C-section and alpacas

There is never a dull moment around here. It was Sunday and rainy outside, we had gotten a couple of loads of crushed granite, to fill in, inside the barn, so even though it was raining we decided to work on getting the pile smaller. It took us a couple of hours and by the time we were done we were wet, I was getting ready to head to the house when I noticed that Jenis was walking around with her tail up and every time she would take a step water would drip out... obviously her water broke. This was about 2:30 in the afternoon, so I wasn't worried the baby she had last year showed up between 3-4 in the afternoon. I just hung out in the barn. She would make a trip to the poop pile then she would cush for awhile. By the time 8pm rolled around I called the vet. Of course its Sunday, things like this NEVER happen on a week day, in the middle of the day. Apparently I wasn't the only one either, the vet was busy and it took almost 1 hr before he called me back. He said I needed to go in and figure out how the baby was positioned. So I went to the house and scrubbed up and got Charlie to come hold her, it didn't take long to discover that it was a tail and a hock instead of a nose and front feet, so now it is 9:20pm and we are at least 30 min away from the vet hospital. So we get the trailer hooked up, get her in it and head down the mountain. By the time we get there the vet has called in some help and we were greeted by 3 vets and 2 techs. The vet tries to manipulate the baby so it can be delivered normally, but was unable to, so the decision was made to do a c-section. A c-section that is done on an alpaca is done under local and sedation, so we get her on the table and prepped for surgery. Jenis ends up on her back with 4 feet in the air, Charlie ends up holding the front legs, which leaves me with the back ones, where I have a view of everything that goes on. It was pretty interesting, but not for the faint of heart. The cria was delivered and there weren't any problems. We were able to bring them both home, so by the time we got home, made sure the baby was nursing and the Jenis was awake enough that she wouldn't fall on the baby, it was 2am.... way past my bedtime. Of course I woke up before 6am worried that they were ok, so got up to check on them and all was well. Later that day, imagine my surprise when I went to doctor the umbilical cord and found an extra growth where it shouldn't be - it is a boy not a girl and no one thought to correct me from the night before, they even had him upside down stitching up his umbilical. But both mom and little boy are doing great, we just have to take out some stitches in about 3 weeks.

When we thought it was a girl we were going to name her Leah, but since its a boy his name is Jonah. Remus (in the picture with Charlie above) and Eve love him and Eve keeps trying to lick him through the fence.

This is a picture of Molly and Andy - they can't wait to play with Jonah.

And baby makes 16!

What a busy weekend!!! On my last post it was Tuesday and it snowed about 8 inches, it also snowed all day Thursday.... about 8 inches more. Our shearing day was Friday and despite my best efforts (I put fans up in the barn after it stopped snowing on Thursday) all the fleece was still pretty wet. But, we have had our shearing day scheduled since Feb. so there was no putting it off. Paul the shearer and his helper Darcy got here about 6:45 on Friday morning. I wasn't even done with the chores yet, but I would rather they be early than late. By the time we got the mats and the ropes set out and the last load of animals from another farm got here, plus all the help arrived it was about 8:15 when we started and it was about 25 deg. outside... a little chilly. I was able to take some pictures on Wed. between the snow storms so here are some before and after pictures.

Misty and Tessa (taken Wed before shearing)

Lady, Annabelle, Nadine, Jenis (taken Saturday after shearing)

They all look funny without all that fiber. Boy am I glad that it is done for the year. My garage has fiber spread out everywhere, drying out. Daisy was one of the last to be shorn, but she seemed to take it all in stride and no signs of baby.... yet.

We finished shearing at our farm about 11:30 so we had lunch and and most of the group headed to another farm to help with their shearing. I had kid duty so I picked up my kids and took them where they needed to go, then headed back home to check on Daisy. It was about 2:30 in the afternoon and everything seemed fine with her so I went to the other farm to help out. We finished up at around 5pm. When I pulled in the driveway I could see Daisy cushed (laying down) in her paddock with little ears sticking out on top of her back. I headed to the barn and there he was, a beautiful boy!! He got up and started nursing so I knew he had been on the ground for a few hours. I had to check the placenta to make sure it was all there and it was cold, more evidence that he arrived a few hours before, here is a picture of Just Jack! The picture at the begining is with his mom.

Just Jack - catchn' some rays
I think his color will be the same as Daisy's, which is great, it is my most popular yarn. The next one due is Nadine and I have a few weeks to wait for her.