speaking of poop, if you are reading this and have
a garden, did you know alpaca poop is some of the best fertilizer
you can get? Did you know you can put it directly into your
garden? I am selling my alpaca poop for $20 a truck load or
$10 a scoop is I use my tractor. It is time to start thinking
about your gardens and flower beds. Alpaca poop is you answer
of bigger and better produce and flowers. Call me if you want
more information.
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2/3/10 |
Well, I know that the calendar still says it is winter
but the weather is saying it is almost spring. Really nice on
one hand but a pain on another front. Spring is a time for
cleaning. On a ranch such as mine one of the things that need
to be cleaned up are the parasites. Parasites like the wet
yucky conditions that are had in the great northwest. I have
been working diligently over the last couple of weeks doing between
4-6 fecals a day. This has been a good opportunity to get my
hands on the individual animals, take weights and trim toenails.
Needed to be done. I have seen more parasites than usual.
I have had many conversations with my vet about what I have been
finding. One of the parasites is called Trichuris. It is
a whip worm and I have not seen that before. I asked the vet
where that one came from. He said small animals like dogs and
cats. I knew there was a reason to discourage the neighbors
cats from coming over. As I have mentioned before doing fecals
is a new skill that I have been learning. I purchased all of
the equipment. As my herd has grown the cost of having the vet
do my fecals had become prohibitive. Doing them myself keeps
the costs down and I like the idea that I have the ability to
monitor the various animals this closely. Doing regular fecals
is a necessary part of keeping a healthy herd. There is
no way to totally eradicate parasites but keeping them down to
manageable numbers is the key. The topic of parasites is
always interesting. For me it is something that I am
transparent about. We all have them we might as well talk
about it and help each other out. For some it is a secret that
having them may somehow say something bad about their farm.
Kind of like when the kids came home from school because they picked
up some lice. Not fun but it happens. By doing my own
fecals I am having a much greater understanding of what is going on
and able to work out better protocols for the treatment and clean
up. Over stocking your animals is certainly an issue and
during the winter months I do exactly that. By putting them in
dry lot conditions ( I actually call it mud lot conditions) it
allows the majority of the fields to stay nice and grow wonderful
grass for the animals after the weather starts to get nice and the
ground dries up a bit. These are all things that I teach to my
clients.
I am starting week 3 of my web design course that I
am taking through the Lower Columbia Community College. I am
learning how to use Dream Weaver. Once I get a handle of this
I will be able to help my clients design there own web sites as well
as to update my own. Marketing is another piece that people
don't always think about when going into the alpaca business.
This is one more tool that I will have to offer my clients to make
sure that they have the tools to succeed in the industry.
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1/24/10 |
This has been an interesting week. The weather
was unusually warm considering the time of year it is. I got
up on the roof to clean off the moss and debris that has collected
up there. That was a first for me. My husband always did
that.
One of the problems that you can run into when the
weather gets warm early is the parasites wake up before they get a
chance to be killed off. We are seeing some of the young ones
not thriving as well as they should. So I have started doing
fecals on all of the animals. I plan to do 4 per day and I
should have all of them done in just under a month. Doing
fecals is a new skill that I have learned. I am getting better
at doing them. This is a skill I will pass on to my clients as
an added value benefit to them. I think that the more we can
do the more profit we can keep in our pockets.
While I was gone I had a chance to take a fresh look
at our ranch and the direction to take it this year. Even
though I love taking my animals to shows it just isn't going to be
in the budget this year. So I plan to go to various shows as a
Vendor and sell my end products. When I returned from my
vacation I was greeted by just over 33 yards of alpaca fabric.
This was supposed to be upholstery fabric but it seems to nice for
that. I am thinking that it would be nice for jackets or
capes. I was originally going to use it for making foot
stools. I am always looking for ways to bring money in the
door. There has been so much growth in the American Fiber
industry. It is exciting to be apart of it.
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1/14/10 |
Happy New Year, I'm home! I actually arrived
home on Saturday evening. But when you have been gone for 3+
weeks there is bound to be some catch up. I took my children
on a cruise of a life time. We went to New Zealand and
Australia. Kurt and I were going to go there someday. So
I decided that someday was still going to happen. We took him
with us and left a little of him along the way.
