Grace and the Boy
We have looked for good quality studs for all of our matings in the past. Sometimes we have been a bit disappointed with the result. Sometimes not as impressed as we planned. Sometimes satisfied that it was worth the invested time and effort. Well, with these two I’m well pleased. They didn’t require research, contacting farmers and juggling the with agenda, or planning trips to other farms, biosecurity risks, pregnancy tests…
The girl was born a week before the boy. We found her already running around her mum in the field. Her face, her colour… Déjà vu! She looked just like Aramis three years ago, when we found him in the same field. After a few days, we named her. Kestle Gracious Aphrodite. Grace for friends, which reads as “smoothness and elegance of movement” in the Oxford.
The Boy was born a week later. His mum, being her first time, was showing signs of stress and we monitored closely. She gave birth, didn’t need intervention which is good news. The Boy looked really long, really big next to his mum, and all seemed alright. Even though the morning was sunny, shy sun of autumn, it was rather cold. He started shivering before he stood up. So I had to take him in the barn, put him under the IR light and hope he’d pick up. Some minutes later, there was little improvement. I held him up and put him to feed from mum, but he needed to be supported, he couldn’t stand up. That Sunday I spent it making sure mum and cria were bonding, that he was getting his colostrum and staying warm, supplementing with bottle after each feed every two hours to make sure he took a better chance.
A couple of days after, he was standing, feeding when he needed, with little balance looking still weak. His mum was doing a great job, but he wasn’t looking very strong. He would only stand to feed. The rest of the time he was cushing. We decided he needed to be seen. He was diagnosed with pneumonia and given antibiotics. After that, he picked up very quickly. We were amazed. We had a bad season and thought he wouldn’t make it. He proved us wrong.
Still, driven by (bad)experience, we didn’t give him a name just in case. A few weeks after, we have seen him running, playing, and joining Grace on their cheeky games. He is nearly two months old now, and he still goes by “the boy”. At this point I am not too worried about naming, but it is something we have to do at some point. Lacking inspiration, we will be open to suggestions. Maybe we can organise a draw, collect some funds for the local church or school.
Kestle Alpacas 