April 2009.
We saw three alpacas for sale and phoned up about them. Two are females and one male. We went over to Christina Lake to view them and decided we really only wanted the one female that was pregant. She was Guinevere and had been mated with Orlando, the male that lived on the same farm.
However it seems that Guinevere, aged five, had always been with Visa, aged ten and it didn't seem fair to split them at this stage in their lives. So we decided to take both.
The male, Orlando , we decided not to take as we already have three boys, Sumac, Chopaka and Frankie. Although Frankie will be neutered at soon as he is old enough (due to the fact he has blue eyes and is deaf, as many white blue eyed males are), we still have two males who have not been gelded.
We changed our minds!
We didn't like to think of Orlando being left behind, while his owners were moving and had a dead line to get out (the end of April). We hated to think that maybe Orlando would end up being shot or similar, so decided he coudl come along to our farm and see how he got on with our boys. If all worked well he could be in the same paddock with them and if not, then we coudl bput him in a paddock on his own.
Tuesday 21 April 2009
Hubby and a friend go to Christina Lake to fetch the three alpacas. The two girls travel in the trailer and the boy goes in the back of the pick up truck, that has been duly fitted with a wooden surround.
The two girls, Visa and Guinevere, were unloaded first and went happily into the paddock with Sasha and Keremeos. (Little Kerrie, the cria of Keremeos that we had borrwed for some months to keep our Sasha company, had gone back to her farm about a month previous.)
Orlando was next to be unloaded and we put him into the very small area in front of the stable, where he coudl look over the fence at our three boys, and over the fence at the girls.
Next it was time to put Keremeos in the trailer to go back to her home at Sunshine Valley Alpacas. Sasha would not be needing her company now as she would have Visa and Guinevere as company.
25 April 2009
The alpacas seem to have settled in nicely. The girls seem happy enough and come for the grain each morning. Visa particularly loves this and eats willingly out of my hand. Guinevere is getting used to coming to see me for grain and will eat a little out of my hand.
Orlando has been on the back field with the other boys. The boys in this instance are harnessed and tethered to a concrete block, where they can then roam in their own circle to graze on the grass.
Yesterday we left Orlando's gate open so that all the boys could roam together. Mostly they left each other alone, but Sumac likes to be king pin and challenged Orlando. They seem to be getting along alright, although we keep an eye on them to make sure they are all fine and not hurt at all. So far all is well!
The day before the alpacas were due to be sheared, we decided to put the alpacas in an area where they could not move so much, where we could catch them easily and halter them when they got sheared and if necessary keep them in their shelters so they didn't get wet if it rained.
We put Sumac and Orlando in the area nearest the stable. Then set about putting Chopaka and Frankie-Blue-Eyes in with them. However Sumac was having none of it, and kept going for Chopak whenever he got near.
So, we put Frankie and Chopaka in the area that Sparky the horse used to use when he was with us.
We put the girls in the area near their shelter. Now all animals had only a little area to browse in.
It rained that night and all animals got wet. We now had one day to get them dry and since it kept raining we put up barriers across their shelters so that they would have to stay in their shelter and dry off.
Sumac and Orlando had other ideas! Although their was only a small way they could get out through the cross members erected by their shelter, they somehow managed it. I do not know how as it was very difficult for my husband and myself to even attempt it!
Ian and his wife came from near Abbotsford to shear our alpacas. They had been in our area for several days, shearing animals in the area... sheep, llamas, and alpacas. They did a wonderful job. Each animal was haltered and held, while Ian did the shearing. They do not work with a table.
Frankie got sheared first, then left to raom in the paddock near his shelter. This was the shelter used for shearing all the animals.
Chopaka was next. Then he roamed free in the paddock.
Sumac was next, then Orlando.
The three girls came next.. first Sasha, then Visa and lastly Guinevere.
It seemed they all enjoyed the freedom to roam in the paddocks after!