New York State Fair!

Well it has been a whole MONTH since the NY State Fair, and I'm just now posting pictures!  I'm a terrible blogger when I'm working full time...

Overall, the animals did pretty well.  They all placed respectably well in halter, and Ralph even managed a performance class placing!  Lily was not at all happy whenever Kara left the pen, but by the end she managed to refrain from trying to jump out!  They weren't very happy about all the people though, even Kara.  They spent a lot of time in the middle of the stalls, just out of reach.

Chilling in the stalls.

As with most shows, there were highs and lows.

First off, it was just plain awesome being in the ring with May again.  She was the second llama that I showed as a kid, and it was so much fun to be back at it with her.  And she was amazing!  The judge loved her fiber (even though she was body shorn!) when we were in halter, and he seemed pretty impressed when I told him she was 15 years old!  She managed a respectable 4th place in light wool adult female, despite being the oldest in the class.  And even without any performance work in 13 years, she did amazing for me in obstacle and public relations.  She placed 20th out of 49 in novice obstacle, and if she hadn't refused a very steep and narrow stair obstacle in novice public relations she would have placed pretty well...she got an 8 or 9 (out of 10) on all the other obstacles!  I can't wait to see how she does next fall after some training!

Still looks good for 15 years old and 4 crias!

Ralph was his good old steady self.  Always nervous, but I've learned how to deal with it most of the time.  He placed 7th out of 49 in novice obstacle, and if I hadn't forgotten an obstacle (the easiest one too!) and gone "off course" he would've done well in novice pack.  I think he was 21st out of 48 or so in novice public relations.

Kara...well Kara was mostly my fault.  She got pretty heavy this summer on all our gorgeous green grass, and thus didn't do so hot in halter.  She placed 3rd, right behind the Grand and Reserve Champion winners.  She also placed 3rd in bred and owned female, behind the Grand Champion Heavy wool and Suri winners.  She was great in showmanship though, except for not letting the judge touch her.  We still got 2nd though, which I thought was pretty good.  And she got to meet her "little" half-sister, Sunny.  They placed 1st in produce of dam, and the judge loved them and their size!

Chubby girl...

Sunny and Kara.

And last but not least, Lily (aka MSF Regal Princess).  To be honest, Lily was my disappointment.  She was very very nervous being at the show, and it came out in the ring.  She was a mess in the performance classes, although she did try some new obstacles which I was proud of.  She wanted nothing to do with halter either, and thus didn't walk very well.  She got 2nd out of 3, behind the Grand Champion heavy wool female.  The judge seemed to like her, he just couldn't evaluate her movement very well.  I'm hoping that I can get her over some of her fears this winter, and get her to more shows this spring to help as well.

Little miss ears!

Such a gorgeous girl!

It was still a great show with lots of great people, and May got to go to home with Dakota Ridge Farm from Albany to be bred to their gorgeous male (and Best of Show at the NY State Fair!), Joey!  Very excited for this baby!!

Autumn Hill Llamas & Fiber's future breeding females!

Quarantine...The Why and How

I'm happy to announce that May has finally made it home!  It has been 8.5 years since I've seen her, and it is almost surreal that she is back with me.  And of course she is the inspiration for this post!

I'll admit, for the first several years that we had llamas (ok, almost the whole time we've had llamas), we were terrible about quarantining new arrivals!  We always had a small herd, and not a lot of extra space, so any newcomer or someone returning from a show went right in with the herd.  The thought of that makes me cringe now!  Luckily when I set up the new farm I made sure to set up a quarantine area.  Any time a new llama comes to the farm they will go in there for at least 3 weeks.  My show string also goes in the quarantine pen for 3 weeks after each show.  When we build a new barn I plan on building yet another quarantine pen so that I have a place to put females when they come for outside breedings.

The edge between the quarantine pen and the main pasture (with the gate open).

For the past few years, it has seemed like parasites are on the rise.  I believe that is due to reporting bias...with the advent of online forums more people are discussing the issues they are having in their herds.  But the good news is that owners are becoming more proactive when it comes to preventing parasite issues on their farms.  And one of the easiest ways to do that is quarantine!

By quarantining a new llama (or one coming back from a show or other farm), you lessen the risk of spreading internal and external parasites to the rest of your herd.  Parasites are easily picked up at shows and other farms, and even during transport!  And of course the stress of being at the show/other farm/transport is enough to make an insignificant parasite load bloom into something dangerous!

Ralph and Kara at a show.

Quarantining is pretty simple...pick a well-behaved companion from your herd (if you only have one newcomer) and stick them in a secluded pen for a specified period of time.

Ralph and Duque make great quarantine companions!

