Tree planting update, with bonus alpaca cria

[zebra363]

My sister and brother-in-law came out here today to help with some chainsawing and clearing branches from the firebreaks. Two alpaca cria were/are due this month, so I've been keeping a pretty close watch on the alpaca paddock, but I was busy this morning reading Hornblower fanfic, cleaning the house and organising food for the day. Nothing unusual

Comments

[baby_elvis]

it's all growing so very beautifully.

why is a brown spot a bad thing?

[zebra363]

It's because they're bred for their fleece and what is desirable for processing is single-coloured fleece with as much consistency as possible in the micron (width) and other characteristics of the hairs. It isn't so very hard to take out the brown section at shearing time, but the goal for the industry is to get rid of all dark hairs in white animals. The fact that she has a visible spot means she almost certainly has a lot more dark hairs that aren't visible to a casual inspection, but which will show up upon processing and won't dye evenly.

On the positive side, it'll make her easy to recognise!

(I'm not showing photos of the many trees that have been eaten by kangaroos!)

[juffles]

(I'm not showing photos of the many trees that have been eaten by kangaroos!)

I was driving through Chittering valley yesterday, went past a ploughed paddock with the crop just starting to show...and about 15 emus and kangaroos busily eating their way through it. I thought of you. :)

Shame about the brown spot...did Minnie produce the other brown-spotted cria as well?

[zebra363]

Not many of the trees on the other side of the road have survived. There are just way too many kangaroos over there. This year I'm going to plant fewer trees but make heavy-duty, tall, covered chicken-wire tree guards.

Sherry's mother was Misty, and the cria have different sires, but Misty's mother is Minnie's grandmother, so they share some genetics. According to the pedigrees, that animal and its parents were all solid white (no markings), but maybe it carries spot genes! Or maybe the universe, knowing how much I like patterned Appaloosa horses, is just sending me all the spotted alpacas it can.

[sarren]

Awesome. Congratulations on the cria and on being the luckiest person alive.

[zebra363]

It was a relief to have this birth go smoothly! I'd stocked up on colostrum and milk supplements and am hoping not to have to use them. The other alpaca was supposed to give birth first and by my calculations this cria is a week premature, but it seems lively and healthy!

He is so gorgeous, I must be the luckiest person there is!

[zebra363]

It's probably easier for you to get to the ACT than here, since there's no airport near here!

If you come out next month or in August, you can help plant some more trees! (I'm not sure whether that's an incentive or not. Probably not. Let's see, there would be food!)

[zebra363]

It is pretty amazing what a little time can do. I feel like I've learned more about the benefits of patience from tree planting than anything else I've ever done.

You can also come out here in any other month and be confident that no tree planting will be required!

[black_samvara]

Congratulations on a healthy cria!

The trees look great - as does the time lapse photography..

[zebra363]

The cria is currently rather wet and bedraggled!

It's amazing to look back on the early photos. I wouldn't guess that the trees in that area today are only three years old if I didn't know for certain that was the case!

[shayheyred]

Man, that Sherry will drink ANYTHING, won't she?

Funny, that's what they say about me...

[zebra363]

I doubt she'd have tried to drink (and yesterday's cria was from Minnie, rather than Sherry's mother Misty, though Misty was supposed to be due first), but it wasn't worth taking the chance. We never tried to wean her - she just stopped drinking from Misty as far as we could see, and she didn't protest at all when we shut her in a different paddock a few weeks ago. She's been very independent from Day 1!

She's nearly old enough now that we could pick a suitor for her, though the mind boggles a bit at the idea of our little girl having sex! :)

[shayheyred]

Sex!?!!!
::puts fingers in ears:: Lalalalala I can't hear you!