Friday, October 31, 2008

PHF Liberty


Here's a photo of Liberty freshly shorn last spring. Liberty is a gorgeous true black and everyone just loves her dreadlocks.

The last 12 months have been particularly hard on Liberty. In Fall 2007 she gave birth to a bay black girl, Violet Faye. At 3 weeks of age, Violet developed sepsis which is a blood infection. Violet seemed to improve at first but then it became apparent that the infection had spread to her nervous system and there was absolutely nothing we could do. Losing Violet was hard on Liberty and myself as well.

At first Liberty seemed okay so we went ahead and bred her. A month later she developed a severe parasitic infection. We almost lost her. With exceptional care, she bounced back and seems healthier than ever. Surprisingly she held her pregnancy the entire time. Her 'due date' is November 6 and I'm keeping my fingers crossed that all goes well.
Posted by Picasa

Thursday, October 30, 2008

Calliope's Isis

My first alpaca purchase, in 2006, was Isis. She's high up in the hierarchy of the herd and is quite well known for her attitude. She's first in line to be fed and has been known to dump feed bowls forcing the other alpacas to eat off the ground. Touching her belly is strictly forbidden!

When she isn't preggo, she's a completely different alpaca. She's actually rather sweet and you can get a look at her light fawn fleece.

She's a devoted and dedicated mom. Actually she looks after everyone's babies.

Her crias are Marie (2006), Ulysses (2007) and Griffin (2008).
Posted by Picasa

Wow, it's been a long time......

I haven't posted in ages, mostly due to time constraints. Several of my friends have started personal blogs and I'm feeling somewhat inspired. While I don't feel comfortable sharing my personal life on the web, I'm more than happy to share stories about my alpacas.

Since my last post in March 2007, the herd has grown to 6 alpacas. All the alpacas now reside at Big River Alpacas in Dittmer, MO. For awhile they were spread out between several different farms.

In the coming posts, I'll introduce you to the members of the herd.