Finally!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

This morning was going to be the day, Sue and I had both decided.
Bobby was mooching around on her own last night and was still acting in that slightly bewildered way this morning. Today was to be the day, 373 days into her pregnancy and having been watched for what seems like months it was time for Bobby to come up with the goods. We needed another cria and we needed a female. And by crikey she went and did it.
Bobby, when she eventually gets round to it, is a rapid birther.
She has produced very well for us over the years but we haven't actually seen the birth of many of them. She is a secretive birther. She is one of the cornerstones of the herd and is mother to Patou Poppy (ATA Cambridge Centurion), Patou Penny (Canchones Witness of Inca), Patou Ruby May (Lillyfield Jack of Spades of Inca), Patou Sabrina (Jack of Spades) and last year Patou Tarquin (Jack again). This year was her first Qjori baby and we were very much looking forward to the birth.

So at 8.20am this morning I checked Bobby and she was lying in the dustbowl. I took the dogs into the other field to check on the other group of females and returned to the field Bobby was in at 8.30am. Now, this has to be some sort of record here in Patouland, because not only had Bobby given birth in those ten minutes that I was away but the cria was up on it's feet and under looking for milk!


Not only that but it was an absolutely beautiful dark brown (very dark brown, maybe black) female! She weighed in at a very respectable 10.45kg and is very lively.
Here she is with Bobby at 3 hours old. I am off to work shortly so I have left a list of suggestions for a name on the board. Sadly we are not on G's this year as her name would simply be GORGEOUS!

So to bring you up to date on other news, due to computer malfunctions and swaps (Angus now has my laptop and I have his, which has Windows 8 and is filled with witchcraft) I haven't been able to blog. Just before the Bath and West we had another cria, a big (10.75kg) healthy handsome black Qjori boy out of  Collabear Joy. He has been named Vincenzo and is doing very well.

And just to prove that we are still breeding brown alpacas and haven't switched over to the very dark side here is a picture of Will.i.am (left) and Umberto lounging in the sunshine this morning. In the background is Wellington (black) and Wilbur (back left) or the Silver Surfer as I call him.

 

All of a sudden, the sun is shining and all is well with the world!