Well isn't it always the way just when you are looking in the other direction for 30 minutes out pops a wonderful new cria. I think we were onto our fourth cria before we actually saw one being born.

You may recall if you read yesterdays Blog entry that I had moved the pregnant girls into the birthing pasture where we can see them. Of course you do actually have to be at the house to see the birth take place. So the best laid plans and all that.

The first task is to work out who just had a baby which is never as obvious as it first appears.





One of the less attractive tasks once the cria is out is to watch for the placenta or as in our case hunt for the placenta.



The next step is to slip on a pair of disposable gloves and arrange it to see if its all there.
Basically it should look something like this.




Once arranged so that you can see which part occupied the two uterine horns and see what left of the amniotic sack you can be confident that you have it all. Make sure you bag it and dispose of it properly do not touch it with bear hands you can catch some pretty nasty stuff from alpaca placenta.

The next step is to make sure the little chap is feeding and getting that all important colostrum and I can tell you all about that tomorrow................

Adrian Stewart

Several of my girls are getting close to giving birth so I have moved them into a birthing pasture which we can easily see from our deck. Which reduces my own stress considerably!
Little did I know how close the timing was until later...



The fencing project has come to something of a halt until my farming friend with the post hitting tractor completes his grape harvest which should be the end of next week say about the 5th by which time we will be working flat out on the AlpacaMania alpaca show.
So its going to be October before we get it completed.

In the afternoon I drove to the Grange offices at Central Point and collect a load of feed pellets that should see us through until early December.

On the way home I took a small detour to see if the alpaca show banner was up and flying and sure enough it was looking good.




Adrian Stewart

Its now time to start laying away the winter hay and today I went with my eldest son Jamie to collect a few tons from Richard and Renate Gyuro who were acting as a drop off point for deliveries.

They have a really well organised farm and great alpaca products store on their ranch which is quite a bit further north than I am. They have no irrigation so operate on dry lot most of the year and so need tons of hay to get them through the winter and the summer months.




Here is a picture of some of Richard and Renates alpacas on the dry lot. I have never done any dry lot farming but I can see how you would be able to very tightly control feeding when there is no access to fresh grass. So it has advantages.

One of the other farms in the area is taking hay samples and running analysis so we will have to wait and see what comes of that.

The remainder of my winter hay I will take from the second cutting in my hay field which looks really just right and we should be mowing early next week if the forecast remains good.

Adrian Stewart

The experts have decided that the grapes are now ready to pick so our neighbours are all now working like stink to pick their grapes.



On the alpaca farm there was nowind this norning so we were spraying fence lines to keep the weeds down and still running irrigation. Even though its almost October it was 90 degrees today with a warm drying wind. All of which is good news for our second hay cutting.

This evening we will clean out the hay barn and get ready to for the winter hay which we are collecting tomorrow morning.

The local alpaca show is now only 8 days away so that is taking up quite a bit of time as we sort out the last minute glitches and prepare as much as we can before the big day arrives.
This year is another record show with over 300 entries and to increase the sress levels a little further I have volunteered to be in charge of the vet check...more of that later......wish me luck...

Adrian Stewart

The sample chapter of my alpaca book had to be with the publisher today and I just made the deadline ...so now comes the waiting game to see if it gets accepted....never having written anything before makes the whole process just a little nerve wracking....

Meanwhile in darkest Peru....Archaeologists have uncovered the mummified remains of more than 40 dogs buried with blankets and food alongside their human masters.
The discovery was made during the excavation of two of the ancient Chiribaya people who lived in southern Peru between AD 900 and AD 1350.
Experts say the dogs' treatment in death indicated the belief that the animals had an afterlife.




Such a status for pets has only previously been seen in ancient Egypt.

The dogs, which have been called Chiribaya shepherds for their llama-herding abilities, were not sacrificed as in other ancient cultures, but buried with blankets and food in human cemeteries.

The Chiribaya dog looked rather like a small golden retriever with a medium-sized snout, beige colouring, and long hair.

The only other indigenous Peruvian canine is the hairless dog, which evolved over more than 2,000 years ago from Asian ancestors brought across the Bering Straits.




