DMAR Alpaca and Maremma Blog

DMAR is moving to Georgia in the next few months. It’s official as Tom signed his offer letter for a promotion and relocation to the new corporate office just north of  Atlanta in Sandy Springs. Although I am already getting a headache trying to figure out logistics for the alpaca move I am looking forward to the greenery and big trees the east coast has to offer us and our herd.

At this point in time nothing is official as to the exact date of the move. All I know is that Tom will begin to temporarily telecommute to Atlanta starting the second week of March. Tom still has some projects he needs to finish up in Mexico before we can leave Arizona.

For me the move is bittersweet. I was really becoming established in the alpaca industry in the desert. I will miss the beauty and dry heat of Arizona as well as all the friendships Tom and I have made with both alpaca ranchers and customers.

We look forward to making new friendships on the east coast. Also, since Tom and I are originally from NY and NJ we will be closer to our families. Plenty of changes will be coming, but we look forward to the opportunity of attending more shows and networking with the eastern portion of the Mississippi.

Overall I will be happy to see the dirt rings on my alpacas’ fleeces disappear and to have the moisture brought back into their fibers. I am sure both they and the maremmas will love the grass.

Happy New Year from Desert Mountain Alpaca Ranch:

If you are like me you are embracing 2010 with open arms. I am optomistic that this will be the year of change and more prosperity for us all. I am thankful of 2009, but I was ready to say good bye to it back in August.

Here at the ranch I held my females open until the end of December. I missed two shows this fall since I was on cria watch and I hate missing shows. Not to mention that I had to back out of one vendor event due to a sick newborn cria. Good news is that the cria is now 3 months old and is totally healthy. Other events came and went with our fingers crossed that the dam would hold onto the cria for another day or two. I won’t have any of that next year, so all females opened stayed opened until the end of December. Here are the breedings we did:

(1) 2x Reserve Color Champion, DMAR Royal Knight (beige) to AVR By Golly Miss Molly (tru black).

 DMAR Royal Knight is a full Peruvian grandson of Royal Fawn. Beautiful fleece and the typey alpaca look. DMAR Royal Knight is available for sale at 1/2 interest and is now available for stud.

 AVR By Golly Miss Molly is a proven female with plenty of milk. Molly is for sale and comes with a free rebreeding to any fully owned DMAR herdsire.

(2) Multiple blue ribbon winner, Snowmass Incan Emperor to DMAR Electra.

 Snowmass Incan Emperor is a MRG full Peruvian proven herdsire. Offsprings include 2x Reserve Color Champion, DMAR Armani, and 2x blue ribbon winner, DMAR Nikoli. Incan has produced crias ranging in color from fawn to the greys both rose grey and silver grey. Incan Emperor is available for stud. He is co-owned with Square Top Ranch, but he is currently at stud at my ranch in Hereford, AZ.

 DMAR Electra II – We have paired this female for her 2nd go around with Snowmass Incan Emperor. We are so impressed with their last cria, DMAR Dolce (shown in picture) that we just had to repeat the breeding. Dolce’s fleece and conformation is everything and more than we expected. We have high hopes for this little cria. Can’t wait for her to reach juvenile so we can take her to the shows.

(3) Snowmass Incan Emperor and Wall’s Edge Shasta:

 Walls Edge Shasta is a full Peruvian white female. We paired her to Snowmass Incan Emperor, because we simply love what he is producing with whites and this will keep the cria full Peruvian.

(4) 2x Reserve Color Champion, DMAR Armani, to Reserve Color Champion, DMAR Athena:

 DMAR Armani is son of Snowmass Incan Emperor. His lineage includes Incan Magic, Peruvian Hemingway, and PPeruvian Victor. Armani is a compact male with wonderful fleece stats and density. DMAR Armani is for sale at 1/2 interest. He is also now available for stud.

 DMAR Athena is a beautiful young female who has 2 offspring on the ground. The first is a male named DMAR White Russian whose fleece stats are just wonderful. He is also a blue ribbon winner. Her second cria, DMAR Chanel, currently 2 months old is simply gorgeous. Athena is for sale with cria at side. She comes with a free rebreeding to any fully owned DMAR herdsire.

