DMAR Alpaca and Maremma Blog

Gianna Due Anyday Now:

Gianna has just hit her 8th week. Her litter is due literally anytime now. I know you probably can’t tell much from the photos but she is really quite wide. At this time I have no problem feeling a pup kick everytime I lay my hands on her.

  We finished Gianna’s whelping area. I used to use a whelping box but Gianna is just too big to fit in it. Instead I took my friend’s, Deb Dallara of Brookfarm Alpacas, idea and ran with it. The room is actually the horse wash room in the barn. Since I don’t have horses it was easy to transform it. We lined the walls with hay bales and out in front we are using one side of a chain link dog run with a door. The table inside is where I weigh the alpaca feed and underneath has a fan to keep Gianna cool. The entire cement floor was topped off with coastal bermuda to keep Gianna and the pups comfy. Once the time is here for Gianna to whelp I will keep towels and blankets on top of the hay floor as I don’t want any puppies getting it caught in their eyes.

Gianna is a very good eater. She’s never one to pass up on food. At this time I am feeding her one cup of adult and 3 cups puppy dry food all topped off with 1/2 can of puppy wet food. She gets this twice a day and sometimes she even gets an additional cup at noon. This morning was the first time in a long time, I’m not counting when her face got stung by a wasp, that she didn’t finish her meal. All signs that I am observing.

I am starting to take her temp twice per day. This morning it was still over a 100. Once it drops to 98/99 I will be on full alert as she will start to whelp 24/48 hrs afterwards. At least this time the whelping area is large enough for me to lay down with her comfortably. Also, what a nice change to have puppies in the summertime vs. the winter. I guess I won’t be freezing my butt off this time around!

  Santino, the dad to be, is taken things in stride. He loves Gianna and protects her but isn’t stopped from doing his other guarding duties on the ranch. Once Gianna gives birth she won’t have any love left for Santino until the pups are old enough to be introduced to the others. Santino knows the deal as this will be his third litter.

Puppies will all be for sale. Females go for $850 and males at $750. All go with first shot, first deworming, microchip, and registration paperwork.

Tom and I are registered with the Maremma Sheepdog Club of America. We have been breeding these dogs for 4 years. We truly believe in them and would not sell them if we didn’t. We are ethical breeders and only breed each female once per year. We do not care to be a puppy mill but do believe in providing these working dogs to the farms/ranches needing them.

You can read more about my dogs by Clicking Here. You can view pictures of past puppies on the site or you can also click on the maremma tab off the blog menu.

Is Vincenzo the Reincarnated Houdini?

    I have to sometimes wonder if he is as we can’t keep this dog confined. Vincenzo easily weighs 90 to 100 lbs; however, he is very sleek and slender. If he can get his shoulders through the obstacle then it is no problem for him to get the rest of his body through. Vincenzo is a master contorsionist at 3 yrs of age. Vincenzo is my Maremma lgd.

We have placed Vincenzo behind 8 bar goat panels only to watch him find an opening  just large enough for him to put his head through. After that he gets in one leg and begins to wiggle one of his shoulder through. Once the first shoulder is through he then starts with the second shoulder. After both shoulders are through he has no issue in getting his small waist and legs through the fence. This takes him less than 20 minutes to figure out and be free.

We then went out and purchased a four sided wire dog kennel sized 10 X 10. This should have kept Vincenzo at bay for a while but to our surprise it did not. Vincenzo started to bite the wire at the bottom of the kennel door. As soon as he managed to tear open a little hole it wan’t too much longer before he made that small hole into a hole large enough for him to wiggle his body through. His girlfriend, Donatella, who is much smaller in size than he didn’t even attempt to go through the hole that Vincenzo made. It certainly didn’t look large enough for Donatella to go through much less Vincenzo but he did.

In our latest attempts to keep Vincenzo from roaming into the neighbor’s yard until we get up proper fencing we placed him in one of the stalls in the barn. We then strapped the door closed. In the morning when I went to the barn I found Vincenzo in the aisle. What he did was bite at the wood around the frame of the door and then on the door itself. When it gave some way he continued to push on the door until the bolt came out of the hinge. At that point he was able to squeeze through and push the door open.

I have given up on trying to keep Vincenzo confined. At least his interest in going to the neighbor’s yard has lessened. He’s much more content laying behind the bushes trying to stay cool from the heat and humidity.