I sure missed being home. But it was good to
go away to really appreciate what the Lord has provided. The
ranch did well. The weather for the most part was mild.
Neil Town did a great job managing the ranch in my absence. We
did lose one animal but I suspected that would happen. For
some reason she never has done well since having her cria 5 months
ago. For some unknown reason she kept losing weight. The
vets and I tried to figure out what was going on with no success.
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12/9/09 |
Did someone say cold snap? Wow, I don't remember
it being this cold. It was 15 degrees at 1 am when I went out
to do my final check. I heard that it was 6 degrees this
morning when my pastor went for his run. Talk about
dedication. It is now up to a balmy 20 degrees. Things
are warming up. The sunshine is a blessing, Praise the Lord
for that. The animals seem unaffected by all of this. I
have all 3 of the creep doors open and the cria seem to be enjoying
the exploration of each others areas. I am going to wean
several of the cria this weekend. Arrow being one of them.
I don't think that it will be that difficult for him as he was
sleeping in a different field last night with his new found friends.
He was back with mom this morning when I went outside. For the
most part the farm is holding up well to the cold temperatures.
There is some tweaking having to be done with the new floors that we
have been putting into the temporary shelters. By raising up
the floors we left too much space underneath the waterers and a
couple of the waterers started to freeze. Looks like that
won't be a problem to fix. The trailer that is more for
storage and the restroom facilities.... well I didn't think about
that building and now the water is frozen. I have been running
heat lamps and a heater since yesterday to no avail. My
helpers will have to come into the house to use the facilities until
things thaw out.
Nine more days until I leave on a once in a lifetime
vacation. Kurt and I where always going to go to Australia
"someday", we waited too long. But who knew? So I am
taking our children on a cruise to New Zealand and Australia for 3
weeks. We will be back January 9th. While I am gone Neil
Towne will be staying here and caring for everything. Lord
willing all will run smoothly for him while we are gone.
Currently, I am having an end of the year sale. For the next
10 animals sold before the end of the year I am giving a 50%
discount. This could be a great opportunity for someone.
I have 30+ cria due next year, so I would like to lower my numbers
some and give someone else a great deal at the same time. When
we purchased our first alpacas it was deals like this that allowed
us to get started. With all of the changes over the last year
or so the alpacas have been a constant source of joy.
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12/5/09 |
We had our first snow of the season. I would say
there was 1 - 2 inches. I love the snow as long as I have no
where to go. Just so happens that I didn't have anywhere I had
to go. Church would have been nice but the Lord meets me where
I am.
This last week I hired some men to come and put wood
floors into the temporary animal shelter. Most of them are on
a down hill slope and when the rains come they get turn muddy and
make it unhealthy for the animals. The rains were already
making such a mess that I didn't want to go through another winter
like last year. We put straw in to try and keep things clean
and dry but the straw was hard to keep up with and the shelters
where already getting bad and the winter hasn't hardly started.
This project has taken longer than I thought that it would. I
am hoping it will be done by Monday. Friday we lost one of the
boys. The gal that does the feeding didn't realize the safety
hazards of leaving the feeder unsecured. One of the boys got
his head stuck in the feeder and died. This will not be a
mistake made again.
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11/28/09 |
We are getting a break from the rain. It is cold
but nice at the same time. I am finishing up on our breedings.
I bred Streaker and Kyra today. I did ultrasounds last week
and everyone was pregnant. I had two girls who were a little
too early to know for sure so I will recheck with the next group of
girls.
It has been so fun watching the last 8 babies play
in their playground. I set up a yard where only the cria can
get to. Know sense having the moms out there. There is
no grazing to speak of and they will just turn it into a big muddy
mess. But the babies run and pronk for much of the day.
I enjoy watching the different personalities emerge. I still
have to come up with a name for Streakers boy.
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11/23/09 |
This wind storm was even worse than the last. I
lost a lot of trees and fencing in this storm. I was surprised
to find my pussy willow tree blown over. I was able to repair
the fence along the road. I was really happy with that.
