100% record

We had our last another cria last night and another girl, this time it is a lovely dark fawn possibly light brown, we will have to wait and see.  This female is our final cria from Golden Nugget this year although he has several more to go for his co owners Lakeham Alpacas, so far he has only produced females.

Carla with her lump

Carla has been looking uncomfortable for weeks now, she was 363 days yesterday and spent most of the morning sat in the shelter chewing the cud.  We checked her at 1pm and she was looking just the same but when we got back at about 5.30pm it was obvious she was in labour, Carla always has her cria in the afternoon so we weren't too worried.  After about half an hour of nothing happening and carla pushing I thought I had better have a look, Gloves on and lube I had a little feel around to discover the head and one foot but the other leg was bent back at the knee.  This was quite easy to sort out so I left Carla to finish the job which only took another ten minutes before a little brown female cria was deposited on the ground.  She was up and about in about half an hour but seemed more interested in running around the field than finding the milkbar.  As we hadn't had dinner and lunch seemed along time ago we put Mum and Babe into the field shelter, turned the light on and went home to watch proceedings on Alpaca Cam. Carla soon past the placenta and babe eventually found where the milk was kept after sucking the walls of the shelter for what seemed like ages.  Alpaca cam comes into its own in situations like this. we have swallows nesting in the shelter............. not sure what they made of having the light on all night but is interesting to see them caught mid flight on the camera.  The cria has been named Golden Caramel (aka Caramel) which is a name my daughter has been suggesting for all Golden Nuggets cria but it actually suits this one.

Carla with Caramel

The rest of the crias are doing well and I managed to get a couple of pictures whilst in the paddock last night.  Choc Ice seems happy to share her Mum with Amber, Cassini doesn't seem to mind feeding them both!

Amber & Choc Ice sharing the Milkbar

Salvador continues to be a bully if the girls don't want to play he jumps on them and bites their ears.  Calico is nearly as bad and seems to one step behind Salvador all the time.  Finally Lily's cria now named Tigerlily is getting stronger by the day, she was a little early and her tendons in her back legs were a little loose, so she was wobbly for a few days, very funny to watch her trying to keep up with the older ones.

Tigerlily

Shearing was on Thursday and it was very hot, poor old Colin was suffering a bit but the girls especially were relieved to their fleece off.  My house is now full of bags of fleece which I need to start skirting before deciding which ones to enter into which fleece shows and what to have processed into yarns and tops.
it's been very hot here today but I managed to get some seeds into the veg garden, they are a bit late  but the soil is very warm so I am hoping things will catch up.  Tomorrow we are going to collect the Studs ready to start our breeding program, I am hoping to get all our births in May and June next year, wishful thinking I think!