Llama Babies - Crias

 So, an update on Bree is that she is still in the home and care of the zoo-keeper in Richmond. She is doing much better in the health department, but whatever happened to her neck is not healing as hoped. A third vet that is weighing in says to let it go another week, but if it doesn't show any improvement, then it's unlikely to heal at all. The whole thing has been rather emotionally and financially exhausting. 

In the meantime, I scheduled the llama vet #1 to come out on Monday to check Glacier and give the llamas shots. I was also going to do an ultrasound on Glacier to see if she was pregnant. That morning, Julia and I de-wormed the goats, trimmed their hooves and scooped llama poop. I then mowed the back yard and went in to take a shower before the vet's 1:00 arrival. When she arrived, Selah and I headed out and Selah started yelling that Glacier had her baby. I guess she saved me the price of the ultrasound and the vet was able to give the baby her first shot also. 

We are so fortunate that it's another girl, because boy llamas can not live with a herd of females long term normally. This baby is doing very well and her name is Jewel, after the unicorn in The Last Battle in the Chronicles of Narnia series. Bree is named after the talking horse in The Horse and His Boy. (As a plug for that series, listen to the Focus on the Family CDs as an adult - it is so, so good and there is so much hidden in there that I never got as a child!)

Here is Jewel with her momma just a few hours after birth - she weighs only 14 pounds!

  
We are feeling sorry for Butte since she doesn't have her baby anymore, but I'm not sure she really remembers.
 

 Jewel is less people friendly than Bree was, just like Glacier is more skiddish than Butte.

I am babysitting Alei's dog, Lucca, for the weekend. His entire goal in life is to get wet, and although we try to minimize his water options, he usually finds something. This morning it was the old, small llama pool upside down that accumulated a small amount of rain. 

Then I have to fill "his pool" with clean water to clean him up before he comes back in. It's a continual water cycle. 
 

Sheering!

We did it! My friend, Wendy, drove over three hours to participate in our first annual llama sheer! Honestly, we had JD on stand-by to tie them down if necessary, since that is what the majority of people do when they sheer. Neither of them spat or kicked even once though, although they did clearly did not enjoy it. 

Glacier, who is half alpaca and half llama, had about three times the fur that Butte had; I can tell the difference now between a llama and alpaca beyond size. 

I didn't get pictures of Butte; we did her first and were in full concentration mode. Glacier got her one side trimmed on this side of the stall -
 

And then we moved her across the stall to get an area to stand again to trim the other side!

Raking the pile -

Bagging the pile - 

Butte, who is much more out-going, hung out in the next stall and watched all of Glacier's trim time. Glacier was more than happy to hit the pasture when we released her!

 They are feeling so much better in the heat! I'm down to one yappy Pomeranian that needs her summer cut.

Puppies Outside

The puppies are 5.5 weeks old and today was sunny and warm; we took them out for some adventure time and just ignored the huge puddles everywhere that the puppies walked through. It is the first time we have walked them around the barnyard and fence area. It took a bit to get them moving, but they caught on and tromped with us.

This one was crying at the wall after he couldn't figure out how to get up.

They spent some time analyzing the creatures on the other side of the fence.

Butte looking especially Butteful today, don't you think?  Actually, it's amazing how cute she is with her ears up, and then she goes to this strange appearance when she slicks them back. Glacier is just cute all the time.

If there is any rustling in the barn, they all have to go check out the possibility of it being grain.

This puppy is rather confused by the concept of a llama. He kept staring.

It doesn't matter how much fun they are having, they get too tired and just go to sleep.

We lugged them to the backyard puppy pen for naps in the sun. They will be ready for another round soon.

Jenny