What's New in our Zoo?

It has been an eventful spring and summer on SOULfox Farm! We survived the winter and all the cleanup that came from being a newbie alpaca farmer...mainly beans, beans and more beans! I am still talking poop, which just never seems to end around here. Also had to do some massive cleanup of all the hay and straw that my girls loved to eat and bed down in, it was all over the front of the main paddock. It provided me the opportunity to get my steps in and of course the never ending shoveling and wheelbarrowing was a real treat. My intentions with all this material was to start a garden this year but with all the events that were to come, I'm glad I didn't pursue a garden on top of everything else. So for now we will refer to this simply as a soil building exercise and keep at it until I get a handle on everything which, let's be honest, could be years in the making. It's all good, I am learning that with farming there will always be something to do and the work I put in now will yield results when I'm ready.

After our cleaning and with the nice weather we had in the early spring we got down to the business of shearing everyone. Finally the mobile panels I thought were a somewhat silly purchase came in handy as we were able to set up a nice pen for the girls right beside the driveway where our whole operation was situated. My mentor came all the way from Saskatchewan for our first shearing experience and it truly made the event run smoothly. Her husband was on hand to help as well, providing a lot of little fixes to things like my always broken wheelbarrow! Of course his handling of the alpacas on and off the table was amazing and my son soon picked up his alpaca whispering directly from him. I'm sure if Don was reading this he would point the finger at Lynn as the true alpaca whisperer, and he is right, but his ability to calm and woo the alpacas in the pen meant we had a constant stream at the table and no issues. My daughter was on hand and learning about sorting and classing fibre with Lynn. I was doing injections and generally running around wherever I was needed at the time. The alpacas were naked and happy after shearing and we bagged some lovely fibre.

After shearing comes birthing season and we were anxiously awaiting our first cria (baby alpaca for the uninitiated) of four that we expected this season. Our Gemma, who had given us Newton the season before, was the first to deliver...and did she deliver! She gave birth to a healthy big strapping boy we affectionately named Henry but should have called Rocket as this boy took about 15 minutes after being born to stand up and start running. He hasn't stopped running or growing since and he is a beautiful rose grey color, the product of his mom Gemma being a rose grey and his dad Prophet an almost black alpaca. Second to be born on the farm to mama Magdalena was little Lola. Little Lola is a sweet almost red girl with a quiet and somewhat standoffish disposition. At least she didn't appreciate being poked around by Henry for the first few weeks of her life. She is a little beauty with a curious disposition and the sweetest eyes. We then welcomed Honey to the farm from mama Nila. Honey's birth was nothing like Henry's (I was at work during Lola's birth) as she took her sweet time coming out and was far slower to get up and move and nurse than he was. She is a white with a very light overcoat of light fawn on her head and back. She was our smallest cria and will be one of the ones that has a lot of potential with her fibre. Although she took some time to start her life and figure out nursing she is now the little spitfire of the farm. There are times when we are in the house and we glance out to see Honey leading the cria pack at a solid run from the back of the pasture to the front. We stop what we are doing and head out to watch the fun. They are only young once and there is nothing like seeing the open joy and abandon on their little faces as they pronk and race each other while their mamas look on. We will be welcoming our last cria of the season in the next week when mama Gecina decides to let that little one out to join the fun. So far I receive nothing more from her than her haughty stares and turned up lip every morning when I ask if today is the day. Part of cria season is learning to be patient and let the girls do their thing in their own time rather than on my schedule.

We have now moved into breeding season which is probably, for me at least, the most demanding work. Handling a fully intact and horny stud takes some serious knowledge and smarts lol or at the very least, a sense of knowing and being able to get the hell out of the way. Having said that I learned the hard way what every livestock manager probably knows intuitively and that is never turn your back on a male during breeding season. Lesson learned the hard way, or the normal way for me, I did and in turn was charged. I had a mild concussion and a very nasty kidney infection to show for my slip but I'm now recovered and Kung Fu and I remain on very good terms with each other. I won't say much about breeding here as I have learned that some people, mostly not farmers, get a bit uncomfortable when I describe the process and show them detailed pictures. Kung Fu has made the rounds to all our females, with the exception of Gecina, and we will be turning our attention now to checking that the girls are indeed pregnant and re-breeding those that didn't take the first time.

In closing reflection of all that has gone down on the farm this far I am still in awe of these lovely animals. There is so much that I have learned from them and so much yet to learn. I love sitting out and watching the little communities we have here. Feeling their energy and seeing them interact with each other gives me a great sense of peace and happiness and that all is right with my little world. In the words of the herd....huuuummmm.

Our sweet mama Gemma