JandJ Topaz

Our second cria 0f the year was born on Sunday 22 May & we missed the birth but it would have been about 6am. Some mornings when we are waiting for a cria I get up at 6am but that Sunday I didn't :) He is the most beautiful chocolate brown colour & his fleece will make gorgeous scarves if we still own him in April. Topaz is for sale along with his mum JandJ Diamond, all her cria are named after precious stones so we had Sapphire last year who is a gorgeous black. Naming Topaz was difficult as we needed a name to suit a boy and also wanted it to be a brown stone if possible so Topaz it is.

List of Cira for 2011

As we have now had the last of our cria for this year I thought I would tell you what they are all called in birth order. Friday/Thirteen, Topaz, Chastity, Ralph Lauren, Nayte, Dappy, Henley, Golden Wonder, Delight, Rufus, Cinder, Trudi, McKenna, Flynn, Divine, Marvel, Treasure, Avalon, Enya, Caspian & Freya.

Photo is of some of the mums & sisters.

The first cria of 2011

I am not very good at blogging as I keep saying so I am now going to try putting mainly photos of my gorgeous alpacas on here. We now own just over 90 of them & adore them all.

My first cria was born on Friday 13th of May & still doesn't have a real name as we can't agree on it. He is either Friday or Thirteen but I have been told that Thirteen is not a name! so he may become Friday. His mum Cosmic Damson gave birth to him at 9.10am & he is jet black just like his big brother Comet & sister Celeste.

Joules, Dillon & Sapphire

After Thorn we had Joules, Dillon & Sapphire. When we are naming our alpacas we tend to try & go with a theme so we can hopefully remember their names easily. So Joules mum Paula Rego has cria named after clothing labels last year she had MacKenzie & Joules this year. Dillon is Tansy's first cria so we have gone with Magic Roundabout!!!! hence Dillon. Sapphire is also Diamond's first cria so we have gone with gem stones. A completely mad system I know but it does work.

2010 Cria

We have had 21 cria this year. I really need to keep my blog up to date so I am really going to try over the next couple of months.

Back in May we were getting ready for the National Show at Newark at which we received a lovely handful of rosettes & were really proud of our show team.

1st for Comet & Lex

3rd for Ani, Fergus & Murphy

4th for Dragonfly

An update on Thorn he has turned into a beautiful boy with cute markings on his face, always one of the first at the gate to see whose coming. Celeste is also lovely about to be weaned.

Here's a photo of some of the cria back in June - Persia, Nell, Dillon, Sapphire, Hope & in the background Ruby Tuesday.

Thorn

Our next birth was unexpected as well! We were at Newark showground on the Thursday before the show when we got an emergency phone call from Martin's mum to say she had found a cria in the paddock. She had run for towels & done everything right but the wind was icy cold. We dashed home put him & his mum Coco in the shed with the lamp, he didn't look good, prem but only 3 days before 11 months. Called the vet who said we had done everything we could & we just needed to get his temperature higher to give him a chance, so we fed him bottle colostrum, warmed him further & had to leave him 4 hours later in mum in laws care so we could go & finish the penning for the show! Fed him until midnight & really didn't think he would make it through the night but he's still going strong & is a real character as you can see from his photo.

Found him today in the paddock with the yearling boys, happily bouncing around, still not sure how he got there, he always sits the other side the gate to them & not with his mum!

My Beautiful Prem - Celeste

Celeste an hour ago
Celeste just after birth

It's been quite a while since I blogged, as the day after lambing for 3 weeks, 2 days at the Heart of England Fiesta & a day shearing 26 alpacas, we found ourselves the organisers of the National Show at Newark. But I think I need to blog in order so I will go back to 11th April when we had an unexpected arrival.

Celeste was a little too early & found herself being born in the wrong paddock. We had been meaning to move her mum Cosmic for a few days & she was definitely going to be moved that afternoon but Celeste decided to arrive in the morning at 319 days. We didn't see her for probably an hour & there was a very cold wind, so we had a cold but large cria & an upset mum. Cosmic did not settle when moved into the barn & we ended up with her in another barn with a lamp & fed Celeste from a bottle until midnight. Next morning all was well, Cosmic calm & Celeste feeding from her mum, a very happy ending.

Cosmic herself was a prem she was born at 307 days a very small cria but she had a strong will & was very clever. Martin milked her mum Plum & fed her every hour for the first 24 with a syringe. We fed her from the bottle pretending it was one of her mum's teats so she had to look for the milk in the right place & after 6 days she moved off the bottle on to her mum. Today she's a lovely big strong girl you'd never believe she was a prem.