Baby, It's Cold Outside

We sheared early this year.  We ususally don't shear until late May or early June, since we can always get a cold spell here until then.  But, when you hire someone to come in, you go by their schedule.  We did 20 of the pacas.  We didn't do the 4 weanlings, since they don't seem to have enough meat on their bones yet, and I'm really glad we didn't.  It was 35 degrees this morning.

Last week we noticed Aristotle was shivering, so I got the blanket out for him.  His mother was the last one to wear this.  He tried to run away from it at first, but is now quite content with it.

Sancho has staked out his place in the barn and won't go outside until the sun comes out.  He's the smart one.

Then there is Chico.  35 degrees and he still wants to play in the water as I wash down the barn.  Makes me cold just thinking about it.

Buyer Beware!

I now have all of my alpacas listed on Alpacastreet, instead of Alpacanation.  Half the money, the same exposure.  And things had gotten a bit stagnant.  Time for a change.  Anyhoooo, I was reading an article posted on Alpacastreet, and really wished it had been out 12 years ago when we bought our first alpacas.  It is "The Ten Commandments For New Alpaca Breeders", or something like that.  You can follow this link to read the entire piece.

When we decided to buy alpacas, we visited about 6 farms.  We bought two from a small breeder who we ended up agisting with for the next two years.  Then we bought 4 from a very large breeder, who also was very close to us.  Now I am going to share a story of what happened with one of our alpacas we bought from the "big boys".

One of the alpacas we bought was a cute, friendly little white suri, pregnant with her first cria.  She had a little nick on her upper lip, which we were told was an injury.  We didn't care.  Her fiber was to die for, and she was so sweet and pretty.  Being newbies, we did not know that deformed facial features were a sign of more serious genetic problems.  How would we?  Whenever we asked questions of this breeder, we were told "No Brainer".  They are so easy, they take care of themselves!!

Mattie gave birth, late in the day, to her first cria, who lasted maybe three hours.  The big breeder gave us a free breeding to the herdsire of our choice, and a year later, Mattie delivered an adorable pure black female cria.  She lasted about three weeks.  We knew she was frail, and was not thriving.  She succumbed to Clostridium type A.

By the time Mattie had her third cria, we had the herd at our own farm, and had more control over the cleanliness, environment, and herd management.  We were by then certain that those were the issues responsible for the crias not surviving.  The third cria was sensational!  A white male, dripping with luster and total fiber coverage.  We named him Majestic Snow.  We had been advised from some top Suri breeders to show him in the show ring, and were preparing to do just that.  We had the vet come out to do health checks before going to the show.  The vet looked over at Majestic and said, "Oh, a wry face."  What?  What's that?  Oh, it's genetic, and an indication of more serious genetic problems."  We were devastated.  By that time, Mattie had already been bred, and was due to have another cria that summer.

Cria number 4 was born with her right, front leg fused in the bent position at the shoulder and could not stand to nurse.  I bottle fed her through the night, and had her put down the next morning.

Okay, time to contact the Big Boys.  What can you do for us?  Well, they could not afford to give me another suri in exchange for Mattie, but they could exchange her for a like quality huacaya.  By this time we felt as if we were star crossed in the suri end, and had decided to no longer breed suris.  So, this was okay by us.  I took a trip to their farm to pick out a new female.  With over 1000 alpacas, they made three available for me to chose from.  Three?  One had a terrible jaw infection, and another one could not be found that day.  So, I was left with a white maiden, due to have her first cria in a few months.  She was sway backed and her fiber was rather coarse, but we had fine fibered males to breed to her to improve these characteristics.

I can handle just about any birthing situation or dystocia on my own, but I had to have a vet out on an emergency call to deliver her cria.  It's pretty hard to tell at that point what is going on, but it seemed she had a persistent hymen.  The delivery was very difficult, and resulted in sewing up tears in her vaginal wall.  She had a healthy, adorable appaloosa female cria.

The saga continues.  As the cria grew and came to breeding age, she would not allow a male to get close to her.  We tried hormones, we tried several different males.  She was having none of it.  Finally, we had a vet check her out, and her vagina does not attach to the uterus.

Would anyone out there like a non breeding female?

I have been trying to get a response out of the Big Boys for four months now, to no avail.  The thing is, I don't want another alpaca.  We are trying to downsize.  I'd just like an acknowledgement and an apology at this time.

Edit on June 11, 2010:  Since I cannot get an apology, or even a response from Alpacas of America, I don't feel bad for posting this about them.

Bottom line:  Buyer Beware.  Buy from a small breeder who will give you full support after your purchase.

Halter Training

Halter training can be quite trying, but if you approach it with a sense of humor, it can be fun.

I have a friend, I will call him an Intern, who wants to learn everything he can about alpacas. He manages a pet store and owns all sorts of animals. Alpacas have piqued his interest, and so he is working with me to learn.

The first picture is of us herding the girls into the barn.

