It has been a busy week here at Big Rock Alpaca Farm.  Last Friday Thunder Storm ROX was born and today, Peekaboo ROX was born.  And it’s a GIRL!!!!  This birth wasn’t nearly as dramatic as Thunder’s was.  Most of the birth was missed except for the final drop to the ground.  And everyone is doing good.  By evening when I got to weigh her she was 17.5lbs, Thunder weighs 20lbs now.  The pasture is going to be very fun to watch this fall.

Peekaboo next to Snowfox, shortly after birth

Peekaboo trying to figure out where the milk is

Peekaboo standing next to Snowfox

The newest members getting to know one another

Thunder doesn't want to be out done

September 3, 2010 Thunder Storm ROX was born at 12:45 to Rose.  There were some small complications and thankful Dr. Anne Parker from Compassion Animal Hospital was nearby and able to assist in the birth.  Thunder’s shoulders were catching on Rose’s pelvis and he was having trouble coming out.  He weighed 16 pounds, which is a nice sized cria, especially for Rose as she’s smaller female.

The interesting things was Snowfox was the one we were watching for giving birth.  She was bred two weeks earlier than Rose so we should have another cria shortly.

Here are some pictures from Thunder’s first day:

Picture of Jake with Thunder Storm and Rose

Josh Swinging Thunder to get fluid out of lungs

Thunder Starting to get up

Thunder trying to figure out where the milk is

Picture of dark suri alpaca

Belle meeting the newest member of the herd

Rose had her cria on Monday, 9/21/09.? A very pretty multi boy.? He has been putting on weight nicely.

Rose's 2009 multi cria

Rose's 2009 multi cria

We finally had our first cria for the 2009 calendar year, we didn’t have any spring crias.? Born August 20th while we were on vacation everyone is doing fine.? She was 16.5 lbs on the day of her birth, dropped a pound the first day and gained it back by the second.? We were hoping for some color and got white, maybe light fawn if she darkens up some like Gaston did.? But ‘IT WAS A GIRL!’, take that any day over color.

Snowfox with new baby

Snowfox with new baby

I’ve been meaning to post this introduction since soon after MAPACA as that’s when we purchased him.? Currently we’re only breeding suris but there are some huacayas that you just love to look at, and Silver Ray is one of them.? He actually took fouth in a class of ten at MAPACA so others think he’s a nice boy too.? His personality seems to lend itself more to the obstacles than Gaston’s does, so we’re planning to have the boys work with him and they can do the obstacles with him next show season.

Hillside's Silver Ray

Hillside's Silver Ray

His fiber is so soft and fluffy that Kelly is really looking forward to getting to spin with it.? And of course his grey color is a great benefit.? Who knows, if he does good at the shows next year maybe we’ll have to get some huacaya females to use for breeding.

Cimarron and Rose

Cimarron and Rose

We’ve finally made a decision on the name for the cria.? The suggestion came from J.R. of East Berlin for ‘Cimarron’.? The full registered name that we will be using will most likely be ‘Rose’s Cimarron ROX’.? Some other favorites were ‘Sir Tobias’ and ‘Sabre’.

We would like to thank everyone that participated with their suggestions for the cria name, as well as everyone that came to visit during our open house, some people braved some really lousy weather.

Here is a list of all of the suggestions:

• Cimarron
• Sabre
• Sir Tobias
• Turbo
• Chinoby
• Zephyr
• Chocolate Tasker
• Eary
• Thistle Son of Rose
• Rupert (twice)
• Ben
• Steve
• Jordan
• Gismo
• Lightning
• Thunder
• Burlap
• Chocolate Chip
• Moca
• Brownie (three times)
• Tootsie Roll (twice)
• Chris
• Peanut Butter Cup
• Hershey
• Chocolate Hershey
• Ralphael
• Dr. Mud (twice)
• Barack
• Joe Pye
• Goldenrod
• Cinnamon (twice)
• Buttercup
• Cromwell
• Sallie
• Rufus
• Dufus
• Lucky
• Howey
• Geppetto

? We sure are glad Colonial Day wasn’t today.? Tropical storm Hanna has been dumping rain on the farm for most of the day, which would make for nasty weather had we been setup at Colonial Day.

? We did put Snowfox & Rose with their crias into a new pasture last evening before the rains came.? We want to give the pasture close to the barn an opportunity to regrow a little before winter sets in.

Gaston Leaping

Gaston is enjoying having another cria around to play with, but the new cria isn’t too sure yet.

Roses Cria

He is getting a little more confident, but Gaston still out weighs him by 30 pounds.

Rose finally had her cria.? A nice little boy.? He was actually larger than Gaston at birth.? He looks to be about a medium brown.?

Rose & Cria

Now we need to come up with another cria name.

We’ve finally come up with a name for our latest edition.? We’re calling him Gaston, as in the vain character in ‘Beauty and the Beast’, and we think he has plenty of reasons to be vain.? At only two months of age he already weights almost 50lbs and quite enjoys torment his mother, Snowfox and Rose who is due at the end of August.??We actually got several good suggestions on names, several from John Petersam of Criative Acres Alpacas,?which we may well use in the future but none of them quite fit Gaston.

Gaston Headshot

Sir Gaston ROX

Here’s a more recent head shot.

And a full body profile shot:

Gaston profile

? We have still not been able to come up with a good name for the cria.? Take a look at the pictures and if you have a suggestion leave a comment.? We sure could use some good ideas.? No promises that we’ll use it though.? After we select a name we’ll proceed with getting him registered with ARI.