I still have around 200 feet of fencing that needs to be repaired.
I decided to do a un-cut firewood sales. I don't burn wood for
heat and will need money to repair the fencing so this seems like a
way to help myself and others.
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11/18/09 |
Yesterday's storm blew over 2 more trees. As God
would have it they blew away from the fencing. Today, the
gutters where put on the new buildings. My pastor and I dug a
drainage ditch from one of the gutter down spouts. The
down spout was in the yard with the alpacas and I was concerned that
they could get cut on the bottom of the aluminum spout. We put
the drainage pipe at the bottom of the down spout and ran it away
and out of the yard where they are. We filled in the end with
pea gravel to help direct the water flow. We also had to work
around the base of the manure pile. With all of the rock work
around here the pile had a pool of water all the way around it.
We dug trenches to direct the water away from the pile and down the
road. It is not perfect but definitely better.
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11/15/09 |
We had our last cria of the year today. It was a
15 lb baby boy. He is medium fawn and doing very well.
He is out of Streaker our 19 year old and Argonaut. So the
cria count ended up with 10 males and 5 females. I named the
girl we had yesterday. Her name is Seraphina, which means
fiery winged. It comes from Seraphim which were the most
powerful angels. She is a beautiful angel. She is
already showing very nice density and crimp style.
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11/14/09 |
Found a baby girl this morning when I went out to
clean the pens. She was so dirty. Kyra had her outside
in the area where they roll. The dirt is fine and dry.
This little girls was just caked with it. So I took her into
the vet room and hosed her off. I love having hot water in the
vet room. Makes jobs like this much easier. She is not
completely clean but much better. Mom supervised the whole
process. She is an Argonaut daughter and so far looks very
nice. She weighed in at 20.1 lbs. She is a good size
girl. According to the calendar it is time to start breeding
Gabriella. Unfortunately she didn't look at the calendar,
maybe tomorrow. Sameer and Benji went to their new homes
yesterday. I think they will have a good life. Now I am
just waiting for one more baby for the year. So far the score
is 9 males and 5 females. Maybe we can end with 9/6, Lord only
knows.
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11/7/09 |
Today the rain was coming down so hard that we had to
put off the tree cleanup.
This evening was fun. I opened up the creep
doors to 2 of the stalls. Several of the babies from both
stalls explored the new area. Shakespeare was quit humorous.
He found great enjoyment in running to the end of the yard of the
other group. He would then come running into the creep room
kicking up his heels. Arrow started getting into the act.
They kept coming over to check in with me. Ichabod also
started coming into the creep room but drew the line when it came to
going into the neighboring stall.
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11/6/09 |
We had a storm last night. So when I did my walk
about this morning I discovered 3 trees had fallen. 2 fell
across and on my new chain link fencing. My best guess is that
about 80' will have to be replaced. I found someone in my
church who needs firewood. They and another couple will come
tomorrow to help cut the wood and get it off of my fences. The
alpacas will enjoy the branches and the family will enjoy the heat.
Not exactly what I wanted but good can come from the situation.
Fortunately, I have some extra fencing. Lord willing there
will be enough to repair the fence. I am going to wait until
after the winter and just fix everything at once.
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11/4/09 |
Some days you wake up with an idea of what awaits and
then.... Today was one of those days. The sun was up and
it was beautiful. I am feeling better so I had several things
planned. Need to catch up and get ready for the upcoming rain.
So I weighed the babies. Everyone has gained. I bred
Tara, Juliet's mom, to Rascal. I started the last burn pile of
the season. It was lunch time and my helper told me some
disturbing news. I got my winter supply of grain delivered
yesterday. The shed was built for me in the spring. The
original shed was made of metal and collapsed last winter under the
weight of the snow. Well, unfortunately the shed was not
supported properly and when I had 5 tons of pellets delivered the
bottom started to drop out. After several call some men from
my church came over and unloaded the shed and jacked it up, put
supports underneath and leveled it. Then they put all 5 tons
of pellets back into the shed. The reason for the concern was
that they are expecting heavy rains starting early in the morning.
I can't afford to replace the pellets if they had gotten wet.
