DMAR Alpaca and Maremma Blog

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.

DMAR Update for Week ending 4/11/09:

Michelle is maintaining her weight at 159 lbs. Although I wished she had gained something this past week at least she hasn’t lost any. Her appetite is good and her breathing seems to be much less labored. Overall I feel she is improving and look forward to her next weigh in on Friday.

I am now getting ready for shearing. For us it will happen on April 22nd. I have already printed up my Yokom McColl forms for the fiber samples. I am really happy that shearing will take place on our ranch this year. I just couldn’t imagine having to haul 26 alpacas to another person’s ranch.

I have now taken up knitting. I have made two scarves with regular Walmart yarn. After those two went well I decided to make a wrap out of alpaca yarn. I am almost done and have Tom really impressed. Not sure what my next project will be, but I do look forward to making other items out of alpaca.

Valley Fever Update on Michelle Rose for week 3/29/09: Michelle is responding well to her meds. Her breathing is not as labored as past weeks. Also Michelle gained over 5 pounds in one week! She is currently at 159 and this is only 6 pounds less than her normal maintained weight. She eats well, but is now really hesitant to eat her grain. This is where I sprinkle her meds and she is onto to it. She tries to eat around it, but it’s pretty much all over the place. She has no choice, but to eat it. We are very pleased with her progress.

Valley Fever and Michelle Rose:

Before Valley Fever Pictures (taken in December 2008):

Tom and I always try to do herd management every month. However, we were so busy with the Phoenix show coming up in March that we didn’t do it in January. February came and I remarked to Tom at how skinny Michelle looked. We didn’t think too much of it since she had a cria at side and figured his nursing was causing her to lose weight. Regardless I couldn’t believe my ears when Tom read me her weight from the scale. Michelle is a tall girl and has always been on the skinny side, but we were able to maintain her at 165 lbs. Now Tom was telling me she was weighing 150 lbs. Valley Fever went through our minds, but the only symptom she was showing was weight loss. We kinda brushed it off, but I made an appt. for her anyway. The vet was out of town and with our show coming up we didn’t get Michelle in until 3 weeks later. In the meantime I started feeding Michelle extra grain.

The week of the show we weighed Michelle again. We couldn’t get a straight reading, but she was anywhere between 148 and 150 lbs. This wasn’t good. I separated Michelle and her cria, Valentino, into their own stall. I began free feeding and giving grain 3 times a day at 3-4 cups daily. The grain was Mazuri Repro & Growth formula, alfalfa pellets, and now beet pulp in the hopes of chunking her up. While at the show I had a volunteer to come in to feed Michelle personally. At least she was now maintaining her weight and not losing anymore.

The following week I heard what sounded like fluid in Michelle’s nasal passage. Pretty much like she needed to blow her nose. I called the vet and was advised to start administering Naxcel. The next day I took Michelle in and the vet drew blood. It would be a couple of days to find out if she had valley fever or not. Sure enough she did. Michelle was put immediately on Doccicyclene (antibotics for her upper respiratory infection) and Ketoconazole (antifungal med). It has only been a week, but Michelle is now up to 153.6 lbs. She may or may not have to remain on the meds for a year. We will have to see how her body reacts to the medication and if she is able to kill off the fungus.

Pictures of Michelle with Valley Fever Disease taken in March 2009: Notice that you can really see her spine. Notice her back legs have very little space between them. Notice how her hip bones are showing way too much in her rearview photo. Due to a couple of fevers recently Michelle has wool break. This fiber will be worthless this year.

The medical name for Valley Fever is coccidioidomycosis. Valley Fever is a fungus that lives in low desert areas with high temperatures and dry soil. Valley Fever can be contracted in the Southwestern US including California, Arizona, New Mexico, and Texas. The fungus in the form of spores becomes airborned when the soil is disrupted by construction, walking, or wind. The spores are breathed into the nose and land in the lungs.

Once in the lungs the spore changes into spherules which continue to grow until they burst. This burst releases hundreds of endospores. Each endospore can grow into a new spherule and the cycle continues. If not treated Valley Fever could move out of the lungs and into other organs and joints causing lameness.

Symptoms of Valley Fever consist of the following:

• Loss of appetite
• Extreme weight loss
• Lameness
• Coughing
• Fever

Valley Fever symptoms can take between 1 -4 weeks to appear. The day before I took Michelle into the vet she started to cough.

Valley Fever is not contagious. A spore must be inhaled by each individual animal. Coughing does not spread spores. Valley Fever is not an animal disease alone. Humans can also get inflicted with this disease. Most don’t even know they have it.

We expect Michelle to recover, but it will take time. It appears we caught it at the beginning. It does need to be noted that she may relapse again in the future. Michelle is being held open until she no longer needs to take the meds. After that there will be no problem in getting her pregnant.

I will keep you all posted on her progress. Feel free to comment or ask questions.

I used two sites in order to write this article: http://phoenix.about.com/cs/health/a/valleyfever01.htm and  http://phoenix.about.com/gi/dynamic/offsite.htm?zi=1/XJ&sdn=phoenix&cdn=citiestowns&tm=455&gps=126_1651_1020_552&f=00&su=p284.9.336.ip_p554.12.336.ip_&tt=2&bt=1&bts=1&zu=http%3A//www.vfce.arizona.edu/VFCE%2520OLD/ValleyFever/canine/canine.htm

 

 

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! 

 

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.

