Paloma--New girl in the county
We are planning to name her Paloma. She is Pablo's sister, sired by Pedro Armendariz who is standing stud in North Idaho. Here are a couple of photos taken when she was two hours old this morning (4/20/2006).
Her mom took 363 days for gestation and we had quite a day figuring out what to do. The cria didn't know how to suckle, so we hand milked Leila, the mom, then fed the cria with a dropper. This wasn't getting it, but we were trying to teach the baby how to suck, rather than chew. The chewing, understandably, was a bit irritating to mom. This whole thing was frustrating because baby and mom seemed to be bonded and concerned about one another.
We needed colostrum supplementation and we were concerned. So, late in the day, we bought some goat colostrum from Carrie Hull. Working slowly, we fed Paloma about 2 ozs of colostrum, working with a lamb nipple baby bottle. She kind of got it that when she sucked, she got more milk.
About an hour later, we saw her nursing, with her tail straight up in the air. She nursed from the left, then the right and finally, she worked her way in between her mom's back legs and nursed that way. I was amazed at the increase in energy and was delighted to see her start running and playing. A good end to day 1.
I don't know what it means--maybe just that it took a long time before she was ready to come out--but her fiber is about 2" long and shaggy all over her body. Even her face has long fleece and her eyelashes are really something.
So, I guess the message is to keep trying and don't expect to have a bottle baby just because she started that way. I hope this nursing frenzy continues.
Here are two photos of Paloma taken when she was only two hours old. She is settling down for her first night at Pedro's Pride Ranch.
Our Emails are changing: Email: Alpaca Products from Pedro's Pride Fashions and alpacas at Pedro's Pride Ranch at pedrospride@hughes.net
All our best,
Ken & Lisa Larson
posted by AlpacaInfo @ 7:51 PM
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