In what seemed to be no time at all, Triton grew from a cuddly cria into a full grown male with love on his mind. He was a beauty and had no problem getting attention from the girls. A friend of mine described him as the 'George Clooney' of the animal world with his huge dark soulful eyes.
Breeding Alpacas is done the old-fashioned way. Triton got the hang of it pretty darned fast. You bring the female into the breeding pen and if she kushes (hits the ground) she is receptive for breeding. Alpacas only ovulate in the presence of a male, how sensible is that. In order for her to ovulate, the male has to sing to her. It called 'orgling'. Once the breeding has taken place, the animals are taken back to their pastures. Once a week for three weeks the females are 'spit tested', this means you put them back in the breeding pen, this time with the female on a halter and rope. This can get a little dangerous, firstly because if the female is pregnant she will avoid the male at ALL COSTS! This often involves racing around in circles and spitting out copious amounts of a green noxious fluid that she has collected in her mouth. For some reason, Ed seems to be the recipient of this no matter how he positions himself. He now spit tests using goggles!!
As Ed was away when we were breeding Triton and Tameka, I had to undertake the spit testing myself. The first time Triton looked dismayed and confused as I pulled his partner out of the gate before he could mount her. The second time he was pissed. He decided that if he couldn't have her, I was a shabby second, but oh well.
He raised up on his back legs and slammed me against the fence. Fortunately, I have cultivated an 'alfa bitch' attitude from working with all the rescue dogs and verbally let him have it. He looked balefully at me, chagrined.
Believe it or not, Alpacas can be very sensitive and some of them cannot be used for spit-testing because the constant rejection from the females can turn them off completely.
Triton fortunately was not one of them, he loved his job and took it very seriously. We were eager to see babies on the ground so we loaned him to a friend to breed a couple of her females. That was when we learned about fighting teeth.
Adult male Alpacas have razor sharp fighting teeth which have to be either filed down or removed. Why? Because in an extremely efficient method of survival of the fittest, males can castrate other males with these teeth. One day when visiting Triton, as he stretched up to eat yet another fruitless mulberry leaf I noticed a huge hole in one of his testicles. Icy dread crept through my heart, here was my beautiful Champion herdsire with a hole in his testicle! Not good. I instantly called the vet who reassured me that all may not be lost, he still had another one! It took several weeks to heal up and the scar is a constant reminder to keep checking the males for those teeth. Fortunately, it didn't affect his fertility in any way. Phew!
Wednesday, July 27, 2011
Monday, July 25, 2011
TRITON WON MY HEART
A tiny coal black cria won my heart. Triton has a strong personality, the number one requirement in all my animals. He was obsessed with cribbing, not the greatest habit, but adorable. He continues to do it as an adult. Last winter we put up screens to protect the alpacas from the vicious winds. Triton's obsession with design prompted him to turn these into more attractive venetian blinds, the other boys thought this a fine pursuit and soon we had a complete set of perfectly pleated screens.
When I first started volunteering at Alpacas At Windy Hills, one of my duties was to halter train the show babies. I began walking Triton and we bonded immediately. He loved to walk around the farm strutting past the girls, but clucking like a baby to me constantly.
One sunny California afternoon, Ed and I took a ride out to Somis to hang out on the ranch where Cindy Harris was having a pen sale. In the long string of pens, there was my boy. Being impulsive is a part of my nature, and it usually works out, so by the end of the day Ed and I owned our first Alpaca. Buying an unproven Junior Herdsire is not normally recommended to begin your foundation herd, but when have I ever followed the crowd. Triton was beautiful cria with gorgeous fleece, great conformation and a sweet personality, that was good enough for me and I have never regretted that purchase. He is giving us beautiful crias, and his son Centarus, who is a Kobe/King Kong grandson is spectacular. Best of all they all inherit his personality, one of his sons, Jasper Alpaca, is the first certified therapy Alpaca and has his own Facebook page.
When I first started volunteering at Alpacas At Windy Hills, one of my duties was to halter train the show babies. I began walking Triton and we bonded immediately. He loved to walk around the farm strutting past the girls, but clucking like a baby to me constantly.
One sunny California afternoon, Ed and I took a ride out to Somis to hang out on the ranch where Cindy Harris was having a pen sale. In the long string of pens, there was my boy. Being impulsive is a part of my nature, and it usually works out, so by the end of the day Ed and I owned our first Alpaca. Buying an unproven Junior Herdsire is not normally recommended to begin your foundation herd, but when have I ever followed the crowd. Triton was beautiful cria with gorgeous fleece, great conformation and a sweet personality, that was good enough for me and I have never regretted that purchase. He is giving us beautiful crias, and his son Centarus, who is a Kobe/King Kong grandson is spectacular. Best of all they all inherit his personality, one of his sons, Jasper Alpaca, is the first certified therapy Alpaca and has his own Facebook page.
The best part was that we now had a cria to take to shows and Triton was so much fun in the ring and he WON!
