Rosemary

Hobart, Tasmania, AUSTRALIA


Joined July 30th 2007

Number of Posts:
124

Number of Comments:
496

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7



About Me
I have a small hobby farm south of Hobart, in Tasmania. My little farm is home to 20 or so alpacas, which are wonderfully entertaining and great fun to have around.

My blog is simply the day to day ramblings of life on an alpaca farm.

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Recent Posts

Alpaca Update

June 6th 2009 01:28
Been away for a while, but I noticed that Alpaca Notes hasn't disappeared off the radar, so I thought I'd drop in with an update.

We lost our lovely Daizi. Not sure what happened, just went out one morning and found her lying dead in the paddock. Very sad, as she was an alpaca I really liked, I could cuddle her and she'd come up and cluck at me like she clucked at her crias.

She had a young cria at the time, who we had to wean early. Thankfully, the bub was starting to graze for herself so we didn't need to bottle feed her.

On a brighter note, things have rolled on and we have new babies quickly growing up. I need to take some new photos of them, but we've had pouring rain here for almost a week and let's face it, pacas don't look so good when they're sopping wet.

Anyway, this is Peter Pan. born on 11 January 09. He's a lovely light fawn colour and is a nice natured boy.
Peter Pan
Peter Pan


Here's Montezuma (Monty). His mum, Alice keeps having crias this wonderful caramel colour, and they're all beautiful, inquisitive alpacas, just like her.
Montezuma
Montezuma (Monty)


Little Wendy is a petite girl like her mum. Her mum went very weak in the back legs during the last few months of her pregnancy and we were very concerned about her. Had heaps of tests done, but the vet couldn't find any problem, so we just put it down to the cria pressing on nerves or something. Wendy's a very cute little paca.
Wendy
Wendy


Hannah is Maralyn's latest cria. She's the funniest little thing. She was very unafraid of humans and would march right up to people to check them out. You could pat and cuddle her and she enjoyed it. This isn't a good trait in a prey animal as babies like this make an easy meal for any predator who wants to grab them, so we don't encourage this behaviour.

She's becoming less precocious now as she's growing up and learning the alpaca way from her mum and the other alpacas.

Hannah is still a very bright and personable alpaca though, which is wonderful.
Hannah
Hannah

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There’s not much that’s bad about having alpacas. OK, picking up alpaca poo is a bit of a chore, but that can all go on the garden and it grows lovely plants and veggies for you.

Shearing day is pretty arduous and can leave you feeling stiff and sore from man person handling pacas and sorting all that fleece (particularly if you’re a bit of a sloth who doesn’t do much exercise).
Shearing alpaca
Shearing alpaca

A sick alpaca isn’t much fun either, as you feel sorry for them and can’t explain to the poor animal why you’re sticking needles in them.

The worst thing is definitely when one dies, but thankfully that doesn’t happen too often (touch wood).

Now, most people will probably think I’m nuts here, but selling alpacas is also way up there on my bad list.

Alpacas are pretty expensive animals, compared with most other livestock, so logic would dictate that when I sell one, I should be overjoyed.

I have set a limit on the number of alpacas I can comfortably look after. This is a very important thing to do if you’re contemplating having these critters because they are soooooo collectible. If you’re not strict about your numbers, you can quickly find yourself with a LOT of alpacas.

I really enjoy seeing the new babies arrive and watching them running about exploring their new world and growing bigger. That’s the best part for sure. Unfortunately, the flip side is that I have to sell some. Actually selling them isn’t hard at all, they just do that themselves. But it’s having them go away, that’s really tough, especially ones you’ve decided to sell, but then grown kinda fond of.

Holly
Going to miss you Holly


I try very hard not to get attached to my alpacas. I know they don’t get attached to me (though I have wondered about that on a couple of occasions). I also feel a little better by the fact that I only sell alpacas to people who I’m confident will take good care of them.

It’s still hard though. Just want to keep them all.
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Skinny Girls

June 30th 2008 03:40
I’ve decided to wean Emily off Alice. Emily’s six months old now and she’s a big girl, so well and truly able to survive without her mum now.

Emily
Emily


I often let the girls wean their female crias themselves, as I’ve found some will do it anyway, when the crias about 9 months old. They’ll walk away when the cria tries to nurse, or nudge the cria away with their back leg.

Some mum’s lose a lot of condition when they’re nursing and it doesn’t seem to matter how much extra food you shovel into them, it just goes straight through to the baby. Alice is starting to get a bit skinny this year, so I’ve moved her up to the house paddock with Fiona, Donald’s mum.

Fiona hasn’t lost a lot of condition, but she’s the skinniest of the other mums and I always prefer to keep at least two alpacas together. Donald is 6 months old and also ready to be weaned now, so that’s worked out well. I’ve moved him in with the boys and put them way down the back where he can’t see his mum.

I’ve moved Emily and the rest of the girls to a paddock which is a fair distance away and has super good fences - Em went through the ordinary five strand fence twice, just as Marco did (that’s the next fence to be fixed properly!).

