We decided to name this cria Hope.
Hope is doing better today and has definite improvements. She is steadier with head movements, standing, etc. Her heart rate is stable and strong. Her blood work is all in line. Her suckle reflex is stronger than it has been (good to begin with) and more coordinated. They are going to keep her on IV nutrition today, but try to add milk to her diet tomorrow. The septicemia is responding to the antibiotics. The best news is that her lungs sound slightly better today. Overall a very good update.
They have been milking Bellafina out in hopes to feed the cria the milk when she is ready for it. Her milk supply did go down due to the stress of the hospital setting and the cria not nursing. However, they gave her domperidone and it has went back up again. Bellafina is one of those moms that will dry up and then get her milk back if the cria wants to nurse again so she should be good on milk supply.
We are optimistic about the progress today. We hope that Hope will continue to improve and not suffer any set-backs. I plan on going up tomorrow to see for myself how they are doing. I also want to see if I can take a few pictures to post here.
Sunday, August 30, 2009
Saturday, August 29, 2009
Cria Update - Saturday
I just got off the phone with the vet. Our little girl is holding her own, but is up and down. The good news at this point is that she can stand on her own for 3-4 min at a time and it actively looking around and alert. The blood work shows that they are making progress on the septicemia, which is great. The bad news is that her lungs are not improving at all. She is not moving air very well through the lungs and they are not showing signs of improvement. She said the outlook is still unknown on whether she will improve or crash. She said they are keeping a close eye on her and at this point won't be changing her treatment. They are hoping she doesn't get worse as this is the critical time period. As usual, no news is good so now I have to wait for tomorrow's update unless something goes wrong.
Alpaca Alarm - Starved Cat
First off, no word from New Bolton today. They said no news is good news. I assume when the main vet comes in tonight I will get a call with a progress report.
Second, I was looking out at my alpacas and saw one of girls alarming at the back fence. I looked around to see what she saw. I saw this orange/fawn animal on the ground and it looked like it was in their fence area. Okay... I don't have a new cria due until the end of Oct and that female was in the back pasture grazing. I decided to go out and see what the foreign creature was.
I found an orange cat cleaning itself between the girl's pasture fence and the old fence that we left as a property marker. I startled it when I walked up, but after calling to it the cat came up to the fence to be petted. It is very thin, but friendly. I decided to walk over to it and see if it would follow me back to the house to eat. I left the pasture and walked all the way around the field to get to the cat. I kept calling to it and it followed me to the house. I got some cat food and put out. The poor thing ate like it hasn't eaten in ages. I left it to eat.
I am not sure what to do with the poor thing. It is either a drop-off or wild. I have attempted to adopt a few kittens here, but they always disappear within a month. My husband is not a big cat fan and would prefer not to have them around. However, I like to have them around the barn to eat the mice since I hate snakes. He would rather have the snakes. We shall see if it hangs around. If it continues to hang around and isn't too much of a tease to our dogs then I will take it to the vet and get it shots, wormed and fixed. Not sure if it is male or female since I didn't look. My guess is our current barn cat will chase it off since she likes to be the only cat. I feel better that the poor thing got some food in it, though. Very pretty orange cat.
I just thought I would post something upbeat for a change. Oh yeah, the alpacas alarmed the whole time I was coaxing the cat to follow me. We were not even in their field or near them. Lol. For some reason, my girls don't tolerate cats very well. They don't mind the deer or turkey's, but those cats are another matter.....
Second, I was looking out at my alpacas and saw one of girls alarming at the back fence. I looked around to see what she saw. I saw this orange/fawn animal on the ground and it looked like it was in their fence area. Okay... I don't have a new cria due until the end of Oct and that female was in the back pasture grazing. I decided to go out and see what the foreign creature was.
I found an orange cat cleaning itself between the girl's pasture fence and the old fence that we left as a property marker. I startled it when I walked up, but after calling to it the cat came up to the fence to be petted. It is very thin, but friendly. I decided to walk over to it and see if it would follow me back to the house to eat. I left the pasture and walked all the way around the field to get to the cat. I kept calling to it and it followed me to the house. I got some cat food and put out. The poor thing ate like it hasn't eaten in ages. I left it to eat.