The first two years he won ribbon after ribbon, there is nothing like being in the ring holding that blue ribbon..
Sunday, July 24, 2011
BACK TO MY ROOTS
So jumping in 6 months after we moved here didn't satisfy the fans. So I am going back to the beginning.
About 5 years ago, my husband Ed, who you will come to know intimately because he is the backbone of the farm, and I were looking for something to do together.
Note: we also need to do something to help our tax situation, which was definitely the reason we actually moved forward. To digress slightly, Section 179 which is an agriculture deduction, gives a significant tax break to anyone investing in farming. The deduction can be set against both W2 and 1099 income. Check out this website: http://www.section179.org/section_179_deduction.html
Long story short, I spotted an article in the Ventura Country Star (probably the most significant newspaper in our lives as it previously led us to animal rescue) but more of that later.
I misplaced the article and decided to Google alpaca ranches in the Somis area. I came up with Alpacas At Windy Hills (not the farm in the article). Serendipity has always played a big part of my life and we were meant to meet Cindy and Doug, who ran the ranch.
I began volunteering there while Ed was working on a movie in Hawaii. I instantly fell in love with a mischievous, lovable, and talkative cria named Triton.
About 5 years ago, my husband Ed, who you will come to know intimately because he is the backbone of the farm, and I were looking for something to do together.
Note: we also need to do something to help our tax situation, which was definitely the reason we actually moved forward. To digress slightly, Section 179 which is an agriculture deduction, gives a significant tax break to anyone investing in farming. The deduction can be set against both W2 and 1099 income. Check out this website: http://www.section179.org/section_179_deduction.html
Section 179 for 2011 at a glance:
- 2011 Deduction Limit - $500,000 (up from $250k previously). Good on new and used equipment, including new software.
- 2011 Limit on equipment purchases - $2 Million Dollars (up from $800k previously).
- “Bonus” Depreciation - 100% (taken after the $500k deduction limit is reached). Note, bonus depreciation is only for new equipment. This can also be taken by businesses that exceed $2 million in capital equipment purchases.
The above is an overall, “simplified” view of the Section 179 Deduction for 2011. For more details on limits and qualifying equipment, as well as Section 179 Qualified Financing, please peruse this entire website.
Long story short, I spotted an article in the Ventura Country Star (probably the most significant newspaper in our lives as it previously led us to animal rescue) but more of that later.
I misplaced the article and decided to Google alpaca ranches in the Somis area. I came up with Alpacas At Windy Hills (not the farm in the article). Serendipity has always played a big part of my life and we were meant to meet Cindy and Doug, who ran the ranch.
I began volunteering there while Ed was working on a movie in Hawaii. I instantly fell in love with a mischievous, lovable, and talkative cria named Triton.
JUST ANOTHER QUIET DAY ON THE FARM
The day started pretty quietly giving no indication of what was to come. The 4H kids who were coming for a fecal class arrived at 9.00am although we were expecting them at 10.00am. No problem, lovely kids who came bearing gifts of scones made with home grown herbs, garlic, parmesan cheese and sun-dried tomatoes.
We began the day by ultra-sounding some of our pregnant females. Our vet, Melinda, showed the kids where they could find the beating heart of the cria. They were enthralled. Tom Parrish, who helps us on the farm (we couldn't do it without him and Jessica), walked through the pasture and started waving his arms wildly. There was a baby on the ground.
The previous day, Tom and I had spent the day watching Shiny Boots whose back end was protruding in an alarming manner. We had not expected a good ending to the pregnancy, but here was a huge male cria already trying to get up. Class was interrupted to take care of Mom and baby. Just as we crowded around, a truck and trailer pulled into the drive. Here were our new Llamas, Bella and Tattoo. We had bought them the previous week from Llama guru, Page McGraith, to help protect our crias from predators.
Ed and Teri, took care of Mom and her new son, while Paige and I led the girls out of the trailer. They stayed wide-eyed at their new home, but followed us willing into the pasture which thanks to the recent rains, were green and lush.
We began the day by ultra-sounding some of our pregnant females. Our vet, Melinda, showed the kids where they could find the beating heart of the cria. They were enthralled. Tom Parrish, who helps us on the farm (we couldn't do it without him and Jessica), walked through the pasture and started waving his arms wildly. There was a baby on the ground.
The previous day, Tom and I had spent the day watching Shiny Boots whose back end was protruding in an alarming manner. We had not expected a good ending to the pregnancy, but here was a huge male cria already trying to get up. Class was interrupted to take care of Mom and baby. Just as we crowded around, a truck and trailer pulled into the drive. Here were our new Llamas, Bella and Tattoo. We had bought them the previous week from Llama guru, Page McGraith, to help protect our crias from predators.
Ed and Teri, took care of Mom and her new son, while Paige and I led the girls out of the trailer. They stayed wide-eyed at their new home, but followed us willing into the pasture which thanks to the recent rains, were green and lush.
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