Pablo

Meet Pablo. Pablo is my guess for winning the “Farm Favorite” category because he’s everyones favorite when they come for a visit. He has an interesting story.

Pablo was born in January 2009. Terry found him at 8:00 in the morning and he truly thought that he was frozen – it was during an ice storm. But when he picked him up, he looked up at him and hummed!

I came “skating” to the barn with my hair dryer and towels and Pablo sat inside my coat while I dried him off and warmed him up. Terry looked at him and immediately named him Pablo after the Disney storybook we read to our boys when they were young. You see, Pablo was the penguin that hated the cold. With this cria being black and white and born in an ice storm, it seemed to be the perfect name!

I’m going to write a children’s book about Pablo. We are very attached and he is quite the character!

Meet Pablo right after shearing. You should see him now!

I just knew that Pablo wanted to be grey, but he didn’t have any grey fibers – yet.  He was a “flat black” in color, but I knew he wasn’t the shiny true blacks that I’ve had in the past.  After shearing, we found SPOTS!  And now, he has grey fibers running through his fleece making him a stunning Dark Silver Grey!  We’re very excited about Pablo’s future.

 

Meet April LABELLEFLEUR

April was born on April 1, 2009 – yep, April Fool’s Day. But she is no joke. She is a stunning pure white (mayble that’s the joke. Both parents are fawn!) female that will also be in our fall show string.

April needed a “Show Stopper” name, but naturally she must be called April. It tooks me months, but I finally arrived with a name that suited both her date of birth and was show worthy. LaBelleFluer is French for “The Beautiful Flower”. It had the flair I thought she needed!

This is April's baby photo. You should see her now!

 

Monty

 

 

 

Meet Montague. a.k.a. Monty.  He looks like he’s a light brown, but when you part his fiber, he is a beautiful black.  When alpacas are in utero, their newly fiber can become “bleached”.  It’s only when the new fiber begins to grow in that you can truly see what color they will become.  Monty was born in August, 2008. 

 

You’ve seen him in our literature; he’s the short one…

 

 

 

 

 

 

Another “Monty Mug” is one that I use in seminars…

 

 

That was Monty then, but this is Monty now, well this winter.  You can just see his density and his curls!

 

Alpacas are weaned when they are approximately 6 months. 

This is Monty now…

 

 

  

 

 

 

Monty & Mom

 

April

A special moment with Mom

 

April’s first steps

Meet April.  She’s our newest arrival here on the farm.  She’s Katie’s daughter out of MFI Peruvian Donovan.  Both parents are fawn – we were expecting a fawn.  We’re not disapointed, but maybe just a little “fooled”!  She was born on April 1st – yep, April Fool’s Day.  (Hense the name, April)  Yeah, I’m so clever.

I knew that Katie was close to her due date, so I was watching her from my office window.  Naturally, they were on “free range”.  I was on a phone call and ended it by saying, “Oh, I have a cria on the ground and I gotta go now.”  That’s what I love about this job.

Here’s some photos, and yes, you can expect more, and more and more… (later)

One pregnant 'paca

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Alpaca babies, crias, are usually up and learning to stand within 1-2 hours.  April was no exception.  Weighing in at a hefty 20 pounds, she had good, strong legs to support her.  I say “hefty” because I could hardly get my cria strap around her to get her weight! 

 

 

 

All of the other girls were excited to welcome April to the herd… 

 

 

 Kisses are cool, but a little privacy please…

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Alpacas Playing “King of the Hill”

 

Vying for Position

 I may be remiss in getting this posted in a timely manner, but I hope that these photos will be worth the wait. 

Spring is so much fun on the farm.  The alpacas love it when I close the main gate and open the barn doors.  I used to let the girls out first for about 3-4 hours followed by the boys.  BUT that changed…

Here the boys are playing King of the Hill. 

  

   

 

…When the boys would search for the sprouting cedar trees and other sticky stuff that I haven’t cleared yet and would roll to get those stickers stuck into their fiber.  So they have lost their free range prifileges – at least for now.

 

 So now it’s the girls and their crias that get out to play.  

 

 

 

 

 

 

They run and pronk around the “yard”.  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

And one of the first thing they always do is to run up the gravel pile.  Playing and pronking are how muscles are developed and strength is built.  They are also developing social behavior.   It’s fun to watch the dynamics of the herd.

 

 

 

It must be something inherent in their genes, because all alpacas love to be on top of the hill.  They will truly play “Queen” or “King” of the Hill and push each other off the mound!  Because they absolutely LOVE to be on TOP!

Copperhead made it to the top

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

In this photo, they are somewhat tired and have decided to share the hill!