We have finally decided on a name for our new little boy. My husband came up with the name and it really does fit this little guy. His name is going to be "Silver Streak". I still need to go into the ARI database and register him, but as long as nobody has this as their farm ID we should be okay. I will probably do this tonight. I also need to update our website with pictures of this gorgeous male. He is growing well and is so independent and active. He likes to jump on his mom and the others to try to get them to play. They just ignore him. I feel bad for him because he doesn't have a buddy his own age around. Next year, we should have females due around the same time as each other so the cria's will have buddies to play with. We have been breeding them in pairs.
Speaking of other breeding's, we have 3 females off farm right now for breeding. Two are up in Ringoes, NJ getting bred and the other one is in Oregon. I haven't gotten word that any of them are pregnant, but hopefully soon. I know that two of them should be having ultrasounds done in the next week or so.
I really have to say that I miss one of my girls that is off breeding. Her name is Dawn and she is our light fawn female. Dawn is my buddy. Whenever I go into the field, you can see her running towards me. She always has to be the first to get some of the grain before I give it to anyone else. She eats out of the grain bucket or my hand. The only problem is that if you don't give her what she wants she can get an attitude. I have been spit at because I wouldn't let her eat from the bucket or if I am late getting to them. She doesn't always do this, but occasionally....
I bring this up because last night we didn't do the evening feeding. We had a labor and delivery class until 9PM and didn't get home until 10PM. I couldn't reach my pet sitter so the alpacas didn't get their nightly grain, which really isn't a big deal since they are on the heavier side. I was thinking this morning as I was walking out that IF Dawn was here she would probably be spitting on me for not feeding them last night. Lol. I guess it is good that she is off being bred. However, I do miss having her run up to me every time I go out into the field.
I guess that is all for now. I will post pictures of Silver Streak as soon as I get them downloaded onto my computer. I will also be updating the website sometime this week or weekend so check that too.
Tuesday, July 7, 2009
Wednesday, July 1, 2009
Our First Breeding on Farm
We have one maiden female that is ready to breed. We booked a breeding for her to a local herdsire who has won multiple championships and has awesome fleece. We will be breeding Eliza to this same herdsire.
We have had to behavior test this female several times to make sure she is receptive. Of course, we have never done this before either. We have several males that are ready to breed so we took the oldest one, Marauder, haltered him up and walked him over to the female to be tested. In this case, it is Mische'vious a medium silver grey dam. We had her penned up in an area by herself. Our first test occurred last Wed evening. We took Marauder in and he was so excited! He started orgling at her and trying to jump onto her. At first she seemed confused and then finally dropped to the ground. At this point, he is ready to mount her when I pull him off. Poor guy...
It turned out that the breeding farm couldn't make it that night so she asked us to check the female again on Sunday. Sunday came and I took Marauder over to the girl and this time with just alittle bit of orgling she went down. Once again, I pulled him away. As you can imagine this male is not happy with me for not allowing him to breed. He really doesn't want to leave without his dues. However, the well-trained alpaca that he is he is easily led away. Now, it is Wed and if she is receptive today then the farm will bring the male over to breed. So, once again I take Marauder over and this time she drops even faster. As I am leading Marauder away he decides he doesn't want to go and cushes in the middle of the field. Lol. With alittle bit of tugging on the lead he finally gets up and follows me out. We feel quite bad for him, but right now we don't have a female we want to breed to him. He is white and we don't have any white females we want to breed. In the meantime, he is our behavior tester. Rob thinks it is cruel to tease the guy like this.
Once we confirmed she was receptive, I called the farm and they headed on over. I was quite surprised at how easily this maiden went down for the male and stayed down. She is quite a handful in general and was pleasantly easy for breeding. Other than the interruption from the dogs barking, the breeding went well. She cushed quickly for the male and he did his thing. We forgot the watch, but it was about 20 min.
This was our first time breeding and seeing a breeding. I have to say it was quite entertaining. The woman was helping the male and making sure he found the right hole. I'm not sure I would want to be getting involved down there, but one day I guess we will have to do it too since we will eventually own our own herdsire and have to do breeding's.
Hopefully, our girl took on the first breeding. However, if not then the male will be back for another date with her. We will use Marauder in 7 days to test her. Poor guy is going to have the most frustrating summer of his life.
We have had to behavior test this female several times to make sure she is receptive. Of course, we have never done this before either. We have several males that are ready to breed so we took the oldest one, Marauder, haltered him up and walked him over to the female to be tested. In this case, it is Mische'vious a medium silver grey dam. We had her penned up in an area by herself. Our first test occurred last Wed evening. We took Marauder in and he was so excited! He started orgling at her and trying to jump onto her. At first she seemed confused and then finally dropped to the ground. At this point, he is ready to mount her when I pull him off. Poor guy...
It turned out that the breeding farm couldn't make it that night so she asked us to check the female again on Sunday. Sunday came and I took Marauder over to the girl and this time with just alittle bit of orgling she went down. Once again, I pulled him away. As you can imagine this male is not happy with me for not allowing him to breed. He really doesn't want to leave without his dues. However, the well-trained alpaca that he is he is easily led away. Now, it is Wed and if she is receptive today then the farm will bring the male over to breed. So, once again I take Marauder over and this time she drops even faster. As I am leading Marauder away he decides he doesn't want to go and cushes in the middle of the field. Lol. With alittle bit of tugging on the lead he finally gets up and follows me out. We feel quite bad for him, but right now we don't have a female we want to breed to him. He is white and we don't have any white females we want to breed. In the meantime, he is our behavior tester. Rob thinks it is cruel to tease the guy like this.
Once we confirmed she was receptive, I called the farm and they headed on over. I was quite surprised at how easily this maiden went down for the male and stayed down. She is quite a handful in general and was pleasantly easy for breeding. Other than the interruption from the dogs barking, the breeding went well. She cushed quickly for the male and he did his thing. We forgot the watch, but it was about 20 min.
This was our first time breeding and seeing a breeding. I have to say it was quite entertaining. The woman was helping the male and making sure he found the right hole. I'm not sure I would want to be getting involved down there, but one day I guess we will have to do it too since we will eventually own our own herdsire and have to do breeding's.
Hopefully, our girl took on the first breeding. However, if not then the male will be back for another date with her. We will use Marauder in 7 days to test her. Poor guy is going to have the most frustrating summer of his life.
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