After getting home from shearing I talked with Nancy to tell her I had forgotten my fleece in the excitement and really wanted it. Nancy was looking at my pasture and kissing Cielito goodbye when she asked if I wanted more alpacas. Maybe some females. Well of course I said yes.La Negrita is behind and Kizmet is forward. La Negrita has a bit of white here and there and Kizmet is a very dark brown.
Saturday I was over at Bountiful Baskets http://bountifulbaskets.org/ all morning and Hubby and Tall, Dark and Kilted were out buying crown molding. Oops – forgot to mention an ongoing project in the house. Maybe later. Curt caught up with me just as I pulled in the driveway. He stopped in front and let me know that he had our New Alpacas.The boys (far back is Cielito, then Sonqo and in front is Polo) are just in awe of those things known as females.
Kizmet is Teresa's new female (her males are Cielito and Polo). My new girl is names La Nigrita and my boys are Sonqo and Encanto.
We put Cielito and the girls in the back pasture and the three (uncut) boys in the front pasture. The pastures are separated by a four and half foot high fence made of cattle panels. Cattle panels (for any city folks) are very stiff, very strong wire panels 12 foot long and four and a half foot high. In the fence there is a panel gate 10 ft long and a wooden gate 3 foot wide. We have successfully used this fencing to keep cows separated and horses separated. We have even used it with sheep and goats. Not always successfully.
Curt and Nancy and hubby and I thought this was a sure thing. Just so you know – it wasn't.
La Nigrita is too old to get pregnant anymore and Kizmet has been bred many times without success. So we got them for their gorgeous fleeces and not for increasing the herd through breeding.
Kizmet is a brown so dark that it looks black. When the sun glints of her you can see the red/brown in her top knot and on her legs. La Nigrita is just black – well a couple of white hairs her and there but 99.99 percent black. La Nigrita is just a tad larger.
I can't wait until Teresa comes out to pet her new alpaca. She is very pet able.
Encanto (fawn), Cielito (skinny), Sonqo (white) and La Negrita (black) watching the happenings. Of course all the rest of us are hanging over the fence doing the same. And below are videos so you can watch with us.Back to the sturdy, strong fence. Our three boys haven't seen a female since they came to maturity last year. After unloading the alpaca and seeing them safely into their pasture and petting them and giving them treats I went back into the house to finish up making supper and putting my vegetables away. My guys had gotten home while Curt was unloading the girls, so after all was said and done they guys went about unloading the truck and getting cleaned up.
About that time our company showed up so we all went outside to admire the new members of the growing herd. Only something was wrong. Polo was in the back pasture trying to convince Kizmet he knew what to do with a girl. Encanto got through the fence just about then and so we opened up the gate between the pastures to keep everyone from getting hurt.
We spent the afternoon having a great lunch, the girls tatting and the guys chatting and all of us watching the alpacas. An alpaca mating is hilarious when the boy is new and his buddies are trying to help out. Kizmet put up with it all and any time the boys tried to take a break – cause they were exhausted – she went and found them and teased. There was a ton of alpacas chasing each other,making much and varied noises. Cielito was right in there telling Polo and Encanto what to do. Sonqo went to the far side and pretended he didn't know anyone. La Nigrita kept approaching the boys and nuzzling them but was ignored.
Too bad Kizmet isn't fertile.
Then I talked to Curt. And guess what? I did get permission from hubby to do it. Well kinda sorta permission which is all one needs.
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