Cria Watch Day 20: Soon

We're on day 20 of cria watch, or day 335 of pregnancy and we feel like we're starting to get into the any time now part of cria watch, except Chloe isn't ready to have the baby yet.

She's teasing us. We keep seeing hints that she's close and getting ready, but she's not ready.

Chloe's udder is a little bit enlarged. An enlarged udder usually means something soon. Unfortunately, "soon" can be a really vague term in this context.

When we look under Chloe's tail, we see she's a little distended -- but not nearly enough for a cria. Enlargement is another one of those hints that means "soon". True dilation is usually an indicator of first stage labor, but what we're seeing isn't true dilation.

Finally, Chloe is being slightly less standoffish. Alpacas go through various behavioral phases during pregnancy. As delivery approaches, they get very nervous about any potential threat, very skittish, and they basically enter a "don't-touch-me-I'm-pregnant-and-uncomfortable" mode. Then, shortly before delivery, they add a maternal aspect to their personality -- and because they don't have a cria to be maternal toward, they exhibit some aspects of maternality toward anything. The protective/skittish and uncomfortable/pregnant aspects of behavior don't really disappear -- the maternal aspect is added on top of everything. The behavior changes vary with the individuals. We know Georgia's delivery is within ten days when she starts aggressively playing kissyface with us. Chloe gets a little less standoffish -- which tells us her cria will arrive "soon".

Interesting word, "soon".

Cria Watch: Day 17

Is that an udder I see?

Chloe has clearly entered the "don't touch me I'm uncomfortable" stage of late pregnancy. This morning, when offered a chance to cool off in the hose, she declined. This afternoon, when it got hot, she accepted the offer. That's when Pam noticed that Chloe might be developing an udder -- "bagging up" in alpaca breeder speak. Might be. With all the wet fiber, it's hard to tell.

If Chloe's udder is bagging up, this really doesn't give us any new information about the delivery date. Some alpacas bag up a week or two in advance of delivery -- to the point of udder edema. Other alpacas don't show any sign of bagging up until after delivery.

So, Chloe is still pregnant. We might or might not have seen something to indicate delivery might or might not be imminent.

The temperature here got to almost eighty degrees today and the alpacas are suffering in the heat. How would you like to be forced to wear a full alpaca coat in eighty degree weather? They'll actually suffer more on the 70 and 80 degree days between now and shearing than they will on 100 degree days once they're shorn.

Cria Watch: Day 14

Dawn's Pepper Fire has delivered -- a gorgeous boy. According to Risë's blog, Sancha is still pregnant -- and Risë is still on pins and needles. I spoke with our friends Al and Sheryl yesterday, and Tess was at day 365. Since there is no word yet today, I assume Tess is still pregnant.

And, as for our Chloe, there appears to be no reason for anybody to get excited anytime soon. (This doesn't prevent me from being very nervous. Pam keeps asking me how I'd behave if she were pregnant. Given how I worry over alpacas, I'm not sure I want to answer that one.)

Cria Watch: Day 13

We're on day 13 of Chloe's Official Cria Watch. There are no signs of impending delivery.

They're Pregnant! (And Chloe is Still Pregnant)

The progesterone results came back from the vet today. Jubilee and Ipo are both pregnant!

Chloe is still pregnant.

Of Veterinarians, Renovations, and New Pastures

We had the vet out yesterday for what we call "spring cleaning". There were no major or urgent items on the agenda, but we have accumulated a number of small issues or nagging questions over the winter and it was time to have the vet out to address them. Fortunately, the issues ranged from routine to good news.

Sindre had his fighting teeth trimmed and immediately returned to grazing. Ipo had her foot checked and the recovery is so good the vet had to ask which foot had been injured. Most of the herd got poked, prodded, looked at, and pronounced healthy. Jubilee and Ipo had blood drawn for progesterone (pregnancy) tests. We're reasonably certain Jubilee is pregnant based on behavior, so her test is basically for confirmation. We think Ipo is also pregnant based on behavior, but it's her first pregnancy and we need to make sure we're reading her behavior correctly.

Chloe escaped the vet entirely because we don't want to stress her so close to her due date. We'll probably have the vet out for a well baby check when the cria arrives, and we'll go over Chloe then as well. In the meantime, our princess can think she's too special to see the vet.