I am not upset with Vincenzo. Just the opposite as I am very impressed by him. I do believe he will protect the alpacas by doing anything possible to get to the intruder and making sure it knows that this is his domain.

Vincenzo had his first litter last year and will be siring another litter in the spring of 2011. I wonder if he passes this trait onto his offspring.

Looks like Maremma LGD Puppies are Coming to DMAR:

  Mom to be is Gianna who is currently 20 mths old. This will be Gianna’s first litter. Gianna is a direct import from the Abruzzi region in Italy. She is a big girl weighing at 101 before her pregnancy. Gianna’s temperment is very loving and truly loyal to her herd and family. At the moment I can see changes in both Gianna’s attitude and physical changes in her mammary glands. She is quite hormonal and won’t tolerate any messing around from the other maremmas. She loves to spend her days in front of the fans trying to cool down from this Georgia heat and humidity.

Gianna is due at the end of August or early September. We are quite busy preparing for the birth of her pups by setting up a whelping area in the barn.

  Santino is Gianna’s mate. Santino is a first generation import. He is currently 4 years old and this will be Santino’s third litter. Santino is a wonderful guard dog and spends most of his day marking and patroling his territory. We sleep peacefully knowing that Santino will take care of the alpacas.

Santino is a great partner for Gianna. He makes sure he leaves a little something in his bowl for Gianna at every feeding. He is very attentive to Gianna even though she can turn and snap at him for absolutely no reason at all these days. He simply ignores it and keeps going about his business. Like the rest of the Maremmas at DMAR he is very loyal and loving towards his alpacas and family.

Both parents guard 24 alpacas at the DMAR ranch in Mansfield, GA. Puppies will be raised alongside the alpacas. Initially they will only share a fenceline but will begin to be introduced slowly starting at approx. 5 to 6 wks old under heavy supervision.

For more information on maremmas Click Here or you can read more about past litters and view photos by clicking on the maremma link from the menu on the blog. Puppies are available for purchase and will be ready by early November. Females sell for $850 and males for $750. Please contact us for more information.

Time to settle in:  Well DMAR is partially all in Mansfield, GA. This weekend Tom brings home the rest of the boys from Arizona. This will leave him with one more trip to AZ to pick up all the girls. I can’t wait to have them all home.

I’ve been very busy these past 2 weeks. Plenty of unpacking, cleaning, and setting up new services. By the way the free garbage recycling places for Newton County sucks for me. I have to drive 12 miles just to use them so I am now a paying customer of B & W garbage removal. Not sure why but if you live in the actual small town of Mansfield the garbage truck collects weekly for free. I know I am in the outskirts of Mansfield, but it is still Mansfield. I should receive the same priviledge. Alas I do not. Oh well.

Since we purchased the house as a foreclosure the pastures weren’t kept up with at all. I kid you not when I say the weeds were as tall or taller than me. So scary that I didn’t dare step foot inside for fear of what would crawl up my body. I’m shivering at the thought just now. The first week I moved in I had two of the smaller paddocks mowed down so the five male alpacas I have with me could go outside for most of the day. Now in the second week I have contracted to have the rest of the pastures bush-hogged. The person came today and everything was done except the large two front pastures. What a difference! Now I’m excited to see what the two front pastures will look like once they are bush-hogged. Maybe tomorrow I will find out.

All the maremmas have pretty much accommodated to the surroundings. However, because we only have 3 board horse fencing it is very easy for them to tuck under the boards and get into the pastures. This in inself would be fine for me but if I let all four maremmas out I would have a big fight on my hands. Both males can’t stand each other and both females can’t stand each other, therefore, each breeding pair is kept apart from the other breeding pair. At this time I have to keep one set in the barn for half the day while the other pair get to go out and roam around. It will have to be this way until Tom and I can put up the wire fence on the inside of the 3 board fence.  None of them are complaining since whoever is in the barn is living in comfort in front of the fans and out of the heat and humidity.

I’ve got my heals dug in and am ready to make this my ranch and home.

Test for new plugin:

I’m tired of having to retype entries onto multiple social networks. Wordpress has a plugin that will supposedly link to my ping.fm account and from there will post to all the networks I have added. This will make my life much easier. So here is the test.

