The new addition... an Alpaca!

I know, it's been too long since I last blogged. . . but, I was waiting till we got the new addition to our ranch, an Alpaca!!

We picked him up yesterday. He is kind of wild and is sad to be separated from his momma, but I think he'll do just fine and friendly up quick. . . at least he needs to! We thought he was a "she" when we got him, but later found out "she" was a he. His name was Patty Kay, but that doesn't work for a boy name. So he needs a new name, obviously. Thinking about a few, but the one that is sticking at the moment is "Buddy" (I know, very original).

Anyway, he is so tiny and soft. Part of my family thinks he isn't cute, some think he looks like a bird, others think he is cute (me). What do you think?? He really isn't dirty, as it looks - the white "dust" is actually his color.

Last Monday I noticed that Peppercorn, one of our female llamas, wasn't acting right. Normally when I'd walk up to her, she would get up. This time, she didn't. I put the halter on her and had to force her to get up. Obviously, she was not feeling well. Monday night she was not going well at all, seemed really shaky and weak. I gave her Thiamine and a bunch of other vitamins. Tuesday morning she seemed much better but still "off". She has slowly gotten better, but she has still been doing one thing - hanging her head down about half the time when she is standing up. This can be a sign of pneumonia in llamas. I have been giving her tons of vitamins and things, and she hasn't gotten worse but not much better the past few days. So, last night we decided to start her on Penicillin. Hopefully it will kick in and knock out the pneumonia.

Poor girl. Thankfully, she has kept eating and drinking this whole time. Last night it actually took 2 of us to hold her so I could give her the shots. . . so I guess that's an improvement. I just hope she gets all the way better.

Me and Ms. Peppercorn,

Last Tuesday we went and sheared a gal's gelded male llama for her. He was a real sweaty  and took the whole thing really well, just on a halter. My clippers decided not to work well though, so I did most of it by hand. Thankfully we just gave him a barrel cut. In exchange for shaving her llama though, the lady gave us 4 turkeys, 3 silkie chicks and 1 silkie rooster. I guess the turkeys will be for Thanksgiving, and the rest just for the kids to have fun with ;).

Well, not too much else has gone on. I am going to have to work with "Buddy", the alpaca, every single day to make him friendly and lead train him before mid-October (when the Down Syndrome Association of Tulsa [DSAT] Buddy Walk, where we are planning on taking several animals).

"Cutie Booty", the little Nubian bottle doeling, is growing so well and is just adorable. I really need to get some new pictures of her. She is also being lead trained to go to the DSAT Buddy Walk.

Have a good day everyone!

Suriyah

busy!

Been real busy! To make it easy. . .

Friday evening we went to the local livestock auction, as usual (for hogs... normally). A few female llamas went through and one had a baby of her. The mom was sold and it seemed like nobody wanted the baby. So of course, we felt sorry and bought him!

We got him home and put him in a stall. He seemed so small! But after talking to the llama experts, they said he is probably about 7 months old and old enough to be weaned. Poor guy though!

Monday morning we sheared him. I ordered new blades for the clippers I had got and they worked GREAT! He didn't like it much, of course, but was pretty calm by the time we were done. This morning we also sheared our brown female llama, Peppercorn - and the clippers worked great again and made the job MUCH faster. It only took about 30 minutes to do her. I don't think we got any pics of her done haircut - will have to get those later.

our new little guy the night we got him home and BEFORE a haircut,

getting his haircut!

looking much better with his haircut! Now keep in mind, this was the first llama I had ever sheared, so it isn't the prettiest :)!

Saturday we had a birthday party/hoedown for my brother's 18th birthday! It turned out good and I was so tired by the end of the night! Then Sunday we went swimming. . .

Sunday evening we also got our new LGD puppy. He is SO TINY and cute. He is 75% Anatolian and 25% Great Pyrenees. He is only 6 weeks old, a bit young, but some things came up and we had to get them sooner (our friend got one of his brothers). The guy we got him from has some of the best LGDs and guarantees his dogs to work. So we'll see! He is hanging out with our bottle babies and we are going to keep our new llama with them, so they become a little herd.

His name is Armor,

Well, someone else has to get on this computer and I got to go put a halter on the new llama, so. . . have a great day!

Suriyah

squash from the garden,

Insulating barns, working llamas, etc

WELL, not too much has been going on lately. It has been super nice weather, so we finished insulating the doe barn, and my mom insulated a lot of the buck barn yesterday also.

We walked in the pasture a few times this last week, and there is not much grass left out there to eat anymore. So I have been feeding a lot of hay out lately. The pasture was kind of overgrazed this past summer, so hopefully before Spring we can split it so we can rotate and have more feed that way.

I have been working with the llama girls everyday. The brown girl, Peppercorn, was a lot more "wild" and nervous when I would work with her. Yesterday though (the 3rd time I've worked with her) she was not too nervous and let me pet her and didn't "dance around" much at all. So,she is improving very quickly! She also walked well on the lead yesterday, and the first few times she didn't know how to be led at all! So that's exciting with her. We'll see how she does today.

The white girl on the other hand, Salty, has always been very easy to lead and was obviously worked with in the past. I am getting her used to me brushing/petting her also but she is not too bad at all. BUT, yesterday I started to pet her (while I had her haltered) and she turned and spit at me! EWW! Thankfully it was not green spit, but it still stunk. I think she is getting grumpy and is going to have a cria (baby llama). Today her back seems a lot "higher" than before, so maybe we will have a cria soon (hopefully a girl!)!

Me working with Peppercorn,

We are now milking 12 does - drying lots up. We have 13 dairy does bred and 8 left to breed. Plus several Boer does already bred. It's nice in a way milking only 12 does now - somewhat of a "rest" (if you'd call that a rest!).

Have a great day,

Suriyah

Updates

the three llamas - we named the white female "Salty",

Bill

Yesterday we got a big load of beautiful Alfalfa/Orchard grass hay delivered from Missouri. It is very nice hay at a very good price also. If anyone is looking for a good source of hay in the Missouri area, email me and I'll give you his contact info.

Since we got that load of hay, once I am done feeding the last few bales of Alfalfa that I have left, I will only be feeding the milkers the mixed hay. They seem to like it a lot better than straight alfalfa, and that way everyone will get the same kind of hay.

Not too much else to update on. It's been raining here a LOT and everything is wet and muddy ;).

Have a good evening!

Suriyah