Check out this helpful article which explains how to fit a halter to your alpaca and why a proper fit is so important.
http://www.camelidynamics.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/11/HowtoProperlyFitaCamelidHaltersmfile.pdf The last time I was out with my alpacas was when my friend and neighbor, Kathy Parson brought some young children over (that she was tending) for a tour of our little hobby farm and its animals.
This happens all the time, people wanting to see my animals. So, I didn't think much of it. Usually, I have no problems with how my animals act around other people, but what I had forgotten was that, no tours has been done since our second alpaca, Princess had arrived. I did not anticipate the surprising behavioral changes in Queen. Without taking time to tell you the entire story let me say that Queen has gone from the bottom of the pecking order (in her original herd) to the Queen bee, and she is not dealing with the pressures of leadership well. Kathy was caught in the crossfire of Queen spitting at our goats. An unfortunate situation of collateral damage in a barnyard sqwabble. And, I received a direct (spit) hit from Queen when I intervened in Kathie's defence. To make matters worse, not only was I mortified that Kathy had been spit on, intentionally or not, but the kids were now scared of the animals. And for the icing on the cake, Steve and I had a dinner engagement to attend that night, so, earlier in the day I had spent hours at the salon getting a cut, color and highlight. (Kelsey loves to straighten my frizzy hair when she styles it, this allows me to enjoy straight hair once every few months.) Now my new hair do was full of nasty, stinky alpaca spit! I was not a happy camper. Kathy took the now frightened children home and I set to the task of spending some unscheduled time working with my alpacas. My ignorance in the behavior and the handling of alpacas became apparent immediately. This led me to a wonderful website called CAMELIDynamics. Here is a link to it http://www.camelidynamics.com/what-is-camelidynamics/. I am in the process of ordering their CAMELIDynamics Starter Kit. http://www.camelidynamics.com/store/product/camelidynamics-starter-kit/ Wish me luck! Queen is still shaking like a leaf and has now stopped eating. She needs another alpaca in order to feel secure. We picked Princess up yesterday before the petting zoo activity. Two kinds of Alpaca"There are two kinds of alpacas, the Huacaya (pronounced Wuh-kai-ya) and the Suri. Huacaya alpacas are fluffy like teddy bears and Suri alpacas have long shiny locks like very soft, slightly curly hair.There are advantages to each kind. Suri alpacas are much more rare and more expensive. The fiber of the Suri fetches a higher price on the international market." ~Mt. Airy Alpaca Company Meet Princess, our new Suri alpaca.We were able to bring Queen home today, she is so darn cute! Steve and Cammie tagged along and got to see all the other alpacas. The babies are adorable.
We tried to bring Splenda, a white alpaca, home too. But she kushed and wouldn't get up. I think she knew something was up. Queen was/is so frightened. Poor little girl. She has been shaking like crazy. I'm pretty sure we are going to go back and get a different little white one named Princess. So Queen won't be alone. Although I'm pretty sure she would adjust and fit in to our menagerie of animals eventually on her own. Yesterday I looked at a sweet little alpaca named Queen and agreed to give her a good home. We should be able to pick her up soon. I'll post pictures of her when we do.
It snowed last night and the chicken coop was a muddy mess, but the gals seemed chipper when I went out this morning in spite of the muck. Last year we raised several batches of chicks to replace our laying hens that were getting old. I chose to raise several different breeds of birds that would lay a variety of colored eggs. I love colored eggs! Some of the hens were camera shy, so not all the hens are shown. I wrote down what breeds I had bought but I can't find the list, so I don't dare label all the birds. This gal thinks she needs to set and gets cantankerous when you take her eggs.
![]() It's time to de-horn and castrate the first wave of baby goats. No one likes this part of raising goats, it's darn right unpleasant! They are castrated by putting tight bands on their testicles. They don't appreciate it too much. Luke's friend Carter Geddes came over to play video games. I don't think he knew what he was getting into. ![]() Once the de-horning iron is hot Luke holds the baby goat still, while Steve places the iron on the horn buds. This sears the tissue so they will fall off and no longer grow. It is smelly and it does hurt, but it is much safer for the goat if they don't have horns. Grants job is to catch and bring in each baby, then put them back with their moms. It is interesting to watch the babies once this unpleasant job is finished and they are put back in the pens. They go running back to their moms, bleating and immediately nurse. It's almost as if they are complaining about what had just happened to them. A long drink of warm milk always seems to help them. It's almost like putting a band aide on a child's boo boo, it makes it feel all better. All of us hate banding and de-horning day, but it is a necessary evil.
I'm a wimp, I always run into the house when the unpleasantness starts. ![]() Last fall our big red billy goat named Scout, went to live in Driggs with some of Megan's does, and Sucker, Megan's billy goat, came to live with us. A few weeks ago Luke came inside after feeding and told me Sucker didn't look too good. The next day, Steve and the boys went out to worm him and give him some vaccinations. If an animal starts to look poor, a lot of times it means they have worms. While the men were worming Sucker, they noticed a growth on his neck, just under his ear. Hoping to save Megan the cost of a vet visit, Steve gave Sucker an injection of penicillin. It was a long shot, we were pretty sure the abscess would need to be lanced. I was suppose to go out and check sucker a week later to see if the antibiotic had helped. Well, I forgot! I know, you are thinking how could I forget about a sick animal! In my defense, I did ask for updates from the boys, they go out twice a day to feed. Each time I asked they said he looked better and I'm sure he did, but they never climbed in the pen to check his neck. Any way, yesterday Megan called to ask me a questions unrelated to Sucker. When she called I remembered that I was suppose to check his neck myself and then get back to her with an update. I'm such a dork! After we finished talking I ran directly out to his pen to check on his neck. The growth hadn't changed a bit. This new information and my guilty conscience sent my day's plans in a new direction. The vet was able to see him that afternoon. Before the vet lanced the growth he said there was a chance the goat has CAE or CL. When he lanced it he said if it was full of cottage cheese type stuff that would be bad, and he suggested sending in a blood test to determine if the goat had one of the diseases. If it was watery, that would be good, it would mean he probably received a hay puncture while eating and developed the abscess because of that. Thanks goodness it was watery! The vet didn't think a blood test was needed and seemed confident it wasn't anything contagious. Luke held sucker for the vet. He was a good sport. When the vet lanced the abscess it smelt horrible! I was gagging from the smell and I was across the room. Steve happened to have a shift at Driggs last night and was sweet enough to drive the truck and trailer to work, instead of his Cadillac. I wanted to make sure Sucker would receive proper post vet care and I didn't trust my forgetful self to do it properly. Returning Sucker to his owner seemed like the best course of action. Sucker has been safely returned to his owner and Scout is back home in his pen. |
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January 2016
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