Christmas 2010 (almost)

Where did 2010 go? It just began, and it's already nearly over. We hired a young man this week to help us with the multiple tasks of taking care of so many animals. Robert is very hard working, a quick learner, and is very good with the animals. Yesterday, we gave all of the babies and some of the yearlings their vitamin A&D shots and trimmed most of the boys' toenails. Last night we bought a dremel, since the "toothamatic" tooth trimmer doesn't seem to work anymore, and trimmed the worst of the teeth today, with some help from Bill, a fellow breeder and Robert, who is quickly becoming very skillful at animal maintenance. We're taking a break for Christmas, but Monday we'll continue trimming the girls' teeth and toenails. Then we'll have to start all over again. Not really, though. If we can keep ahead of it, it won't be such a huge a daunting task. I wasn't able to do much for most of the year because I needed a hip replacement for the first half, and was recovering from same for the second half. I'm now feeling good, and can keep ahead of everything. I'm hoping that Robert and I can begin halter training the babies soon and get them ready for the GWAS and Nationals. That will be a big job, but I want to show about eight animals this spring. I think the tough part will be deciding which ones to show! More about that in subsequent posts.
Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to all!

It is now December, and much has happened at Arroyo Seco Alpacas. We had fifteen healthy babies this summer-- eight males and seven females. All beautiful, with the kind of fiber I've been aiming for since I began breeding alpacas.
Our gray female, Viccoyo, who has given us the majority of our saleable crias, died last week. She was so brave, but she couldn't get up. We gave her a respectful end, and I cried a lot when the vet came, but I felt that she had a fitting demise and a happy last ten years. Unfortunately, the next day we found Hedwig, our llama, dead. Did she have some mystical connection with Viccoyo that we didn't know about?
The alpacas have secrets that they don't tell us, try as we might to tease them out. They are so curious about us, that we don't remember what we wanted to know about them in the first place.

End of September

September is over tomorrow. The weather is still pretty warm for Wyoming this time of year. The girls and babies are out grazing today, though I don't see much to eat out there. Last night the babies were nibbling on weeds in the corral. (Bad) There are still grasshoppers all over the place and they have eaten all of my flowers. Tomorrow, I'll let the boys out--they have a much larger pasture, including places that had not been grazed for five or six years.  The babies are growing amazingly fast. The first ones born this year are almost three months old and don't really look like babies anymore. One more to be born, and I really hope it's a girl. But things are quiet around here, especially with John (husband) out of town for a few days. The dogs are moping, I'm moping, and I'm too bored to do much law work today. It's a heartbreakingly pretty day, in the way that only fall days can be. The good weather is soon to end, I guess. If we didn't need rain or snow so much, I'd hope for another mild winter unlike the one we had last year.
September 29, 2010, Arroyo Seco Alpacas.

This is Nutmeg, our newest baby from this year's group. She is what I am trying to accomplish with my breeding program. Her mother is the daughter of my white, full Peruvian, full Accoyo herdsire, and her father is my black Peruvian herdsire. Blacks sometimes lack density, while whites usually have the density, crimp and fineness, but not the natural colors you want. My object is to breed in the density and crimp from my white herdsires, and then breed in the color from my black and dark brown herdsires. Nutmeg seems to have it all, and I'm very excited about showing her at Great Western Alpaca Show in the spring of 2011.

Rumination on Summer's End

Summers are precious in Southeastern Wyoming. Ours didn't begin until the first of July and is already waning. The quality of the light has changed, just a little. It seems more golden and more muted. The peepers (or maybe they're crickets) are clamorous at dusk and after dark and the stars are close and luminous. The nights are chilly, even in high summer. Only rarely do we throw off the comforter; most nights we keep it close because we'll need it by morning. We've had 14 baby alpacas since June, and they pronk when evening approaches. They follow each other around in a line, heads up, tails up, all four feet bouncing them forward like a bunch of tiny deer. Somehow they avoid colliding, like a flock of birds or a school of fish-- changing direction in unison as if they choreographed the whole thing beforehand. The babies are the best thing about raising alpacas. They are, of course, cute. But more than that, they are a product of my breeding decisions and each generation born on my ranch is better then the preceeding one. I plan to talk about some of these decisions as I go along. But first, I'm going to enjoy what's left of summer in Wyoming.