Summer continues to bake the ground here in Northern Nevada. We didn’t even make it to summer before the Carson River was completely shut off to irrigation. It’s going to be a dry summer unless we can get into a thunderstorm pattern. I know it’s cliché but “at least it’s a dry heat”. The dry weather along with some misters and a few daily hose downs, really helps the alpacas cope with the 90f+ days. It cools off to around 50f at night.

Meanwhile, the babies keep coming. We are up to 6 cria (5 girls, 1 boy) with another 2 overdue. The other 12 will have their cria in August and September.  The babies are smaller this year. I think partly because we are keeping the females slimmer than last year, and partly because they are late. Yes, unborn cria actually begin to lose weight after the normal 335-347 day gestation period. The placenta gradually loses the ability to transfer nutrients to the unborn cria as the term is extended.

Aurora, our little “preemie” cria is still hanging in there. She actually went over her birth weight for the first time yesterday. She is now 13lbs. I am including some pictures of her with her new playmates. In one of these pictures a comparison of the three cria will show that she still has not fully developed. The ear has straightened out nicely but the neck still has not straightened up. She also walks with a little lean to the left. I believe this is also because of her neck problems.

Our new gift shop continues to do a slow but steady business. This is not exactly the best time to sell sweaters and mittens but we do get a sale or two each week in spite of the summer heat. Tahoe Breeze Alpacas is now a licensed affiliate of “Americas Alpaca”. This retail website hosted by the Alpaca Fiber Coop Of North America offers a great variety of clothing and yarn manufactured from the fleece of alpaca breeders right here in the USA and Canada. We also look forward to participating in the National Alpaca Farm Days celebration on the weekend of September 29th and 30th. Heavily promoted by the Alpaca Owners and Breeders Association, this event will have television and newspaper ad support and promises to bring a lot of curious people out to see the alpacas and hopefully purchase some alpaca clothing. To find out more about this event go here.

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