DMAR Alpaca and Maremma Blog

DMAR Update for Week Ending 11/15/08:

This past weekend was a huge success for our first time going to the Fall Festival at the Holy Trinity Monastery in St. David. Sales were up with both DMAR Apollo and DMAR Diego being bit hits with the crowd. Of course Sunday was a huge challenge with the winds gusting at 25 – 35 mph. This is the life of an outdoor festival vendor. However we had purchased a new trimline canopy tent and it has proven to be its weight in gold.

Tom and I are now getting ready for AlpacaFest West this weekend. We will leave this Friday morning with two pit stops on the way to pick up more alpacas. I can’t wait to see how our group does.

Alexis is now only 10 days out from being full term. I don’t think she looks as big as previous years, so I’m wondering if that is a sign that she is carrying a female. Tom and I are anxious for the upcoming birth. I pray she doesn’t go early and waits for us to return from our trip considering baby watch doesn’t start until next Saturday.

Home and Business Expo at Buena High School is being held this Saturday, September 13th from 9 am to 4 pm. We will be there and hope that you all will stop by and say hello. We will bring some items from the DMAR Store and you know it is never too early to start your christmas shopping.

Next weekend is the NM show. We are taking 4 juveniles, 1 yearling, and 1 adult. We are very excited to go and hope our alpacas will behave. Hopefully we will come home with a bunch of ribbons.

By Golly Miss Molly is now in her 11th month of gestation. Her day 335 begins on September 27th. Last year she birthed on that exact number, however the average length of gestation goes from day 335 to day 355. We are waiting on pins and needles as we bred her to our rose grey herdsire, Snowmass Incan Emperor, and from the last two crias he gave us we can only expect another winner. Don’t forget to watch her on the web cam.

DMAR Update for Wk 6/16/08:

It is hot here. High 90′s and low 100′s all this week. I go out at noon everyday and hose down the legs and bellies of all the alpacas. Funny how I seem to get kisses from the ones who never kiss me when I spray them down. I’m sure it feels real good to them. Especially to the dams carrying fetus’ in their bellies.

I took Emma and Carina to the vet last Wednesday and they are both confirmed pregnant. Lock & Load is the herdsire we used for Carina and Apollo is the herdsire we used for Emma. This is the second confirmed pregnancy for Lock & Load and the first for Apollo. It is exciting to see these young herdsires producing their first crias. Unfortunately we have such a long time to wait to see the results. Nonetheless they are pregnant, so that is one milestone down.

Two major changes seem to be occupying my time these days. I have enrolled in a veterinarian assist course. I am trying to learn more about animals and the illnesses (causes and cures) they contract. I definitely do not like feeling helpless when my alpacas, dogs, or cats are not feeling well and my vet is unavailable, so I decided to do something about it. I have already finished lesson 6 and am anxiously waiting for my new material to arrive, so I can dive in again.  

The second change is I am working on doing a website face lift. I am redoing the main website and because their are so many pages it is quite time consuming. However, I look forward to publishing the finished content. That won’t be for a little while yet.

Other than that things are quite calm around here. The alpacas and maremmas seem to be coping with the weather with the daily hosing down (not the dogs they don’t like to be sprayed) and staying in the shade with the fans and/or the two evaporative coolers we have on. 

This weekend we will be at the Bisbee Farmer’s Mkt again at Vista Park in Warren. We are there every other Saturday and bring our products from our DMAR Store.

 

DMAR Update for Week 4-21-08

Athena: What can I say? Still no cria yet. We did have her looked over this past Sunday and the vet felt the baby move. Basically nothing more we can do. The vet says not to worry until there is something to worry about. Tom said to me this morning that Athena was laying on her side ever so slightly and that today might be the day. I laughed. Well it has to be one day, but I won’t believe it until I see it.

 Shearing Days took place this past weekend. We took two full trailer loads both Saturday and Sunday to the Cokely’s ranch where they had professional New Zealand Sheep & Alpaca shearers on site. They work incredibly fast and do a great job. It never amazes me how much fiber comes off the animal and just how slender they are underneath. They look funny with those long necks. Anyway, I guarantee they feel better having the fur coats off of them in the quickly warmer weather hitting Arizona.

