Babies Get Their First Hair Cut!

Twister seems to be saying he's not too sure about his new look but he has to be so much more comfortable in the summer heat, now he's lost his newborn coat.

Still being bottle fed twice a day, Twister is definitely the biggest baby in the pen in more than the obvious way.  He has gotten to enjoy his bottle so much, he follows us around making tiny mewling sounds.

Martin, however, is definitely enjoying his shaved look and is obviously so much more comfortable with his thinner coat.

It is important to shear newborn alpacas so their fleece can be used the first year - which is when it is at its finest and softest.  The cria tips felt extremely quickly which is due to a combination of the presence of amniotic fluid and the fact that cria do not produce body oils until after birth.  Therefore, the newborn fleece is without oil and forms into tiny hooks.  These tips act like velcro and attract dirt, hay and any other debris our cria can find.

As seen on Pauline's face, which was not shorn, the pieces of hay and grass are easy to spot.  If cria are not shorn within a few weeks of birth, they can quite literally look like a walking haystack by shearing time.  Although alpacas are not concerned with the cleanliness of their fiber, our sorters certainly are and, if it's bad enough, some of the cria's fiber cannot be used.

 The cria can look very different once they are shorn but Sox is still easy to spot with his white front fetlock.

Drop by and pay our cria a visit and if you come around 10.30, you may see Twister enjoying his morning bottle.

Babypalooza Winners and Answers - how many did you get right?

Congratulations to Theresa Moriarty who was our winner for Alpacas 101 - she will be receiving a stuffed alpaca to remind her of her day at the farm.  Mandy Conklin won the Baby Alpaca Teddy Bear in our "Who's My Baby" and it was quite a challenge to match the moms to their babies - see below.

Winning entries were placed in a drawing and we invited one of our visitors to impartially draw the winners names.  We were very excited at the number of entries we received and look forward to doing something similar at future events.

The highlight of the weekend was seeing the enjoyment on the faces of the guests who signed up for time in the cria pen.  Our cria (babies) are extremely inquisitive and loved all the attention they received.  If you spent time with the cria, let us know your experiences.  I know everyone had a different story to tell when they came out.

Here are the answers to the Whose My Baby competition held this past weekend at our fabulous Babypalooza Open Barn.

Arlene
and







Tishell

Britney and

Montgomery

Charity and

Twister

Chica and

Chaps

Cleopatra and

Louisar

Coppertone and

Martin

Ebony and

Pauline

Gidget

Philippa

Iridessa and

Iridessa's Cria (not yet named)

Liberty and

Mylow

Mimi and

Midsummers Knight

Morenya and

Morwenna

Normandy and

Norton

Omega and

Omega's Cria (not yet named)

Opal and

Ellingham

Praline and

Praline's Cria (not yet named)

Tre J and

Sox

Zarzamora and

Arandano

Girl Power - Morwenna and Philippa

Morwenna - meaning 'Maiden By The Sea' in old Cornish - is as fiesty as her namesake in the Doc Martin TV Series.  

Doc's Morwenna starts out as a flighty, irresponsible young lady, desperate for a job after many failures.  Once part of the notorious girl-pack of Portwenn, Morwenna is happy to shed her childish outlook and soon becomes Doc's 'Right Hand Girl'.

Our Morwenna also likes to run with the pack and can usually be spotted in the middle of a large group of cria.  Her dense fleece and gorgeous deep brown coloring is following the same pattern as her Dam, Morenya.  Born on Memorial Day (5/27), Morwenna was a tiny 14.7 lbs.  Now, just two weeks later, she's a whopping 22.5 lbs.

Our other Memorial Day Baby is Philippa.  Looking absolutely beautiful in her pure white fleece, she is named after Philippa Braithwaite, the producer of the Doc Martin Series and also real life wife to Martin Clunes who plays the dour doc.  We needed a real stunner to name after such an influential person and our Philippa is a great fit.

Philippa was born to Dam Gidget and weighed a healthy 19.2 lbs at birth.  She prefers to explore the pasture rather than running with the pack, and only finds her dam when she's hungry.  The other cria will follow her to see what she's found and our Philippa is looking like she's going to be a future barn leader.

Caught in the Act.....

Sox seems to be making the moves on the ladies - and he's not even a month old.

Caught rubbing noses with Louisar, Sox seems to be staking his claim to being the future farm Stud - watch out Charmer.

Snuggled up together, Sox seems a little more into making nice, while Louisar just appears to be tolerating him.  Sox is looking like he could quite easily use Louisar as his pillow for a nice afternoon nap.

Sox's guilty smile gives him away when he realizes he's being watched.  It will be a long time yet before we know if he will follow in his fathers' footsteps, but it seems Sox certainly hopes he will.

Arandano

Arandano - meaning Blueberry in Spanish - arrived Friday 5/24 weighing a healthy 19.8lbs.

With her beautiful coloring and amazingly long eyelashes, Arandano is going to be one of the barn beauties - just like her mother.

Dam, Zarzamora, is extremely protective of her little cria and makes sure she stays by her side at all times.  Arandano gets her name from her mom as Zarzamora means Blackberry in Spanish.

Zarzamora is probably so protective of her little one due to the difficulty she had having one.  Finally, she gets to be a  mom herself and she's not letting anyone forget it.

We don't often see Arandano pronking with the other cria but she does hang out with them in the pasture while the moms are getting fed.  Probably in self defence!  No intelligent cria wants to be in the barn when the doors are opened at dinner time, or they're likely to get squashed in the stampede for the food.

We are looking forward to seeing how Arandano matures.  If her personality is as much like her Dams as her coloring, we will be enjoying another super people friendly addition to our barn.

When you come to visit, she will be very easy to pick out with her distinctive coloring.