So many things went undone but I just thank the Lord for the people
he has put in my life to help me out during these unpredictable kind
of days. After everyone left I went in to get a bite to eat
and went back to my burn pile and with a flash light taped to my
pitch fork I was condensing the pile and trying to make sure not to
waist a good bed a coals. While I was working on this a
neighbor showed up and helped me get the big stuff into the center.
Again, the Lord is so gracious to provide. So as I thought
about this day I was just so struck by Gods promise to always be
there for us. I am blessed and am very thankful to my
community for being His hands and feet.
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11/3/09 |
Today is the first day I was able to work with the
alpacas since Saturday. I was flat on my back from Saturday
night till Monday afternoon. We had a new cria on Saturday.
Gabriella delivered a nice boy out of Sting. A friend came out
on Saturday to get a load of alpaca poop. One good thing about
being flat on your back sick. I had time to think up names.
Glory's daughter is now named Athena, Tara's daughter is now named
Juliet, Bliss's son is named Romeo, and Sue Nami's son is named
Chochmo. His name means mud mound. He is the one I found
at 12:30 am hypothermic in the mud. He is doing really well
and I am pleased with his progress. I still need to come up
with a name for the little boy born on Saturday. I need to get
to know him more first.
Today I was able to get another group weighed and
trimmed their toe nails and moved them to their new field where they
will spend the winter. I am nearing the end of breeding
season. I had 4 girls to test today, they bred last Thursday.
2 bred and 2 did not. I also treated another group for
coccidia. One of the girls tested positive in that group.
Well, for my first day back to work I would say I put in a full day.
I should sleep well tonight.
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|
10/24/09 |
Last night around midnight I did my final check on the
animals before I went to bed. What I found was a wet muddy and
hypothermic cria in a mud puddle. I had last checked on the
animals about 7 pm and saw nothing. So the cria was born
sometime after that. He was so cold his temp didn't even
register on the thermometer. I brought him into the house and
washed him in the tub. I washed out his mouth and nose as
there was mud in them from being in the mud puddle. It took
about 2.5 hours to get him warmed up (100.7) and then I milked his
mom to get some colostrum into him. It was about 3 am when I
was able to take him back outside to be with his mom. She is a
really good mom and welcomed him with out hesitation. Today,
he is down on his pasterns and not quit sure how to get the nursing
down. He is interested and I suspect that over the next couple
of days he should get it all figured out. I supplemented him
by milking his mom and adding a little goats milk. He lost .5
lbs today, he started out at 14.2 lbs. I gave him some
antibiotic since he had such a hard start. He was cold tonight
so I moved him back into the vet room where it is insulated and will
help him stay warm.
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|
10/21/09 |
This morning when I woke up I looked out my bedroom
window like I do most mornings to check on a pregnant girl who is in
the green house yard. I observed her getting up and down
multiple times. I assumed that she was uncomfortable because
she was in labor. I had to call a friend to come over to sit
with my sick grandchildren so I could go out and check on this girl.
When I went out there I checked her and she was not dilated so I
check to see if she was perhaps torsed. I was unable to figure
it out so I called the vet and asked him to come and check her.
He said that he would get back to me in the afternoon if he was able
to come. After I checked on her I went to check the other
girls who were due. I noticed that Tara was straining a lot at
the dung pile. She didn't seem distressed but she was a first
time mom. I waited to see if she was in labor or just
uncomfortable. I called the person I got her from to see when
her mom delivered. She said that she usually delivered about
340 days. Tara was at 347 and while we were talking I noticed
that there was leaking going on. At that point I decided it
was time to go in and see what was happening. Turns out her
baby was one of the most difficult dystocia I have ever seen.
The head was tucked in under her as well as the front legs. I
knew that this was not something that I wanted to tackle on my own.
So I took Tara and the other female in my bus to Woodburn.
After a 2 hour drive we arrived. All the way I kept thinking
that I should do the delivery at the clinic so that I would know how
to do it the next time. Dr. Wilie went in and said I was
correct about the position but suggested that unless I had a few
extra initials at the end of my name this was not a delivery that I
should attempt. It took her about 20 minutes to get her out.
