Cindy’s Alpaca Blog

Our last cria of this birthing season was born on Saturday, April 18.  Sadie Ann gave birth to a beautiful fawn male who weighed in at 14.4 lbs.  Mother and baby are doing well.  Sadie Ann chose to give birth in the barn stall.  I could tell she was already in labor when we came out to feed around 8:00 am.  She was holding her tail up and wanting to lay on her side up in the stall - very unusual behavior for Sadie Ann.  Sure enough at around 9:30 I could see the birth sac beginning to bubble from her backside and I knew that birth was eminent.  I had shooed all the other females into an adjourning stall so that Sadie could labor without being bothered, but my husband Steve objected - rightly claiming that Sadie would be more supported by the company of her fellow alpacas.  When I opened the gate Champagne and her cria Ghirardelli came in to see what was going on.

To our amazement Ghirardelli, who is only four months old himself, appointed himself as midwife to this birth and literally ushered the cria into the world.  He licked the cria’s head off when he was still halfway inside his mother, and then stayed right with the cria when it slid fully into the world.  It was an amazing sight to see Ghirardelli tenderly caring for this newborn future playmate.  Soon the other females gathered around to welcome the new one into the herd.  What a privilege to witness such a precious event.

Soon after the little fellow was born the opera “Seigfried” came on the radio, so I think we will name this little male Seigfried.

Sadie Ann had her cria at the right moment.  The very next day was shearing day at our farm.  We were able to get all 18 alpacas and two llamas safely shorn, and the fleece sorted into three piles by the end of the day.  We have alot of work to do still in skirting and sorting out which fleece will go to the fiber co-op, which will be sent to the yarn mill, and which will go to the Texas rug company.  All of that work is still to come.  Many thanks to the Sanchez family - who came to observe the shearing process and ended up offering great help in collecting the fleece into three different bags.  Good work!

Our first full birthing season is coming to a close as we eagerly await the birth of our last cria of the season.  Four cria were born on our farm since November including Freckled Rose (November 7), Spats Ghirardelli (December 12), Midnight Serenade (January 17) and Penny Lane (February 3).  Sadie Ann’s first cria is due any day now.  With little ones pronking in the field and a barn full of pregnant moms and randy males, life is very full!

We attended two shows this year.  In February we went to the Florida Expo in Jacksonville.  Heli Arc and Lakota came away with red ribbons in their classes.  Crimson Tide placed sixth in his class.  Last weekend (April 2-4) we went to Clemson, South Carolina for the Palmetto Classic.  Crimson won a blue ribbon at that show (go figure!), Lakota placed second again and Heli Arc placed third.  Not a bad show season for our second year in business!  Next year we will have five yearlings and one juvenile to show.

Alpaca shows are great opportunites for networking with other breeders and buying and selling animals.  We did not intend to sell any of our animals this year.  But we did purchase a beautiful maiden female named Shyning Bright Lee from Bill and Juanita Crake of Ridgeview Alpacas.  We also invested in a quarter interest of Libertad’s Notorious - a gorgeous rose grey male who will come down to Florida in December for his first breeding season.  We will certainly keep him busy on our farm!  Learning from outstanding judges such as AOBA president Dave Barbosa, and observing the animals that consistantly do well in the show ring provide an invaluable education for alpaca breeders.  We intend to participate in more shows next year, and enter our fleeces in fleece shows as well.

Here are a few pictures of our newer crias: Midnight Serenade with Penny Lane,Penny with Ghirardelli

                                                  Libertad’s Notorious                       Shyning Bright Lee