Friday, April 23, 2010

Moving, Part 2!


We're back in central Montana! Half of the alpacas have arrived. We chose to ship the pregnant females first, to make sure they had plenty of time to recover from the trip and get adjusted to the new location before crias are due. The first cria is due at the end of May.

The second load of alpacas is due any day now. Shipper Dick Hegeman does an outstanding job of moving alpacas. Since he has his own alpaca ranch, he knows to stop regularly to allow the animals to stand up (alpacas sit down, or kush, while traveling), and he checks to make sure everyone is eating and drinking well. The second trailer load contains all the stud males...hopefully they will not fight too much among themselves while on the road.

The weather in Montana is much improved over our experience of last year. Last year there was still plenty of snow on the ground, and weather systems came through every few days. This year the only snow left is in the deep coulees, and the pasture grass is green already. The sun has been shining and life is good!

Nothing makes me happier than watching alpacas enjoying their new pastures!