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. 

Hope's beautiful daughter Asha

JandJ Asha with her milky mouth

I am a little late telling you about our next arrival as I have been trying to get a good photo of Asha. Every time I go to take down to the paddock when it is nice & sunny all the alpacas are in the big shed keeping cool:) Born last Thursday, Asha is Hope's first cria, we are not sure at the moment whether she is dark brown or black. Her name means hope & desire. She is a very funny little cria, little slow to get going, Martin even made up a colostrum bottle but when he went to feed her she had just found where her mum's milk comes from. Asha was a little wobbly on her feet & is only just mastering the art of standing on three legs to itch as all alpacas do from time to time.

JandJ Blade

The weather was very kind to us on our open weekend, we met some lovely people & sold some of our gorgeous girls & boys.

JandJ Blade at 3 days old

 No cria had been born on Saturday so we were really hoping for a birth on Sunday & Mississippi did not disappoint us, she gave birth at 10.45 on Sunday morning. After being shut in the shed & the top of the field on Saturday we decided before we opened to the public to let the alpacas have the whole paddock & of course they all went down to the rolling pad at the bottom. So JandJ Blade was born down there & then had to be carried all the way up the field into the shed so we could keep an eye on him & where everyone could see him. It was an uncomplicated birth but he was very noisy being born, moaning away even before he was fully out, not had that before. 

He is Comet's second cria & Mississippi's 5th, her daughter Destiny is also in the paddock due in the next couple of weeks, she is the image of her mum, at a distance it is hard to tell them apart. Blade is a very forward little cria, friendly, always comes to see us, very inquisitive. He is a gorgeous colour, a little like great grandma Plum, a plumy, mahogany colour. 

Open Weekend

The sun is shining as I write this & I hope that it will for at least part of the weekend.


The alpacas are in the big sheds, so we can all be dry. The mums & cria, & mums to be have the big shed & paddock so they are in & out & it only takes a minute to herd them in if it starts to look rainy. They were happily out most of yesterday in all that rain very unlike them.


McKenzie is looking very uncomfortable, a cria today after 11 would be perfect, Mississippi & Miss Scarlett are also over 11 months so we will have to wait & see.

JandJ Bruno

On Thursday 28th June, Miss MoneyPenny gave birth at 9.20 it had been a straight forward birth & all looked well but the cria looked a little weaker than the others. He had a lovely pink mouth so we left them in the shed with the other alpacas to bond & to get up on his feet. 


We went back to check half an hour later & Bruno hadn't moved much from where he had been born, still laying flat out, this is not normal so he obviously needed help. Miss MoneyPenny was pawing at the ground around him & moaning, as his mum even a first time mum knows that this is not what normally happens. Martin started to rub him with a towel & turn him over, bend his legs into cush (sitting position), propping him up on a bed of hay, he kept doing this for 30 mins with Miss MoneyPenny looking on. We left him sitting in cush for another half an hour, newborn alpacas usually get to cush position in about 10 to 15 minutes on their own. When we went back he was happily sitting there & Martin just helped him stand, holding him for a few minutes until he found his feet. Twenty minutes later Bruno was feeding & wandering round the shed the past couple of hours behind him. 


He is JandJ Affinity's first cria & a very similar colour to him, Bruno has very bright black eyes & the longest eyelashes I have ever seen on an alpaca.

JandJ Delight

Delight arrived second on the 24th at 4 oclock so very late for a birth, this is her mother Bliss' first cria so that might be why. She was a small but very determined little cria, always at the front seeing what is going on. Delight is very like her mother in every way, jet black & a little narrow but when we look at Bliss now we can't believe that she was ever that size.

JandJ Ralph Lauren

Our next cria was born 2 days later on 2nd May at 9.10am & like all Paula Rego babies is jet black. With this one I only just missed the birth, I had been watching Paula in the shed & decided to leave her for 10 minutes & when I came back Ralphie was already born. He is gorgeous, very inquisitive, when we take the camera into the field he always comes over & most of the shots are of his head getting closer & closer until there is only his nose in the photo!

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.