Our Christmas Babies

Our little Reindeer, Carmella, born December 19, 2005
Angelica (Angel) born December 23,2005
Carmella, standing at 30 minutes!



Well, after 11 months of waiting, we finally have our first babies (crias). We are really fortunate that our first additions are both girls, and they are both beautiful and healthy! All those nights of worrying if everything was going to go alright, was not necessary, as both mothers delivered without any assistance, and I found both babies a few minutes after they were born! (I had been checking the mothers every half hour during the due week). This is really exciting as Nueva Vita really has its first "new life".

Baby #2

Well, I guess I worried for nothing as these mothers seem to know exactly what they are doing! Although she was a little later in the day than is "normal" S'mores delivered a beautiful white baby girl this afternoon! Again, the baby was on the ground before I discovered her and she was covered with dirt, so I couldn't even tell what color she was. Again, all the females were standing around checking her out. I picked her up, took her in the barn to dry her off and for number two, everything seemed just a little easier. Putting iodine on the umbilical cord (there seemed to be a little hernia, so I tied her with a string dipped in iodine). Her neck doesn't seem to be as strong as Carmell's was, but each hour that passes seems better. We've called the vet to come and check her tomorrow and draw blood for the IgG test, but she seems to be great, although she is about a week early. I think we will call her Posiedon's Angelica (Angel). She is bigger than Carmella (weighing 16 pounds) and the only way you can tell that she is early is that the covers that are on her toenails in the womb are still there, so he feet look a little funny. I called Rhonda and she said this was normal and that the covers would wear themselves off. This is fun....and makes it really feel real that we are truly alpaca ranchers, now!

Our first baby!

Well, it's been a long day, but very exciting. Carmella (a combination of Carl and Melinda) was born between 11:15 and 12:30 today...I was on a conference call, and when it was over went out to check on Minnie and there the baby was, on the ground with all the girls standing over her and nudging her. I took her in the barn and started drying her off, called Kim in the house, and naturally, got the answering machine! When I tried again, he came running and we started drying her off with the hair dryer and doing all the things that the book says to do! She was pretty alert and active and was standing within a few minutes and looking for the "milk machine" within an hour. We had the vet come out and checked her out (since we are so new to this) and he says she looks fine. She weighed 13.10. So we weigh her tomorrow and if she is gaining weight he seems to think everything is ok. The big question was if she was nursing, which she seems to be doing fine (really cute with a milk mustache)! She is the same color as Minnie, even though her father (Bossman) is light fawn. Can't wait for everyone to see her! She is so fluffy! She is really cute!!

The Boys and Silly Arrive

The other alpacas were delivered on Saturday. They are doing well, except that Cagney and Lacey have been chasing the boys, and we've had to separate them from time to time. The boys are very curious and friendly. Cambridge will eat from your hand, and when he does, Rigoletto is right there, too. The sand burrs are still a problem, but not quite as bad as they were when we got S'mores and Minnie.

The boys are not as fastidious as the girls. The boys' bean pile is "in the general vicinity" and while the girls line up to go the bathroom one at a time, the boys back up to the pile spread their legs really wide and go at the same time...it's pretty funny and probably more than you wanted to know.

Silhouette is just as georgous as we remember...she is quite an animal!

Minnie is due on December 10th, so we're getting a little nervous that we know what we're supposed to do! Wish us luck!

Life on the funny farm...

lately has been more work than funny...

The land management team goes home today. They have done a great job! we even let them out by the pond for a couple of days and they cleared that out, too! (Just had to watch them closely because they wanted to head for the front and the flowers!) Kim thinks that we may be able to make this a yearly thing with the goat guy and that would be a lot of help for us!

This morning we had Rhonda and Jenny come over from the ranch in San Marcos where we've bought our alpacas. They gave us a school on giving shots and trimming toenails. I'm afraid I'm still a little wimpy so Kim got the lions share of the work, but I held them still! I don't know if I have told everyone that we decided to get Cambridge (white) and we also had to have another male so that he wouldn't be by himself, so we bought Rigoletto (black with dark brown legs) too. The leaf vacuum is here in town, and Kim has to make arrangements to pick it up tomorrow, so as soon as we see if this works, we'll have Silly, Cambridge and Rigoletto delivered. Then, we'll have two crias in December, so we're movin!

Was nice to have weather in the 60's this morning! Let's hope that the hottest weather is soon going to be behind us!

Prisoners, Intruders and Escapees!

This week has been especially eventful! We need a vacation! On Tuesday we took Cagney and Lacey in to get shots, and ended up leaving them with the vet to be spayed, so when we got them home on Wednesday, we had to keep them in the kennel to restrict their activity. We moved the kennel into the alpaca shed as we had rain predicted, and didn't want them exposed to the weather. They didn't like being cooped up, but were pretty good about it.
On Thursday night as I was doing my nightly trek to the barn to turn off the fans and close the doors, when I walked through the front, I heard a noise to my right and Belle growled. I looked, and there was a raccoon eating KC's food! We looked at each other eye to eye (with his little burglar mask), I calmly collected Belle, turned off the fans, and left! (In all honesty, it was a little one and didn't look very threatening, but I wasn't taking any chances). We had the vet come out for a farm visit on Friday morning. he checked Minnie and S'mores out said they looked fine, (except for the burrs) gave Fawn a vaccination, and said we could let the puppies out for a little activity.Friday night we got that expected rain. And RAIN it did! Suffice it to say that the pond is full and overflowing again, and the grass is looking a lot more healthy, too.
In the alpaca books they say alpacas are "easy" ...just give them a shelter that is dry and clean.....well that is easier said than done, especially when your land slopes down and all water is running to the shed! (shudda thought of that one!) So Kim and I are out in the rain trying to divert the water away from the shed. We worked a little more on Saturday during the break in the weather, and time will tell if we have managed to secure the floor of the shed (OR AS KIM CALLS IT, THE ALPACA HILTON).
This morning after feeding everyone, and starting to come back to the house, I accidentally let Cagney out. It was total chaos! Moxie and Belle were barking at her to go back, Lacey was barking to get out too, and Cagney was having a great time. Eventually, I put Moxie and Belle in the house (while yelling "KIM I NEED HELP") in the hopes that they would get Kim ("What, Lassie? Is someone in trouble?) and in the meantime, Lacey climbed OVER the gate and got out too, just about the time that Cagney discovered the Ducks! Where are the video cameras when you need them? Cagney chased the ducks who scattered for the pond, but did that stop her? NOT A CHANCE! Both Cagney and Lacey were in the pond swimming after the ducks, and eventually Kim heard the commotion (mostly me SCREAMING) and came out with leashes. I caught Lacey, but Cagney was still dog paddling her heart out! I think she only came out because she was tired. Clearly we have some dog obedience school needed.
Well, that's our news...I think I'll take a nap now....

Love, Ronda

P.S. for those who have asked, the Cleanup Crew (Billy and the girls) is making amazing progress!