How Interesting... I've Never Seen that Before!

Let me tell you about the birds and the bees, the flowers and the trees..... oooooh.... and a thing about love!

Yes this was the weekend of luuuv.

With a grunt and what can only be described as.... weird..... I actually don't know how to describe the noises ... actually I can't quite describe any of it.... it was all too foreign....

Let me begin at the beginning. It's the season for shearing alpacas. So on Saturday we started. I decided that this was the year that Mishka (my only female alpaca) would be bred. Coal was the successful applicant mostly because he doesn't have any relation to Mishka that I know of. Breeding works better if there is very little hair in the way, so with that in mind Teapot and I got down to it and sheared, first Mishka, and then Coal. We have a little fold/paddock that we can close off from the other where a sick sheep or a nursing and worn out momma can go. If there's an injury or someone needs to go into solitary confinement for a while then that's the place for them. When we finished with Mishka we put her in there and then we went to work on Coal. It generally takes about fifty minutes to deal with one of those animals from the time you catch them, get the halter on them walk/carry/encourage/kick them to the table, where you use a wrestling manouver to flip them onto their side on the table and proceed to tie their head down as well as both front legs and back legs. At that point you take a deep breath and get the shears. We have a set of electric shears and Teapot welds them very well but there have been problems in past years as the alpacas like to roll in the dirt and a set of blades per animal is about what it takes to finish. As a point of reference one set of blades will do all of my sheep. Teapot works on the body starting from the tummy up over the side and then forward to the front shoulder and then back to the hip and bum. Then he shears along the back bone and up the neck which is where the problem begins. When the blades hits that back bone and neck area there is so much dirt from rolling that the blades go dull almost instantly. That is why I now buy a set of cheap scissors to work along the backbone and around the back of the neck. I also give my alpacas a doo on top cleaning up any missed wool around where the halter is. Gingerly we then untie all ropes and flip the animal over who really wants off the table by now and is having nothing to do with co-operating. Once on the other side Teapot again ties them down and the whole process begins again. As soon as the fleece is off I begin grading it and separating it into different bags. Meanwhile Teapot is now giving the alpaca a manicure. They have funny feet, it is not a hoof at all... it is more like a birds foot with a pad like a dog's and two nails sticking out. These grow constantly and twice a year need to be clipped. After that, if their teeth need to be cut, we do it with a dremel tool and a piece of leather to protect their mouth. I squirt water at the teeth while Teapot cuts them and enamel flies everywhere. After that we give them a shot for disease and a shot for parasites..... then we untie them and get them back on their feet, lead them back to their stall and then we all go for a drink before starting the next one. We do two a day as we find more than that is just too much.

This year instead of leading Mishka back to the far paddock with the ewes and lambs, we brought her over to the small pen. Then Coal got his work done at which time he was lead to the small pen too. Daughter #1 and I sat and watched (I felt like a voyeur). Daughter #2 who was too squeemish took off for the house. Teapot was doing other stuff around the yard but was able to see. Hmmm.....

Coal sniffed her nether regions and Mishka sniffed his and they did that for quite a while all the while circling each other. About five or ten minutes of this occurred and just when the other alpacas in their own paddock, were starting to roll their eyes because it was taking so long, finally Coal got his mind around the idea that this was THE FEMALE and jumped on her hind quarters.....

She laid her ears back and wasn't sure about this but automatically went down on the ground assuming the position.... (it's a good thing I knew they mated while on their knees) He got down to business and sat there with a glazed look in his eye making the weirdest noises which I can safely say I've never in my life heard before. He puffed out his cheeks, he groaned and grunted, he sighed and wheezed all at the same time. But there was no doubt that he was quite happy. She on the other hand was kind of looking back at him with a look that indicated a cross between boredom, indignation and curiosity. I don't think she was against it but she didn't look like she was particularly enjoying the process either. This went on for quite a while..... a good half hour. Daughter #1 and I got bored and wandered off, but Teapot says they got up for a bight to eat and then went at it again..... then that was it, except Coal was a little wobbly in the hind legs for a while. It was all over.... I went out a little later and Coal was nuzzling Mishka and Mishka was obviously in love with him..... but then today they were kind of stand offish..... well I figured the fire works were over and so this evening Mishka is back with the ewes and Coal is back with his very horny brothers..... You would never know that in the womb of that woolly white body lurks a miracle in the form of an embryo... well at least we hope.

So there you have it..... 11 1/2 months from now hopefully there will be a baby alpaca.... which is also called a Cria.

I can't wait...... It will be something else I've never seen.