It was the first time that I had seen any one use a snare to get the
head out. I was so appreciate the help I get at the Woodburn
clinic. The cria was a black female who weighted 13 lbs.
Oh and the other girl that I took with me to check to see if she was
torsed.... she wasn't even pregnant. She must have had some
colic.
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|
10/20/09 |
Today Dr. Jones came for a visit to help me to learn
how to use my ultrasound. While he was here I had him check
Olive's ear. I just doesn't seem to be clearing up properly.
He told me to continue with weekly doses of antibiotic for another 2
weeks. He also gave me some antibiotic drops for her ear.
I also had him take a look at Shakespeare he is not gaining as he
should. He took a fecal and drew some blood. We
went on to do 24 ultrasounds. All of them where positive for
pregnancy. I had a pretty good idea about what I was seeing on
the monitor but did need the clarification on a few points. It
was so great one of the ultrasounds I saw a side view of the head.
I could see the eye orbs the shape of the muzzle and the ear.
It was wonderful. That was the first ultrasound that I had
seen such detail on.
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|
10/19/09 |
The seminar this weekend was great. We had a
good group attend. I was so pleased with the information.
I was only disappointed that more people didn't come to hear and
learn about how to assess their herds and about the importance of
getting on board with the EPD program. I plan to tell everyone
what I learned and will certainly be incorporating it into my
mentorship program. Sad news of the day. Sunday had a
still born cria. There must have been a problem with the
presentation which delayed delivery until the middle of the night.
The cria was already cold by morning.
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|
10/16/09 |
I have been working hard this week to get ready for my
last seminar of the year. It is the "Developing Breeding
strategies through herd evaluations and records keeping." Of
course they say if anything can go wrong it will. Glory went
into labor later in the afternoon. The baby was big and I had
to help. When I saw the size of the head I knew it would be
challenging. I love my blue tooth. I can be pulling a
baby and call the vet all at the same time. Once I got her
past her chest everything went quickly. Her wet weight was 24
lbs. That is a record on my farm. As soon as I finished
I went in and cleaned up so that I could leave for the airport to
pick up my guest speakers.
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|
10/14/09 |
Bliss had her baby today. He was born at 1 pm
and weighed 17.9 lbs. Mom was a little confused since
this was her first baby. She didn't understand what the baby
was doing and kept walking away when he tried to nurse.
I gave her some medication to help her relax and once he started
nursing everything made sense to her. I went out to check in
on them later in the evening. When I went to weigh him I could
see that his umbilical cord was bleeding so I clamped it.
I also gave Olive a second dose of antibiotic.
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|
10/10/09 |
Richard Cruanas called me today and let me know that
El Mojito, one of my new males, took 1st place at the Alpacamania
show. I had too many girls due and couldn't go to the show.
Richard was kind enough to take Mojito and Limoncello for me.
Limoncello shows tomorrow.
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|
10/8/09 |
Olive was shaking her head today. I checked her
temp and she was running a fever of 102.2. This is the second
ear infection that she has had since April. I am getting her
started on Nuflur and will clean her left ear out to help it heal.
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|
10/6/09 |
I have a new ultrasound that I bought a couple of
months ago. I am trying to learn how to use it. I
ultrasounded several of my girls. I thought that they were
pregnant but was not sure. I decided to call Dr. Jones and
made an appointment for him to come to my farm and watch me do my
ultrasounds and make sure that I am doing it right.
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|
9/30/09 |
The vet came yesterday. He did health checks for
two of the boys who are going to Alpaca Mania show in a couple of
weeks. I also had him draw blood from the new cria, I named
him Shakespeare. I wanted to check his IGG. The IGG is a
measure of how much immunity that the cria got from the colostrum he
took in from his mothers milk right after birth. His IGG was
only 400, which means he did not take in enough to give him a good
strong immunity. So today I decided that he needed a
plasma transfusion. This will boost him immunity and help him
do better this winter. 400 was not as bad as it could be but
we would like to see a minimum of 800. I also did herd health
checks today. I checked 2 of the groups of girls today.
