What a day! A dear friend of mine, Cindy Telisak, had let me know about a situation involving a friend of hers who needed some alpacas picked up and relocated. So, I called my other dear friend, Cindy Schildknecht, and the three Cindys (Cyndi) were off!
It was quite a rodeo trying to get eight alpacas, none of which had been
halter trained or apparently "touched" for quite some time, into the
trailer. You get the idea... but the three farm girls prevailed! All
were loaded up successfully, without any harm.
We knew that two of the females were pregnant, but were still 6 weeks away from their due dates. We've trailered animals that are pregnant before for shearing, so this isn't new. However, when we opened the trailer door to unload the alpacas at their "new" home, we had nine alpacas, rather than eight! Apparently, one had been delivered only moments after being loaded. The cria (baby) was already sitting up and humming. Mom was already in the process of delivering the placenta.
The alpacas were unloaded and "assessed". We found there were three males in the group of alpacas. Yes, the boarding location actually had males pastured in with the females.
The male alpacas were taken to Jacob's Reward Farm, just down the road, while the females stayed with us here at Paca D'Lites Ranch. This was just a matter of convenience for us.
Here is a picture of the one cria we picked up. Isn't she a cutie putootie? She appears to be approximately three weeks old. She is out of the fawn female and we believe the dark, brown male. Blood tests will tell. :o)
In between unloading the alpacas at my place, I found out my truck was ready to be picked up, so off we went to run that errand, too, as well as picking up two of my three kids from school! My truck is fixed (it needed a new transmission pump) and I am thrilled! Thank you, Chip, at
Heller Automotive! Ok, I just love my truck, so I had to put that in there! Shameless, I know...
After picking up the truck, we were off to take the boys to their new home. Here they are meeting their new herd mates, across the fence.
Here is another cute picture of our "trailer baby". Isn't he adorable? Here he is only about an hour old.
Oh! But the saga continues!
Mom wouldn't have anything to do with this little guy. We don't know whether she is a new mom or not, but she went berserk when we tried to hold her and let him nurse. She kept spitting at him and going nutso.
We placed them in a stall together, just the two of them, and watched. She never tried to hurt him, but didn't want him even in the same corner of the stall with her. We tried pulling milk off of mom, to no avail. So, we gave him a bottle around 11:00pm. He drank 3 oz! Way to go, little guy!
This morning, mom was actually laying down by her little cria. Progress! However, she still won't let him nurse. We've added warm compresses to her teats and all, but she doesn't even appear to be bagging up. So, we're "on the road again" to the vet today to get some meds to help that. Meanwhile, we continue to bottle feed, in the hopes mama will allow her little one to nurse before the 24 hours is up.
Isn't life exciting? No? Well then, you must not live on a farm!!!! :o)
These are the sites that make this "job" so awesome... This is what it is supposed to be like. Alpacas are the most calming, sweet animals on this planet! Their humming sounds, while communicating, will make even the most challenging of days melt away.