It’s not so good that Emily can still see her mum from the corner of her paddock. She’s been running up and down the fence looking for a way to get through to her. It would be much better if they couldn’t see each other, but if you don’t have many “far away” paddocks, you need to cope with what you have.

Alice and Fiona
Alice and Fiona in the garden

Alice and Fiona are concerned about being separated from the main herd. I’ve found they don’t worry much about their crias going away, but they don’t like to separated from the main group (a safety in numbers thing, I would guess).

They’ve got access to a bit of longer grass though, which will give them more nutrition than the really short stuff in all the other paddocks. I’ve been giving them some extra food as well, a mix of lucerne and oaten chaff, and gran mix which is a horse feed containing various grains, chaff and molasses. The alpacas love it.

I don’t want to keep the two mums separate from the main herd too long so giving them extra will help get some weight back onto Alice fairly quickly now she's not feeding Emily. It will also take their minds off being away from the herd.

Her milk will dry up fairly soon too. So (hopefully), when I put them back in with the herd, she won’t let Emily nurse anymore.

That’s the plan anyway.
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Paddock Portraits 2

June 16th 2008 23:54
Here’s Magic. He’s now 4 months old but is already as big (or bigger) than a couple of the 6 month olds. Magic is from my beautiful girl Maralyn who is a lovely calm natured alpaca. Magic is a friendly little guy and he’s soooooo soft! He may well be stud potential, he’s already looking fantastic (and he knows it).
Alpaca - Magic
Alpaca - Magic


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Paddock Portraits 1

June 13th 2008 02:20
Just a few happy snaps for you today. Here’s Donald (D’Entrecasteaux).
Donald (D’Entrecasteaux)
Donald (D’Entrecasteaux)

Donald's coming up to 6 months of age. It’s hard to get a photo of him with his ears up, he usually flattens them as soon as he sees the camera pointed at him. He's a stunner though, a very handsome boy


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And it’s on!

June 6th 2008 08:34
Our working boy Cappy, doesn’t like our wether, Jamma. I don’t know if he thinks Jamma is still entire (he was castrated many years ago), or whether Jamma just looked at Cappy the wrong way at some point. In any case, I often find them having spitting and screaming matches with each other across the fence.
Cappy and Jamma


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On alpaca meat and cannibalism

June 3rd 2008 00:48
I read a book a few years ago “The Last Tribes on Earth” by Paul Raffaele, in which he journeys deep into the jungles of Papua to meet the Korowai people. They have been living happily in the jungles for thousands of years and they have no qualms about eating humans.

The Last Tribes on Earth - Paul Raffaele
The Last Tribes on Earth - Paul Raffaele

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Boating at the Woolly Butt

May 30th 2008 07:41
I was looking through my files for some photos to print out and came across these happy snaps.

Boating at Falmouth

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What colour?

May 25th 2008 23:30
If you’re registering alpacas you need to state what colour they are. The AAA (Australian Alpaca Association) has a chart with 12 colours on it and you need to pick the closest to the colour of the alpaca you’re registering.
Alpaca - Donald


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This book, Caring for Llamas and Alpacas: A Health & Management Guide by Claire Hoffman and Ingrid Asmus, is a good resource if you’re starting out with alpacas (or llamas).

Caring for Llamas and Alpacas
Caring for Llamas and Alpacas

[ Click here to read more ]
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Recent Comments

Comment by Rosemary
on The Green Dream . . . .

August 5th 2008 03:04
So sorry for your loss MNG.

It's the hardest decision ever and the day we dread.

She's up there in the stars. Take care and give yourself lots of time. R.

Comment by Rosemary
on Spot the difference - aka - compare the pair

July 6th 2008 11:09
A bit late in the evening for my neural connections I'm afraid. Nice colours though

Comment by Rosemary
on Nude and Rude

June 30th 2008 05:06
Some very good photos in there. I like the colour in no's 20 & 21.

Comment by Rosemary
on Skinny Girls

June 30th 2008 05:06
Hi katyzzz.

Frankly, watching the news lately, you gotta wonder why some people bother having children at all.

Alpacas, much easier

Comment by Rosemary
on Paddock Portraits 2

June 17th 2008 06:58
Hi Lara. Thanks for dropping by. I would've got more of Maddy but she wouldn't stay far enough away. She's another paca who likes being in the picture.

Comment by Rosemary
on the tall tree attracts the wind

June 17th 2008 05:12
Cheap consumer goods
or
Clean environment?

Try going a day without buying something made in China.



Comment by Rosemary
on Bush shoots Hoops

June 17th 2008 05:11
Wonder if he had the Catholic kids at war with the Protestants before the game was over.

Comment by Rosemary
on Paddock Portraits 2

June 17th 2008 04:44
Hi Louie & katyzzz.

Yes, he is magic and he loves to pose for the camera. He's a very handsome alpaca.

Comment by Rosemary
on More digital photo basics with Erin Manning

June 13th 2008 02:39
Good tips there. Will see if they work for alpacas as well as people.

Comment by Rosemary
on I guess you've got to love horses

June 6th 2008 10:08
Good photos. I like horses. There are a lot around here. They used to spook when they saw the alpacas but they're used to them now. Cheers.