(5) Presidio son, HRAZ Lock & Load to DMAR Dominique:

 HRAZ Lock & Load is a blue ribbon winner. He currently has 4 offsprings on the ground and one of which is a Reserve Color Champion, DMAR Magnum. Other crias will not be shown until the Fall of 2010. At this time his record is 50/50 boys to girls. Two more crias are due this month.

 DMAR Dominique, blue ribbon winner, is super dense with beautiful architecture in her crimp. Dominique is a sweet girl and is for sale with a free rebreeding to any fully owned DMAR Herdsire. Coverage on Dominique goes from her top knot to her toes.

If you are interested in more information on any of the herdsires listed above Click Here.

If you are interested in more information on any of the alpacas listed above for sale Click Here.

January Birthings:

Both Kaitlyn-Rose and Alpha Carina are due to birth this month. Kaitlyn’s day 335 starts on Jan. 10th and Carina’s on Jan. 28th. We are super excited and waiting quite impatiently.

Maremma Puppies Available for Sale:

The puppies are currently six weeks old. They are healthy and robust. As you can see in some of the pictures they are very playful now as well. Sweet personalities on all of them.

We currently still have available 2 females and 3 males. We are running a promotion in January: Purchase any alpaca at $2000 or more and get a free maremma livestock guardian puppy for free.

If purchasing a puppy alone females are $850 and males are $750. Price includes first shot, first worming, micro-chip, and registration paperwork. We will be going to TxOLAN in February, so we can transport the puppy there for free.

Contact us at info@desertmtnalpacas.com to reserve your pup or call 520.803.9569.

Update on Maremma Pups:

The Maremma pups are now 3 weeks old. As you can see their eyes are fully open and they are quite mobile. I know their ears are open since they wake up each time I walk into their area. Personalities are becoming apparent. The males are all pretty much laid back where the females all seem to be little trouble makers. They are vocal and launch attacks against their litter mates. Teeth are now coming in and I expect that a few yelps will come to help them learn how to curve their bite.

The pups are being given puppy gruel. A mixture of crushed up dry puppy food mixed with hot water and milk. They all like it, but it is still quite messy as they walk, sit, and fall into the pie plate that holds the cream like mixture. On a good note…most are now lapping it up from the plate versus waiting for me to feed them. Donatella, dam, waits patiently until I give her the go ahead to lick the plate and clean off the pups.

The Maremma puppies are for sale and will be ready by the end of January. Females are $850 and males are $750. Costs include first shot, worming, micro-chip, and registration paperwork. To reserve a pup we require a $100 non-refundable deposit. Contact us to reserve a pup today!

Other DMAR News:

Breached Dystocia: This past Saturday Tom and I were called to aid a fellow alpaca rancher. She had a dam in heavy labor with no progress being seen. The rancher said she went inside and couldn’t find the head.

On the drive over I played in my head how I would proceed to determine the position of the cria. I took the neo-natal wet lab twice, so my confidence level is slightly more than most.

Once there I gloved, lubed, and went in. Immediately I felt two pointy elbows and a little knob on top. No neck or head was found. I followed the leg to find it was z-shaped and knew immediately the cria was breached. I contacted the vet and advised the owner with alpaca would be on their way shortly. The vet had me warn the owner that the situation didn’t look good and to be prepared. Even though the cria is still attached at the umbilical cord once the water breaks the cria may still try to take a breath. This could lead to drowning. Knowing all this made the situation seem more dreadful as the vet is approx. 45 minutes away when driving swiftly.

It was about two hours later when I listened to my messages where the alpaca owner advised that the vet had delivered an alive, alert, female cria. The owner was thankful for my help as she was struggling trying to figure out the position of the cria. She probably would have wasted a lot more time and possibly could have lost the cria.

Kaitlyn-Rose: Kaitlyn is due next month with her fifth cria. To date she has had birthed in this order a female, male, female, male. According to her history we are hoping for a female from her. Kaitlyn is a remarkable dam and has produced all blue ribbon offspring so far. Two of them have even won reserve color championships, DMAR Athena and DMAR Magnum. DMAR Athena is currently for sale and goes with her 2009 Fall female cria, DMAR Chanel. DMAR Chanel’s sire is HRAZ Lock & Load who is out of Xanadu’s Presidio. Chanel is a white beauty with dense, beautiful crimp, and lock structure that is already apparent in her cria fleece. Chanel was born in October 2009. Click Here for more information on Athena. Click Here for more information on HRAZ Lock & Load who is available for stud.

