Whoa, there’s a baby over here!! That’s the way we found out we had just had the second girl of the season. The cria was laying quietly on the hay we had just fed the girls on Wednesday morning about 10am. Nyia, the mom, was still eating and not particularly interested.

This was not a normal birth. Mom never showed any signs. She apparently didn’t even bother to stop eating. We don’t know this for sure because we did not witness the birth, but it sure didn’t seem right.

As it turns out we were correct. It was not a normal birth at all. Little Aurora weighed in at 11lbs. A best guess estimate by the vet is 3 weeks premature. She has still not been able to get to her feet on her own almost 4 days later. Her breathing was somewhat labored but improving every day. She has still not fully developed fleece coverage around her eyes and muzzle. Her little toenails are still forming, as are her ears. Aurora won’t be running around with the other kids for a couple of weeks yet. But eventually she WILL run, if we have anything to say about it at all.

Things have been a little hectic around here for a few days now. In fact as I am writing this journal entry, a new baby girl (our third), just born in the front pasture an hour ago, is receiving her welcome from the group. The other kids are already sizing up little Chelsea for a game of tag.

Some observations and trivia from the last few days-

Do yourselves a favor and keep accurate breeding records. Nyia, the female that gave birth to the premature cria, was not bred by us last year so we can’t blame ourselves for her inaccurate due date, but we have also made mistakes on breeding records in the past. Mistakes lead to needless worry about an “overdue” female that may not be overdue at all, or a surprise birth that may not have been expected for days, or even weeks.

Keep an eye on the pregnant females. I mean constantly! Some of these cria appear in very unexpected fashion. And some of them do need our immediate attention.

Have both plasma and either powdered, or frozen liquid colostrum substitute on hand. When you discover you need them, it’s already too late. In a pinch, regular whole cows milk (not the low fat kind) from the grocery store will suffice as a colostrum substitute.

OK I’ll ask again- Do you have your vet’s phone number, both regular AND after hours, programmed into your cell phone?

Always inspect the placenta after it has been passed. It must be intact, or at least all the pieces need to be there in order to guard against an infection. An infection could cause the loss of a breeding for the season, or even worse.

Did you know that heat stress caused by not only temperature, but humidity, is the most common reason for premature cria birth? Travel stress is a close second.

In my last journal entry I mentioned I was going to speak of the equine industry and how it might relate to alpacas. I will get to it, I promise. Lately it just seems that there are more important things to write about.

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