On Monday the only thing on the calendar for today was emptying the septic tank....... thank goodness for you, dear Blog readers, that we had a new cria born yesterday afternoon.

So here is an opportunity to illustrate exactly what it is we alpaca shepherds want to see from our new born alpacas.

First off we want to see them standing up, because its hard to nurse and get some milk if you can't stand up even with an alpacas neck!

Once they are standing most cria find the milk bar fairly quickly...



Here you can see our new arrival in action. His mum is standing dead still and he has latched onto one of her four teats. If you look carefully you will see his little tail has popped up...this is a good sign.

Once he has finished feeding we take a good look at his mouth...



Sometimes called the milk moustache you can see he has been getting milk quite successfully.

And once we have eaten a large lunch on a warm sunny afternoon we all like to rest up for a while.



Here they are sat in the afternoon sun enjoying some quiet time together.

This folks is what it's all about. Its a roller-coaster journey but the highs make it all worthwhile.

Have a great day.
Adrian Stewart - click here to go to Mulberry Alpacas.
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