I like my quarantine pen to be relatively small.  I want it to be a dry lot (aka no grass) so that parasites are more easily contained.  And of course I don't want to risk contaminating a large pasture!  My main quarantine pen is about 40' x 50', with a 10' x 20' pen in the barn.  It is big enough for my entire herd (now a whopping 6 animals!) to live in during the winter/early spring.  April and May are in this area now.  The new quarantine pen I finished building today is much smaller, but still usable.  The outside area is about 15' x 30', with a 10' x 10' pen in the barn.  I probably wouldn't use it for more than 3 animals at a time (Kara and Ralph are in there now).

The herd in the quarantine area.

The length of time that you quarantine is a bit of a grey area.  For me, it comes down to how bad I perceive the risk to be.  If I suspected that the animal would come in with a huge parasite load, I might quarantine for a month or two (and run lots of fecals during that time).  If I had a healthy animal coming from a reputable farm, I might quarantine for just a few weeks.  I quarantined Lily for 3 weeks this past spring, and plan to do the same with May.

While the animal is in quarantine, it is important to monitor their progress.  It is a good idea to run an initial fecal (I wish I had done this with Lily), so that you have an idea of what you are working with. It takes parasites awhile to increase (if they picked something up from the transport or stress caused a bloom), so you should run another fecal in 1-3 weeks.  When you run the follow-up fecal, don't forget to test the companion animal as well...they could have picked something up from the newcomer.  If you need to treat for parasites, don't forget to run another fecal 10-14 days after treatment.  Yes this will prolong the quarantine period, but you need to make sure that the treatment worked (and not introduce resistant parasites to the rest of your herd!).

A fecal slide as viewed through the microscope.

During quarantine, be sure to offer the best nutrition possible.  Nice leafy second cut hay is good, and I like to add electrolytes to their water.  You can add grain/pellets if they aren't overweight, just be sure to introduce them slowly (mixing with the feed they got at their previous farm is best).  And don't forget the minerals!  May has been snarfing them down today!  Something new that I tried with Lily was an immune booster herbal supplement.  Being a young, recently weaned cria, I wanted to help her immune system deal with the stress as much as I could.  I bought an herbal supplement from Smart Pak Equine online.  I also plan on using this supplement when we go to shows.  I think for May I'm going to offer specific herbs instead of the supplement, since she is older and can deal with the stress better.

Beet pulp, alfalfa pellets, and calf-manna are great supplements if you need to put weight on your newcomer.

Once the newcomer has been in quarantine for a few weeks, and has a clean fecal (and no external parasites), they are free to join the herd!  It is always fun to see how the rest of the herd reacts to a new animal!

Big E Recap!

Well I was all set to write a blog post last night, and then completely spaced it!  So here you go, just a day late...

The reason I didn't post last week was because we were at the Big E!  This is one of the two llama shows that is relatively close to us, so of course we had to go!  We left Thursday afternoon and got back home Sunday evening.

Our stall display and a very wet Kara.

I was worried about getting checked in late (we couldn't check in at the show until 5 pm) and not having enough time to get everyone washed Thursday evening, so the boys got their baths before we left.  Kara didn't show in halter until Saturday morning, so I washed her at the show Friday afternoon.

Wet llama!

Luckily this fairgrounds was more organized, although we did have to drive about 10 miles away to park the trailer!  Really makes me miss the simplicity of all the Midwest shows we used to go to.

Friday was the first official day of the show.  T and I showed in the very first class (Advanced Adult Showmanship) and got 3rd with some great competition.  A few hours later he placed 2nd in his halter class (Non-Breeder Adult), and personally I think he got robbed!  But oh well, I'm pretty sure he already has all the ILR-SD halter awards he can get.  Everyone showed in Novice Pack Friday afternoon as well.

My handsome boy T.

Saturday was Kara's day to shine.  We started off the day with her halter class (Medium Wool 2-yr-old Female), and she won!  Sure, there were only two in the class, but she looked great and the judge said lots of nice things about her.  I was really hoping she'd get Reserve Grand Champion again, but the championship class was really tough.  We also got to go back in for Best Bred & Owned Female (you have to qualify at this show to enter the class), but they only place one animal and she didn't win.  Not terribly surprised though.  Everyone also showed in Novice Public Relations and Obstacle, but no placings there either.  The performance competition was stiff!  Late in the evening T and I went back for Ground Driving, and he got 2nd!

T and his ribbons.

Overall it was a fun weekend!  I got to hang out with some great people and love on some gorgeous llamas!  I'm sad that the show season is over so quickly!

Kara and Ralph were hot!

NY State Fair!!!

If you can't tell from the title of this post, I was quite excited to be going to the NY State Fair last week.  My husband not so much, but oh well...