I am not sure what to do with the poor thing. It is either a drop-off or wild. I have attempted to adopt a few kittens here, but they always disappear within a month. My husband is not a big cat fan and would prefer not to have them around. However, I like to have them around the barn to eat the mice since I hate snakes. He would rather have the snakes. We shall see if it hangs around. If it continues to hang around and isn't too much of a tease to our dogs then I will take it to the vet and get it shots, wormed and fixed. Not sure if it is male or female since I didn't look. My guess is our current barn cat will chase it off since she likes to be the only cat. I feel better that the poor thing got some food in it, though. Very pretty orange cat.
I just thought I would post something upbeat for a change. Oh yeah, the alpacas alarmed the whole time I was coaxing the cat to follow me. We were not even in their field or near them. Lol. For some reason, my girls don't tolerate cats very well. They don't mind the deer or turkey's, but those cats are another matter.....
Friday, August 28, 2009
Cria update
Progress is guarded, but she is clinically stable at this point. They said she could crash and they are waiting for the 48 hr crash period to pass. Apparently, they have had animals there that are stable and at around 48 hrs they crash.
She has advanced pnemonia from aspirating fluid at this point. She is also septic and they are keeping an eye on this to make sure it doesn't go to her eye sight.
She would not take a bottle today or nurse so they have changed her IV fluids from a dextrose solution to a total nutrition IV. They said she is a "dummy cria" in that she was deprived of oxygen after birth. She could turn out to be normal or not. Time will tell.
She is not out of the woods. She needs to overcome the infection. The good news is that she really doesn't realize she is sick. They said she is getting more alert each day (small steps) and she does try to stand up on her own, but doesn't have the coordination to do it. Also, after her second transfusion her IGG is up to 1000. They will recheck it to make sure it stays up.
I was looking on alpacanation tonight and it seems that a few people have had "dummy cria's" that are good now. A few did not have any luck and they had to be put down because they never figured out how to nurse/eat.
She needs all the good wishes and prayers you can send her way. Hopefully, tomorrow will be better news.
She has advanced pnemonia from aspirating fluid at this point. She is also septic and they are keeping an eye on this to make sure it doesn't go to her eye sight.
She would not take a bottle today or nurse so they have changed her IV fluids from a dextrose solution to a total nutrition IV. They said she is a "dummy cria" in that she was deprived of oxygen after birth. She could turn out to be normal or not. Time will tell.
She is not out of the woods. She needs to overcome the infection. The good news is that she really doesn't realize she is sick. They said she is getting more alert each day (small steps) and she does try to stand up on her own, but doesn't have the coordination to do it. Also, after her second transfusion her IGG is up to 1000. They will recheck it to make sure it stays up.
I was looking on alpacanation tonight and it seems that a few people have had "dummy cria's" that are good now. A few did not have any luck and they had to be put down because they never figured out how to nurse/eat.
She needs all the good wishes and prayers you can send her way. Hopefully, tomorrow will be better news.
Pray for our Newest Female Cria
Yesterday was not a good day. The events started sometime in the wee morning hours and ended at 11PM last night when we got home. Actually, it is still on-going.
I woke up yesterday terrified that I would miss the next alpaca birth, which was due on 9/15. Last year, Bellafina went 10 days early so that would have put her birth and my due date within days of each other. Can you imagine being 40 wks pregnant and trying to deliver or take care of a newborn cria? Bellafina has been acting strange the night before and I told Rob I didn't think she would make it to September for the birth. Well....I was right.
I got up with Rob at 4:30 AM. I peeked out the window and all alpacas were happily in their shelter. Wonderful. I stayed up reading a book and around 7:45 AM decided to go out and feed everyone and replenish water since I had a Dr. appt's and needed to leave. Normally, I was going out much later in the morning to do this. I took care of my boys and grabbed grain to head to the girl's field. I noticed when I looked over to the field that I was missing 3 alpacas. Okay, so 3 decided to stay in the barn instead of going out to graze that morning.
I walked up to the girls shelter and 2 of the girls ran off. That left 2 in the barn - Bellafina and a newborn cria. Holy crap. I was thinking it was a month early, but it was only 19 days early. However, this poor thing had been born hours before. The sac was dried on its body and still covered its nose/mouth. Thankfully, it had broke and the cria was getting oxygen somehow. It was cushed and shaking. We have been leaving the fans on all night because of the temps/humidity. I immediately turned them off. Locked Bellafina and her cria in and then took off the dried sac. I then ran into the house to get my cria kit, which wasn't even prepared yet! Can you see a 38 wk pregnant woman running?