DMAR Alpaca Show Fleeces are Skirted:

Five show fleeces are now ready to be sent to Estes Park Wool Festival Alpaca Fleece Show today. I have pictures of three of the fleeces:

DMAR Royal Peruvian Princess:

Princess’ skirted fleece weight is 3.2 lbs of glorious crimp, bundles, and luster. Her blanket is fine and extremely dense. Princess has been to four shows and is a 4x Champ with 3 Color Champions and 1 Reserve Color Champion. I am very excited to see how her fleece does in the upcoming shows. This yearling female has not stopped impressing me with her beauty.

DMAR Royal Knight:

RK is full brother to DMAR Royal Peruvian Princess. Just take a look at his fleece shots. RK has very impressive crimp, bundling, and luster on top of being fine and dense. Weight for the skirted blanket is 3.55 lbs. RK has just turned 2 yrs of age in Dec. 2009 and we have begun using him in our breeding program. He has already settled his first female with a cria due in November 2010. We are currently looking for a partner in ownership of this young stud. For more information on either purchasing 1/2 interest or to reserve a breeding Click Here.

DMAR Magnum:

Magnum is another impressive boy out of our Kaitlyn-Rose. To date Kaitlyn has produced 5 offspring. Out of which 4 of them have won in the showring and 2 have gone on to win Reserve Color Champs. Magnum is an offspring of HRAZ Lock & Load and therefore is a grandson to Xanadu’s Presidio. Magnum is a 2x Reserve Color Champ. His blanket speaks for itself. Skirted weight is 3.25lbs. This yearling boy will definitely be part of our breeding program next year.

Unfortunately I didn’t get pictures of DMAR White Russian or DMAR Armani but I can assure you that they were equally impressive.

The first fleece show they will be entered into is the Estes Park Wool Show in Colorado. The last day to mail in fleeces is today and I’m ready.

In the meanwhile one of my newbie customers will be coming over with some blankets to be skirted. I will teach her how to do it and send her blankets off to Estes as well.

One DMAR Maremma pups still available:

This is Bella. She is currently 4 months old and weighs 45 pounds. She was initially claimed by a ranch in California, but unfortunately that ranch has fallen into some financial hardship. This means Bella is once again available.

Bella is turning into a wonderful guard dog. She’s had plenty of time to learn from her parents who live onsite guarding over 30 alpacas. Bella is not afraid of the alpacas and is already barking at the fenceline whenever something unusual appears.

Bella is loving and friendly to her family and all guests that are introduced to her. She is playful too.

Bella’s cost is $85o. She has already had all her puppy shots and just the other day received her rabies shot.

Contact us at info@desertmtnalpacas.com if you are interested in a maremma lgd puppy.

2010 SWRAS Results for DMAR:

  DMAR Royal Peruvian Princess: 1st and Color Champion. This is Princess’ 4th championship with 3 of them being Color Champ. The judge, Amy Bliss Miller, said that Princess had a long staple length and a consistent micron that was uniform through her belly and down her legs. She has a nice headstyle and bone strength in the rear legs. She said Princess’ fleece breaks into staples in a lovely way and that she appreciated the soft buttery handle. Between her fleece and strong conformation is what pulled Princess up to the front and won her the championship.

  DMAR Magnum: 2nd Place. Amy Bliss Miller said that Magnum has very long staple length for his frame. He is a handsome male who had a slight edge on brightness. Again she mentioned that Magnum’s fleece was breaking into staples lovely and he is fine.

I want to send Congratulations to my customer, Karen Christian, for winning the knitting contest with the slouchy hat and scarf she made out of DMAR Valentino’s fiber. The prize is $50. I’m thrilled to say that my sweater took 2nd that is made out of DMAR Diego. The prize is $35.

In my opinion the show went smoothly. Tom and I had a great time and are sad it was our last SWRAS show for the foreseeable future. However, we look forward to showing both Princess and Magnum as well as our future show string on the east coast.

2010 TxOLAN Results for DMAR:

DMAR Royal Peruvian Princess: 2nd and Reserve Color Champion. We were really surprised when Princess was pulled up from 2nd place to win reserve color champion. It is very surreal and to me worth so much more than simply winning it from the first place line. Go Princess!