DMAR Update for Week 12/21/08:

DMAR Valentino and DMAR Royal Peruvian Princess: Our two newest crias are both thriving and doing well. Valentino had a little bit of retained fluid at birth which caused him breathing issues. It sounded like he had a snotty nose that he needed to blow. It was agitated when he nursed and the first day he went to open mouth breathing. This isn’t what you want to see as all alpacas must breathe through their noses. Crias especially since they continue to breathe through their nose as they are nursing. However with some naxcel, banamine, and pure oxygen Valentino had cleared up the fluid by day 2 and is now a rambucious two week old cria. Princess, on the other hand, has been battling some diarrhea that started out with a case of e-coli. Her poop was yellow and pasty which is a sure sign. I immediately started her out on Albon and within a week the e-coli was gone, but not the diarrhea. We are currently giving her pepto-bismol and probios. It is getting better, but we aren’t too concerned as we see her nursing regularly (getting hydrated) and is running around being active. The diarrhea we are contributing to mom’s rich milk as we believe she only produces heavy cream and not milk.

DMAR Store will be open all this week for the last minute Christmas shoppers. You can stop by the ranch store, but please call for an appt first at 520-803-9569 or you can shop online at http://www.dmarstore.desertmtnalpacas.com. You can still get the items ontime if you select next day or 2nd day shipping.

Registrations have now opened for the 2009 SouthWest Regional Alpaca Show held at the Arizona State Fairgrounds on March 7th & 8th. The alpaca show is free to the public and if you ever wanted to learn more about alpacas attending a show is a great way to network and meet alpaca ranchers and ask questions. Tom and I are the event show managers, so please contact us at swralpacashow@yahoo.com if you have any questions. The show website may also answer a lot of your questions and that address is http://www.swras.org.

Our maremma dog, Bianca, is due sometime this week or next. We are excited as always to welcome her new pups. The whelping box is in place and Bianca has made herself comfortable in it many times now. I truly felt like she gave a sigh of relief when she saw me putting it in place. I know she was searching a location to have her pups and now she needs to search no more. This week Tom will place a camera in the feed room where the whelping box is, so we and online viewers can watch. Remember that you can reach the web cam by going to http://www.desertmtnalpacas.com and clicking on the Live Cam link at the top menu.

Don’t forget that in January we will have the Alpaca Know How Seminar. This is great for all you need alpaca ranchers to get a hands on as to how to select a good quality alpaca from a pet quality. For more information click on the DMAR Seminar link on the left hand side menu.

Happy Holidays Everyone!

 

 

 

DMAR Calendar for December 2009:

December 3rd: Tucson’s Women’s Night Out held at the Radisson Suites at 7pm. I was thrilled when they asked me to be one of the vendors. All shopping will be conducted in one of the ballrooms between 5pm and 7pm. They expect to have over 80 professional women attend.

December 4th: Take Bianca (Maremma LGD) to vet to confirm that she is pregnant. I can tell you that her mammary glands have begun to swell and it looks promising, however I have my doubts about the whole testing procedure. Last year I took her in twice to the vet. One time he palpated her stomach area and the other time he took x-rays. Both times he told me she wasn’t. I didn’t believe him and luckily I didn’t as on Dec. 23rd she went into labor. I had Tom prepare a whelping box for her a couple of weeks before, so we were prepared. What we weren’t prepared for was that a young pup would make the wrong turn and go up the other uterine horn. The pup was stuck and blocking the passage out. Bianca had to have an emergency c-section. I am sure Bianca nor the pups would have survived if I believed the first vet who said she wasn’t pregnant. I am thankful that I stayed with her for two nights when her temperature dropped and was able to help my beautiful Bianca when she was in trouble.

I am happy to say that the new owners of Bianca’s pups from last year, Gino and Poppy, have kept in touch. Tom and I were able to personally see Poppy last month while at a show in California. Her new owners were kind enough to bring her over. Wow! She has really beat the expectations I had on her. She has Bianca’s face and Santino’s coat. She is a tall girl who appears to still be growing. She is now 11 mths old and after a little time I truly believe she remembered me. Unfortunately I didn’t have a camera, so no pictures were taken. The owners are thrilled with Poppy and plan to breed her in the future.

On the other hand, Gino’s new owners sent us pictures recently. Gino is the spittin’ image of his dad, Santino. The owners love his look and especially his personality. They say he is one of the family, however just recently he was on the wife’s bad side for chewing up Christmas ornaments outside. Oh well…..Gino still is a puppy after all. Take a look at how nicely Gino is growing.

Gino at 11 mths old.

December 10th – December 29th: Waiting the arrival of Michelle’s cria.. I will pretty much be homebound during this time period simply waiting on the newest arival. As usual Tom and I are full of anticipation and excitement. I love having small crias running around the place playing with each other.

December 25th – Christmas Happy holidays to everyone. The ranch will be closed on Christmas day.

Desert Mtn Alpaca Ranch welcomes all visitors. Please remember to call at 520-803-9569 or email at info@desertmtnalpacas.com to schedule an appt. before coming out. We do need to put our guardian dogs away.

Alexis gives birth to DMAR Royal Peruvian Princess: This occurred on Nov. 24th at 8:13am. She weighed 15.2 lbs and light fawn in color. RPP is doing great although she is a little low still on her rear pasterns. This will correct itself with a little time. Her fiber is absolutely gorgeous. There are twists and crimp already and the ends are tight as popcorn. We are very excited about this little female cria. Her dam, Alexis, is doing fine as well. The entire 2nd stage of labor only took 8 minutes. Pretty impressive. I have noticed that Alexis is a bit more protective of this cria. She tends to start spitting at me as I try to get close to RPP. Overall we are very pleased. RPP sire is Royal Sun of Cienega Creek Alpacas. RPP is full sister to her Reserve Color Champion, DMAR Royal Knight.

AOCR Michelle Rose is the next to go into labor. Day 335 starts on December 10th. I can tell she is now feeling her last days of pregnancy as she is laying around more and is slow in moving. This will be her second Snowmass Incan Emperor cria. Remember her first, DMAR Nikoli, has been winning blue ribbons at the show.