The health check included weights, toe nail trimming, ultrasounds on
those who needed and pre-breeding checks. Tomorrow I will see
how many more I can get through. I am so enjoying the new
barn. It has the vet room right there and I have easy access
to the animals housed in that barn.
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|
9/27/09 |
This weekend has been very busy but also wonderful.
Friday had a little drama. Grace had her baby so early that
her body held onto the placenta. She had a fever, 103.5 and
was starting to drool and was trembling. I was worried that
she would get worse and I knew that with the National Alpaca Farm
Day on Saturday, I needed to take care of things now. So I
went to the Woodburn vet at 7:30 pm and didn't return home until
midnight. Dr. Jones is so great. He flushed her uterus
and cleaned out the placenta. She is on 7 days of antibiotics.
Her cria has not quite figured out the whole nursing thing. I
am bottle feeding until he figures it out. He weighed 10.9 lb.
and is up to 11.2 lbs. He is not gaining as fast as most cria
but as long as he is gaining that is all that matters at the moment.
Saturday was the National Alpaca Farm Days event and it was
wonderful. The weather was great, my girls and friends all
worked hard to help me host the event. I still haven't quite
figured out how to do everything. I want to be able to greet
and talk with everyone who comes. However, I never feel like I
am able to do enough. Matt Bannon did a great job talking
about the tax benefits of owning alpacas. I really appreciated
his willingness to come. Sunday, I ran away and went to the
Oregon Flock and Fiber in Canby with some alpaca friends. I
had never been there before. It was a really nice event.
I saw a bunch of people I knew. It was great to get away and
do something fun. This weekend is the one year mark of when my
husband Kurt died. I miss him but accept that God has a plan
for all of us. I am thankful for all of the people he has
brought into my life over this past year. The bible says that
God cares for the widows and orphans. I never really thought
about that before. It has been very true in my life. I
feel very cared for and loved.
I went out before bed to feed a bottle to the baby.
He was resistant when I tried to feed him earlier so I wanted to try
again. Again he was not interested, so I locked he and his mom
in the stall so I could see if he was nursing. And praise the
Lord he was. What a relief. I always like it when the
babies (cria) get their nutrition from their moms. While I was
out there Arrow was coughing more than he has in recent days.
I thought or at least was hoping that he has allergies. He has
had several periods of respiratory issues. Earlier in the week
he was coughing a little, nothing of huge concern. This time
though his eyes were tearing. I have treated with antibiotics
the other times and this time I just wanted to observe and see what
happened. Well he has a slightly elevated temp (102.2) and the
cough is more persistent. So I have gone a head and treated
him with antibiotics to keep this from progressing. I am not
sure why he seems to have so many issues. He is growing well
and seems fine in every other respect.
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|
9/24/09 |
Today was another first. Grace, who was due
10/20, who was looking uncomfortable yesterday, delivered a cria
today. She was 309 pregnant. The average gestation for
an alpaca is between 335 - 355 days. He weighs just 10.9
pounds. He looks surprisingly good for being so early.
He is medically fragile due to his age. He is able to get up
and stand but so far has not been able to nurse. I am milking
mom and bottle feeding him until he is able to fend for himself.
The barns were oiled today and the front yard has
been cleared. Saturday is nearly here and there is still
so much to do. Lord willing there will be a good attendance and
everyone will have fun.
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|
9/23/09 |
Tonight was one of those nights that reminds me of why
I do all of this. It is dusk and the cria start their evening
run. First the youngest and field by field they all start to
run. The dust bowl was so thick you would have thought there
was a fire. Watching them pronk and run back and forth.
It just brings me so much joy watching them. The sunset was so
beautiful. The sky was red and glowing. What a blessing
at the end of a long day getting things ready for the BBQ. God
is so great and his creation is such a testament to that.
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|
9/16/09 |
This week has gone pretty routine. I am doing a
few breedings, checking the bred girls to see if they took. I
have about 7 ultrasounds to do. Maybe that will get done this
week. More likely it will be done next week.
