Leila is our livestock guardian dog that replaced Sadie when she died. She is an incredibly smart dog and she's doing a fantastic job for us.
Anatolian Shepherds are an old Turkish breed. They were specifically bred to protect livestock and she has proved to be an excellent example of the breed.
She truly is amazing and worth her weight in gold. I've come to love her quickly and I depend on her greatly to protect our alpacas.
We were so excited... this was Magic's first show and he won a blue ribbon and a color championship!!! Way to go Magic! :)
I love the way he's looking up at Dave in this shot. I wonder if he has any idea how well he did!
Alpacas kiss by rubbing noses. Everyone gathers around and welcomes the new cria to their alpaca family. Malita and Ruby are saying hello and kissing the baby.
Jenni had a beautiful healthy little cria. We named her Gold Star Angel. She is extremely friendly and curious so we're having a lot of fun with this little girl.
LOL this is a bad angle so I cut Dave out. He's spraying the alpacas legs and bellies with water. They love getting sprayed. Usually they jump around and play in the water but Jenni is due any day now and the last thing she wants to do right now is jump around. As soon as the baby is born I'll post some pictures of her.
Oh LOL! I didn't realize until I saw this picture... we accidently sheared part of Ruby's top knot off! Not to worry, it'll grow back! ;)
For some helpful tips on shearing, visit our article on Alpaca Shearing Tips. By looking at Ruby's head you can see we still make some mistakes when we shear. It's quite a learning process but don't get discouraged. If you have any questions about shearing please feel free to contact us and we'd be more than happy to help out.
Ruby was running around and she sure got thirsty. We wean our babies between 5 and 6 months old. Ruby just turned 5 months old so her days as a nursing baby are almost over. She's shorn now too so she's starting to look more grown up.
I've been busy burning brush lately. Well, when I let the alpacas out front the other day they couldn't wait to roll in the new ash pile. They love to roll, especially in ash. Down in South America they use ash to keep the bugs off of the alpacas. Somehow our alpacas knew about this too! Ocean just finished rolling and Ruby couldn't wait for her turn.
Sugar Bear had a beautiful colt today. Dave is imprinting while I'm taking the pictures so you'll see hands in most of my baby pictures. :)
In case you didn't know what imprinting is... horses and alpacas are flight animals. Instinctively they are afraid of people. When we imprint we get the babies use to the human touch. They smell our hands and we rub them all over so they will learn to trust us. It's well worth it because it's an impression that lasts a life time. It actually works because we have very friendly horses and alpacas.
