We have a new Cria!!!UPDATE! #2 is here!!!!!!

[dfunnyfarm]

How cute.

 

[Dipsy Doodle Doo]

Hi Jenn!
How exciting!! I can't imagine anything cuter!
Good luck with the little one!
And more pics are necessary, daily pics would be better .
What a beauty!

Lisa

 

[lilcountry]

Aww that is so neat! Also, what do ya'll use them for? Do ya'll raise them to sell, or for their fur or? I dont know much about llamas, Alpacas etc.

 

[ZykloniaDark-GothikRanchr]

AWWWWW!! what a doll!! you are so lucky!!

 

[legacyln]

Quote:
I agree! Would love to watch this little one grow! Dumb question: my impression isthat alpacas are smaller and more expnsive than llamas. Is that the case?

 

[jkcove08]

Hey all, here are a few morepics of Willow, at least I think that is what her name is going to be....lol My sister hasnt made up her mind yet. Willow is one of my sisters alpacas. To answer some of your questions, Alpacas are expensive. My sister financed this little adventure and my hubby and I are the care givers. They are smaller then llamas and very calm, most of the time. They dont really try to spit on us but they do spit at each other when they are upset over something, usually food. We will be getting 2 llamas, a male and a female as protecters for our alpacas. We really dont have a lot of predators that would hurt them in my area but there are always stray dogs that show up once in a while. We will have the male llama gelded so that he will not fight with our other males. We will be raising them to sell and also for the fiber. Alpaca wool is softer then angora, and 3 times as warm as sheeps wool. Plus they come in all different colors. I am hoping to find the time to learn to spin this summer so that I can get a wheel and spin my own fiber into yarn. We have seen where some people sell alpaca sweaters for $200 to $300... These are going to be a work into retirement for us. We have a long time to build our heard up. My sister bought 4 bred females and the one has her son at her side. She gave me choice of one and that is payment for taking care of everyone. Then as her herd grows every year or so we will pick one of her babies for payment for the years care.. You can put 5 to 10 alpacas per acre of ground so even though we only have 3 acres we wont have to worry about room for another year or 2. Our neighbor across the road would sell his place that he rents for the right price and we will talk to him about a rent to own type deal since his place is 5 acres and is pretty much set up already. We are helping some friends of our sheer thier alpacas this weekend and then in a week or 2 we will sheer our own. You will laugh so hard when you see how funny looking they are after getting sheered. I really love them for the simple fact that my boys can go into the pen and I dont have to worry about them really getting hurt. The alpacas would rather run from you then come after you like a horse or other larger animal would. THe only one who gets a little rambunctious is Teddy, the 6 month old male. At most he is 50 lbs so even if he knocked over my youngest it would hurt his pride more then anything. All in all they seem to be pretty neat to have around. They also hum a lot, that is thier primary sound they make. We are refencing our property but when that is done then thier care will be pretty simple. Jenn

 

[lilcountry]

Thanks for the info! They are neat! Good Luck

 

[Chirpy]

What a cutie! Since there's some good education going on here I thought I'd jump in and comment on Llamas.

Llama babies are also called crias. They also don't like to be 'loved' on even though they are too cute.

I can walk up to mine in a stall and halter them and then the lead wonderfully beside me. You generally cannot walk up to either and hug them unless they are on lead, possibly if they were bottle raised.

Llamas and Alpaca's will not ever spit at a person if raised properly. Getting spit on is awful... it's a green, slimy goo that stinks to high heaven!! I've been spit on when I got between a male and female and she was giving him what for. I was just in the wrong place (between them!)

Alpacas are almost always more expensive than llamas at this point in time. People are starting to use llamas wool for spinning also but it's not anywhere near the rage that Alpaca fleece is yet.

Llamas are used for guard animals... Alpacas are not. They need the guarding. Not all llamas make good guard animals.

 

[jkcove08]

OK, first thing this morning baby cria # 2 was born!! We have a beautiful little boy. His official name will be T&JCove's Dawns Early Rizer and Razz will be his call name. He came a little out of the norm and was born at 7AM. My friend that has been breeding pacas for 5 yrs said that they are usually born between 7am and 7 pm but 95% are usually born between 10 and 2..... My hubby went out to do chores and there he was. She had just given birth when he got there. It is amazing what colors will come out. I am relieved right now since we wont have any more babies until December. I am going to use the measurments for Razz and Willow to make little jackets for the 2 winter babies. Here are a few pics of Razz. Jenn

 

[sweetshoplady]

She is adorable! She looks fluffy like a sheep! Congrats on the two of them! They are both so very cute!