Final Touches on State Fair Projects!

The battle is finally over... my state fair projects have been turned in!

I was better this year than most, I decided it was better to cut down on the number of projects that I entered rather than go overboard.  I entered 6 skeins of yarn and 4 knit projects.  My angora yarn looks rather shabby, but the other skeins look pretty good!  And I absolutely love how my knit projects turned out.

Felted llama.

Knit angel, after starching and before assembly.

Now I get to start prepping for the llama portion of the fair, and get back to knitting other stuff!  The llama show at the Indiana State Fair is next weekend, August 3-5.  We'll be there with 4 of 6 llamas!

Skin Issues

Skin issues are not uncommon with llamas and alpacas.  Over the years we've seen our share...bare noses, scrapes and small sores, bare spots on the legs, etc.  Usually they're not anything to worry about, but it is important to watch for warning signs of infection or parasitism before choosing a treatment.

This spring I noticed two of our girls with small skin issues.  Bluff has two little spots of elephant skin on the "armpits" of her front legs.  They're not red or inflamed at all, just dry.

April  has developed quite a few bald spots on the bottoms of her legs (where the hair is short).  Again there is no sign of infection or parasites, and the skin underneath looks completely normal.  I have a feeling it is just a symptom of old age (she turned 18 yrs old in April), but I decided to try and get the hair to regrow anyway.

The dark spot in the middle is Bluff's elephant skin spot.

The pink spots are bare skin on April's back legs.

Big bare spot on the bottom of April's back leg.

I did a bit of research, and came up with a few key ingredients that I wanted to put in my "skin mix".  Vitamin E oil, tea tree oil, and MTG (a commercial horse liquid skin product) made the list.  I also ended up adding in some udder balm (for cows) and natural diaper cream (for babies).  Between them, ingredients include zinc oxide, lanolin, oils, and moisturizers.  I decided to make 2 different mixes...a liquid that I could spray on April's legs, and a cream that I could rub on Bluff's "armpits".  The liquid was mostly the MTG with a bit of vitamin E and tea tree oils; the cream was mostly the udder balm and diaper cream with some vitamin E and tea tree oils.

My ingredients.

I haven't been very good about applying the products to the llamas so far, so I can't really comment on their effectiveness, but they are easy to apply!  I'm hoping to see good results by the end of the summer.  Now I need to make up more of the liquid mix...I've run out already!

Abby Update!

It's been awhile since I've talked about Abby!  She's very much enjoying being home with my parents' 4 other dogs.  She was also enjoying having a huge backyard to run around in at night and on the weekends...that is until she started eating/getting stung by bees/wasps and we found out that she's allergic!  On 2 different occasions, we looked out in the yard to see a very swollen Abby...not good!  We rushed her to the emergency vet clinic (~20 minutes away), where they gave her injectable benadryl and steroids to bring down the swelling in her face and throat.  So now Abby doesn't get to go outside in the summer unsupervised...  We've since seen her chase flies around the house, so its pretty easy to understand how she would get stung by bees!

An important note for dog owners...if your dog shows signs of an allergic reaction, you can force feed them liquid benadryl...same dose as you would for a child.  **Disclaimer: I'm not a vet!**

Abby, AFTER the benadryl and steroids!  It looked worse!  Both eyes were completely swelled shut!

I think I've mentioned this in the past, but Abby and I are taking a dog agility class this summer (along with my mom and her Australian Shepherd Kaya).  We've had 3 classes now, and Abby is doing pretty good for the youngest pup in the class!

We've been working on a lot of basics, including agility heeling (the dog should follow the handler, on either side), lining up on either side of the handler, learning to target with their nose and feet, and standing on a perch.  Heeling and lining up isn't much fun to practice, but Abby loves the perch game!  I've taught her to put just her front 2 feet on the foot stool in our living room, and also to sit completely on top of it.  Next step is to get just the back 2 feet on the stool.

"Front Feet!"

We had to start by getting Abby to completely sit on the larger foot stool, then work down to the smaller one.  Now she will completely sit on the small stool.

As far as real obstacles go, we've learned the tunnel, raised plank, a short dogwalk, and a ladder.  During the last class, we even got to do a mock course of 5 obstacles.  They went over the raised plank, over "jump bumps" (practice jumps that are on the ground, not raised), and through tunnels.  Abby did both runs off lead...the first was almost perfect but she got spooked a bit by a new tunnel the second round and it took a second try to get her through it.  But she did great!  Mom is going to borrow a few llama obstacles (the ladder and raised plank) for the dogs to practice in the back yard this summer.  We're also going to buy one of those pop-up laundry baskets (like they sell for college dorms) and cut the bottom out of it to make a tunnel!

