AT LAST !

Hurray ! At last Kirsty has decided to have her cria !! After 366 days gestation ! Of course , she chose a wet day when we had gone out . We ( DH & I , no kids ) went to the Smallholders show at Builth Wells for a bit of time out and a good old nose about . Bumped into our vet and several other people who we knew and had a good munch on delicious things like ice-creams and lamb burgers - not in that order!
Anyway , we asked our neighbour , Brian , if he would be on alpaca watch for us and he kindly agreed . In fact , he went further than the one visit I asked of him and visited Kirsty and the others every hour . 12.30 -nothing , 1.30 - nothing , 2.25 little white bundle ! Brian rang us at the show and we rushed back to find a beautiful cria , who looked alert and had already been standing and wobbling around . Kirsty waited for our return to deliver the placenta , so my guess was that the baby was approx 1 hour old when we got back . Oh , I forgot to say - she is white and doing really well , I dried her off with a hair dryer , 'cos it is still a bit chilly and put a little red cria coat on her , she has hardly sat down since we moved her into the stables 3 hours ago , and finally , she is feeding really well. Kirsty has screamed and made a fuss , which is usual but also a good sign , but she has let me check the cria over and milk her a little to get the smell of milk for the baby to follow.
I am really thrilled and relieved , my mind was beginning to work over time on the horrors of late births , and our record of breeding females remains at 100% ! Doesn't get much better than how we feel tonight .