DMAR Alpaca and Maremma Blog

DMAR Updates for Week Ending March 1, 2008:

DMAR Athena is due to give birth this month. Her due date can be anywhere from March 16th through the 26th. Be sure to keep watch on the live cam at http://www.desertmtnalpacas.com/ . Athena was bred to AOBA Champion CTA Zecharia. This is the last cria for our winter birthing season. What a way to end the season. To date we have had four beautiful males and one female (Athena’s full sister), Dominique.

Please check out our sales page at http://www.desertmtnalpacas.com/alpaca-sales.html to view our current offerings. At this time we have AOCR Michelle Rose, a 6 yr old medium rose grey female, who has given birth to three beautiful crias to date and is a wonderful mother and milk producer. Michelle’s easy birthing and great mothering skills makes her an excellent foundation female. Michelle has been bred back to our full Peruvian herdsire, Snowmass Incan Emperor, for a December 2008 cria. Purchase Michelle by herself or in one of our package deals. Don’t forget the tax benefit you get from section 179. This year it has gone up to $250,000 on new alpaca purchases.

Don’t forget to visit our online alpaca store at http://www.dmarstore.desertmtnalpacas.com/. We have a wonderful selection for you to choose from with new items being added monthly.

 

 

 

Carina gives birth to first cria – DMAR Armani

At 5 am on 2/8/08 I woke up to view Carina on my tv. We have cameras hooked up to the maternity ward, so we can always see what is happening. Carina was over the poop pile. I didn’t see anything happening, but I could of missed it. A minute later she returned again to the poop pile. Tom was outside about to start the morning feeding. I saw he was shining his flash light on Carina’s backside. I jumped out of bed and started putting on my shoes. A minute later Tom called me on the phone. I knew it….Carina was in labor.

Sure she was in labor, but only in phase I. Since Carina is a maiden there was no telling how long it would be before she gave birth. We were in and out of the house throughout the morning. At 10:30 we stayed out with her. She was uncomfortable shifting from side to side and seemed not able to stand for very long. I noticed she was dialating, but no signs of her water breaking.

At noon I heard Carina straining and saw her pushing, but nothing happened. She was now laying on her side with her legs out. I turned to Tommy and asked him to back the trailer up. I was starting to get concerned that it was now the 7th hour of labor and Carina was in obvious pain with no progress.

I didn’t want to move Carina just yet. I told Tom at least another hour. I wanted to be sure that I didn’t stop her labor in case she was about to push the baby out. We heard Carina push again and nothing. I asked Tom to call the vet when once again Carina pushed and I saw some liquid come out. I told Tommy to hold on that I thought her water might have broken, but then nothing. The amt of water wasn’t enough to satisfy me. Carina kushed. She looked so uncomfortable. I asked Tommy to call the vet again.

Another contraction came that made Carina lay on her side and this time there was no denying that her water broke. I told Tommy to hang up again. Right after the rush of water I could see the tip of the cria’s nose. I couldn’t believe the cria was right there only moments after the water broke. Carina was now laying on her side with her head down. We had never seen an alpaca give birth this way, so again we were concerned. Tommy rubbed Carina’s head/neck while I observed the cria.

About 5 minutes into the birthing the cria’s head was out. Tom was a bit worried that no feet were showing. I tried to relax him by stating that we needed to wait the 15 minutes to see if any progress has been made before I step in. Three minutes later, this is a lifetime to wait by the way when you are anxiously awaiting for something to happen, the first foot appeared. A minute later the other. 

Since Carina didn’t appear to want to stand I went and got a towel to place on the ground to have the cria come out on. Of course as soon as I got it positioned Carina decided to roll over onto her other side. I asked Tommy to get another towel and by the time he walked over to where we had them stored in the paddock I was yelling to hurry that the cria was already out. I’m talking about it only being seconds. He couldn’t belive it.

DMAR Armani was born at 12:26pm. He weighed only 12.2 lbs, but is a vibrant, alert, and beautiful. He is brown and son of Snowmass Incan Emperor.  You can see Armani and Carina on our weblink at http://www.desertmtnalpacas.com and click on the Live Cam link.