Hello DMAR Valentino

Posted 8 December, 2008 in New Crias | No comments

Hello DMAR Valentino!

DMAR Valentino was born at 11:21 this morning. Mom, AOCR Michelle, is doing fine even though this little cria was born two days early. It was quite a surprise for me to go out around 10 am and see that Michelle was dialating. Birthing for Michelle went quickly. It took the baby approximately 11 minutes to hit the ground. Mom and herdsire, Snowmass Incan Emperor, are both medium rose grey in color. It appears that Valentino is a light rose grey cria.

Feel free to watch mom and cria on the live webcam at http://www.desertmtnalpacas.com. Simply click on the live cam link on the top menu.

Alexis Gives Birth to DMAR Royal Peruvian Princess

Posted 26 November, 2008 in Alpaca Health, New Crias | No comments

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.

DMAR Versace

Posted 24 September, 2008 in New Crias | No comments

DMAR Versace was born on Monday, September 22nd at 9:25 am. At this time he is a brown boy weighing 16.8 lbs. He is nursing well and shows he is growing by jumping off the deck.

Versace’s dam, AVR By Golly Miss Molly, is doing well. She surprised us as she went into labor 5 days early, however as you can see in the pictures Versaci is definitely full term. Ears are straight and the teeth have erupted meaning he is no preemie. Molly showed no signs of labor. I fed her early around 5:30 am. She ate fine. It wasn’t until 9:20 that I noticed her standing with her tail straight up. I casually walked outside to check on her and when I reached the gate I heard her pushing. I quickly ran inside to grab the cria kit. A minute later I was outside to find the baby’s head and feet sticking out. It was the fastest labor I have experienced so far. Within 5 minutes the cria was on the ground.

Versace is the 3rd cria born on our ranch using our herdsire, Snowmass Incan Emperor. The first cria, DMAR Nikoli, recently took 1st at the 2008 New Mexico State Fair Alpaca Show. The 2nd cria, DMAR Armani, will attend his first show in November at AlpacaFest West. We are truly excited as his histogram came back showing he has a 17.8 micron. Armani is everything we wanted from the combination of his dam and sire. Now we add Versace to the mix. We expect him to be just as wonderful as the other two crias.

Finally Athena Births Cria

Posted 25 April, 2008 in New Crias | No comments

White Russian was born on April 23rd at 11:58 AM. It was not an easy birth…..I went outside at 10 AM to do the daily morning poop scooping. It was then that I noticed Athena was dialated as she lifted her tail while standing up from her kushed position. I called Tom and told him to come home. I ran around quickly picking up all the poop from the stalls while keeping an eye on Athena. Next I moved Carina and Armani out of Athena’s stall since I didn’t know how Armani, Carina’s cria, would react to the newborn. I then let Electra, maiden, in to watch the birthing and to keep Athena company.

At 11:06 Teena’s water broke and I could see the fetus presenting. It appeared to go smoothly at first with both feet coming out with the nose and head shortly behind.  However when the head and both legs were out I noticed one leg was shorter than the other. Around this time Tom made it home. I told him I believed the cria had an elbow lock, but that only 6 minutes had passed. If after 15 minutes the problem hadn’t rectified then I would lube up and go in. Sure enough I had to do just that. While Tom held Athena I was able to free the elbow.

We thought everything was going to move forward, but again we were wrong. Athena appeared to stop having contractions. I believe within the next 15 minutes she might have pushed two times only. The shoulders are the hardest to push out and I could see she was tired and beginning to stess. She was now lying on her side with her head up, but ears back. She was in distress. I again had Tom hold her and I lubed up some more. I was able to get the cria’s shoulder out. I stopped and waited again.

After 15 more minutes I just knew that Athena couldn’t do it. I would have to finish the birthing. One last time I told Tom to hold Athena and I gently pulled the cria out. Directly behind the cria was the placenta. I didn’t even get his legs out completely when the placenta presented itself. Poor Athena was now shivering and I had Tom place dry towels over her to get her warmed up. Her perineum was very swollen and she had small tears in the vulva that was probably due to my having to assist. Through the pain Athena was able to turn her neck to smell her baby.

White Russian is strong and alert. He was able to stand unassisted within 10 minutes and by the 7th hour was running around the stall. Mom, Athena, is doing well and healing nicely. She is learning to be a good mom. Nursing was new to her, but she has now gotten a hold of it.

Carina Gives Birth to First Cria - DMAR Armani

Posted 9 February, 2008 in New Crias | No comments

Carina gives birth to first cria - DMAR Armani

At 5 am on 2/8/08 I woke up to view Carina on my tv. We have cameras hooked up to the maternity ward, so we can always see what is happening. Carina was over the poop pile. I didn’t see anything happening, but I could of missed it. A minute later she returned again to the poop pile. Tom was outside about to start the morning feeding. I saw he was shining his flash light on Carina’s backside. I jumped out of bed and started putting on my shoes. A minute later Tom called me on the phone. I knew it….Carina was in labor.

