Where do I start?

There has been so much happening here the last week I'm not sure where to start, some good, some bad and some just farm life.

We'll start with a cria update, firstly thank you to all those who took the time to vote for Cara's baby name.  It came as no real surprise that Janjan won, with almost 75% of the votes.

She is now doing well and is out in the field gaining weight and just loving the sunshine!

 

Next up we have double trouble, these two girls are looking for mischief every minute of the day, on the left we have Little Miss Irraquoys little girl (who we still haven't agreed on a name for!) and on the left is Carina's little girl.  As Carina wasn't supposed to be pregnant when we bought her we have called this little fawn girl Bounty as she was a bonus.

 

Next up we have the first boy of the year, who is now a week old and is still a little slow compared to the girls, although he is gaining weight, despite his mum feeding anyone who wants to feed from her!  He has a lovely fleece developing. 

 

Next up we have cria number five of the year, not your text book birth either; do you ever get the feeling it is going to be one of those years?  Casiphia our home breed Supreme Champion (from Legend) was a maiden and Wednesday morning she looked very much like she was in the early stages of labour, so I rang Jan from Castleside Alpacas so she could see what to expect when her girls birth next month.

 

Unfortunately though things didn't progress, other than lots of sitting down and a fair few visits to the poo pile nothing happened.  No pushing, no grunting and no baby, and as Casiphia had no milk I began to doubt that she was actually in labour.

 

Jan eventually had to go home and at 8.30pm a little nose appeared!  Still no pushing and with just a head and two feet out I decided it was time to help this little one out.  Hardly alive I had to give him a swing, lots of massage and simulation and he finally started to gulp, his breathing was terrible, and poor Casiphia had no idea what this alien thing I'd placed next to her was.

Into the shed we went, thankfully once he was settled and warmed up his breathing improved and he had a good suck reflex, unfortunately with no milk from mum I resorted to the frozen colostrum in the freezer.

 

Another night of hourly visits to the shed for me!

 

Thursday I had a prearranged visit to the vets booked for Niveous and Emery who both have tooth root abscesses which were being x-rayed. I also wanted to pick up some medication to try and bring on Casiphia's milk and a miracle cure for Cassiopeia (more on her later).

 

Thankfully Casiphia is now back out in the field with her little man who she now knows what to do with and she has some milk (not lots) so they are doing just fine.

 

Friday morning wasn't a god one either, it started off with me finding that the fox had realised that there was a fence between the hens and the alpacas and he/she had trashed one run and got into the coop and taken Dave the cockerel and all his ladies.  Not satisfied with that it had broken the door of the other house and gone upstairs and taken/killed all those too.   In all we lost 10 hens; very sad.

 

Then I walked into the girls field to find Cara down, phone call number 4 of the week to the vets and out he came.

 

I'll fill you in with the details tomorrow as the batteries in t keyboard are going and I keep having to press the keys about three times!!