I sent out a mass mailing, inviting people to the
BBQ on the 26th. I have been posting posters all over town to
let everyone know about the BBQ. The hay/animal barn now has
animals in 2 of the 3 stalls. We start with the hydro seeding
tomorrow and that should be done by Saturday. The guys are
just about done with the last of the fencing. The electrician
has completed the work in the hay/animal barn and is getting the
last of the shelters wired. I am done with babies for a couple
more weeks. We have 8 more cria (baby alpacas) due between the
1st week of October and the 1st week of November.
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|
9/8/09 |
Naomi delivered her baby yesterday. He was 18.8
lbs. His mom was having a little trouble delivering.
Turned out that his legs were stuck just a little. My friend
Nancy came over and monitored the front end while I repositioned the
legs so that he could get out. This was fairly easy once we
locked the young boys in. They kept trying to mount poor
Naomi. Hormones you know. Boys will be boys.
Had a wonderful farm tour today. It is always
fun to show people around and share these wonderful animals.
Several of the girls were only too happy to come and say hi.
The hay/animal barn and the associated fields are nearing completion.
Lord willing we will be done by the end of the week. Then we
can get the hydro seeding complete. So close yet so much still to do.
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|
9/6/09 |
Made the decision to join a different alpaca group.
Instead of CABA I now belong to ARROW. Turns out that ARROW
meets in Kelso. That is much closer to me than CABA.
With Kurt being gone I find that time is in short supply. It
made sense to join a group that is closer.
Naomi is at 362 days gestation. No signs of giving it up.
The rains have started and the grass seed is not planted yet.
Hopefully the fencing gets done this week so we can get the animals
moved so the seeding can get done.
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|
9/4/09 |
Things are just rolling along. The new hay barn
is nearly complete. I received 18 tons of hay today.
Very exciting to see it in the barn. It is beautiful.
Heaven finally had her baby 21 days ago. She delivered at 382
days. That is a record for me. The Neo-natal class went
well. There were 8 of us, which made it an intimate group.
We were able to cover a wider range of topics with the smaller
group. We even did an ultrasound on a girl that belonged to
one of the attendees. She was not pregnant. So sad.
Today, I checked my next group of girls who are due
and found one girl open. I have one girl who is 360 pregnant.
I am hoping that she delivers soon. I had heard that other
breeders are seeing the same thing. I suspect it was our hard
winter that is causing the late deliveries. I could be wrong.
I think that I am nearly finished with the building
projects until spring. We are fencing in the fields around the
barn and once that is done we will hydro seed all of the new
pastures and roads. Once that is done it will be time to rest.
I am in the process of planning and promoting the
National Alpaca Farm Days. That is September 26th. This
will be a community BBQ. I have invited the assisted living
center in Clatskanie to this event. My church is prepared to
adopt any seniors who do not have family to bring them to this
event. It is open to the public. The purpose of this
event is to educate the public about the beauty and wonder of
alpacas. I will have an accountant available to answer
questions on the tax benefits of owning alpacas. I will be
giving tours and will be doing Q&A's for those with questions.
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8/11/09 |
Well, it is hard to believe that it has been so
long since I blogged. The BBQ went really well. The
weather could not have been better. I bought a new Kawasaki
Mule the day before. It made the tours go much better as well.
The premie named Octavio turned 3 weeks old on Sunday. He is
now just over 13 lbs. His eye which was injured at birth is
nearly healed. The pond unfortunately has a leak somewhere.
The investigation is under way. We demolished the old ugly
barn and are currently putting up a new 40 x 40 barn to store hay.
The barn will hold 20 ton of hay. It will have a vet room as
well as 3 animal stalls. The four 20 x 12 loafing sheds were
completed today and tomorrow the detailing will get started. I
had a farm visit today. I hosted 5 in that group. It is
always great fun to share these wonderful animals with others.
Heaven is STILL pregnant. She is 378 days pregnant. Took
her to visit Dr. Jones yesterday just to make sure that things were
going well. He said she is fine and the baby is getting into
position. Naomi and Binky are now due so her baby will have
company when ever she is born.
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7/22/09 |
Things are really picking up speed. Getting
ready for the Thank You BBQ on Saturday. The pond should be
done tomorrow. We are filling it tonight and will check
everything tomorrow. Bruce Van Winkle came over today and
brought two tents and a BBQ for me to use. The pond guys
helped to set them up. The fencing project is nearing
completion and the premie continues to make huge steps forward.