Maremma Puppy, Gino: I took these pictures yesterday (3/22/08). Gino is now 4 mths old today (4/23/08) and he is a huge teddy bear weighing 63 lbs. His front paws are to be admired and Tom wants a picture of Gino’s paw in his hand to reference the size. Gino has quite a lovable temperment and is really coming into his own. He is now playing more with the larger dogs and just today went running with them barking at whatever it was he was guarding against. Of course Santino ran him over part of the way through and Gino decided that between Vincenzo and Santino they could take care of the problem. He happily ran back to Tom for comforting after he was knocked over. I took Gino to the vet yesterday for his rabies shot and health certificate. Everything was approved and Tom is looking at flights to send Gino to his new owner in California. He will definitely be missed by us, but he will be the alpha male at his new ranch and in my eyes he deserves to be just that.

 

 

DMAR Update for Week 4-13-08:

Athena: Athena still has not given birth to her first cria. She is now on day 366. People keep asking when and at this point I don’t even try to guess. Some have advised that they are watching her on the cam and that she looks agitated. Then they ask do you think she will today? I answer my usual response of ”she’s looked that way since day 335 and at this time I will not think she is in labor until I actually see the cria protruding.” Today she looks like she does every other day. Content to eat and chew her cud.

Gino: Well it appears that our 3 mth old pup, Gino, will be going to a sheep ranch in California sometime next week. It was hard to say goodbye to Poppy when she left, but it has already been a month. However, we have had the chance to get to know Gino longer and have fallen in love with him. He is a great dog and I’m sure his new owner will love him just as much.

Shearing: This weekend we will be shearing all of our alpacas at Cienega Alpaca Ranch in Benson. I am pretty excited to see the fiber up close from the inside out. I am pretty busy preparing the bags that will hold prime fleece (blanket which consists of side and back), 2nds (will hold upper thigh and neck), and then 3rds (will be belly and apron). Everyone including little month old Armani will get sheared. With the weather getting up over 80 this week I’m sure they will appreciate having less fiber to deal with.

Bisbee Farmer’s Mkt: This year the DMAR Store will be bringing selected items to the Bisbee Farmer’s Mkt which opens April 26th from 8am – 1pm. We had such a good time last year and look forward to going back. We hope you will stop by and visit us.  

 

When Athena when? I keep asking this question to Athena as each day goes by. She is making us suffer by not showing any signs of impending labor. Today is day 358 and I am watching her kush calmly. Will she be one of those alpacas you hear that don’t give birth until day 385? Gosh I hope not. I just don’t think I can take the stress of waiting. Everything appears to be fine. Athena eats normally and I do see the cria moving, so I know it is alive. At this time there just isn’t anything more to do than what I am already doing. Watching her on the web cam, checking under her tail each time she goes to the bathroom to look for some dialation, and make sure she is as cool and comfortable as possible. People from other farms are now asking for the status. Did she give birth yet? All I can say is not yet, maybe tomorrow. Once again I will ask, when Athena when?

Shearing Days:  All of our alpacas will be sheared on April 19th and 20th at Cienega Creek Alpacas. Although this is an exciting time in which we can really review the fiber and start making decisions as to which ones will be show worthy and which ones will be made into products, it is also a stressful time. Kaitlyn Rose our 5 yr old proven dam will go totally blonde on us and not recognize her newly shorn cria, Dominique. We know this since we have now gone through 2 previous years worth of cria shearing and watching Kaitlyn run away from the cria screaming. Kaitlyn is not one to allow another cria to nurse from her, so since she cannot recognize her own cria she will run and run. This usually lasts only about 6-8 hrs, but you can’t help but feel bad for the cria who doesn’t understand what is happening.

DMAR Update for Week 3/31:

We are still anxiously awaiting the birth of DMAR Athena’s first cria. Today is day 352. Tom and I cannot sleep the entire night through as we wake up to check the camera to see if she is showing any signs of labor. We have the camera hooked up right to our bedroom television and we don’t shut it off. Very convenient on one hand and awfully annoying on the other. However, I want to be sure to catch the birthing especially if there are any complications. Don’t forget to watch the Live Cam at Home and you too may catch the birthing.