This first girl is Nutmeg. Obviously not the sharpest knife in the drawer. We use the Camelidynamics method of training and never leave an alpaca in training on the halter for more than 5 minutes to start. We take the halter off when they have behaved or accomplished something. Nutmeg faught me the whole way. What I am doing is exerting pressure on the lead in small jerks. Usually, the alpaca finally takes a step forward, at which point I let up on the pressure. Then you can actually see the lightbulb go off in their brain. " Oh, so if I walk, there won't be any pressure on me." Well, Nutmeg figured out that if she took a step I would let up, but then she would brace herself full force again. Oh, well, another day. She will probably get it on her third session.

This is also a good time to learn about the individual's personality. I know my herd well, and I could pretty well predict who would succeed, and who would be a chore.

Nutmeg again, fighting me. I finally just got her to stand still and removed the halter.


Here is Velvet. Her entire family line is very smart, so she did as well as I expected. I could take her for a walk down the city streets if I wanted to now. But we will save that for the younguns.

Abigail's Mom is a psycho, so I expected her to be a handful. She was, but she was catching on. I think she will get it in her next session.

This one was a surprise. Pippi Longstockings thinks (knows) she is special, and when I put the halter on her, she was devastated. I've never had one throw themselves on the ground like this. I was cracking up. We let her lie there for awhile. She then stood up and stood straight, so I removed the halter. I really don't know what to expect of her next session, but I think she will realize we didn't hurt her and will do better.

The Bachelor Herd

How to integrate new males into the Bachelor herd.

I know, isn't it just awful? You bring a new male onto the farm, and all the boys go crazy, trying to prove who is the best and most dominant. Well, we have developed a very peaceful, effective way of adding new boys to the herd.

We currently have three yearlings that need to join the main bachelor herd. Last week, we took the two most laid back, gentle natured boys and put them in with the yearlings, in the yearling pen. This only works when you use either a neutral field or the field the newcomer is in. Champ and Chico joined the three little ones with no incidence. Every two days, we would add another male, usually taking the least aggressive to add, working up to the most aggressive. They are all together now in the yearling pen and field and doing well. Today we will put them all into the large male field. Now they will have room to stretch out and run. It is usually a very peaceful endeavor, for the alpacas, us, and our neighbors! No fighting or screaming. It also helps that the yearling field is very small, and they are all in close proximity.
Now, when we put them all back into the larger field, it is new territory for all of them.

Postscript: The boys are all together in one field now, and this has been the calmest transistion we have ever experienced. To top it off, Steller, the one who normally runs the new boys down, is the close friend of the three yearlings!!! We have been practicing this method for 5 years, but this has been the most successful.

Tidbits About Alpacas

Do alpacas smile when they are happy? Well, here is Pippi greeting me. I think it's obvious, don't you?

Alpacas are as good as a hunting dog. Chico and Champ, full brothers, saw something in the back yard of our neighbor. I went over to see what had captured their attention and saw a HUGE possum. Ick, I hate those things. Give me the creeps.

This is Sancho, teething on the wire fence. If you look closely, you can see that the alpaca does not have front teeth on top. They have a hard pallet, which they like to massage on cold things. Sancho does this every morning. He stays in the barn with me each morning, while all the other boys are outside. He is waiting for me to spray him with the hose. (Or better yet, bring him a girlfriend).

The weather has been glorious here the past couple of weeks. The frogs are coming out of hibernation, as are the possums. And here are the mountains, showing off in all their splendor. These are the Coastal Range in Canada, which is just 5 miles from us as the crow flies.

We let the girls into a new field the other morning, and I always like to watch them. The whistle I use to call them is the same one my Mom woke me up to each morning as a child.

Rabies Scare

I have been listening to the book "To Kill a Mockingbird". This afternoon I heard the part about the "mad" dog that they had to kill. The description of the dog and his behavior reminded me of Rocky, one of our young suri males. It was January of 2008. Rocky had had a case of choke, and we were keeping a close eye on him. Choke can lead to pneumonia and death, and Rocky came from a line that carried mega esophagus. That's another long story I won't cover here.
Anyhow, Rocky started acting strangely and appeared to be shivering. I put him in our sick bay, took his temperature and put a coat on him. He did not have a fever, but continued to shiver. I gave him some penicillin as a precautionary measure and continued to watch him.
We had made the hard decision at one point, that if Rocky ever got really sick, we would not go to great lengths to save him. He was not a breeder, and we knew he carried this gene, which we would not want to pass on to any offspring.
I had been in the house for awhile, and when I came out, I found Rocky in the girl's pasture, walking in circles and humming. I went up to him, put my hand behind his ears, and led him into the barn again. It was then I discovered he had broken the lock on the stall he was in and had forced his way through the second gate. Darn, I'm crying as I'm remembering all this.
I got him secured in the stall, putting a heavy object in front of the gate so he was unable to get out again. It was at this point that I realized he was blind. He was also walking up to the wall and trying to walk through it. Meeting up with the wall did not deter him, he just kept trying to walk through it. (In the book, they said the dog would just walk determinedly in a straight line, going through anything that got in it's way.)
I talked to my husband on the phone that night and said I thought I should have the vet out the next day to have Rocky put down. There was nothing we could do for him. But the more I watched him, the more disturbed I became.

