Christmas Day at JandJ Alpacas

JandJ Rufus

It was a very wet Christmas morning but the sun came out for a few minutes to take photos of our wet & muddy alpacas. Rufus is out in the paddocks with his brothers & still manages to look cute even when he's wet. 

Our  cria are all turning 6 months & still with their mothers. They have the large shed & with the weather being the way it is have been shut in some nights & sometimes in the day when it has been really bad. 

We let the alpacas out Christmas morning & could watch them while we were having Christmas dinner but shut them back in for the night before it got dark

JandJ Swift

JandJ Daley

JandJ Spirit

JandJ Gem

JandJ Sparkle

Sparkle is a very long awaited little cria. If you have read the other blogs you will know that we were very lucky to raise Drew's Spirit or Spirit as she is known. Drew was so poorly when she gave birth & had to have an operations when Spirit 4 months old, but both pulled through & Spirit grew to be a pretty little alpaca. As she was so small we decided that we would not mate her at 2 years old but leave her to 3. We mated her 2 years ago but unfortunately she did not hold so last year we tried again, fingers & everything crossed, we watched & waited. On 21 July at 12.45 she had a little black cria, we watched the birth hoping all would be ok & it was & even better than ok because the little cria Sparkle is a beautiful black girl just like her gran Drew. She is fab but very small but then so are both her mum & gran.

First cria of 2012 JandJ Magic

Yesterday morning in all that horrible weather our first cria of the year was born. Luckily when the weather is bad & the babies are due or are a newly born we often shut our girls in the barn overnight to protect the cria more than anything else as we have mums who would like to be out in all weathers with their cria at the bottom of the field but we also have mums who like the warm & comfort of the barn & wouldn't dream of being out in the rain! 

 Gem & Magic at 7 hours old

Motherly love
In the background Skylark, Ani, Miss MoneyPenny, Clementine  & Spirit

Anyway our first girl to give birth is Gem, this is her first cria he was born at 9.20am & we watched the birth along with the other girls in the barn especially Clementine who kept checking him. Gorgeous little dark brown boy who we've called Magic.Gem is a brilliant mum & Magic is doing well, he had to have a coat on last night as it was so cold & we are hoping that he will get chance to go outside tomorrow if it stops raining long enough.