We set off for Syracuse late Wednesday morning, and then the fun began.  The NY State Fair is one of the most disorganized fairs I've ever been to!  We had to drive all over the fairgrounds (right between the "carnie" stuff to get to the barn.  Luckily it is a tiny show, so there weren't a ton of people waiting to unload like in Indiana.  We quickly unloaded the animals and supplies, and went to park the trailer.  We drove around the fairgrounds a few more times trying to figure out where to park the truck, but we eventually found the right place.

I was lazy before the fair and didn't wash the lamas, so once we were parked and unpacked I washed everyone in turn.  Surprisingly Kara was the best...T did not want a bath!

Wet T.

Wet Ralph and Kara.

Thursday was the first day of the show, and I was in the first class with T...adult showmanship.  We were very much out of practice, and T didn't want to behave, but we still got 3rd.  I was pretty happy. A little while later T and I went back in for adult non-breeder halter, and he won!  And then got Grand Champion!  I was thrilled!  I'm 90% sure that this finishes his ALSA Halter Champion, which means he has every halter award he can get with ALSA or ILR.  Now to start on the performance awards!

T and his winnings.

Such a handsome boy!

Once T was done it was Kara's turn.  We went in for her halter class (medium wool 2-yr-old female), and she was an angel.  Looked gorgeous too of course.  And the judge agreed...she got 1st!  Going back in for grand and reserve I wasn't real positive, but Kara pulled off a Reserve Champion!  I'm so proud of my girl!  We also went in for bred and owned female, and got 3rd behind 2 other females who won Grand Champion in their halter classes.  So not bad!

Kara didn't want to pose with her winnings.

So I had to force her.

Of course, the weekend went down from there.  I've been working with the lamas a lot over the summer, but I have fairly basic obstacles so we weren't quite prepared for the creative performance courses.  Plus it doesn't help with the competition is outrageous (over 35 animals in each novice performance class)!  Ralph managed a 9th place in novice obstacle, but didn't place in the rest.  Neither did either of the llamas.  But the important part is that they improved with each class.  T decided to attempt the very steep and narrow stairs during novice public relations and Kara did the "tunnel" in novice public relations.

T doing the stairs.

Kara under the "tunnel".

Kara wearing the scarf.

Ralph weaving.

Overall it was a great weekend.  Kara loves the public (she was born to be a PR llama!), so it was a lot of fun taking her around.  Even T was pretty good with all the attention.  Ralph thinks it is beneath him.  T also spent the weekend trying to eat lots of things.  Some I let him, others I didn't!

T munching on an apple core.

T trying to eat ice cream.

Can't wait for the Big E in a couple of weeks!

Cute little Ralphie.

Pack Training: Carrying Weight

T is growing up...its time that he has to carry weight for Novice Pack at the NY State Fair this fall.  According to the show association rules, llamas over 36 months of age must carry 20 lbs.  Alpacas used to have to carry 10lbs, but apparently that rule has changed recently.  Ralph will be so happy!

Ralph in a Novice Pack class in 2012.

Luckily T was previously trained to carry a pack, but carrying weight can sometime freak them out.  None of the llamas or alpacas that I've trained to carry weight have cared yet, but I wanted to be careful just in case!

I already had 10 lbs of sand weighed out for Ralph's pack, so I used some leftover gravel to make 2 more bags that totaled 10 lbs.  

Weight bags for the pack.

I decided to be nice, and started T with just 10 lbs in the pack for the first day.  He was more concerned with having the pack put on than he was the weight.  And once he realized that it was just a pack, he had no problems.  The next day I put the full 20 lbs in the pack and again he had no problem.  Other than not wanting to "jump" over the jump, which is understandable.  I'm very proud of my boy, and can't wait to see how he does in at the show next week!

T modeling his weighted pack.  Unfortunately we let the pack sit out in the sun, and the top faded!

Speaking of next week, I won't be able to do my blog post next Thursday, as we will be showing at the NY State Fair!  Ralph, T, and Kara will all be coming, and all 3 will show in Novice Performance!  Luckily Kara isn't old enough to have to carry weight...I'm not sure she would react as nicely as T.

And You Thought Only Spiders Had Cobwebs!

I will admit that I'm weird, I find it strangely relaxing to brush a llama.

At least when that llama is well-behaved!

The NY State Fair is coming up in 2 short weeks, so during my recent time off I decided I should work on grooming the animals that I'm taking to show.

Lucky for me 2 of them are body shorn!

Since Ralph is only going to show in performance, he doesn't need any grooming at all.  I'll wash him right before the show just like the others, but only because I don't like petting him when he's all dusty!

Ralph after being shorn.  Not much left to brush!

T is also body shorn, but he has a hideous-looking tail!  I never got around to picking the burrs out of it in the spring, so it is a mess.  So on Tuesday I took the scissors to it (to cut out some big mats and burrs), and today I brushed out the rest.  He looks a little silly with a very poofy tail, but I think he'll look fine for the show.  He is showing in performance, halter, and showmanship, so he has to look his best!

