It’s birthing season here at Snowshoe Farm. Alpacas have a fairly wide window for birthing; gestation, in our experience, can be as short as 10-1/2 months or can go over a year. So we do a lot of watching and waiting. Rosita is up next; her 11 month date is today. Does she or does she not look very ready to have a cria?!
It’s a beautiful, sunny and mild day. Perfect for spending time in the barn (unheated) and skirting alpaca fiber. I have way too much fiber still in the barn for this time of year. I need to continue to skirt and send the fiber off to the mill for processing into yarn. It’s important that…
Esther Rose finally gave birth to a male cria this morning on day 366 of her pregnancy. That’s a very long, but not uncommon, gestation length for an alpaca. Despite the long wait, this little guy weighs in at less than 11 lbs. This is the smallest cria that’s been born on our farm. His…
Alberta Clipper – ten year old herdsire with bloodlines from the Jolimont Ranch in Australia – is breeding at Snowshoe Farm! Clipper has been seriously underutilized through the years and we can’t wait to see what he’ll produce mated with some of our finest females. Yesterday we had our first confirmed pregnancy with Clipper –…
Our newest cria was born yesterday morning. We’re not sure yet if this young male is fawn or rose gray. His grandsire is gray and he does have a gray tint to his fiber. We’ll see how it looks over the next few weeks. The gray fibers seem to grow out gradually. Anyway, the little…
It’s another beautiful day in the Kingdom! Cold nights and warm sunny days are perfect for sugaring, skiing and drying up muddy roads. The ‘pacas are happily eating hay out in the sun and we are starting to eliminate hay bedding and, hopefully, getting their fleeces cleaned up a bit before shows and shearing.
The first offspring of our White Male Color Champion, Snowshoe Aristides, were born this spring and more are coming along. I’ve posted photos of those crias that are currently on the ground on Ari’s web page here. We’re pleased to be seeing some very nice crias! Contact us to make a date with Aristides for…
I’m getting lots of exercise walking back and forth to the barn…Millie is day 349 and very uncomfortable.
My vote is that she is ready to pop!! I need to get out to your farm to see your new babies!!
So far it’s only baby! More to come soon…I hope!