The first cria of 2015

JandJ Hector at a few hours old
with his mum JandJ Hope

I think I need a little of a catch up on here :) We have had 7 cria in the past couple of weeks so our herd has grown a little again & we have more due in the days to come.

JandJ Hector today

The first cria to be born this year was born on the 2nd July. JandJ Hope was mated to Lillyfields Jack of Spades of Inca last year. She was a couple of days early so we were watching intently. Thankfully it was a text book birth. 

Hector is full of life, head of the cria pack & annoying all the other mums. 

Just added the handsome JandJ Reid to
www.alpacaseller.com

He's a lovely gentle, inquistive alpaca.

This is the first listing from our new McKenna Alpaca range. 

It's a fab ceramic white heart with McKenna Alpaca in red on the front.
www.alpacascarves.co.uk smile emoticon

Alpaca boys on s sunny Sunday evening

I've really been neglecting my blog in favour of Facebook but I promise to revive my blog & add to it every week, starting from today. 

I have lots of news on our new knitwear & fab new exclusive alpaca gift wear & of course some very special cria due

This is a lovely photo taken last Sunday of the alpaca boys in their field. We call these the big boys as they are our stud boys & 3 year olds & over :) 

JandJ Cain - now for sale

JandJ Cain has now been added to our sales list & alpacaseller, he is a gorgeous boy :)

First Ryeland lambs of the year & they're twin girls :)

Peach, Clementine & Lana

Peach with mum Clementine &
Grandma Lana in the background

Caspian & Henley

Caspian & Henley having their last walk before they go to their new home

Kobi looking Kute

Kobi loves rolling in the mud!

Meringue Scarf in Clementine & Enya

Lacy Riverene in Dragonfly

Lacy Riverene in Dragonfly

JandJ Pipit

The eldest cria JandJ Pipit

Mini me

Felicia & Luminaria

Belle

Thea & Tiberius

Thea & Tiberius

Southwell Minster Craft Fair - Saturday 2nd November

   
Come & see our beautiful alpaca knitwear
Can't wait this event is my favourite

Fab day at Yorkshire Alpaca Group Show - Thirsk

James with Swift & Jess with Sparkle

It was very dark, cold & wet when we woke up at 4.30am for our trip to Thirsk! After driving through heavy rain & strong winds we managed to arrive in Thirsk just in time. Our girls & boys unloaded we just had enough time to set up the stand with all our gorgeous scarves & have a bacon butty before the judging began. Our black girls are now over a year old & were in the second class of the day the intermediate black female class. This was quite a large class for black alpacas which makes for a good competition. James was in first with Swift & Jess further down the line with little Sparkle. Mary-Jo placed Swift in 3rd & Sparkle in 4th & we were delighted.

James with Daley

Daley went to the show having already been sold 2 weeks before, & we were really hoping for a rosette for his new owners Roots at Thorpe Farm. James took him into the ring & even though he did get bored & sit down alot, he came out with a fab red 1st rosette, which I think will be on show in Roots :)

Eventually the last cria of the year

JandJ Tiberius

The last cria of the year was eventually born on 26th August, just 2 days off a year's gestation. His birth was straight forward, we had been watching while feeding & it was very slowly moving forward. So we just nipped up to the house to grab a piece of toast for breakfast, (not been gone 10 mins), came back, all looked calm. Thea was sitting on the ground, but behind her was a cria completely out but with his neck & head twisted in a strange shape. Martin, who was following me quickly picked up the cria & give him a couple of swings & a little heart massage, it's wonderful to see a grey blue mouth turn pink! Just shows you always have to be there when little cria are being born, never know what's going to happen to them.

JandJ Tiberius nibbling mum Thea

What a beauty he is, absolutely the best was left to last. He's James' to name so he is called Tiberius & he may live up to his name. Even at a couple of weeks old he acts like a stud boy, struts across the field, stands tall and handsome, always at the front. We have just moved the alpacas & he walked up the ramp into the trailer & down again as if he had been in and out of a trailer lots of times. Once in the new field he was the one out in front checking out the field :) He's very funny & happily for us a home grown brown little boy with a fab fleece.

What an end to our amazing Sunday

JandJ Belle

By the time I arrived home I had 2 new little cria to go & look at. Martin had been busy all day with the new arrivals & also been keeping a very close eye on Luminaria who had been coughing & salivating for part of the day. We decided to call the vet out as it looked like choke, something lodged in her throat which she could not clear. The vet came within an hour. 

While we were stood with Lumi waiting for him, we were watching Nell very closely, as she appeared to be in labour, she is a first timer but a birth after 4pm is a little late for a cria to be born. The vet came & sorted out Lumi's choke, while he was doing this I was concentrating on Nell who appeared to be struggling with the birth. There is a 20 minute rule with alpaca births, as long as there is a progression in 20 mins you do not intervene. Unfortunately, the little cria's head seemed to be stuck half way out, perfect timing for the vet to be there, he said that Nell's contractions seemed to have stopped. So with the help of some gel he eased the little cria out. This is the latest birth we have had at 5.15pm. 
Nell's nickname is Nellibell, so of course her little female cria is called Belle. Belle is tiny, the smallest cria we have had (we thought Sparkle was tiny last year) & we have had problems with her not gaining weight. We did think that the fault lay with her mum & her milk, but we are not sure about that at the moment. Belle is feeding off Nell & we are topping her up with bottles of goats milk. Unlike our lambs, when we feed Belle she does not come running for her bottle but tends to try & run in the opposite direction. She is the cutest little alpaca.

Our second Sunday cria

I missed yet another birth on our very busy Sunday the arrival of Persia's cria. This happened at 2.15 & was a very straight forward birth, Martin was on hand to help it out a little. This is Persia's first cria, a little female called Ester which means Star in Persian, perfect I think.