Wind and rain didn’t stop DMAR Royal Knight from entering the world on the morning of Saturday, December 1st. Weighing only 14.7 lbs he was a sight for sore eyes that were up most of the night due to one of the worst storms in a while here in Hereford.
I was awoken at 1 AM by Tom who said we needed to move the girls out of the pastures and into the stalls because the temporary canopies we had set up for them were beginning to fall apart from the 30-55 mph winds. Without hesitating I jumped out of bed and it seemed like I was in a movie about hurricanes. The girls were soaked, one of the canopies had broken a couple of its legs barely standing, and huge water puddles threatening to flood the entire pasture. None of the females wanted to move, because they were so scared. Luckily they seemed to pair up. When I haltered one the second female would follow. Tom and I moved them two at a time into the stalls. At least we knew that they had more shelter from the storm in the stalls. At least we thought until we heard the wind threatening to tear out the aluminum slats nailed into the roof. Little by little we heard the aluminum rattling until a nail was pulled out. Yup at least three different areas we heard the flapping of the slat threatening to fly off the roof. Tom jumps on a ladder (can you believe this?) and begins to throw cement blocks on top of the slats to hold them in place. It worked!
 By 2 am we are back in the house again and Tom states that he won’t be able to sleep again. We both joke about how this will be the day Alexis goes into labor. Well, wouldn’t you know it……at 3:30am Tom tells me that Alexis is laying on her side with her legs stretched out. Uh oh. This has been her sign for us for the past 2 years of imminent birth. It’s only the beginning then of stage 1 labor. I tell him to let me sleep for one hour, because if I didn’t close my eyes I would be totally useless. At 5am I jump up to see Alexis laying on her side and allowing her head to go down to the ground two times. Ok time to move. I got up and fed the dogs. Tom can’t believe I’m doing this, but I advise that Alexis is now kushed which buys us a little time. I knew that once I went outside it would be hours and hours before I came back in again and wanted the dogs fed. I made Tommy prepare the food for the maremmas outside as well.
At 5:30 am with coffee in hand, dog food, and our cria birthing supplies we ventured outside. Alexis seemed calm and was standing. Within minutes Tom called me over to advise that it looked like she was beginning stage 2 labor. Sure enough I look and she begins to push…..the legs of the cria pop out. We begin to time the birth to make sure we have progress within 15 minutes. Little by little I see the tip of the nose and mouth. I advise Tom that the cria is moving his mouth and blowing bubbles out his nose. With a sigh of relief we know this cria is alive. Less than a half hour RK is on the floor thrashing around. Not only is he alive, but a vivacious cria at that! All the while the rain and wind didn’t stop.
Alexis and RK are doing well. RK is growing quickly already weighing 16 1/2 lbs. RK’s lineage is Augusto, Caligula, and Royal Fawn. His fiber is already what we expected it to be from this lineage.
To see RK with mom, Kaitlyn, and Carina go to our live cam link located on our web page at www.desertmtnalpacas.com. Â