After grabbing the kit, some towels, my hair dryer, cell phone, and making solution to dip the umbilical cord I went back out. On my way, I tried to call the vet whose message said she was out of town. Wonderful. :-( I then called a local farm to ask for their assistance. Luck was on my side because her husband, Rich, could help me out. He said once he finished his chores he would head over. I also called our mentoring farm who told me they had a cria born that early and it was okay and not to panic or put myself into labor. At this point, Peggy (Rich's wife) called me back to say that Tanya was indeed off vacation and to leave her a message. I did.
I then proceeded to dry the cria off by toweling her dry and using the hair dryer. I also tried a temp, but my thermometer said "Low". Never had that happen before. I tried to syringe in some Karo syrup too to jump start her. Rich showed up and he got his thermometer and her temp was at 91 degrees. WAY TOO LOW. While he made a hay bed, I came into the house to get bags filled with warn/hot water. I went back out and we packed the cria in the hay bed with the water bags and a blanket over her. We also ran the hair dryer a few times under the blanket. She was shaking pretty bad. Her temp was slowing going up at 1-1.5 degrees per 30 min. Good, but not quick enough.
I had some powder colostrum so I came into the house to make up a batch of that. During this time, I had talked to my vet and after her 10AM appt she was heading over once she located some plasma to do a transfusion. My pet sitter, Megan, also showed up to help us out. Needless to say, I cancelled my dr. appts. Rich and I were talking about what to do. He offered his trailer up so we could take mom and cria to New Bolton, if needed. I agreed so he left to get his trailer. Megan kept an eye on the cria while I ran into the house to get dressed- just in case we ended up driving to New Bolton. The cria was not doing very well. While I was in the house, her breathing was getting erratic. I told Megan to start rubbing her chest and neck to get some blood moving. It seemed once she laid her head down she had trouble breathing. The good news is that she could keep herself cushed and she would try to get up. However, her legs wouldn't support her.
I will mention she is very premature. Her ears are floppy, no teeth erupted and lack of muscle control. She did weigh 14.9 lbs, which is a healthy sized cria.
Rich showed up with his trailer and the vet was right behind her. We actually had 2 vets. They have a new vet training that came also to help Tanya out and learn about the alpacas. Rich grabbed the cria and I took Bellafina and we walked them up to the trailer to be worked on. Everyone was fabulous. Rich held the cria while the vet did her stuff. I grabbed supplies as she needed them. The cria was tube feed 4 oz of the powder colostrum I had made and 1/4 tablet of kerfate. It was also shaved for the transfusion (my vet does it through the abdomen and not via IV) and the transfusion was started. After which, the cria got a shot of Naxcel. We put her down to rest and be with mom.
At this point, Rich and Megan left along with the second vet. Tanya gave me a list if instructions and said if I couldn't do it then we should think of New Bolton, but it would be a $3-5K vet bill for the 24 hr care. We decided to do it on our own. Feeding every 2 hrs by tubing, naxcel 4x/day, kerafate 3x/day and keeping a close eye on her. She did try to get up a few times and within hours of the transfusion looked much better.
Around 1:30PM, I tried to tube her and couldn't tell if I was doing it right. I tried to bottle feed her and she wouldn't take the bottle because her suck reflex isn't quite strong enough. Rob finally came home and we tried. Finally got it. At this point, I also had Rich back over to help too. I had to get her fed or the vet said we would lose ground. Another 2 oz in her. I headed off to try to find some smaller nipples, buy whole milk and yogurt. I got home around 5:30 PM. When I looked in she was mouth breathing. Not good at all. I got the feeding supplies and tubed her again. Another 2 oz in her this time with kerafate added. I kept an eye on her and I was very concerned with her breathing and she wasn't as perky as she had been an hour before. I finally convinced my husband to drive us to New Bolton. I wasn't sure she would live through the night.
I called New Bolton so they would be expecting us and called the vet to leave a message about the breathing and what we were doing. The vet also called New Bolton to tell them what we had done that day so they knew what to expect when we got there. New Bolton is an hour plus drive. We had the cria in the cab with us and Bellafina in the trailer. I was happy to see the mouth breathing stopped once she got into the A/C cab for awhile. However, it was still raspy.
