DMAR Alpaca and Maremma Blog

Carina due to give birth this week. Today she is on day 333. Two more days and the cria is full term. I’m hoping she holds out for a few days as we are having a cold spell for the next couple of days. Of course if she doesn’t I will be out there with towels and a hair dryer to get the cria warm asap. This will be HRAZ Lock & Load’s 2nd cria to hit the ground. We are very impressed with DMAR Magnum who was born last week. We are hoping that Carina gives us a female.

Tessa, maremma pup, is growing like a weed. She can now pull herself up onto the ledge of the whelping box and teeters above until she falls out. Of course we prefer her not to fall out, but sometimes we aren’t there to catch her. She is now over 4 lbs. and is very active. I have to be very careful not to step on her while filling up the buckets. She is constantly biting my pants or shoes. When I reach down to play with her she lets out a playful growl. She is so fluffy and too cute for words.

I can’t believe it, but Tommy is almost done with the transition of our garage into our store. The walls are almost all painted. New light fixtures and ceiling fan have been installed. Folding doors are painted and just need to be installed. I am so excited to move everything in. We are hoping to have it all completed this weekend. Just in time for my RV tour coming in on Feb. 5th. Yippee! 

 

Kaitlyn gives birth to DMAR Magnum on 1/19/09 at 6 am. I woke up at 5:30am to find Kaitlyn slightly rolling from one side to the other. She then got up and proceeded to the dung pile where she appeared to be straining and nothing happening. I told Tommy at which time he advised that at 4:30am Kaitlyn had gone to the dung pile twice. I jumped out of bed and started putting on my shoes. Tommy told me that one of the other females was now checking out Kaitlyn’s back side. Ok….I knew this was her time. I ran outside with my cria kits and Tommy was shortly behind. When I hit the gate I could hear Kaitlyn groaning and straining.

Kaitlyn is an expert at giving birth. This cria is her fourth and it took no time at all to get him out. Magnum came into the world weighing 17.6 lbs. He is the biggest cria Kaitlyn has had so far. No surprise to me as his sire is HRAZ Lock & Load. A big boned male with dense, crimpy fleece. Lock & Load has quite a pedigree being a Presidio son and a grandson of Bolivian Cheiftan.

DMAR Magnum was strong right from the get go. He was throwing his head around and flailing on the ground. It was hard to hold his head as he was quick in his movements. I didn’t want him to hurt himself, but there were a few times where he simply flew out of my grasp. Within 15 minutes he was up on his feet. He was so strong on day 1 that he could even pronk a bit around.

Kaitlyn and cria are doing well. Kaitlyn appears to have plenty of milk. Thank goodness for Dr. Pollard’s lactation herbs and Domperidone. This is the first year where we did not have to supplement the cria at all with any bottles. Magnum has no problem finding the milk supply and I expect him to grow healthy and big.

 

Bianca’s pup has a name. Her new owners will call her Tessa. I took these pictures just this past weekend when she was 4 weeks old. She is very active now and acting more like a puppy vs. a helpless baby. She’s very loving and I expect her new family will fall in love with her quickly. It is bittersweet that this will be the last pup Bianca has. She truly had beautiful pups.

DMAR Update for Week Ending 1/17/09:

Kaitlyn-Rose:She is now full term and on day 339. She can give birth anytime now. Two days ago we started Kaitlyn on Domperidone. This is a paste that will help with her milk production. Kaitlyn can nurse her babies fully, however it takes a little time in the beginning for her to produce enough milk to keep the cria gaining weight. We have found that by using domperidone we only had to supplement 1 bottle per day for approx. 3 days then mom takes over completely. Keep your eyes open for her tell tale signs of labor….going to the dung pile repeatedly. Don’t forget you can watch her at http://www.desertmtnalpacas.com and then clicking on the Live Cam link at the top menu.

Bianca’s Pup:The pup is doing well. I have been supplementing the puppy with 4 bottles daily and she has been gaining weight consistently. She is currently four weeks old and weighs a little over 2 1/2 lbs. Her eyes and ears are open now. She is getting more active and is constantly found sitting up just looking around. She growls a little here and there, but I think it is more by accident than on purpose.

DMAR Online Store:I have been adding more products in the online store. Products such as men’s and women’s alpaca sweaters. My favorite new product is a baby alpaca stuffed cat:

The dimensions are 16″ x 5″ x 6″ and is wonderfully soft. You just want to cuddle with it as if it were a real cat. The price is $35.00 and comes in many colors. Too many for me to list, so I ask that you let me select the color to send to you.

To view this product in more detail and all other alpaca products, please go to the online store at http://dmarstore.desertmtnalpacas.com.

Alpaca Sales:We have added more alpacas to our sales list. We have AOCR My Golly Miss Molly, a true black, who will be sold with cria at side, DMAR Versace. Versace’s sire is Snowmass Incan Emperor. To date both Incan’s offspring, DMAR Nikoli and DMAR Armani, have both won in the show ring with Armani going on to winning reserve color champion. Versace has perfect conformation, is very box shaped with fleece that is fine and crimpy. We look forward to seeing this little boy grow and be shown in the show ring. Molly sells with cria for $13k. Financing is available. To view more on Molly or any other alpacas for sale, please go to http://desertmtnalpacas.com/alpaca-sales.html.

DMAR Update for Week Ending 1/10/09:

Bianca’s Pup is finally gaining some weight again. She originally gained then started losing .05 lbs daily. We tried to give her milk replacement for pups that we got from WalMart, but she refused the bottle. We asked our vet and were told to get a puppy formula off the internet and to purchase a baby bottle. It seems the pet bottles they use just aren’t very good for puppies. Anyway Tom mixed evaporative milk, reduced fat yogurt (supposed to be whole fat yogurt, but we couldn’t find it at the grocery store), and 1/2 teaspoon karo syrup. The puppy slurped this up with no problem and in the past two days has gained .3 lbs. Yeah! Since Bianca still has milk and allowing the puppy to nurse we are only supplementing the puppy with 2 bottles each day.

Kaitlyn-Rose is quickly arriving at her day 335. January 10th starts my baby watch. She looks really big and ready to pop. I am so excited as this will be my first HRAZ Lock & Load cria.  

 HRAZ Lock & Load HRAZ Lock & Load fleece

Carina will be birthing soon as well. Her day 335 is Jan. 29th. This too will be a HRAZ Lock & Load cria. Carina’s last cria, DMAR Armani, took reserve color champion recently. We look forward to both Lock & Load crias.