Last month Tom and I had to deal with an alpaca, DMAR Apollo, getting very sick. We were very nervous about his not eating, having severe diarrhea, and a temperature. Although he never went down we could tell that this young male was very ill and we immediately took action to take care of him. You can read about our ordeal at How We Got an Alpaca to Start Eating Again.

Gino, the maremma pup, is now 3 mths old. He is still available and for $750 he comes fully dewormed, second set of shots, and microchipped. Gino is growing nicely and is already following the rest of the adult dogs around barking and trying to keep up with the chase. Gino is not afraid of the alpacas and does not chase after them. He will occasionally walk up to them and sniff them out, but for the most part he leaves them alone.

The Arizona Fiber Co-op recently received back our products from the mill. Every year the co-op gathers donated fiber only from the Arizona Alpaca growers and sends it off to the mill to have yarn, sock, and other products made. This year DMAR store has had rose grey cable knitted dress socks and cream colored yarn skeins made. You can view and purchase these items now at DMAR Store. All payments are done through Pay Pal which is secure.

We now have gardeners coming by for our alpaca manure. We off the manure for free, so simply call us for a first time appt. We will show you where it is. After that you can stop by at your leisure to pick some up. We do have a shovel for you to use, but you need to bring your own bags or buckets.

“Snots” is the nickname given for the respiratory virus going around these days. I have written more about it and you can read it at  www.desertmtnalpacas.com/respiratory-virus-snots.html.

Here are some thoughts that Tom and I have on the whole thing:

1. No one can say for sure what type of virus it is and if it is only virus affecting all alpacas nationwide. Based on this we do not understand why people have their alpacas and their ranches on lockdown. An example of why we say this:  Earlier this month we went to AlpacaFest West in California. We took 4 of our own alpacas and one from another ranch. To my surprise the four from our ranch arrived with a fever and the one from the other ranch had none. The vet then allowed our alpacas to attend the show stating that the thermometer she used previously was new and not working properly. This left us with doubts, especially since shortly after arriving home two of our alpacas had fevers. A day later they had snotty noses. Eventually all four alpacas that I had taken to the show had snotty noses. All were treated with Naxcel and the ones with fever with Banamine. All the while the alpaca we took from the other ranch and that continued to stay with us never caught the virus. Ok, so maybe that is a fluke and that one alpaca had a better immune system to begin with since she never showed sign of fever to begin with. I guess we will never know if the alpacas caught the virus at the show or actually caught it before going to the show with the initial symptoms appearing at the show in the form of fevers. I have my doubts. However, a friend of ours also went to the show without any alpacas. She never went into any of the alpaca stalls and never even touched an alpaca. After arriving home she didn’t go into any of the stalls until the next morning and after her shower. She wrote to me to advise that her alpacas too had a snotty nose. Hence remaining in lockdown didn’t help her alpacas and she now regretted not taking them to the show. As Dr. Pollard told me by phone, this is a virus that he believed will work itself over to every alpaca ranch one day. Hiding from it won’t be the answer, but to stay aware and treat as quickly as possible.

2. For the ranches that have stated that their alpacas had died from the virus, Tom and I are wondering what went wrong. We have read in the different alpaca sites that one day they were fine and the next they were dead. We wish we could understand this better. What we mean is did they show any symptoms of the virus beforehand? Did they have a snotty nose? Was their temperature taken? How soon before a vet was contacted? There are so many questions unanswered and we believe people can jump to hysterics without understanding the full problem.

3. The days of not quarantining your alpacas are gone. Everyone must take bio-security measures seriously and begin today. For new ranches just beginning it is no longer just thinking of the stall layout by itself. You must also include where your quarantine area will be. Especially with virus’ like the “snots” and BVD. It is just to risky to take chances and allowing your other alpacas and worse case other people’s alpacas that are agisting with you to get ill or die due to careless bio-security practices.  

