Let the Breeding Begin!

Arriving at our farm and now standing stud is our very own 4Peruvian Wira Cocha. He is one of only two males brought to the states from the Quenamari region in the 1996 Peruvian importation by the late Earlah Swift, an early "pioneer" in the alpaca industry. We are proud to have this high quality herd sire on our farm and he'll forever raise the quality of our herd as well as others.

He's been a busy boy for the last couple of days. Here's a shot of Sammie's breeding, the first ever taking place on our farm.


Last night was the maiden voyage for Peruvian Marilyn. It was also a maiden breeding for Tara and myself as it's the first one we handled by ourselves. We're hoping for a gorgeous full Peruvian female next June!

We also field tested our pregnant females and all three are still expecting this October. They all ran around with tails raised, spit off the adult male and wanted nothing to do with him.

I took a few shots last night and got this one of little Juliet eating hay:


And here's a shot of Trellianna just being her own sweet self!

HAY!

I worked out a deal with a local farmer and was able to use his square baler to bale our 11 acre field. We sowed it last fall with a Timothy/Orchard grass mix in order for us to acquire decent hay for the alpacas in the winter. The goal was to keep enough for our needs and sell off the rest. I was busy baling the hay when my wife Tara came home for lunch and snapped a few photos.



Everything went fairly smooth except Jansen and I could have used a few extra hands to help haul it to the hay barn. In a perfect world, the idea is to have the trailer towed behind the baler and a person is manually stacking the bales as they are made and pushed safely out of the bale chamber. Then you haul it to the barn where you stack it under cover. However, I don't live in a perfect world and I do not have a wagon to tow behind the baler so, the bales are dropped on the ground for later pickup. This is the most physically demanding method to handle the bales because you have to lift the square bales off the ground to a trailer and also stack them on the trailer. Then you take them off the trailer and stack them in the barn. Essentially you're handling each square bale 4 times!

My buddy Jim (only a few weeks out of surgery) drove the truck with the trailer attached, and my son Jansen helped me pick them up out of the field and stack them in the barn. Man, were we tired after that job. I was sure glad he was there because he helped me out tremendously. Thank you Jansen and thank you Jim! 188 bales later it was definitely, "Go home, relax, it's Miller time!" Just in time as the lightning bolts were striking all around us!

Just for laughs I weighed a couple of bales and they tipped the scales at 65 lbs ea. It wasn't easy throwing those around. There we are stacking them in the hay barn.


If there is anyone out there who needs some decent hay, I have roughly 250 bales for sale. It is being tested by the University of Tennesee and I haven't gotten the forage analysis back yet. Just e-mail me @ Ron@ambrielacres.com if you're interested.

What's In a Name?

"That which we call a rose/By any other name would smell as sweet."

We have Ambriel's Romeo and now we introduce Ambriel's Juliet.

As Paul Harvey would say, "Now here's the rest of the story!"

Friday morning started out the usual way as I went to the barn around 8 am to check on everybody and do my morning barn chores. Sammie looked fine and she appeared to have no discomfort so I went back to the house thinking that she wouldn't be having the baby anytime soon.

Upon doing some paperwork there was a knock at the door around 9:30. It was a farmer who was going to cut our field for hay and I went outside to talk. While we were talking in the driveway, our LGD's Santo and Lucia were fighting with each other in the field, something they have never done. They were very aggressive towards each other. I thought it was odd and it only lasted about 10 seconds but I didn't pursue it any further because they stopped fighting.

I finished my conversation with the farmer and went back inside to finish my paperwork. All week I have been disking and plowing an area for a vegetable garden and Friday I was going to spread some alpaca poop on the soil and till it so I can plant my tomatoes and peppers. I went to the barn to get the tractor and check on Sammie one last time. She was in the barn lot with the other girls but she didn't have the noticeable pregnant bulge anymore. I thought to myself "Sammie isn't pregnant. She had a miscarriage!" I had just been down there about 90 minutes ago and everything was fine.

I started to panic and freak out, looking around in the field for a dead cria. The golf cart was in the barn so I ran to get it so I could patrol the field quicker. As I entered the barn I looked to the right and saw the placenta in the 2nd barn stall. Now I was really freaking out thinking "She had the baby. I have to find it." I jumped in the cart and headed to where Santo and Lucia had been fighting, behind a tree near the fence row. Just as I approached the tree on the other side I saw a tiny little cria with Santo keeping a close watch about three feet away. She just looked up at me wondering what the heck I was! With knees wobbling she stumbled right up to me and we touched noses.

This is roughly how she looked. You can see some of the cutaneous membrane on her chest that is now drying up in the 90 + degree heat.

I immediately called Lisa Olsen because she can tell me what to do next.

Me: Lisa, Lisa there's a cria on the ground and Sammie is nowhere near her. She's abandoned the baby and the dog is guarding her and I'm freaking out.

Lisa: Ron, Ron, take a deep breath, relax, tell me what happened slowly.

Me: Sorry, you're right. I need to breath and relax. There's a cria on the ground and Sammie is out in the field grazing. She's not with her cria. My male dog is guarding the cria.

Lisa: You need to get the dog out of there. If he's guarding the cria he might not let you or Sammie or anyone near it.

Me: No he's acting normal. He's allowing me to touch the cria. He's just doing what he normally does. He's fine.

Lisa: OK. Sammie just gave birth and she's tired and sore and she just needs some time for herself. It's normal for her to walk off on her own. Is it a male or a female?

Me: Well it looks like there is a penis but I think that's the umbilical cord.

Lisa: If you see two things that look like penis', it's a male. If there is only one, It's a female. Lift up her tail and see if she has a vulva.

Me: It's a girl!

Lisa: Do you have some iodine tincture?

Me: Yes.

Lisa: Go get it and put it in a plastic baggie and dip the umbilical cord in the 7% Iodine solution. Grab your camera as well and just observe. Everything will be fine. Sammie is a good mother. If she isn't nursing in 2-1/2 - 3 hours you need to feed it some cow's milk. Do you have colostrum?

Me: Yes.

Lisa: Good! You probably won't need it but at least you have it just in case. Call me if you have any questions. She'll be fine.

Me: Thank you! Sorry to be a basket case.

I then ran to the house, grabbed my camera and the tincture of iodine, then called my wife Tara to give her the news. I couldn't tell her the exciting news because she was tied up in a meeting. (She did call an hour or so later and she assumed there was something wrong. I assured her that the cria was healthy with no problems and that it was exactly what she was shooting for a year ago when we bred Samantha. A white female!)

I went back to the cria and she was right there where I left her, under the big tree with Santo by her side. By this time I looked back and saw Sammie at the barn door. I was going to pick up the cria and take her to the barn but I decided to see if she would walk on her own. I walked backwards the hundred or so yards stopping every ten yards for her to catch up as she followed me every step of the way. We ended up at the barn door and left her there to bond with her mother.

I just sat in the barn lot and observed the two. About a half hour later she finally figured how to nurse.

By late afternoon she was running around the field testing out her new wheels. She is a little white angel and her name is Juliet.

We can't wait for Romeo & Juliet to get together. Maybe this tale will turn out happier than Shakespeare's.

It's a Girl!

YIPPEE!!!!! Sammie's due date was 6/6/2008 and wouldn't you know..... She hit the target. SMACK..... BULLSEYE!!!!

I was so excited I was running around like a chicken with its head cut off! I had to take a deep breath and relax. I'm just glad nobody was here to witness me freaking out.

I'll tell the story later as I want to post pictures of the newborn cria. I don't have a name yet as I leave the naming part up to my wife Tara. But here's the first few photos of our latest addition, a healthy 15 lb. girl!