Today was shed renovation day. Ever since Ipo's injury, we have been intending to install a plywood "kickboard" along the base of the shed to prevent a repeat injury. Today, we installed two-foot high sheets of plywood along the base of the shed where the alpacas roll. Now, when they kick the side of the shed as they roll, they will hit the plywood instead of kicking the metal siding and injuring their feet.

While we were installing the plywood, we also installed some used papermaking felt over some of the shed floor. This felt comes from the belts used to carry paper through the mill during the papermaking process. We attempted to attach the felt between the baseboard and the plywood where possible and nailed the rest of it down with eight inch landscape spikes. Other local alpaca farms use this felt as shed floors and like it. We'll see how it works for us.

Today's other major change was to move the female herd into the small west pasture. We were trying to wait two or three more days before making this move, but Jubilee was sticking her head through the fence in places and the little ones were trying to reach underneath the fence to get the grass on the other side. When they're willing to work that hard to eat the grass on the other side of the fence, it's time to get the message and rotate pastures. The girls are enjoying the lush grass in the new pasture and hopefully, we can maintain them in that pasture into early May and only return them to the front pasture when Chloe goes into labor. We need that front pasture as a birth pasture, but in the meantime, that pasture needs as much recovery as it can get.

Cria Watch Day Eight: Nothing

Chloe isn't doing anything out of the ordinary, which is as it should be. Nothing indicates a baby today or tomorrow. We really don't expect or want that baby until about day thirty of cria watch. We simply have to keep an eye on her in case something happens sooner.

Dawn and Risë are also on cria watch. Dawn's Pepper Fire is at day 350 and it sounds like Dawn is getting a little impatient. Apparently Pepper Fire is less concerned.

For Jen

Jen is facing the need to start farming NOW or start paying higher property taxes. Some of the comments suggest alpacas. Among Jen's difficulties are fences and barns that require substantial repair.

Regarding that comment I posted about cheap sheep. I agree that alpaca is a lot more fun to spin than wool. However, even though I have some wonderful alpacas for sale -- nudge-nudge-wink-wink -- I stand by my advice that if you need to farm in a hurry, you should start with inexpensive sheep.

I advise you not to start with alpacas while you have any questions at all regarding the condition of your facilities.

(Of course, if you express interest in purchasing alpacas from me, the story changes instantly. They're easy livestock. Nothing will ever go wrong. Write me a check today and you can have these wonderful animals on your farm tomorrow.)

Alpacas are livestock -- relatively easy livestock, but still livestock. Anything that can go wrong with livestock will eventually happen to your alpacas.

Alpacas don't require particularly expensive facilities. The reason you see most alpacas in lavish quarters is peace of mind -- financial peace of mind. Alpacas are expensive. Very expensive. Most people of ordinary means cannot really afford to lose their alpacas. We have to take good care of them for that reason. Because they are so very expensive, we can justify the extra investment in facilities. You don't see very many sheep behind 5' tall non-climb fences, but that's the standard for alpacas. I don't think it's necessary to have the million dollar facilities many alpaca breeders have -- note my description of our three-sided sheds. I do think investment in expensive livestock does justify investment in facilities to keep the animals safe. As I'll explain below, some of that investment is for the alpacas and some is for your peace of mind.

It hurts when you lose an animal or when an animal gets injured. You need to have the emotional space to worry about the animal and take care of situation. When something goes wrong in the middle of the night with our alpacas, my first thought is, "What's wrong." My second is, "Omigod, I can't afford to lose a $15,000 alpaca. Omigod, omigod, omigod, I've got to get out there in a hurry and fix things. Omigod, I'm going to go bankrupt." I'm not thinking about the alpaca as much as I should be, I'm panicking about the money.

The story is a little different for a $50 sheep. I'd do a much better job of responding to the situation if I weren't busy panicking about the money. I would have one less thing to panic about and I'd handle the situation better.

The reason I advise sheep is that sheep generally are easier to contain than goats, although a lot depends on the particular sheep and goats involved. You've mentioned that your fences are in disrepair. I'm suggesting you start with the fiber animal most likely to be contained by those fences. (Many breeds of beef cattle are easier to contain than sheep, but I'm assuming you want fiber to spin.) The sheep will get you started. If something goes wrong, you'll worry about your livestock, but you won't have the financial panic you have with alpacas. If you insist on starting with alpacas, start with fiber geldings to minimize the financial panic.