The next day the vet got there. I told him he would think I was crazy, but that Rocky was exhibiting symptoms of rabies. So Gordon says, let's take a look. He agreed immediately that Rocky was blind. He examined him a bit more and then said "let's go outside". I got a chuckle out of that, as if he wanted to tell me something where Rocky couldn't hear us. But then he said he had to make a call. He got in his truck and closed the doors. He got out, starting to talk to me, and then went back to the truck and made another call. Finally he comes out and says:
"I don't mean to alarm you, but there is a chance that Rocky has rabies". He asked if I had had my hands in Rocky's mouth. I had, to see if there was something in his throat, and I had abrasions on my hands. Well, if he had rabies, I would have to be treated immediately, as well as vaccinating all of the herd. I was leaving for a Fiber to Fashion conference in Las Vegas the next morning. This meant, if the tests proved positive, I was to go to the emergency room in Las Vegas to begin the series of shots. (while watching a nature show this year we learned that Las Vegas does not have any rabies vaccine on hand). In order to test for rabies, they would have to send the head to Seattle for testing. It was rather gruesome.
In Washington, the only animal that caries rabies is the bat. It was January, and as I recall, a very cold January. The bats were all hibernating, or whatever bats do in the winter. The only possibility we could come up with was a raccoon having been bitten by a bat and becoming a carrier. We had several raccoons in the barn that year.
Then there ensued a number of phone calls from the Department of Agriculture and the Department of Wildlife, asking me a million questions. I was starting to be a little nervous. I had been taking this all in stride, but when I saw how seriously the agencies were taking this, well, yikes, I might have been exposed!!

It takes 24 hours to get the results on the test of the brain, so I was in the airport in Las Vegas, just meeting up with my niece, when the call came in to tell me I did not have rabies. Phew. I could now concentrate on having a great time!!

What had happened with Rocky was that the choke had caused an infection in his brain. The alpaca has a tendency to aspirate when choking, which leads to pneumonia in many cases. But for some reason, the choke took the route of the nasal passages and met up with the brain.

It seems the longer you have livestock, the more freaky things you see.
When we first bought alpacas, the salesman from the largest breeder in the area told us, "oh, raising alpacas is a no brainer, they practically take care of themselves." Not so, my friends, not so.

A Barn for Alpacas

Or, how to convert a dairy barn to an alpaca barn. When we inherited the farm, the barn was sadly neglected. No, more than neglected. It had been leased to a dairy farmer who kept his dry cows here until they gave birth. Rather than cleaning out the barn, he'd just bring in more sawdust a couple of times a year. By that time, the floor of the barn was about 5 feet higher than it should have been. It took us a good two years to clean everything out and pour a cement floor in the barn before we could move the alpacas in. We chose a cement floor because it could be washed down every day. We also have many livestock mats made out of recycled tires for the alpacas to sleep on in the cold, but they never seem to prefer the mats to the floor.
We have our fields and barn divided into three areas. The Girls, The Big Boys, and the Little Boys. The above picture shows our three yearling boys in their field. They have access to their own portion of the barn and lean to for shelter.

This is the Big Boys domain. This is the covered area behind their section in the barn.

You can tell I have finished washing down for the day.

Meanwhile, the boys are still in the barn, wanting to know what I'm up to. They are so afraid they might miss something.
The first thing Alan did with the barn was cut a hole in the hayloft and build a nice stairway up to it. We didn't want to use the horizontal ladder in the background. I hate ladders. The opening provides much more light in the barn, and it's fun to be able to see what's going on up in the loft. We often times have barn owls roosting there. And, you can see our hay supply. We start out with about 200 90 pound bales of Eastern Washington orchard grass hay. Since we are down to 31 alpacas, this should last us the winter.

Each section of the barn has a waterer like this, with a heater available for when it gets below 30 degrees. We had just come through a cold spell and hadn't removed the heaters yet.

H

Here is the DMZ, or no man's land.

It is to separate the boys from the girls. The boys have learned to operate all kinds of latches, have lifted the gates off the hinges, and have just broken through the gates, which are very sturdily built. So, we keep the latches on the side away from them, and have a double latch on the main gate. Darn boys. They have only one thing on their minds.

We also use this area to treat the males for vaccinations, worming, etc. If you put them all in a catch pen together, they hardly know what you are doing to them.

This is the Girl's catch pen. We also use it when we have a sick alpaca who we want to observe. Eve and her mom spent alot of time in this pen this Fall.

This was originally built as a maternity pen, but we like to see the alpacas deliver in the field where they are more comfortable. This pen is used when one of them has to be quarantined or is really sick. It has a radiant heater in there, too.

And here is more of the girls side. They have the most room because there are more females with crias than boys, thank goodness.

Here is the girls' entrance to the barn.

Another feeding area and where we shear. Also, it has a gate so we can use it for a catch pen or breeding pen.

And finally, my handy dandy fiber tumbler.

Our barn is well over 100 years old, having been buildt by the homesteader, Mary Harkness in the 1880s. When my Father in Law decided to do Dairy farming, he added on a good portion, so we have over 3000 sq.ft. of space.