Sure she was in labor, but only in phase I. Since Carina is a maiden there was no telling how long it would be before she gave birth. We were in and out of the house throughout the morning. At 10:30 we stayed out with her. She was uncomfortable shifting from side to side and seemed not able to stand for very long. I noticed she was dialating, but no signs of her water breaking.

At noon I heard Carina straining and saw her pushing, but nothing happened. She was now laying on her side with her legs out. I turned to Tommy and asked him to back the trailer up. I was starting to get concerned that it was now the 7th hour of labor and Carina was in obvious pain with no progress.

I didn’t want to move Carina just yet. I told Tom at least another hour. I wanted to be sure that I didn’t stop her labor in case she was about to push the baby out. We heard Carina push again and nothing. I asked Tom to call the vet when once again Carina pushed and I saw some liquid come out. I told Tommy to hold on that I thought her water might have broken, but then nothing. The amt of water wasn’t enough to satisfy me. Carina kushed. She looked so uncomfortable. I asked Tommy to call the vet again.

Another contraction came that made Carina lay on her side and this time there was no denying that her water broke. I told Tommy to hang up again. Right after the rush of water I could see the tip of the cria’s nose. I couldn’t believe the cria was right there only moments after the water broke. Carina was now laying on her side with her head down. We had never seen an alpaca give birth this way, so again we were concerned. Tommy rubbed Carina’s head/neck while I observed the cria.

About 5 minutes into the birthing the cria’s head was out. Tom was a bit worried that no feet were showing. I tried to relax him by stating that we needed to wait the 15 minutes to see if any progress has been made before I step in. Three minutes later, this is a lifetime to wait by the way when you are anxiously awaiting for something to happen, the first foot appeared. A minute later the other. 

Since Carina didn’t appear to want to stand I went and got a towel to place on the ground to have the cria come out on. Of course as soon as I got it positioned Carina decided to roll over onto her other side. I asked Tommy to get another towel and by the time he walked over to where we had them stored in the paddock I was yelling to hurry that the cria was already out. I’m talking about it only being seconds. He couldn’t belive it.

DMAR Armani was born at 12:26pm. He weighed only 12.2 lbs, but is a vibrant, alert, and beautiful. He is brown and son of Snowmass Incan Emperor.  You can see Armani and Carina on our weblink at http://www.desertmtnalpacas.com and click on the Live Cam link.  

DMAR Has Its First Female Cria of the Year!

Posted 16 December, 2007 in New Crias | No comments

 DMAR has its first female cria of the year - DMAR Dominique born on Saturday, December 15th at 7:07 am. Dominique is medium fawn in color and weighed 16.8 lbs. She and mom, Kaitlyn, are doing fine.

It was early morning around 6 am when I noticed on our tv, yes we have cameras to the maternity ward hooked up to our bedroom tv for alpaca watching, that Kaitlyn got up to go to the bathroom. Pretty uneventful as she actually went. A few minutes later she was back at the dung pile again, but still uneventful as she again went to the bathroom. It was not more than 5 minutes later that Kaitlyn was at the dung pile for the third time. This time nothing was happening except her standing there in the position to go. Now she had my full attention.

After a few minutes Kaitlyn left the pile. Walked around and nibbled on some leftover hay from the night before. After a few minutes she was once again at the dung pile. Ok it was time for Tom and me to spring into action. Kaitlyn is not one to roll from side to side when in labor or to get up and then kush again. She gives no sign that she is in labor except for the fact that she continuously visits the dung pile.

When I got in the kitchen and viewed the monitor I saw that Kaitlyn was now kushed. Great this buys me a little time to feed the dogs. I always like to make sure everyone is fed before birthing a new cria as this can take hours. Not so much the birthing of the cria, but the observation afterwards.

By 6:30 am Tom and I were outside. Kaitlyn did look quite uncomfortable. In less than five minutes we could see that she was beginning to push. I told Tom to feed all the other alpacas while I watched. Tom had them all eating in record timing. He likes to be a part of the birthing process, especially to help if needed. Lucky for us that Kaitlyn delivered with no problems.

Dominique had some issues finding mom’s udder, but with some guidance from Tom and me I believe she got the colostrum she needed. I hated that she was born on the coldest morning that we have had so far, but we got her warmed up quickly by blow drying her and sticking on a sweater and cria coat.

Dominique is Kaitlyn-Rose’s third cria. To date she has had DMAR Athena, multiple blue ribbon winner and reserve color champion, DMAR Diego, blue ribbon winner, and now DMAR Dominique. Already we can see the crimp in her fiber and we are sure she too will do well at the shows.

Yeah for the first girl of the birthing season! We have two more to go, but they are not due until February and March. We get a little break now.  