If you want alpacas, I encourage purchasing alpacas after careful preparation and repairing your facilities. They are wonderful animals and I really enjoy my alpacas. However, I'm advising that you wait to purchase your alpacas until your facilities are such that you are comfortable with alpacas residing in those facilities. There are enough things to worry about when owning alpacas. You don't need constant worries about your facilities on top of everything else. We purchased our alpacas and brought them home before our facilities were fully complete. It's a mistake I recommend that others avoid.

If you think you want alpacas, buy some alpacas. For your peace of mind, make sure you are comfortable with your facilities first. There are enough stresses in raising alpacas without constantly worrying about barns and fences.

Cria Watch: Day Four

We're on day four of official cria watch and it's raining -- a nice, soft fifty degree spring drizzle. It's almost 9:00 AM and the girls haven't even gotten up yet this morning. They're all lying in the shed.

Their humans are being very lazy, too. I left for work at 5:00 AM yesterday and didn't get home until almost 7:00 PM. Today has become less of a "day off" and more of a "day of collapse and recovery." I'm not particularly motivated to get up and going this morning.

I know several of you have written nice posts on various topics -- posts I should be responding to. I've read some of them and glanced at others. Ideally, I will have time to write some responses today, but there are no guarantees. We all know how life has a way of intruding on fiber and blogging.

Official Cria Watch Day One

Alpaca gestation is 345 +/- 30 days. Therefore, official cria watch begins thirty days prior to the due date. Chloe is due May 10. Therefore, we are officially on cria watch. Our diligence in watching for the next ten days won't be particularly different from the past week or so of unofficial cria watch. We really aren't expecting -- and indeed we don't want -- the baby to arrive this early. We simply need to be prepared if it happens.

Georgia paws at the ground before rolling. Presumably the purpose is to loosen up the dirt for a better dust bath. Occasionally, Georgia will paw the ground prior to kushing (lying down).

Ipo Nani paws at the dirt -- and growls -- while she's eating her pellets.

Chloe has started pawing at the ground prior to kushing. It's not a behavior we've particularly noted from her in the past. Is she simply copying Georgia? Is this a nesting behavior? Has she always done this without our noticing? We don't know, but when we're on cria watch, we're paranoid. New behaviors get noticed and discussed. Behaviors we haven't paid attention to in the past are suddenly noticed and discussed.

Chloe is pawing at the ground. We have no idea what -- if anything -- it means.

Unofficial Cria Watch -- nothing

I didn't fall off the face of the earth. It's simply that I have this day job that gets very busy and very crazy during the 100 days of spring and the sun came out this week in Western Oregon ... Chloe is still Chloe and shows no signs of delivery which is a good thing.

About a week ago, we moved the girls to a makeshift pasture to allow our primary pasture to rest and recover. I've resigned myself to the fact we're I'm not going to get the rest of our pastures built any time soon. We need to have Chloe in the front pasture for delivery and for the first few weeks of the cria's life. The front pasture must rest, because right now, the moss is taller than the grass. My plan is to hold the girls off the front pasture until Chloe's due date if we can. Of course, we'll move her into that pasture at the first sign of labor. The side pasture is recovering well, so if all goes according to plan, we can move the girls into the side pasture in late April and into the front pasture in early May. Every day in the corridor gives us more grass in the pastures and better regrowth pasture later in the spring. Unfortunately, the front pasture is in such poor shape it will eventually require a full overseeding and a season of rest when if I ever complete the back pastures.

The girls have been enjoying the taller grass in what we call the "corridor" which is actually the space between our pasture fence and the perimeter fence of our property. The corridor is about ten feet wide and several hundred feet long. As of yesterday, the grass in the corridor is eaten to a pretty short height and the girls have started eyeing the front pasture again -- as well as the side pasture.

Official cria watch starts Monday, which is also my next day off. Hopefully, I'll have the energy for a better post then.

Unofficial Cria Watch -- Nothing Happening

Cria watch: Nothing is happening today and nothing happened yesterday. That's as it should be and exactly as expected.

I managed to do a little spinning today -- not much, but it feels good to be making progress. I have to keep making progress, because the fleece feels like it's growing on me. I'm quite certain there is more unspun fiber in that bag now than there was when I started! If only all great suri fleeces would grow ...