Alpha Carina: Carina too is due next month with her 3rd cria. To date she has given us a male and a female. We are excited to find out what it will be this time. Carina’s first offspring, DMAR Armani, is a 2x reserve color champion. We are currently looking for a partner in taking 1/2 interest of Armani. Click Here for more information on Armani.

Christmas at Desert Mountain Alpaca Ranch: Is this Saturday, Dec. 19th from 9 am to 4 pm. We hope you can come out and visit with us. Take a self guided tour of the alpacas and crias. View our Maremma livestock guardian dogs and the 4 week old litter of pups. You will be sure to fall in love with all the creatures of our ranch. Afterwards go into the DMAR Store where you can sip on eggnog and munch on cookies while you shop, view spinning and needle felting demos, or meet with the vendor Premier Designs and their line of beautiful, high fashion jewelry.

Can’t make it out to our Christmas celebration? Don’t fret. You can shop online at www.dmarstore.desertmtnalpacas.com. Hurry as time is running out to receive gifts in time for the holidays.

We hope you can all make it out. We have new crias, puppies, and hand crafted items made by BJ Powers from Power Ranch. Also we will have the vendor Premier Designs where they offer beautiful, high fashion jewelry at an affordable price. Drink some egg nog and have some cookies while you shop for your holiday gifts.

Tom will be available to answer any questions you may have about the alpacas or the maremma livestock guardian dogs.

If you can’t make it don’t fret. Shop online at www.dmarstore.desertmtnalpacas.com.

DMAR Update for Week Ending 10/11/09:

Patagonia Fall Festival: Is this Friday thru Sunday in Patagonia Park, AZ. There will be plenty of vendors plus us. We’re all packed up and ready to head on over to Patagonia this afternoon to set up. We have all your alpaca needs from rovings to finished products like sweaters, coats, hats, etc., etc. Come on out and say hello. It’s never too soon to start your holiday shopping!

Michelle-Rose: Michelle is living with her valley fever. Her last titer showed that she had not improved, but did not worsen either. Her lymph nodes are still quite swollen, however the good news is that her white blood count was down to 23,000 from the high of 34,000. She is making some improvement. As far as appearance goes Michelle now weighs 155.8 up from her low time low of 133. We would love to see Michelle at her average weight of 165 or better yet at 175. Remember that Michelle is a tall girl so she really should be heavier than most. Also, Michelle is no longer on free feed and no longer has her own stall. Well we needed the room since our fall crias have already started to hit the ground. On a good note Michelle is holding her own and eating her portion of the food. No more dilly dallying around. Also, Michelle seems to like the company. I think she feels more and more like a healthy alpaca. Overall, Michelle appears to be as happy and healthy as can be while living with her valley fever and taking her meds 2x per day.

Athena and Cria Watch: Today is day 345 on our cria watch with Athena. As I stare at the tv monitor in my bedroom I can see she has no plans on having the cria today. She is eating well and laying around a lot. Last pregnancy she didn’t birth until day 372. I’m just hoping she will have this cria in the same year she got pregnant. The cria is another one from HRAZ Lock & Load. We so look forward to this baby as Athena is Kaitlyn Rose’s much improved daughter and it was Kaitlyn’s and Lock & Load’s son, Magnum, who just recently won reserve color champ at the NMSFAS.

Alpacas-to eat or not to eat is the question. Lately I have heard as well as seen posts on people who have slaughtered their alpacas to eat. Is this right?

In looking at the overall economy I guess I can understand why some ranches decided to do so. After all we are raising the livestock to make money. If your ranch isn’t profitable well you still need to eat and feed your family.

However, this isn’t why I got into alpaca ranching. This is supposed to be a “no-kill” livestock. If Tom and I had gotten into cows, pigs, goats, chickens, etc. then I would expect to one day to slaughter those animals.

We see the alpacas more of pets than a food source. We treat them well and spend plenty of money on them when they are ill. Each one is named and gets our attention. We love to spend time with them and watch each personality grow.