At New Bolton, they were very efficient. The cria was immediately given oxygen and evaluated. They put a catheter in her to draw blood and for future medicines. We were talked to about treatment plans, cost, and basically told it could go either way. We left and they said they would call when the initial blood work was back.
Not long before we got home, the call came in. The blood work was concerning. The IGG was 400 and white blood cell count 1400 (normally 5000). This was a concern to the vet because it means a weaken immune system and infection. They checked Bellafina and she did not have an infection so whatever the cria had was really early and picked up after birth. I told them the cord hadn't been dipped much at the beginning because we were more concerned with temp. She said they are concerned about sepsis (with any premature cria but especially with her levels) and they would monitor that. They had a blood culture going. They were increasing the Naxcel and going to give another transfusion overnight. She said we did everything we could and in a timely manner. There was nothing else Tanya or I could have done. It is up to the cria now to see how she reacts to the treatments. She also said we were good to bring the cria in to them and not wait longer.
Now, we are waiting. I should get an update this morning on how she made out overnight. She seems to be a fighter and has very alert periods and then losses it. The vet said it could go either way. She has alot in her favor, but the two biggie's against her. We are praying for this little girl. We hope you will keep her in your thoughts. She is a beautiful medium to dark fawn female with dense fleece. Everything we were hoping to get from this breeding.
I'll keep this post updated.
I woke up yesterday terrified that I would miss the next alpaca birth, which was due on 9/15. Last year, Bellafina went 10 days early so that would have put her birth and my due date within days of each other. Can you imagine being 40 wks pregnant and trying to deliver or take care of a newborn cria? Bellafina has been acting strange the night before and I told Rob I didn't think she would make it to September for the birth. Well....I was right.
I got up with Rob at 4:30 AM. I peeked out the window and all alpacas were happily in their shelter. Wonderful. I stayed up reading a book and around 7:45 AM decided to go out and feed everyone and replenish water since I had a Dr. appt's and needed to leave. Normally, I was going out much later in the morning to do this. I took care of my boys and grabbed grain to head to the girl's field. I noticed when I looked over to the field that I was missing 3 alpacas. Okay, so 3 decided to stay in the barn instead of going out to graze that morning.
I walked up to the girls shelter and 2 of the girls ran off. That left 2 in the barn - Bellafina and a newborn cria. Holy crap. I was thinking it was a month early, but it was only 19 days early. However, this poor thing had been born hours before. The sac was dried on its body and still covered its nose/mouth. Thankfully, it had broke and the cria was getting oxygen somehow. It was cushed and shaking. We have been leaving the fans on all night because of the temps/humidity. I immediately turned them off. Locked Bellafina and her cria in and then took off the dried sac. I then ran into the house to get my cria kit, which wasn't even prepared yet! Can you see a 38 wk pregnant woman running?
After grabbing the kit, some towels, my hair dryer, cell phone, and making solution to dip the umbilical cord I went back out. On my way, I tried to call the vet whose message said she was out of town. Wonderful. :-( I then called a local farm to ask for their assistance. Luck was on my side because her husband, Rich, could help me out. He said once he finished his chores he would head over. I also called our mentoring farm who told me they had a cria born that early and it was okay and not to panic or put myself into labor. At this point, Peggy (Rich's wife) called me back to say that Tanya was indeed off vacation and to leave her a message. I did.
I then proceeded to dry the cria off by toweling her dry and using the hair dryer. I also tried a temp, but my thermometer said "Low". Never had that happen before. I tried to syringe in some Karo syrup too to jump start her. Rich showed up and he got his thermometer and her temp was at 91 degrees. WAY TOO LOW. While he made a hay bed, I came into the house to get bags filled with warn/hot water. I went back out and we packed the cria in the hay bed with the water bags and a blanket over her. We also ran the hair dryer a few times under the blanket. She was shaking pretty bad. Her temp was slowing going up at 1-1.5 degrees per 30 min. Good, but not quick enough.
