HISTORY 3

Camilla finally "criated" on May 28th... a whole month late! I understand this is a rarity; that most alpacas deliver at 335 days, but I'm on an email forum that suggests that while it isn't usual, it also isn't rare for alpacas to deliver as much as two months late. The problem is being sure the delivery really IS late, of course.

We're finally getting our fencing in! The fence will be in two sections, a front paddock with a 550 foot circumference and a back paddock with a 700 foot circumference. I know these sound like mighty small fields, but they'll happily hold the less-than-a-dozen alpacas we hope to have. Here are pictures of some of the fencing around the front paddock. Tawny, our Golden Retriever, is observing all this fencing activity with an interested eye... he's not sure what's going on, but he'll be willing to bet it'll be interesting! As usual, click on the thumbnail to see a larger version of the same image.

On June 6th, we visited Magical Farms , where we selected three young male alpacas. We want to learn how to work with alpacas before we bring home our very expensive females, but we need animals on the farm in order to do that. The folks at Almost Heaven are really good about letting us come to the farm whenever we like, but it isn't the same as having to get up and get out there and take care of the animals here. We were at Magical Farms overnight, learning what they can teach us about handling the little guys they'll be bringing us shortly thereafter.

The fence is finally finished! We have 1250 feet of 2x4 no-climb fencing, which encloses two pastures, only one of which is ready to use. The other still has all the logs in it that we haven't been able to pay anyone to haul away. It's a real shame, too, since it's mostly good oak that will make great firewood next fall, after it's dried a bit.

The fence was finished barely in time for the arrival of the alpacas, but in addition to the fencing, we had to find a way to shelter them. The shelter we'd planned for them hasn't been built because, the builder tells us, all the materials haven't come in yet. This is surprising, because Rick decided to build a toolshed - because we have to use the garage as a barn until the alpaca shelter is built, and he had to move all the tools out of the garage - but we were able to get the materials on a moment's notice... just by going to get them. I guess we'll have to wait for him, though, because he's put in the posts for it even if there's nothing else there.

On June 9th, at 10 or so pm, Tripp Forstner arrived with our three yearling males, Kimball, Captain Kirk, and Forrester. Well, they're almost a year old; July 20, July 23, and August 5 are their birthdays. We kept them in the garage overnight, with a small outside area fenced off in front.

On Saturday morning, we discovered that Kimball has a yellow exudate from his right nostril. Not knowing what to do about it, we decided to clean it up, and I went back to the house for warm water and cotton balls. However, by the time I got back to the corral, Kimball had apparently dipped his nose in the water bucket, because the exudate was already cleaned off. Later on Saturday, Rick rearranged the portable fences so the guys could get into the pasture, and they were delighted with the grass. They spend most of their time out there, coming back to the garage in the heat of the day, then going out again about 4 and staying out til we go to the garage with their dinner. We're feeding them the Agway growth formula, about 1/4 pound each morning and evening.

June 10. Kimball's runny nose is still running, and he has a mild diarrhea. I don't think it's anything serious, but we'll keep an eye on him. I hope it's just a change of water or feed.

June 11. Kimball's diarrhea is a bit worse, but his runny nose seems to be abating. He and Forrester seem to be distressed by their ear tags - at least, they are constantly shaking their heads and rubbing their ears on the ground or on tree trunks. I'll write to Magical Farms to find out how to remove the tags, and we'll check the ears. CAn't see the wounds while the ear tags are in place. We got a call today from Almost Heaven, telling us that Trinity had 'criated' - she had a 16.5 pound all true-black female cria, and the Ciszewskis named her Abigail. We'll go ooh and ahh over her tomorrow, I think.

On June 12, we removed the ear tags Magical Farms uses to keep track of all their animals. It wasn't easy, because they were put in so closely. But we did it, and discovered that two of the guys had infections; Forrester's was much worse than Kimball's. We put Nolvasan on the wounds, then applied triple antibiotic ointment. With luck, that will take care of the infections, if we do it twice a day for several days. We went to see Abigail, and she really looks tiny. Gabriel, who was born just a week or two ago, looks so big compared to Abby! The Ciszewskis loaned us some halters, since the ones I had purchased were too small for our guys, and they loaned us an "inner tube" with an attached carabiner. This gadget will be attached to the garage wall at one end and to a 'paca halter at the other end, so the guys can get used to being haltered. We have to train them to walk on lead so we can do herd health once a month. Because our ground is so rocky, though, we may not need to do it but every other month. And the latest word on the worming shots is that every other month is sufficient. So we may just do it that way... we'll see.

June 13. Forrester's and Kimball's ears don't look any better, so we put Nolvasan and triple antibiotic ointment on them again. Kimball's diarrhea is worse, so I'll contact Magical Farms again to see what we're supposed to do about it.

The guys seem to understand "Hey, Paca Paca," which is what we call out when we're ready to feed them. We don't call them when we just want to catch them and do something to them... like remove ear tags, work with their ears, or put halters on them... only when we're going to feed them. Already Kimball will eat out of Rick's hand, although Forrester and Captain Kirk don't want anything to do with him. They have chosen their own feeders, and three times now have sorted themselves out so that the same 'paca goes to the same feeder at each meal. We'll see if it's coincidence or if they've really figured it out!