 

 

 

 

Well we had quite the abnormal day yesterday. To begin with I woke up to start the day with an uninvited migrane. I felt terrible seeing spots, so I called into work. I thought my day was going to be spent in bed, but to my surprise I was everywhere but in bed.

My mother went to feed the alpacas so I could close my eyes and rest. About a half hour later she comes in and tells me that Alexis (mother in photo) is not eating and is staying kushed. When she tried to get Alexis up she was unsteady on her feet stumbling around. As the alarm bells went off in my head I grabbed my jacket and with my mom in tow went outside. Sure enough Alexis was not eating and we found her kushed. I told my mother I was going for some probiotics to help soothe her stomach from any stresses she may have for the moment.

A minute later I was back outside and Alexis jumped to her feet as I approached. She tried to run away from me and in an instant fell flat on her side as she had no coordination in her legs. Sheer panic went through me as she is 10 mths pregnant! I composed myself and grabbed her and gave her the probiotics. Now that I see how unsteady she is I need to take her temp. To me it was low at 99.3, but Norm Evans book says that is normal. Worried I called a nearby ranch as my vet is not answering the phone. I describe the symptoms and she tells me it is likely to be an ear infection. Of course I thought it all makes sense now with her limited coordination. I still have to get her to the vet though.

My loving husband who is on a business trip left the trailer unhitched. Luckily I had my mom here to help me locate the ball and hitch of the trailer to hook them up. After a quick phone call to Tom, husband, I was thoroughly connected and ready to go. Next obstacle is that Tom left no gas in the truck. I can feel my hands around his neck as I took off to the nearest out of the way gas station I could find.

An hour later I am at the vet’s office. I explained the situation and that it was absolutely necessary to check on the cria as well, although I did see the cria move after Alexis had fallen. By this time Alexis had a definite head tilt to the right. After 4 to 5 ear ticks were removed and medication applied we were in much better shape feeling confident that we will get her issue resolved.

Next the vet asked me again if I wanted her to examine the cria. Yes I said. Within a minute or two I heard her say that she feels a fetal heartbeat, but that Alexis had a uterine torsion. What? Alexis showed no symptoms such as violently rolling on the ground. As a matter of fact she didn’t move from a kushed position. I can’t believe she allowed us to mess with her ears for so long and she was twisted up inside. The vet said it was tight and we needed to untwist it. Ok….I took Alexis’ head/neck and two other girls began to roll Alexis from one side onto her back and then to the other side as the doc held the baby in place. Alexis would have spit fire if given a chance. The vet checked again and luckily we were able to untwist her uterus on the first try.

Alexis is back home now. She is recovering nicely. She is still not 100% steady on her feet, but what an improvement from yesterday. We are to give ear drops of baytril into each ear (1 drop per) until the bottle is done…approximately 1 to 1 1/2 weeks. Piece of cake now. Alexis is now eating and we have her in the maternity ward. We consider her on bed rest as once an alpaca has a uterine torsion they are prone to getting it again within the same pregnancy. I have my fingers crossed that this will not be the case.

Thank goodness for my gut feeling. Had I not been worried about the cria after Alexis’ fall my waking up this morning might have been to find a totally different scenario. 

 

 

Alpaca Ulcer Update – As you all know the end of last month we lost one of our females due to perforated ulcers. We have done some research on ulcers and learned that grain, such as cob, can cause ulcers in alpacas. Not that we fed too much of this, but it has now ended. We will no longer feed alpacas any supplement to their hay unless it is specifically formulated for alpacas such as the Mazuri Alpaca Chews.

We also observed that the feeders are a place of stress. Therefore, instead of having just one feeder per stall we have now added modified laundry baskets that we can hook onto our paddock fencing. Depending on the stall and who is inside we added one or two baskets. This way if any of the alpacas is being spit on at the feeder they can simply walk to another feeder and eat in peace. Of course some of the alpacas just prefer to eat where they are eating regardless if they are being spit at. This is especially true of my crias. They are so stubborn. However, I have noticed other stalls/paddocks a lot quieter now during feeding.

Since ulcers cannot be detected at this time these were just some ideas to consider.