I had some powder colostrum so I came into the house to make up a batch of that. During this time, I had talked to my vet and after her 10AM appt she was heading over once she located some plasma to do a transfusion. My pet sitter, Megan, also showed up to help us out. Needless to say, I cancelled my dr. appts. Rich and I were talking about what to do. He offered his trailer up so we could take mom and cria to New Bolton, if needed. I agreed so he left to get his trailer. Megan kept an eye on the cria while I ran into the house to get dressed- just in case we ended up driving to New Bolton. The cria was not doing very well. While I was in the house, her breathing was getting erratic. I told Megan to start rubbing her chest and neck to get some blood moving. It seemed once she laid her head down she had trouble breathing. The good news is that she could keep herself cushed and she would try to get up. However, her legs wouldn't support her.
I will mention she is very premature. Her ears are floppy, no teeth erupted and lack of muscle control. She did weigh 14.9 lbs, which is a healthy sized cria.
Rich showed up with his trailer and the vet was right behind her. We actually had 2 vets. They have a new vet training that came also to help Tanya out and learn about the alpacas. Rich grabbed the cria and I took Bellafina and we walked them up to the trailer to be worked on. Everyone was fabulous. Rich held the cria while the vet did her stuff. I grabbed supplies as she needed them. The cria was tube feed 4 oz of the powder colostrum I had made and 1/4 tablet of kerfate. It was also shaved for the transfusion (my vet does it through the abdomen and not via IV) and the transfusion was started. After which, the cria got a shot of Naxcel. We put her down to rest and be with mom.
At this point, Rich and Megan left along with the second vet. Tanya gave me a list if instructions and said if I couldn't do it then we should think of New Bolton, but it would be a $3-5K vet bill for the 24 hr care. We decided to do it on our own. Feeding every 2 hrs by tubing, naxcel 4x/day, kerafate 3x/day and keeping a close eye on her. She did try to get up a few times and within hours of the transfusion looked much better.
Around 1:30PM, I tried to tube her and couldn't tell if I was doing it right. I tried to bottle feed her and she wouldn't take the bottle because her suck reflex isn't quite strong enough. Rob finally came home and we tried. Finally got it. At this point, I also had Rich back over to help too. I had to get her fed or the vet said we would lose ground. Another 2 oz in her. I headed off to try to find some smaller nipples, buy whole milk and yogurt. I got home around 5:30 PM. When I looked in she was mouth breathing. Not good at all. I got the feeding supplies and tubed her again. Another 2 oz in her this time with kerafate added. I kept an eye on her and I was very concerned with her breathing and she wasn't as perky as she had been an hour before. I finally convinced my husband to drive us to New Bolton. I wasn't sure she would live through the night.
I called New Bolton so they would be expecting us and called the vet to leave a message about the breathing and what we were doing. The vet also called New Bolton to tell them what we had done that day so they knew what to expect when we got there. New Bolton is an hour plus drive. We had the cria in the cab with us and Bellafina in the trailer. I was happy to see the mouth breathing stopped once she got into the A/C cab for awhile. However, it was still raspy.
At New Bolton, they were very efficient. The cria was immediately given oxygen and evaluated. They put a catheter in her to draw blood and for future medicines. We were talked to about treatment plans, cost, and basically told it could go either way. We left and they said they would call when the initial blood work was back.
Not long before we got home, the call came in. The blood work was concerning. The IGG was 400 and white blood cell count 1400 (normally 5000). This was a concern to the vet because it means a weaken immune system and infection. They checked Bellafina and she did not have an infection so whatever the cria had was really early and picked up after birth. I told them the cord hadn't been dipped much at the beginning because we were more concerned with temp. She said they are concerned about sepsis (with any premature cria but especially with her levels) and they would monitor that. They had a blood culture going. They were increasing the Naxcel and going to give another transfusion overnight. She said we did everything we could and in a timely manner. There was nothing else Tanya or I could have done. It is up to the cria now to see how she reacts to the treatments. She also said we were good to bring the cria in to them and not wait longer.
Now, we are waiting. I should get an update this morning on how she made out overnight. She seems to be a fighter and has very alert periods and then losses it. The vet said it could go either way. She has alot in her favor, but the two biggie's against her. We are praying for this little girl. We hope you will keep her in your thoughts. She is a beautiful medium to dark fawn female with dense fleece. Everything we were hoping to get from this breeding.
I'll keep this post updated.
Tuesday, July 7, 2009
Eliza's cria has a name
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.
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.
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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