DMAR Magnum: 2nd Place. We were really happy with Magnum’s placing. His class was a total of 10 and Magnum was the youngest in his group. The judge, Ken Hibbits, remarked how pleased he was that we brought Magnum in pasture condition. Ken whispered to Tom that Magnum was really dirty. However, Ken went on to say that even with Magnum being in pasture condition his fleece was really one of the finest of the class. Magnum drew a small crowd to check out his fleece after he came out of the ring. One ranch asked us to keep in touch as she was interested to breeding to Magnum when he was of age. Go Magnum!

DMAR Royal Knight- 1st and Reserve Color Champ at TxOLAN Fleece Show. The judge, Kathy Klay, told me that very few fleeces ever get points in the 80’s, only a couple of fleeces got in the 70’s, and that most fleeces received points in the 60’s. I was very pleased when I saw that RK received 71.5 points. Go RK!

We currently have 1/2 interest of RK for sale at a very reasonable price of $5000 for this 3x Reserve Color Champ. Click Here for more info on RK. Also, RK has recently begun his breeding career. Intro price is $850 on the first 3 bookings only. Contact us to reserve your breeding.

DMAR Armani – 1st Place TxOLAN Fleece Show. Again we were very pleased to see that Armani received 70.5 points out of Judge Kathy Klay. This means a lot to us. Go Armani!

Armani is a 2x Reserve Color Champ and multiple blue ribbon winner. Armani is up for sale at 1/2 interest at $5000.Click Here for more information on Armani. Also, Armani has begun his breeding career. His intro price is $850 for the first 3 bookings only. Contact us to reserve your breeding.

Snowmass Incan Emperor is the sire to DMAR Amani. He is available for stud. For more information on Incan Click Here.

 DMAR White Russian – 1st TxOLAN Fleece Show. Well I couldn’t believe it when I walked into the fleece room on Sunday afternoon to over hear a person complaining that they have been looking for Desert Mountain all day. I wasn’t certain I understand the ranch name correctly, but listened as the person went on to say that she had been to my stall several times and all over the building looking for me. I interrupted her to ask the name of the ranch and she said clearly, ” Desert Mountain.” I told her that was me and she quickly took me over to Ruski’s, nickname for White Russian, and asked how much for his fleece. She claimed it was exquisite and she was wanting to spin it up and make some lace scarves among other items. I gave her a price and she bought it. You go Ruski!

White Russian is a 4x blue ribbon winner and either himself or his fleece has only been entered into 4 shows. This boy is a prize and is currently for sale at a steal of a deal at $4500. Click Here for more information on White Russian.

DMAR Prada and Update on Maremma Pups:

We welcomed DMAR Prada on Feb. 3rd after waiting 359 days. Well worth the wait for this perfect little med. fawn female. She came out weighing 17 lbs. We held a name that cria contest on our fan page on facebook and Deanna Doria won with the name Prada. It was a tough decision as their were so many good designer names, but once we saw the cria we knew that Prada fit her best. She has beautiful crimpy fiber that would not straighten out as I was blowing her dry.

The dam, Kaitlyn-Rose, birthed easily. She has never had any problems birthing her crias. The issue with Kaitlyn is that her milk is slow to come in, so I am supplementing with a bottle every 3-4 hours. We are giving mom domperidone to help her drop down more milk. 

All of Kaitlyn’s crias look the same. If you wanted to know what Athena, Diego, Dominique, or Magnum looked like when born just take another look at Prada. We are super excited to have another female from Kaitlyn and look forward to adding her to our show string. All of Kaitlyn’s offspring have won in the showring and two have gone on to be reserve color champions. Kaitlyn is a wonderful foundation animal even though she is ditzy at shearing time not accepting her shorn cria for a couple of days.

 Once again the sire of Prada is HRAZ Lock & Load. His record is quite good with 4 females and 2 males to date. They all look wonderful and we will use them all in our show string this year. Click Here for more information on Lock & Load and his stud fee.

Well that is it for cria births until late September 2010. We have had a good birthing season with 5 female crias and 2 male crias being born. All are doing well and growing quickly. We even sold one of the males. Yippee!

Congratulations go out to Tammy West of Alpacas Re’al for purchasing our last female pup. We will be transporting this female to the TxOLAN Show next weekend for the exchange. We are very excited to have another of our pups go to an alpaca ranch.

We have 3 male puppies left. Contact us before they are all gone.