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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
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 (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
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
Theres not much thats 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 youre a bit of a sloth who doesnt do much exercise).
Shearing alpaca
A sick alpaca isnt much fun either, as you feel sorry for them and cant explain to the poor animal why youre sticking needles in them.
The worst thing is definitely when one dies, but thankfully that doesnt happen too often (touch wood).
Now, most people will probably think Im 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 youre contemplating having these critters because they are soooooo collectible. If youre 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. Thats the best part for sure. Unfortunately, the flip side is that I have to sell some. Actually selling them isnt hard at all, they just do that themselves. But its having them go away, thats really tough, especially ones youve decided to sell, but then grown kinda fond of.
Going to miss you Holly
I try very hard not to get attached to my alpacas. I know they dont 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 Im confident will take good care of them.
Its still hard though. Just want to keep them all.
Ive decided to wean Emily off Alice. Emilys six months old now and shes a big girl, so well and truly able to survive without her mum now.
Emily
I often let the girls wean their female crias themselves, as Ive found some will do it anyway, when the crias about 9 months old. Theyll walk away when the cria tries to nurse, or nudge the cria away with their back leg.
Some mums lose a lot of condition when theyre nursing and it doesnt 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 Ive moved her up to the house paddock with Fiona, Donalds mum.
Fiona hasnt lost a lot of condition, but shes 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 thats worked out well. Ive moved him in with the boys and put them way down the back where he cant see his mum.
Ive 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 (thats the next fence to be fixed properly!).
Its not so good that Emily can still see her mum from the corner of her paddock. Shes been running up and down the fence looking for a way to get through to her. It would be much better if they couldnt see each other, but if you dont have many far away paddocks, you need to cope with what you have.
Alice and Fiona in the garden
Alice and Fiona are concerned about being separated from the main herd. Ive found they dont worry much about their crias going away, but they dont like to separated from the main group (a safety in numbers thing, I would guess).
Theyve 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. Ive 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 dont 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 wont let Emily nurse anymore.
Thats the plan anyway.
Heres Magic. Hes 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 hes soooooo soft! He may well be stud potential, hes already looking fantastic (and he knows it).
Alpaca - Magic
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Just a few happy snaps for you today. Heres Donald (DEntrecasteaux).
Donald (DEntrecasteaux)
Donald's coming up to 6 months of age. Its 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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Our working boy Cappy, doesnt like our wether, Jamma. I dont 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.
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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
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If youre 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 youre registering.
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Comment by Rosemary
on The Green Dream . . . .
Alpaca Notes - Tasmania
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.