Jun. 14, 2016

Our second lady alpaca was due to give birth today but alas nothing happened. The two adults were due to be shorn tomorrow but that has now been postponed for up to two weeks. But that suits because it would in my opinion be better to wait until Astra gives birth.

Bronson, our first born is thriving and has begun nibbling at grass. He has learned so much in two weeks and has grown incredibly quickly. He is still very playful and it would be possible to while away an hour with him without knowing it. We can't wait to see how he reacts when the new Cria arrives. He will have someone his own age to play with and it should be great to watch them running and doing what young alpacas do, whatever that is.

I'll let you know as soon as there is any change on the new arrival.

Alan

Jun. 6, 2016

Eight days on from his birth and Bronson is thriving. Alpacas feed their young themselves. Bronson's mother is very protective of him, but his noseyness cannot keep him away from us. He comes over to sniff us and we sometimes bring him, his mother (Apollo) and Astra (our lady in waiting) into their shelter and rub them down and talk to them. Generally they like the attention.

On his birth, Bronson was 9.5kg in weight and eight days on he has weighed in at 12kg. You can almost see him growing day by day. The photo attached to this piece was taken today 6th June. Its hard to believe that he is as young as he is.

At the moment he is copying everything his mother does. And even though he is unable to digest food yet, he is trying to eat grass just to be like Apollo. 

You could spend any amount of time watching them out in their paddock and its amazing what you can learn just by observing these docile animals.

Jun. 1, 2016

At 21:15 on Sunday 29th May, Brosnan was born. The birth itself was fine, except that alpacas normally give birth between 12 midday and sometime in the mid-afternoon. One of the signs of an on-coming birth is that the pregnant alpaca will not eat or will eat very little. Our wonder-lady eat her normal portion of nuts and chomped away at the grass. She did seem out of sorts and even to us as first-timers and Catrions was expecting an out of the ordinary time birth. At nine o'clock I went up to the field to see how the mother-to-be was, and I noticed she was straining in the middle of the field and I knew what was happening...Catriona and the girls came up and we all witnessed the birth of Brosnan, a 9kg whopper. The picture here shows him a few moments after his entry into our world. Two days on and he is running, jogging and walking around beside his proud mother. 

I have to thank Paul McDonnell from Hushabye Farm who talked me through the important parts of the birth and made it much easier for me. But even he was caught by thge timing of the birth.

Visitors have come to se him and he is loving the attention. He is a gorgeous rose-grey colour which he gets from his grand-mother. 

Now we are waiting for our second lady to prodece. She is due thirteen days from today. The excitement here is still on high.

I'll keep you updated.

Alan