Now this doesn’t mean I have never eaten alpaca. On my trip to Peru I did have a dinner of alpaca. I can say it was very tasty and alpaca is a very lean piece of meat. The difference is that it wasn’t my alpaca that I raised. The meat on my plate had no name and no personality.

So is it right to eat alpaca? At least for today it is not my choice. Take a look at this picture of Antonio and Nikoli….could you eat them?

Cooling down the alpacas at DMAR is an ongoing theme here. Temperatures are reaching 1oo and the alpacas are feeling it. Fortunately for them we have several ways to cool them down:

1. They have plenty of shade and fresh water.

2. We turn on fans for them daily. Some alpacas like it more than others. Shasta literally kisses the fan and leans her head, neck, and upper body right into it.

3. I hose down there legs and bellies daily. Again some like this more than others, but on these hot days I have them lined up giving me kisses or biting my shirt trying to get me to do them first.

4. For days that reach 95 or above we turn on the evaporative coolers. Yes my alpacas are spoiled, but a lot of them are carrying the future crias of DMAR. 

Update on Michelle: I know I said I would keep positive and believe me I have tried, but there were many days in which I was sure she was going to give up the valley fever battle. Well I’m glad to say that Michelle is doing better. Her weight is now at 147.4 lbs. We can no longer see her ribs, which at one point were so pronounced that she was a walking skeleton. Michelle’s appetite is great and she is now running around with the rest of the herd during social time.

Michelle is not cured, but she is definitely acting like an alpaca should. However I don’t ever take her illness for granted. She’s got a long way to recover still.

DMAR Update for Week Ending 6-27-09:

DMAR Site Under Attack: Well a few things have been going on. For starters my blog was hacked into and a malicious code was added to my scripts which began attacking other sites. My web host shut me down advising that I was in violation of subscription term. Not knowing what this meant I called them and was told of the issue.

Since I am the designer, writer, and overall maker of my website I was left totally perplexed as to how to clean it up. My host provider sent some information on what might help, but basically I was told to clean up my scripts. I tried to do this, but to be honest it was so over my head.

After a week of having my site down I got online and went to elance. This is a site where you can hire a freelancer in areas of computer programming, website design, administration, etc.. I posted my job and a couple of days later I hired a person in Romania. Within a couple of days my site was up and he even upgraded me to the newest version of WordPress, which is my blog. I couldn’t be happier and what’s best is that I was able to talk him down to my current budget. What a great experience for a terrible problem!

Michelle Rose Update: I haven’t been able to give any updates lately, but Michelle has lost about 5 pounds in about 2 1/2 weeks time. She now weighs 140 lbs. I would be really concerned, but she is so alert and active that I am not terribly worried. This is the best she’s looked in a long time.

I’m not sure if I mentioned about her swollen lymph nodes. When the vet first felt them she was not optimistic at all on Michelle’s outcome. She sent me home with instructions to give antibotics of Naxcel as well as Doxycycline for 10 days. Today I took Michelle back to the vet for her blood draw and the doctor was happy to say that she believed the lymph nodes under the chin had shrunk in size. They are still swollen, but slightly smaller. Overall she thought Michelle looked good and sent us on our way home. I’ll find out the blood test results tomorrow to see if her white cell count has come down. At one time the doctor thought it might be cancer in the lymph nodes, but after speaking with a blood specialist they concluded her lymph nodes were so swollen due to the valley fever.

Finally I believe that even the vet sees a ray of light at the end of the tunnel. I keep praying for Michelle and tell her I love her daily. Do you think that helps?

Testimonial: A couple of weeks ago I had a ranch visit from two sisters that drove approx. 4 hours from Phoenix to see my alpacas. She wanted to learn more about alpacas since she wanted to get some when she retired in the next couple of years. During her visit she mentioned at how pleasantly surprised she was at the information we provided as well as our hospitality. She mentioned that she had gone to another ranch where her visit didn’t last even 30 minutes and she had left deflated. She felt renewed and looked forward to learning more.

A few days later we received this email from our visitor and she has given me permission to share it with you all:

“Hi Tom and Janice,  Once again I would like to thank you for your wonderful hospitality on Saturday.  My sister Nancy and I had a very enlightened and educational experience.  You really went above and beyond anything we had expected. On our drive home she commented about how this would be “right up my alley”.  Our visit has given me a renewed incentive to start looking for property and start making plans for my own ranch.”

