Saturday saw us putting up gazebos!! and hoping and praying they didn't blow away as we have had quite a bit of wind around here!!
Sunday found me awake at 4.30 with everything we had to do going through my mind, 6.30 I am waking my sister up with a text!! forgetting what time its was as I had been awake so long!! And then its all go for setting up, it was a lovely morning with the sun shinning down on us.
Ten o'clock family and friends begin to arrive to give us a helping hand, it was a real family affair :)
And even before the 12 o'clock open time we had cars driving into the field!! and it never stopped all afternoon with a steady stream of visitors coming in.
Everyone had their jobs, and mine was talking, and talking and talking alpacas, it was never ending, everyone was so interested in the alpacas and the newest member of the herd was going down a storm.
We are so pleased and happy to announce we made £434.71 for Cancer Research UK and Help for Heroes. I myself sold £163 worth of alpacas items (well I didn't actually do the selling, my very special alpaca friend Shani from Peopleton Brook Alpacas looked after my table of items for sale) and my Sister also had a stall selling her beautiful hand-made cards, jewelery and bunting also sold £87 worth of stock.
So its a big thank you to all my family, friends and of course all the visitors for making our very first open day a roaring success :) (no photos yet, will post some as soon as we get them )
So after all the excitement of the open day, this morning I was feeling a little tired and jaded, so was looking forward to a bit slower day, BUT that wasn't to be, after doing a bit of box sorting, I had just sat down with a cup of tea and some toast (late breakfast) when I noticed Dayna one of our maiden girls looking rather uncomfortable, walking in circles, sitting down then getting back up, so out come the binoculars, and yes she was in labour. So out comes the birthing box and a wander over to get a closer look, not getting too close as she is a rather shy girl I could see she was having contractions but nothing was showing, so back to watching from the mobile window to give her some peace and quite.
She was up and down, and went around and around for about another 20 minutes, and then the nose and feet appear, it the perfect birth position. But I have got to say in all the births I have witnessed I have never seen one like this!!
She looked like she was going to lie down, but instead she just went down on her knees with her bottom in the air and pushed, and pushed (it look so funny I couldn't believe it) the cria came out to the shoulders
Then she decided to lie down and finally gave birth while lying down. And it was a little GIRL brilliant, after letting her wriggle around for a bit, I stepped in and sprayed her cord and weight her (omg she is tiny and only 6.5kg, bit of a surprise because mum is quite big.)
She is such a cute little thing, very special because she is born from a Cotswold Vale Alpaca, who was one our very first alpacas born pre-fixed to Cotswold Vale, and she will be called Whitney, which was my new daughter-in-laws maiden name.
So meet Cotswold Vale Whitney, from Cotswold Vale Dayna.
with my youngest daughter Natalie, who is alway a brilliant help with the Alpacas.
She is little and not as lively as the little girl born on Friday, she seems to be feeding, but its hard as mum is a little worried so when you go near and she moves away, and as she has light fawn around her mouth you cant tell if she has been getting any milk, we have check a couple of time mum has milk and there is plenty there but i did decided to give her an extra bit of help and given her a bottle of colostrum, But I have got to admit I am a little reluctant to go to bed tonight! But we have done all we can to ensure she has had the best start we can give her.
Ginnie
2 comments:
What an exciting three days! It is difficult knowing whether they've had any milk - we concluded with our latest, that provided he came out looking calm, and mum was calm, and he didn't go back for a while, then he must have been saisfied. We weigh ours every morning for the first two weeks, and that weight gain is the best confirmation that all is well, and it's very satisfying to see them weeing at this stage!
I know that feeling well Ginny...especially with maidens. We also always have plenty of colostrum (cows in our case) to hand for security. As Dave says it is always a relief to see the weigt gain. She looks beautiful by the way (daughter as well!)
And congratulations on the open day success!
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