Wind and Rain Didn’t Stop DMAR Royal Knight from Entering the World

Posted 5 December, 2007 in New Crias | 2 comments

Wind and rain didn’t stop DMAR Royal Knight from entering the world on the morning of Saturday, December 1st. Weighing only 14.7 lbs he was a sight for sore eyes that were up most of the night due to one of the worst storms in a while here in Hereford.

I was awoken at 1 AM by Tom who said we needed to move the girls out of the pastures and into the stalls because the temporary canopies we had set up for them were beginning to fall apart from the 30-55 mph winds. Without hesitating I jumped out of bed and it seemed like I was in a movie about hurricanes. The girls were soaked, one of the canopies had broken a couple of its legs barely standing, and huge water puddles threatening to flood the entire pasture. None of the females wanted to move, because they were so scared. Luckily they seemed to pair up. When I haltered one the second female would follow. Tom and I moved them two at a time into the stalls. At least we knew that they had more shelter from the storm in the stalls. At least we thought until we heard the wind threatening to tear out the aluminum slats nailed into the roof. Little by little we heard the aluminum rattling until a nail was pulled out. Yup at least three different areas we heard the flapping of the slat threatening to fly off the roof. Tom jumps on a ladder (can you believe this?) and begins to throw cement blocks on top of the slats to hold them in place. It worked!

 By 2 am we are back in the house again and Tom states that he won’t be able to sleep again. We both joke about how this will be the day Alexis goes into labor. Well, wouldn’t you know it……at 3:30am Tom tells me that Alexis is laying on her side with her legs stretched out. Uh oh. This has been her sign for us for the past 2 years of imminent birth. It’s only the beginning then of stage 1 labor. I tell him to let me sleep for one hour, because if I didn’t close my eyes I would be totally useless. At 5am I jump up to see Alexis laying on her side and allowing her head to go down to the ground two times. Ok time to move. I got up and fed the dogs. Tom can’t believe I’m doing this, but I advise that Alexis is now kushed which buys us a little time. I knew that once I went outside it would be hours and hours before I came back in again and wanted the dogs fed. I made Tommy prepare the food for the maremmas outside as well.

At 5:30 am with coffee in hand, dog food, and our cria birthing supplies we ventured outside. Alexis seemed calm and was standing. Within minutes Tom called me over to advise that it looked like she was beginning stage 2 labor. Sure enough I look and she begins to push…..the legs of the cria pop out. We begin to time the birth to make sure we have progress within 15 minutes. Little by little I see the tip of the nose and mouth. I advise Tom that the cria is moving his mouth and blowing bubbles out his nose. With a sigh of relief we know this cria is alive. Less than a half hour RK is on the floor thrashing around. Not only is he alive, but a vivacious cria at that! All the while the rain and wind didn’t stop.

Alexis and RK are doing well. RK is growing quickly already weighing 16 1/2 lbs. RK’s lineage is Augusto, Caligula, and Royal Fawn. His fiber is already what we expected it to be from this lineage.

To see RK with mom, Kaitlyn, and Carina go to our live cam link located on our web page at www.desertmtnalpacas.com.  

Antonio - Born October 7, 2007

Posted 8 October, 2007 in New Crias | No comments

Antonio - Born October 7, 2007 at Desert Mountain Alpaca Ranch. Antonio was born 9 days early and shows signs of prematurity such as his teeth have not erupted and the tips of his ears are fiberless. Other than that Antonio is a healthy silver grey male. So much so that by 8 pm he was running around the paddock as if he were days rather than hours old.

Antonio’s dam, AVR By Golly Miss Molly, is a great attentive mother. Luckily her milk kicked in and Antonio is nursing on his own. Yippee! No bottle feeding. Antonio’s sire is Cresent Moon’s Tenacity.  

Watch out for this young male cria. He will steal your heart! 

DMAR Nikoli - Born Sept. 30, 2007

Posted 2 October, 2007 in New Crias | No comments

DMAR Nikoli - Born Sept. 30, 2007. Nikoli is cria to AOCR Michelle Rose and Snowmass Incan Emperor. Nikoli came into the world at 7:34 am weighing 18.8 lbs. Although the gestation period was 338 days, Nikoli was slightly premature…his bottom teeth had not erupted and the very tips of his ears being slightly tipped. However, Nikoli is a vibrant, healthy young male trying to run around at only hours old.

Both dam and sire are rose grey in color. Nikoli has a white face just like his parents, but today his body color is mostly medium brown. I am noticing grey on the tips of his feet right before his toenails on all four feet. Grey is also noticeable in his tail. It will be interesting to see if this little cria turns rose grey.

Dam and cria are doing fine. Mom has plenty of milk and at one day old Nikoli gained to 19.6 lbs. He is very independent and will lay separately from his mom, although you can tell that they have bonded and love each other.