The ladder and raised plank that we're going to borrow for the dogs to practice on.

Hot, Hot, HOT!!!

It is absolutely miserable here at our farm in central Indiana.  The llamas are definitely not happy with the heat!

Bluff gets really miserable in the heat.  Its not uncommon to find her open-mouth breathing when it is over 90F, even if she's laying in front of a fan.  And it seems to be genetic...poor little Kara is not happy either.  Luckily she has developed quite a taste for electrolytes in the water!

Kara does love her water!

Getting a big drink!

Electrolyte lips have replaced milk lips!

If you've got animals, be really careful and watch them like a hawk.  We're hosing down the llamas every 2-3 hours when possible, and making sure they have tons of fresh water.  The fans are on full blast, and we put hay in the barn to keep them inside rather than grazing outside.

The main herd in the barn.  From L-R: Duque, Ralph, T, and Bluff.  (Kara's behind Bluff, April's in her own pen for a few weeks.)

Luckily no one has shown any serious symptoms of heat stress, but Bluff is showing weird symptoms due to a lack of exercise.  She's developed edema in front of her udder and between her back legs.  We opened up one of our extra pastures last night to encourage her and the rest of the herd to graze out there at night while its cool.

Bluff's edema swelling in front of her udder.

We've got 1 more day of hot weather to come (106F tomorrow!), but then it hopefully will cool down, at least to the high 80s.

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.

Halter Training

I've been busy playing with the llamas for the past few weeks, and have completely forgotten my blog!  But I'm back, and thought I would talk a bit about halter training, since that's what I've been doing with our new cria, Kara.

Most people tend to wait til the cria is 3-6 months old to halter train, but I've always had better luck starting much earlier.  I like to start at 1-2 weeks of age, and always go slow.  Crias that young don't have much of an attention span, but they're usually very willing and absorb training like a little sponge!

Autumn Hill's Trillium, Catastrophie, and Inali, with Inali's dam, Alder Crest April Showers, in the background.  All 3 crias were halter and performance trained at an early age, and Inali went on to be a Performance Champion in 4-H.

First I start just letting the cria wear the halter around the pasture, not bothering to attach a lead rope.  Make sure to use a tiny cria halter- a halter that is too large can pose a hazard to the cria.  Most crias will shake their head and not move much at first.  I usually wait until the cria is walking around and behaving normally (trying to graze or nurse is a good sign that they are comfortable with the halter on) before taking the halter off.  Repeat this as many times as possible, leaving the halter on for 5-15 minutes, until the cria is completely comfortable wearing the halter.

Autumn Hill's Karakoram wearing her halter for the first time.  1 week of age.

Next I'll start leading the cria around with the mom.  The cria will want to follow its mom, so it won't fight the pressure on the lead.  I usually only do this once or twice, but would do it more if the next step didn't go well.  Again, limit this to 5-15 minutes of training.

SHAG Cattera and her 3 month old son Autumn Hill's Catallegre walking around the front yard. 

Then I will start taking the cria out on their own.  I like to start just by walking the cria around the pasture they are in, so that I'm not adding more stress by putting them in a new environment.  I usually will walk 1-2 laps around the pasture, depending on their behavior.  Repeat this until the cria knows to follow you and will respond to gentle pressure on the lead rope.

Little May Flowers sporting a bandanna (training for a later costume).  2 months of age.

And finally you can take the cria on walks in new environments.  Start slowly, and never have the cria out more than 15 minutes at a time.  You can start teaching the cria to stand still as well.

Autumn Hill's Charity expertly standing to have her picture taken.  1 month of age.

Once the cria is walking well on lead and responding as an adult would, there's no reason you can't start with more advanced training.  I have obstacle trained crias as early as 2 weeks of age!  A well behaved, halter-trained cria is going to be safer if you take them off the farm for any reason- I've safely taken 2 week old crias to shows and to other farms (to rebreed their moms).  Crias put up much less of a fight when they are trained at a younger age, and typically become better behaved adults.

Overman Bluff & Fluff and her 3 month old cria, Autumn Hill's Rainier, at the 2009 Indiana State Fair.  Rainier showed in 2 classes with Bluff at the show, including costume where he wore a modified dog pack.  Rainier has since gone on to place well in huge novice performance classes for his new owner.

