Llama Biography #13: Autumn Hill's Blazing Starr

The problem with me and this blog is that while I have tons of topics to write about, I am always lacking the necessary pictures to successfully illustrate the articles.  That is the situation that I once again find myself in, so I'm writing another biography...

Llama #13 in our herd was quite the interesting character...  Autumn Hill's Blazing Starr (aka Blaze) was born in September 2003, 2 weeks early!  He was the first cria for his dam, Little May Flowers (who was also the first cria ever born on our farm!).  Blaze came out a little "undercooked" (premature), and along with May being a first time mom, she really didn't want a whole lot to do with him.  Luckily he was a fighter, and my mom was also determined to keep him alive!  May and Blaze had to be locked in the barn for about 3 days after he was born, during which my mom bottle fed Blaze fairly regularly.  After 3 days, May seemed to catch on that Blaze was her responsibility and decided to let him nurse.  It was a long 3 days for my mom, but Blaze was definitely worth it!

Blaze at about a month of age.  Look at the presence!

May, while she was pregnant with Blaze.

Blaze's sire was SHAG Guido, a beautiful white suri-type male.  I was never a huge fan of Guido, but we sent 3 females to Shagbark Ridge Llamas to be bred in the fall of 2002, and he seemed to be a good fit for May.  Luckily it was a great cross!

Guido, Blaze's sire.

Blaze was definitely one of the nicest crias we had ever had born on the farm.  He had the most gorgeous suri-type fiber, and great conformation.  Unfortunately he got his mom's tiny ears, but that was just about the only bad thing about him!

Blaze at about 4 months of age.

Blaze's fabulous fiber.

In the spring of 2004, I knew Blaze had to be in my show string.  Along with his 2 "friends" (female crias born the same time as Blaze), he headed to the Western Ohio Triple Crown for his first show.  Blaze was shown in the Heavy Wool Juvenile Male class.  It was a pretty big class, but Blaze behaved respectably well.  I really wanted Blaze to place in the class, but was shocked when the judge pulled him out for 1st place!  We then went back for the Grand & Reserve class, but by that time Blaze had had enough of standing still so he didn't stand a chance.  While at the show, Blaze and another of our crias, Faith, caught the attention of a large alpaca breeder from Ohio.  Before the show was over Blaze and Faith had been sold, and they would move to their new farm after they were completely weaned in a few months.

Autumn Hill's Faith.

While I was sad that Blaze's show career was over, he ended up having a great home.  When he was older, he sired one cria (out of another of our animals, Autumn Hill's Charity who was sold to the same farm later on), Blaze of Glory.  Blaze was then gelded and sold to be an alpaca companion.

Blaze of Glory, Blaze's son.

Hopefully I'll have something more interesting to talk about soon!

Llama Biography #6: Little May Flowers

I'm terrible at remembering to take pictures when I'm out doing things with the llamas, but I'm really going to try harder!  Until I have some cool new pictures to talk about, I'll share another of our wonderful llamas with you.

Little May Flowers, Spring 2005.

The sixth llama to join our herd was Little May Flowers, aka May.  She was the first cria born on our farm.  April (Alder Crest April Showers) gave birth to May on May 9th, 2000.  We came home after school that night and found May laying in the poop pile!  She started off looking a little rough, but she quickly grew into a gorgeous little girl.  She had the most gorgeous fiber too!

Little May Flowers, Summer 2000.

May's dam, Alder Crest April Showers.

May's sire, Taj's California Sun.

May wearing a bandana, Summer 2000.

May's gorgeous locked fiber, Spring 2005.

May was also the first cria that I got to train from the very beginning.  Luckily I had learned a lot about training with Sheba, so May got off to a good start.  Once May was a year old, I showed her in 4-H and open shows.  We did pretty well together, especially the second year.

May's first show, Spring 2001.  We won Showmanship!

May's first show, wearing her gypsy costume.  We won the class too!

May and I at the 2002 Indy Open show.  We won Showmanship and placed well in performance.

Another costume...May was such a good sport!  Summer 2002.

May and I after winning Showmanship at the 2002 Indiana State Fair!

May and I at the 2002 Great Lakes Regional.  We were 2nd in Showmanship!

Once May was 2.5 yrs old, we decided to retire her from showing and let her be a mom.  We bred her to a beautiful white male (SHAG Guido), and 11 months later she gave us a little boy, Autumn Hill's Blazing Starr.  May wasn't real sure about being a mom for a few days and we had to bottle feed Blaze, but she caught on eventually.  Blaze went on to grow into one of the nicest crias we've ever had.  His little sister gave him a run for his money though!  Autumn Hill's Trillium, sired by our (then) new herdsire Randallama's Cherokee, was a fabulous little girl.  We bred May one more time, this time to our younger herdsire, AAL Navarro.  We were a little disappointed with the resulting cria, Autumn Hill's Camissia, but she grew up quite nice.  Shortly after Camissia was born, we sold May and Camissia to be alpaca guards.  May was bred back to Cherokee, and had another gorgeous little boy.  I'm still sad that I sold her!

May's first cria, Autumn Hill's Blazing Starr.  Winter 2003.

May's second cria, Autumn Hill's Trillium.  Fall 2005.

May and Trillium.  Talk about a carbon copy!

May's third cria, Autumn Hill's Camissia.

May and her final cria.