The Home Coming or "The Menagerie Begins" On July 24 at about 9 AM John MacEachran of Kilblan Farms pulls into our driveway with the girls in tow. We lead them to the pasture and let them go. Now we are official, there are alpacas on NEWAIM Farm! This isn't a very good picture, but it is our first picture so we are keeping it in anyway. The area where the farm is located tends to be a little wet so we have a substantial number of slugs. We also have a substantial white tail deer population. The combination of deer and slugs is a bad thing to have around alpaca because of the Meningeal worm (Parelaphostrongylus). This parasite occurs naturally in deer and is passed from one deer to another through slugs which feed on the deer feeces. If this parasite is ingested by an alpaca it can cause serious illness or even death. This is why it is necessary to have a routine worming program for your herd. In addition to worming we also opted to get a few chickens to have around the pasture. Chickens love to eat slugs and the eggs are a nice side benefit. Seeing as we had enough animals to keep us from wandering around the streets looking for something to what would be the harm of getting a few more. Leila found a free giant angora rabbit and Hannah got the chinchilla she had been hounding us about for the last six months. I guess they are kind of cute after all.          Our Herd Grows or "Lattee's Big Day" 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