Two Months of "Catch Up"

Wow, it's hard to believe it's been 2 months since I've written. It's not because I haven't been going to the ranch (because I have), nor is it because nothing exciting has happened (because things have). I've just been a nut case with work and haven't been able to sit down quietly and collect my thoughts.

After 2 months, where do I start? I still go to the ranch every Saturday and help with breeding, spit testing, walking the boys and anything else I can do. Marquita had a darling little boy in March. They, recently, went to a new home in San Diego. Her little boy's nickname is "Spot" because he is a light fawn yet covered with spots. He took a real liking to Lillith the Llama. They would neck wrestle and he would follow her around, and even nurse from her. Rick said if a cria sucks long enough, milk will appear. How crazy is that? More about Llamas and crias later...
Emma also had a darling little black boy in April, followed by Smokey surprising us with a perfect little black girl last Saturday. Not to be outdone, Priscilla waited to deliver her, cutie pie, medium fawn little girl on Mother's Day. It was pretty funny at the ranch last Saturday. Rick and Pati had moved Priscilla in to a field with only 2 other Alpacas. There was every indication she was going to deliver that day. All of us kept walking around the house to look in the field to see if it was time for the blessed event. Pati left and Rick and I continued the vigil. While standing there, watching Priscilla, Rick glanced over into the next field and saw a new cria rolling in the hay. Smokey had popped out her baby, with no fanfare. She was so quick, Lillith hadn't even noticed yet. A perfect little girl, 21 pounds, jet black and healthy. Priscilla also delivered a 21 pound perfect little girl the next day. If you don't read Rick's updates, he said that when the nose and toes were showing, Priscilla started spinning around like a cat and spitting at the cria hanging out her back end. Rick was concerned she may not be a good mom, but nope, she's a great mom.

Mid April was shearing time again. This year was a fiasco as Ken, the shearer, was having problems with his equipment. That delayed the job getting done in 2 consecutive days. The first day, he did about 40 Alpacas, then could only do about 4 the following day. He couldn't finish the job until the following week. Diane bagged and tagged the fiber, I helped with herding, some holding, and walking boys back and forth from Boy's Town. Rick blew out his knee so wasn't able to hold the animals. A friend of theirs, Dave from Raisin Bred Alpacas, did most of the holding of the animals and did a fantastic job. He really had a way with them. Pati held quite a few of the animals also, which is amazing, considering she is so tiny. Who gets the prize for being the most unruly Alpaca??? ALLAA Perseverance 291. Yep, little Percy, that weighed 7 pounds at birth, was almost 2 months premature (the youngest gestation to live)was tubed, bottle fed, wore diapers, stayed in the house, and was handled a lot by adults. She threw Pati, Dave and Ken around like rag dolls. She's a real firecracker. I would say a close second would be my girl, Princess. I can see she is quite predicable at shearing. Once again, projecting from every oriface, and yelling the whole time. No, she wasn't being hurt. She was MAD! Once again, shearing was like unwrapping presents. I think the biggest surprise was Lilly Belle. She had sort of a marble look to her fiber. After being shorn, she is a pattern of light and dark fawn. She's really pretty.
I know I've talked about Alpha's spots before. Well, now that he's been shorn, he has lots of little silver spots. Spots he didn't have last year. It could be my imagination, but it looks like he's getting more and more spots every week.

Speaking of my first born, Alpha, he has recently had a growth spurt. February 16, he weighed 89.1 pounds; March 1st 88.1 pounds; April 5th 97 pounds, and May 10th (after shearing) 107 pounds. Considering he shed 2 pounds of fiber, that means he gained 12 pounds in a little over a month. Go Alpha! He's so sweet. He, now, will eat tree leaves and weeds from my hand. Alpha helped halter train Tonto, who will be going to the Nationals in Utah. They have a very special bond and are really cute to watch together. Felix helped halter train Sonny and Majik, as they are going to Nationals, also. So is Paris Hilton. I am so excited that I get to Pacasit while Rick and Pati attend the show. I know they'll be bringing home lots of ribbons :)

Back to shearing for a moment....at the end is when the Llamas were shorn. It's pretty easy to handle them by short tying them in the shed. Rose and Lillith are Rick and Pati's. KoKo is a border that came last July. She had been barrel cut last year, so she looked really big and fat.
When Ken started shearing off her fiber, there was lots of movement going on in her belly. Yep, KoKo is pregnant. KoKo is pregnant by an Alpaca. Where she used to live, they would put the herdsire in the field with the girls (obviously, Alpaca and Llama girls) for the day. Oops! Considering their gestation is the same as an Alpaca, and she's been at Rick and Pati's since last July, she should be due pretty soon. Watch, she'll have her cria while I'm Pacasitting. Actually, there is a possibility of a few crias, maybe, being born on "my watch". Nala, Summer, Gwen and Toni (Star's mom) are all on baby watch. Today, we went over what I need to do in the event a cria is born. I've been very fortunate to witness several births at the ranch, which will be helpful. I can do it. Plus, how helpful is this? Two weeks ago, Rick held a seminar on cria births. It was very informative and I learned a lot. There were about 20 people there and I know everyone walked away much more knowledgeable than when they arrived.

Wow, this is too hard, trying to catch up for 2 whole months. I think I'll end this with a list of my "herd" (which is now up to 8), and what's been going on with them:

Princess - bred to Fred in December, due in late November. She's doing great, has been a wonderful mom to Pati Cake and is starting to get a belly.
Alpha - the jury is still out on him. Although he didn't do well in the shows, I am not ready to write him off as a pet male. He is so sweet, has great confirmation, great bite, impressive testicles and is growing well. Plus, the spots intrigue me.
Vanilla Sundae - bred to Mo in December, due in late November. She is doing great and looking more like her dad, Vivace, every day. She is mellow, just like her mom, Carmel Sunday.
Felix - my sweetheart. He is doing great, has incredible fiber with lots of crimp and has a personality all his own. I actually feel he gets jealous if I halter a herdsire for breeding before I go in his field and spend time with him. He's the oldest in his field and seems to get along well with everyone. His roommates are Alpha, Merlin's Majik, Deja Vu, Luther, Patron, Sonny and Tonto.
Star - bred to Fred in late August, due in early August. Yes, Star is pregnant!! She is huge!!
I am so pleased with her. She is a beautiful girl, and her coloring (light rose gray) is magnificent.
Meg Ryan - bred to Fred, bred to Fred, bred to Fred. Is she pregnant? Don't know. She is so hard to read. Rick said now that she's been shorn, we'll put her in the chute in a few weeks and he'll ultrasound her. He did say he thinks her belly looks lopsided and she has a "don't even think about it" stance when boys are around.
Pati Cake - my baby girl. Oh boy, is she black! She's growing like a weed. She'll be 7 months old next week and will be weaned from mom, Princess, pretty soon. I'm hoping to show her in the Fall, depending on how her fiber looks when it grows out.
Norma Rae - Who? You've never heard me talk about Norma Rae? Probably because I just added her to my herd :) She is Felix's half sister (same mom, different dad). Although their mom, Paloma, was the Wicked Witch of the West (and has been sold and left the ranch), she has really nice babies. She's a big girl for her age, and we expect to breed her on her first birthday. This is pretty weird. I, actually, named her. She was born September 1, 2007 (Labor Day weekend). She has some pretty hot shot names in her ancestry, so I have high hopes for her. I think she'd like a date with Mo on her birthday.

I won't let so much time pass without writing. Not only do I enjoy writing for people to read, but I find myself going back to my blogs to remember certain events and when they occurred.

I promise to write about my Pacasitting experience :) Stay tuned....