This has been a busy week on the ranch. We’re going to be sending the females and their cria over to the south barn in the next few weeks so it was time to mow, edge and just clean up in general. A few months of neglect can sure create a lot of work. We’re also going to be replacing the cross fencing on the south side. We originally installed 4 ft “non-climb” fencing instead of 5 ft in order to save some money. NOT GOOD ENOUGH!! When the males have a disagreement and a 4ft fence is all that stands between them, the more aggressive one goes right over. Today a neighbor stopped by on his way to the dump to see if we might want the 5 ft “non-climb” he just took down. He was going to just dump it. Wow, that worked out great!

Cisco, Jack, Juneau and Donner were sold last week. It’s always a little strange to walk in to a pen and see four less animals. Congratulations to the Foss’s and the Chyets. All four were very nice animals. We have been boarding an alpaca for the Chyets that has just been neutered so he calms down a little. He emerged from the vet’s office with not only the normal two small incisions, but a SIX INCH INCISION IN HIS FLANK! It seems that one of his testicles had not descended properly and the vet had to go in and find it. WHOA! According to the vet, he may take up to 3 months to get his testosterone level down to where he calms down a little. Or he may not calm down at all. Gee, the vet really went out on a limb with that prognosis.

Finally, and sadly, we lost Seneca last Thursday. She died in Kathy’s arms just after we went out to the barn that morning. She just didn’t have the ability to process her food and she didn’t have any stored fat to fall back on. We’re sure going to miss that little one. Shasta, her mom, is absolutely devastated. It’s heartbreaking to go out to the alpacas and Shasta is the first one over to us looking for her baby. Shasta is a proven female, so she knows how to raise a cria. Unfortunately this time around was very frustrating for her(and us). The vet feels Seneca was at least 3 weeks premature.

We’ve given a great deal of thought as to the reasons for the premature cria this year.  The vet says it’s been a strange year for both cattle and sheep also. Our nutrition program has not changed and we even had a complete blood workup on Shasta with no abnormalities detected. We tend to believe that the reason for the trouble has something to do with the change in climates these two female alpacas experienced. They came to us from a very cold climate and we’ve had an exceptionally warm spring and summer. Also I think we tend to underestimate just how much stress is created by travel.       

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