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| It is now the spring of 2000 and we are seeing the first new buds and flowers of the new millennium. Both Annie and Fiesta are due in May. Fiesta in the beginning of the month and Annie towards the end. I am working at the kitchen table with one of my web clients when Nancy suddenly bursts in and tells me that Annie was in labor. We were expecting Fiesta to go first so I was somewhat surprised. I told my client that I was sorry but my priorities had just been realigned. He understood and we all headed out to the pasture. |
| Annie was definitely in labor and she was beginning to deliver the cria. This was Annie's first baby and she seemed a little confused about what was going on. The sack had not broken yet and that concerned me a little. Honey's birth last fall was much further along before we noticed so I was not sure if this was normal or not. I called our neighbors who raise horses to ask for advice and the both came down to help. We were now on our way toward the record for best attended alpaca birth. People in attendance now included Nancy, me, our three daughters, my web client, and our two neighbors. |
Our daughter Hannah was studying film making in school and just
happened to have the schools video equipment home for the weekend.
She began recording the whole event for posterity. The result after
editing was a 30 minute documentary which has been show on our local
cable access channel many times. By the time the cria was actually on the ground we had two more
visitors arrive on the scene. Our tenant showed up to pay the rent and
one of the girl's friends from school stopped by for a visit. This
brought the grand total of people in attendance to 10! The cria was very small,
she only weighed about 10 pounds. Normal weight for a cria is about 14 or 15 pounds.
Here small size was probably due to her premature delivery. She was born 4 weeks short of
the average 345 day gestation period. The the fetus gains much of its size during the last
4 to 6 weeks of pregnancy. Another issue related to her early birth was that Annie's milk had not
come in yet. It is critical that the cria receive colostrum during the first 24 hours after
being born. Colostrum is the first milk that the mother produces and it contains vital
antibodies which jump start the cria's immune system. Since Annie had no milk, we had no
colostrum either. Cow colostrum is an acceptable substitute, so I set off on a mad rush
to check all of our local dairy farms to see if anyone had saved some. Finally with
the help of one of our neighbors I located a farm that had a half gallon in the freezer.
I hurried home, thawed it out, and prepared a bottle. I started having flashbacks of
all those frigid nights feeding Honey. Fortunately this time it was a one time occurrence.
While I was participating in the Great American Colostrum Search, Nancy had gone to the vet
and picked up some oxytocin. Oxytocin stimulates the mother to begin producing milk.
By the next day Annie was lactating and Raisin was nursing. Oh yeah, I forgot to mention
that we decided to name her Raisin, I guess all of the other stuff seemed more important
at the time. From there on out Raisin was a normal healthy little girl. She just recently
passed her first birthday. I guess I am a little behind schedule getting this posted on
the web site. She has grown up to be a very attractive young lady. We plan to breed her to
Gem late this fall. |
| Two weeks later Fiesta finally delivered. Her experience was much different than
Annies and that is probably the way she likes it. She delivered on a warm sunny day
when none of us were home. By the time the girls got home from school the cria was running
around the pasture investigating his new world. He was all white and weighed in at
a whopping 20 pounds. We decided to name him Achebe. He was already bigger than Raisin
who was two weeks old. Two weeks doesn't sound like much of an age difference, but alpaca
cria grow at an amazing rate. During the first few months of life they gain 1/4 to
1/2 a pound per day. Achebe weighed in at 110 pounds on his first birthday. NEWAIM Home If you have any comments about this site or want more info on raising alpaca send email to al@newaim.com This site was designed by Dog Bone Designs Waldoboro, Me |