Adrian Stewart

Now we have the bracing posts in position at the end of each run of wire we can attach the lowest wire and stretch it into a straight line. This will then enable us to place the other posts more accurately.



The posts are 8 foot long and 6 inches in diameter and they are both set in 3 feet of concrete.
Once the horizontal beam is in place then a diagonal bracing wire should be attached.




To tension the wire I have combined a tensile wire ratchet with a spring. The spring helps maintain the correct tension.



In the image above you can just about make out the tensile wire and see how it helps to mark the location of the posts.



We have cut points on all the posts that are going to be hammered in once we get the tractor and post driver on site.

The winter hay arrives in Medford on Wednesday so we will be heading up to collect our share on Thursday morning bright and early.

Gauging exactly how much I will need is going to be tricky as we are just about to take a second cutting on our hay field.

Oh well its a nice problem to have I guess....


Adrian Stewart

I have no idea why but yesterday I was stung on the back of my neck as I went past the bee hives today I was stung on the ear and I have to say that on the ear really hurts!!

My ear is now red and swollen...and I have no idea what I did that provoked them. I can only think that the sting from the other day is in my jacket somehow and still giving off the"attack" pheromone. Well that's my theory anyway.

My bee expert friend tells me that my colonies haven't had enough time to build honey for the winter so will need to be fed sugared water during the winter months....oh joy! and there was me expecting honey on toast all winter.....well maybe next year will be good for honey if I look after them this winter.



We weighed the girls today and while some of the pregnant ones are now very heavy the condition score on the girls is looking much healthier which is a good sign when you are getting near to birthing time. Overweight mums and overweight cria lead to diffilcult births and sometimes dopey cria.

Adrian Stewart

It feels like its been a long week somehow.
So its good that the weekend is here and we can relax slightly....
We are now on baby watch for Sorpressa I am pretty sure she will be next and she is bred to Peruvian Inti-Sapa of Derwydd.

My two youngest children have decided to rescue two cats from the animal shelter and they are now slowly starting to settle in and explore the place...always best to keep the litter tray handy!



The fencing is on hold until Monday then we will put in the first row of tensile wire which we will use to gauge where the new posts should go in.

The pasture next to the barn is being rested so that it will recover for the winter it has been heavily grazed during the summer and if this goes on too long it can cause problems. If you let livestock eat the grass back too far you simple open the door to weeds and other opportunist flora and fauna.

Adrian Stewart

I eventually arrived home at about 10pm last night after an uneventful journey back down from Pucara.

This morning our vet Dr Leslie Richardson is coming out to check on a mother and daughter that are travelling to Virginia in early October and to ultrasound four of our females.

The TB check on the travelling mother is fine and now all we are waiting for are lab results on the blood draw.



I didn't get an pictures of the ultrasounds we did as I was busy making sure the girls stood still. Which isn't always very easy when they are pregnant.

Out of the four we tested only three were pregnant and that is very disappointing that yet again we have a female that previously tested pregnant and now appears not to be.

In the last twelve months this has happened three times and as I said in a previous Blog we are now moving to a much more rigorous testing of females to ensure that the pregnancies are real in the first place and that they are retained full term. Today is the first step in that new process so I guess its better to spot the open female now rather than later.

Of course three open females means three lost breeding fees and six months wasted. Its a tough lesson to learn and not a problem I have encountered before so I guess I have been very lucky in the past. now I will have to be much more careful.

Well the weekend is almost upon us and our Alpaca show is only two weeks away, I am responsible for vet check so this weekend I will be drafting an e-mail to remind exhibitors about BVD testing and microchips.

Until tomorrow, happy farming and may all your cria be healthy.

Adrian Stewart

This morning we put Navidad (the girl with attitude) to Perfection and she was like a lamb, I swear she was almost smiling.

Jude had put Navidad next to the studs overnight in the expectation that this would get her into the mood for breeding the next morning and although we will never know if it worked she was certainly very receptive to Perfection.



With 250 alpacas there is never a dull moment and each day at Pucara involves a whole series of husbandry activities inculding medical treatments for a couple of girls.