Oh, and last but not least, I took a video of Kara during her first halter session.

Summer is here!! (And a new cria!)

Well the semester is finally over, so I can get back to my life!  Luckily I get to spend the summer back home on the farm, so I promise there will be lots of llama and fiber-related posts!

First, results from the Hillsdale Hobo show, our 2012 show season opener!  T and Ralph both did very well for hardly being worked with all winter (my fault, I know!).  T was really freaked out in showmanship for some reason, and I forgot a vital part of the showmanship "pattern" (I forgot to smooth down T's wool after the judge pet him), so we didn't place.  The class was competitive though.  I guess we both need some practice before the state fair!  Halter was awesome though.  T won his class (of 4)- Yearling Non-Breeder.  He didn't get Grand or Reserve, but he didn't behave very well either.  He did compete in Get of Sire for his previous owners though, and they placed second in a very competitive class.  Both boys did great in performance (for them!), doing obstacles I never thought they'd do.  And Ralph finally decided the dreaded stuffed moose wouldn't kill him!  Took 4 years!  Oh, and Ralph got his haircut!

Can you say curls?  I can't wait to shear T!

T modeling his 1st place ribbon!

Such a handsome boy.  I'm really getting attached!

Ralph modeling his new haircut.  His head definitely needs work, and I haven't decided if I should try to trim his legs more or not.  Though after how Bluff's shear job turned out this weekend I probably shouldn't bother!

And next, a puppy update.  Abby has been spoiled the past couple of weeks, and we've gone on some cool hikes.  One up in Lansing, and another in Indianapolis.

The first hike was at an old brick factory!

Hiking down the trail. 

Abby modeling her new Easy Walk harness.  She reacts to it a lot better than the Halti or Gentle Leader head halters, and it works almost as well.

I have a feeling this is an old quarry.

Abby was getting rather pooped!

Turtle!  One jumped into the river just before I took the picture.

The trails follow the Grand River in Grand Ledge, MI.

The second walk was at Fort Benjamin Harrison in Indianapolis.  Kaya (Australian Shepherd) got to join Abby for this one!

My sister and I are planning on taking our two dogs (she has a rescued German Shepherd/Border Collie (?) mix) on a bunch of hikes this summer to get them both socialized.  Abby is definitely over-socialized and needs to calm down around people, while my sister's dog Cerro needs to realize people aren't scary.  Hopefully they can both find a happy medium!

I ended up going home over the weekend, and quickly became knee-deep in llama stuff!  Bluff finally had her cria on the 29th of April, a beautiful little girl my sister delivered and named Autumn Hill's Karakoram (aka Kara).  Apparently Kara's legs were twisted around her head, and my sister calmly figured out the situation and straightened her out.  She's doing great now, and gaining over 1.5 lbs daily thanks to Bluff's amazing milk supply!

Newborn Kara.  She started out at 30 lbs!

Kara at 1 week of age.  Up to 40 lbs already!

Since the cria was delivered and the weather was back in the high 80s, we decided Bluff needed a haircut.  So we carefully groomed her out and gave her a bath Saturday morning, and then started shearing her later that night.  I'm having some clipper problems, so we had to finish up on Sunday.  I knew Bluff would be nervous being in the chute (away from her cria), so we groomed her in the creep feeder with Kara at her side.  We then let Kara loose in the front yard while I washed Bluff, and then they both spent the afternoon in a pen under the barn overhang.  I even sheared 90% of Bluff in the creep feeder, just tied loosely to the fence!  I did eventually have to put her in the chute to finish her belly and legs, but by Sunday Kara nor Bluff were nervous about being separated.  That bodes well for showing them at the state fair in August!

Bluff getting her toenails trimmed before we started grooming.

Gotta love a calm momma llama...Kara was nursing on and off the whole time we were grooming Bluff!  And Bluff was never tied up.

The *before* shot.

The *after* shot- part 1.  She still looks a bit rough here (Saturday night).  She looks better now (I evened her up Sunday), but I still have to finish her back legs.

In fiber news, I finally finished my llama show vest!  It needs buttons and a band in the back to cinch it in a bit, but otherwise I'm very happy with how it turned out.

Hopefully it won't look as frumpy in person!

Close-up of the cable pattern and button band on the front of the vest.  I love the tweedy look of this yarn.

So that's about it for now.  Abby and I are back in Michigan for one last week, then home until late August!  I have lots planned for Kara, T, and Ralph!  And of course tons of state fair projects to work on.  Should be a great summer!