Let Tom and I renew your interest in alpacas too. Simply call us at 520-803-9569 or email us at info@desertmtnalpacas.com to schedule your ranch visit.

2009 Estes Park Wool Market Alpaca Fleece Show:

This year I placed two fleeces into this show. It was RK and Dominique. Here is how they placed:

DMAR Royal Knight – 1st and Reserve Color Champ

DMAR Dominique – 3rd Place

DMAR Update for Weekending 5/9/09:

Gianna is finally home. She is our newest maremma. Tom and I imported her directly from Italy and I flew to NY last week to pick her up. She is only 9 weeks old, but she is a big girl. Probably weighing around 25 lbs. She has made our ranch her own and gets along great with all the other maremmas. She shows no fear of the alpacas and has already started guarding the property with her barking. Of course not to the same extent as the older dogs, but still she is trying. Gianna will be Santino’s new girlfriend as we had to spay Bianca earlier this year. She has already taken over Santino’s spot laying next to the dog house. Tom wets it down each morning and night making the dirt cool. As you can see she is already dirty.

 Armani with Vincenzo - People are constantly asking us how the alpacas get along with the maremmas. I think this picture says it all. Armani is literally laying his head over Vincenzo’s head while napping. Unfortunately I could only get one picture because Santino started barking at me, because I was sneaking up to the fence trying to be quiet. He gave me away which made both boys lift their heads. However it is obvious that they get along great. Both boys are yearlings in this picture taken just yesterday. Cute, cute, cute.

Update on Michelle Rose: Well we sheared her on April 22nd. Her wool was 3 lbs. Then the next day I left for NY for 6 days. Tom could feed her in the morning and night, but mid-day she wasn’t given any grain as he works. When I got back Michelle looked noticeably skinnier. We weighed her and she was only 144 lbs. She lost about 15 pounds in the 6 days I was gone. Now I am starting all over again in making sure she eats. I may have to change her medication back to ketoconozole. Not sure yet.

 DMAR Store: Have you been in our online store yet at www.dmarstore.desertmtnalpacas.com? We have sweaters that are 100% baby alpaca, teddy bears and cats, scarf sets, coats, ponchos, yarn, and plenty more. It’s never too soon to purchase your holiday gifts.  

 

Knitting:I made this scarf from my 100% alpaca skein in color rose grey. You can purchase the skein online at www.dmarstore.desertmtnalpacas.com. It took a little less than the 250 yds that come in each skein. Using size 9 knitting needles the pattern is as follows on a multiple of six stitches:

row 1: *k3, p3, repeat from *

row 2: *k1, p1, repeat from *

That’s it. This is a real simple knitting project for any beginner. Pattern was found online at http://fuzzygalore.biz/patterns/reversible.shtml.

DMAR Update for Week Ending 4/25/09:

Michelle Rose had a slight weight loss last week of 2 pounds. I was concerned and so I stepped up her feedings with extra alfalfa and beet pulp. This past Friday we weighed her and she is now 162 pounds. I continue to give her Doxicyclene, but have now switched over to Fluconazole. It is a little cheaper than ketoconozole and is supposed to be less harmful. Michelle looks good and is responding well. She totally enjoys the one on one attention as it is mostly made up of me bringing in her grain. She looks forward to seeing me now.

 I wanted to share with you all a pair of mittens made by one of my customers, Karen Christian. I believe the fiber is of Electra II when she was a cria. They came out beautifully and look cuddly soft. Great job Karen!

Shearing takes place this Wednesday. This past weekend we did herd management which included weighing, toe nail trimming, and giving needed vaccinations or worming paste. To add to our load we also took a shop vac and blew out the coats. Unfortunately it doesn’t clean the alpacas completely, but it does make my job of cleaning the shorn fleeces a lot easier. With this week of us being in the upper 80’s the alpacas will sure be happy to take their coats off.

 Meet Gianna. Gianna is the newest member of our maremma family. She is being imported directly from Italy. I pick her up on Monday. I can’t wait. We have needed another breeding female ever since Bianca had to be spayed and my sister purchased Donatella. Don’t worry as Donatella will remain on the ranch only that my sister will be responsible for her needs. Gianna will be Santino’s new girlfriend.