He is up to 8.3 lbs today. He is now able to get up all by
himself. Mom has no interest in letting him nurse but he seems
to be doing well on goats milk. I have a neighbor who is
giving me some of her goat milk.
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7/20/09 |
Today the little premie baby took a lot of my time.
It turns out it's a boy not a girl. He is still unable to
stand on his own but is able to stay up for more and more time as
the day wore on. I was able to get 18.4 oz of milk into him.
Ideally for growth he should have gotten 19.2 oz but I was close.
He has an eye infection or injury not sure yet. Putting
antibiotic ointment in to help heal what ever it is. The vet
will come and see him tomorrow.
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7/19/09 |
Today was a busy day. Had a family event that
took me away from the farm. Of course while I was gone Cireena
had her baby. As the Lord would have it SHE is doing well.
I received a call from a client who had a premature cria this
evening as well. They are bringing her over for me to care
for. Cria is about 8 lbs. Too weak to nurse or to stand.
They arrived with mom and her daughter just after midnight.
Milked mom and fed baby 55 cc of colostrum. Updated records
and went back out to milk mom one more time before I turn in for the
evening.
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7/18/09 |
Spent time today cleaning up debris that surfaced when the fields were
cleared. Note: if you purchase property that needs
clearing, make sure to check out the garbage piles. It is
taking an extreme amount of time cleaning up the glass, metal and
plastic that was left here. It is my goal to get it cleaned up
before the grass seed gets planted.
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7/15/09 |
This past week or two has been all about getting
things finished and ready for the BBQ. The Koi pond had to be
redone as the other set up didn't work. The pond builder
thinks it should be done by Wednesday. The new well has been
dug and the bladder was put into place today. They will finish
hooking it up tomorrow. The men working on the last of the
fencing will have the rest of the posts put in tomorrow. They
are putting in 4,000' of chain link. Once this project is
completed all of the property will be fenced.
Cireena is becoming increasingly uncomfortable.
I suspect that she will be delivering her baby soon. She is as
347 days gestation. Heaven is at 353 days gestation and she
doesn't even seem to be worried yet. I have given up
on keeping Faith down. She is running and jumping up and down
off of the furniture. I figure if it hurts she won't do it.
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|
7/1/09 |
Savannah had her baby today. I had to go in to
figure out if she had a torsion. Everything was fine and
within an hour she delivered a boy, he was 18.4 lbs. He
is grey and white. Faith is doing great.
She is making me nuts. She is not supposed to be jumping or
running but she doesn't get that. It is all I can do to keep
her down off of the furniture.
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|
6/23/09 |
This is the first day of my new blog. I have
thought about doing this for sometime now. Since Kurt's death
so much has changed. The Lord has blessed in so many ways.
I also see this blog as a way to document a little about the alpaca
lifestyle. For those researching alpacas reading about the day
to day life of a breeder could help give a more realistic view of
what it takes.
I am not sure how consistent I will be but here
goes.
Last week:
It was difficult but good. My dog Faith was
hit by a car. God was so gracious and allowed her to live.
Her hip and pelvis was broken. She had surgery and now must be
crated for the next 6 - 8 weeks to heal properly.
We had our 2nd annual Gelding clinic. Gelded
16 alpacas. Had 6 different farms participate in the event.
I enjoyed having the opportunity to show people the new stud barn
and the new fields. This event was also a good opportunity to
remind people about the upcoming events; the Thank You BBQ, the
Neonatal Seminar and the Herd Assessment & Performance Records
Seminar. Alpaca breeders just like any other business person
must take full advantage of the opportunities provided to market
their farm. You can't be shy because if you don't tell people
what is going on how else will they know?
Today:
I am leaning more heavily on my help with Faith's
injuries. The studs are getting stirred up as we have been
breeding the girls for the last several weeks. Some how they
think that they have a say about who gets who. Silly boys.
I have 3 girls getting close to delivery. Keeping an eye on
them. Heaven is looking like she is getting close. This
will be her first baby. I am looking forward to this baby. |
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