T and his terrible haircut!

Kara is the big challenge.  Luckily she isn't terribly dirty, and being fairly young her neck and leg fiber hasn't matted too badly yet, but I was really determined to have her spotless and mat-free by the show.  I've now succumbed to accepting that she won't be completely mat-free, but I'm hoping to get most of the cobwebs out of her fleece.  My ulterior motive for doing this is that I hope having less cobwebs will help her cool off, since her skin should be able to breathe more.

Beautiful Kara.

For the past week or so, Kara and I have spent a lot of quality time in the barn...brushing and being brushed!  Luckily she is a sweetheart and accepts it very well!  So far I've done the top of her neck, her tail, and both back legs.  Today I started on a front leg.  Hopefully I'll be able to get done before I have to go back to work next week!

Kara's neck fiber before brushing.

The same spot after brushing.  (I love that she has her dad's curls!)

The lower part of Kara's neck...still needs a lot of work!

NY State Fair, Here We Come!!

The show season is finally getting closer...I just filled out the entry forms for the NY State Fair!

The NY State Fair is held in Syracuse (about 1.5 hours from us) August 20-23 (the llama show at least).

I always feel funny going to shows when I have such a small herd, as I tend to bring more than half of my animals!  This year, T, Kara, and Ralph are all going to be in my show string.  I really didn't plan on showing T, but he is so close to his ALSA Halter Champion, and is showing a lot of promise in performance, so he gets to go too.  Plus I figure if I'm taking 2, it isn't that much work (or money) to take 3!

Ralph and Kara at the 2012 Hoosier Llama Show.

So for this first show, T will be my showmanship buddy, in addition to showing in halter (non-breeder adult) and all 3 novice performance classes (obstacle, public relations, and pack).  As an adult, he has to carry weight (25 lbs) in pack!  That should be interesting, I should start training him for that soon!

T in halter at the 2012 Hoosier Llama Show.

As usual, Ralph is also just doing novice performance.  He has to show against all the llamas, but that's okay since he can definitely hold his own!  Unfortunately the state fair doesn't have alpaca halter classes, and he can't show with the llamas in theirs.

Ralph in novice pack at the 2012 Hoosier Llama Show.

And last but not least, Kara.  I debated about showing her in adult showmanship, as she is currently better looking than T, but she is a lot harder to get squared up.  So she'll just be in halter (medium wool 2-yr-old female) and bred and owned female, in addition to the 3 novice performance classes.  She probably doesn't stand a chance in performance, but I want to see how she does in the ring.

Kara in halter at the 2012 North American International Livestock Expo.

Overall it should be a great show, I'm so excited!!

NAILE!!

What a great weekend at the North American International Livestock Expo (aka NAILE)!!  I took my two little "guys"...Ralph and Kara.  At just 6 months old Kara is already bigger than Ralph!  (She weighed 163 lbs on Sunday, at 6 months and 1 week old!)

Anyway, the show was a huge success.  I entered both of them in pretty much every class possible.  Friday night Kara had her fleece evaluated for walking fleece, and ended up placing 2nd in Single Coat fleece with crimp, under 24 months!

Kara's baby fleece...can't wait to shear her next spring!

Saturday was quite hectic, running back and forth between 3 show rings...alpaca, performance, and llama halter!  Ralph and I won the Adult Alpaca Showmanship class, and then he got 1st and GRAND CHAMPION in his halter class (non-breeder alpaca) too!  Kara didn't do so hot in halter Saturday, placing 7th out of 11 (I think) in Silky Juvenile Female.  For some reason my sweet little girl doesn't want anyone but me to touch her!  Both Ralph and Kara went through 2 performance classes- obstacle and public relations.  Ralph won both of the alpaca performance classes, and of course Kara didn't place in her respective Novice classes.  But she did pretty well!  Ralph also had his fleece judged for walking fleece, and also got a 2nd in his class- Dark over 24 months.

Ralph and I in Adult Alpaca Showmanship.

Sunday went much better for Kara!  I decided to try Adult Showmanship since she behaved so well Saturday in halter, and we placed 6th out of 10-11.  She did amazing in halter too, placing 3rd out of 8-9 in Medium Wool Juvenile Female!  The judge really liked her!  Ralph continued his winning streak, winning Open Alpaca Pack and essentially getting GRAND CHAMPION Open Alpaca Performance!

Kara and I in Adult Showmanship.

Oh, and my skein of alpaca/silk handspun yarn won the handspun yarn class too!

Overall, it was the perfect way to end the show season this year!  I can't wait to work with Kara some more and take her back into the ring next year!

I'll apologize now for the lack of posts in the coming weeks...school is getting crazy!

Mom and baby...Kara and Bluff were very happy to be reunited after the show!

I was glad I left T at home...Kara and Ralph are so much easier to groom!