Llama Boy Season

Our third llama cria was born on December 23rd, Sweet Pea delivered a slightly undercooked male cria.  He is a third son for Totem, and we've named him Cheetaro.  Happily it was a normal delivery and he is doing very well, ear tips a bit floppy and down on his  bumpers at birth, but that's already changing.

Spotty New Bugs

(Painted Pines) Maximus - aka Maxi and (Painted Pines) Lateece - aka TC are newly arrived from the Barossa Valley, ably transported by Rohan Dalgleish.  They have now been accepted into the herd and have started their halter training, they are both very calm and quiet animals, so things are progressing well, especially with TC, who is already eating llama lollies out of my hand :)

This is TC, pretty in pink:

And Maxi in blue:

Such pretty little alpacas, love the spots!!

Of course if there is something going on, the usual sticky beaks will have to be checking it out, Pearl:

Did someone say llama lollies? - Jade:

If there are llama lollies I'm here - Bianca:

Llamas, Cats, Dogs and Llama Association AGM

Its been a little while.... so we're due for a bit of a catch up.  Unfortunately I forgot to take my camera with me last weekend when I took Ruby back to visit her mother and sister.  She seemed a little reluctant to play at first, but soon decided to get involved.  She had a fun time and totally wore herself out.  She slept all the way home in the car, AND all through my visit with Scarlett Rose, no pics of that either - next week!!

But there are some pics of the Llama Association (NSW/ACT Branch) AGM.  First we had llama play at Glynda's place, where we practised some handlings skills and got some practical advice on training llamas :)  We had a lot of cute crias to play with, as well as some older bigger/trickier animals.

Jennie was attempting to explain to us, and then show us how to help a llama that doesn't want to be handled/around people in a pen full of llamas, when this one decided that far from pretending not to like people she'd show us how very keen she was to interact :)

Afterwards we all went to Gundaroo for a delicious lunch at the pub :)

You know its cold when..... all four animals are on the same mat in front of the fire!!

Seconds later the blissful scene came to an end when Kiki got too close to Fatty and WWIII broke out!!  Winners and custodians of the mat were the dogs!!

One of Ruby's favourite places to sleep is in Kiki's cage!!

Ruby's ears are coming up.... one at a time!!

This is Red Riding Hood - believe it or not!! - although round here she's more commonly known as Ms Hood.  We are very much hoping that this very round belly is because she is going to produce a cria in the next month and a half to 2 months time ... if not, she better spend some time in the Jenny Craig paddock!!

Orchid, always worth a picture :)

Llama Crias and Alpaca Bath Time

All the llama crias are doing well in their lead and halter class.  Cumberbatch was a late starter, but is now the star pupil :)

Cumberbatch is an huariso (alpaca x llama) and he has the prettiest colouring (with or without the pink Chloromide spray on his neck!!) combined with a lovely fleece, very much a llama in his head.

Bianca is not keen on having the halter fitted, but once its on, she walks perfectly :)

I don't know why she doesn't like putting it on, she looks so good in pink :)

 Jade was 3 months old yesterday and is thriving.  She too is doing well at lead and halter class, but steadfastly refuses to co-operate if I want a photo of that!!

Azzura's son Rhys is a handsome little fellow, and like the others doing well in class.

I thought this piece of farm infrastructure was a drinking trough, but Tiana Rose begs to differ, she sees it more as a bath!!

It was a balmy 16 degrees yesterday, but Jemma was not to left out of the action.  She is day 390 today, and still shows no sign of giving birth, though plainly she huge and uncomfortable!

Maggie, showing off her new fascinator ;-D

And finally, in the garden... I have ONE white nerine, small but perfectly formed..... Canberra was awash with pink ones when I was there on the weekend.

And some purple chrysanthemums:

Meet a Llama Farmer and the Little Frog

On Sunday we were very pleased to host 'Meet a Llama Farmer' at Mt Tanga.  We had a fantastic pot luck lunch and then our guests met our llamas and alpacas, starting with the mums and young cria.  These pics were taken by Tanya Boston, many thanks Tanya for sending them, because I didn't pick up my camera all day!!

Note Jade on the left - first class photo bomber!!  The next shot was completely obscured by her face and the lens was well and truly misted up!!

Subcutaneous and intramuscular vaccinations were demonstrated and then some of the young cria were given their micro chips.  This demo was provided by Glynda Bluhm as we are still rookies at this job, thanks Glynda :)

Next a walk through the Long Paddock to meet the older crias and mums in waiting.  Didn't see our resident echidna along the way, but did talk to the alpaca stud boys in the next paddock and lastly to Pedro before heading back to base for a tour of the waterfowl and poultry pens.

 Well hellloooo froggie!!  This little guy is becoming a regular visitor to my morning duck/chook plate wash up spot.  He's about 12mm long, not sure what type of frog he is?

Carter has a Rubbish Day, Kiki, Sunsets and Cria Updates

Yesterday Carter had a day that was absolutely pants, vet Will Lucas from Crookwell Veterinary Hospital and vet student Jock made a farm visit to check out the progress on Carter's corneal laceration.  Unfortunately what they found was that it had progressed to a melting ulcer and the eye needed to be removed.... erky perky.  They had the devil's own job getting Carter to succumb to the IM anaesthetic and eventually added some IV drugs and still nothing... Carter was literally asleep on his feet and refused to go down.  We decided to secure his head to the yard railing and go from there with a bucket load of local anaesthesia, just as the grizzly op got under way, Carter collapsed!!  Rush to undo the ropes and let his head go down with him, and he was in a gate way... open said gate and have to move Totem away... again!!  I absented myself while Will and Jock got on with the job - too much for me!!  Today he is looking OK... although not so much from his side!!  He is getting around OK, and has his appetite back, so we are hoping for a good recovery.  He is now a Pirate Pete llama!!

Cumberbatch is growing up, he is a lovely looking cria, and very much a llama in his head.

You can see that he is quickly catching up to mum, Wia, in size.

Wia is supposed to be pregnant, so I wasn't so pleased to see this conversation between her and Mandrake, however nano seconds later it deteriorated into a spitting match... all good!!

Paris and Pierre are now well integrated into the group and thriving :)  They both learnt the morning drill very quickly and are at the front of the queue each morning to leave their paddock and head into the yards for muesli!!

Winter sunsets are spectacular, this one on May 28th was no exception.

Kiki and her favourite toy - Mr Ted.  Kiki is seen here, with Mr Ted, doing the famous 'do-it-yourself belly rub', this involves lying on the carpet and pulling yourself along with your front legs.... with or without Mr Ted!!