Jude and Al have three members of staff at the farm and making sure everyone is on the same page is vital to the smooth running of the farm. One of the ways this is achieved is by using white boards to list alpacas and any actions that are needed. The information is also stored on a computer system, the white boards ensure easy access to the facts by anyone working in the barn.



The more time I work with alpacas the more I realise that keeping things simple is the way to success it is so easy to over complicate alpaca husbandry.

Adrian Stewart

Navidad is an original import and that sometimes means they have something of an attitude and Navidad is no exception so the idea of leading her straight into the trailer is a non starter.
So the winning approach is to carefully load 4 or 5 girls into the trailer then let out the ones I don't want in there. By the time Navidad works out she is the only one left its too late.

Interstate 5 is not the most scenic of routes driving North from Medford towards Portland so the challenge is to make sure you don't fall asleep.

I arrive at Pucara in the pouring rain and Navidad trots off the trailer wearing a halter like she does it every day.



Al and Jude are great friends and there is very little they don't know about the alpaca industry or the players in the industry. They run a well respected course at their place for people who are new to the industry and I recommend it to anyone who likes to have a good time and has a thirst to learn from established experts.

They have almost 250 alpacas on their farm now and probably one of the biggest suri herds in the USA.



Tomorrow Navidad will be bred to Snowmass Perfection.

Adrian Stewart

The weather has taken a turn for the worst and the temperature has dropped about 20 degrees in the last 24 hours.

Unfortunately, the new medications fridge has some how tripped the GCFI and so everything inside has warmed up including the frozen colostrum...which has now had to be thrown out.
Luckily we have a back up bottle in the main freezer and that's were its staying until I can sort out the new fridge.

Dr Leslie Richardson and assistant Anita arrived on time and did the health check for the female and cria heading off to their new home in Virginia next month.

Virginia is very strict so requires TB, Brucellosis and blue tongue tests. We drew blood for two of the tests and the third is an immune reaction which the vet needs to check in 72 hours. So Leslie will be back on Friday to check that and to ultrasound four of our pregnant girls.



The cria is under 4 months so doesn't require any of the tests.

Everything goes well so now we just have to wait for the blood test results and the inspection on Friday.

Tomorrow I am heading off to Northern Oregon for two days.

Adrian Stewart

The fencing project is rolling along and I remain confident that the fence will be complete by the end of this month.

Today I am flood irrigating the hay field for the last time this year and hopefully when it dries out we will get a second cutting which I wasn't really expecting this year. Still thats good news as more hay means more money...or at least that's the theory.

Not long now until AlpacaMania 2006 the local alpaca show which SoJAA put on every year.
The show is over the weekend October 6th 7th and 8th.

Apart from being the president of SoJAA I will be managing the vet check which runs all day Friday the 6th and then being ring steward on the Saturday all of which I really enjoy.

This year the show is bigger than ever with 187 stalls assigned and 384 halter show entries plus 169 fleece entries. So its going to be a very busy weekend.

I did complete my table of contents that I was working on yesterday and now have to write a sample chapter....so just a little manic here today.

Adrian Stewart

Amazing how the days come around and today is that day we all really enjoy ....the one where we get to check the alpacas over and cut any toe nails that are overly long.

I then spent the rest of the day writing a table of contents for an alpaca book. A publisher is interested in seeing a proposal from me and I just hope I am not tempting fate by writing about it in the Blog. Oh well too late now.

This week we have the vet in on Tuesday to do health checks on a female and cria before they head off to their new home.

Wednesday I am heading up to Jude and Al's place with a female.

Better get back to the table of contents...which is taking much longer to write than I expected....

Adrian Stewart

I wasn't sure if Larry was okay with me putting this picture on the Blog but in the end he agreed.

Yesterday when I was working with Larry at his place the vet arrived to check some females and a couple of cria.

Larry thought it would be a good idea to put his gelded male Llama all 300lbs of him in with his intact male alpacas.

What followed was chaos with four very randy male alpacas chasing this poor guy around the pasture until they had him cornered.



Obviously we got the poor guard llama out of there as quickly as possible and Larry tells me he was still looking stressed the following day.

I guess its one of those things that feels like a good idea at the time, but with hindsight turns into what we might call a learning opportunity!

Adrian Stewart