Yadra Courage 22/12/2005 - 14/1/2006

Hello, my name is Yadra Courage. I have a bit of a story to tell you..... and this is why they have called me Courage...... or "Curry" for short.

If you have read the previous entry to Marg's blog, you would have read that I was born on 22 December, and everyone was really happy, because it has been a bad year for cria on Nebodama. I was born on a really hot day....it was 35 degrees in the house, so it was probably much hotter in the paddock. I was a bit weak, but did manage to drink from mum (Natalie) and did walk around the paddock a bit. Friday was really hot too, and even though I spent alot of time in the shade, it was really bad. I kept putting my head up when Marg looked out for me, but it was much too hot for me to galivant around the paddock. Marg was a bit worried, and checked that mum had enough milk for me.....which she did.

Saturday was another horrible day......and I was feeling much more tired, and didn't want to do anything apart from rest in the shade.... On Christmas Morning (Sunday) I couldn't even move. Horrible ants started crawling on me, and I couldn't even get up to chase them away. Marg started force feeding me everything from plain old water, a milk preparation, and then even orange flavoured gastrolyte....... I really don't know how my heart kept beating. Sometimes I think I stopped breathing, but then I would just start again.

You can see from the photos that I was really sick. I had trouble breathing, and my heart was racing, but I didn't have a fever...... I was just hot and exhausted.....and couldn't move. I spent most of the next couple of days lying down in the shade, sometimes with a fan on me, sometimes with a cool washer on me, being fed out of a bottle. I didn't even have to suck.......I just had to swallow.

I was starting to feel a bit better by late on 26th, and spent a bit of time with mum in the paddock. She still knew me, but I couldn't hold my head up to feed from her. She hated it when Marg and Dave tried to express milk from her. She'd sit down, and then they had to lay her on her side, and she'd kick and spit.

It's the 28th today and I'm in the shed with mum. She stands still for me to feed from her, but I'm still having a bit of trouble getting it right. My neck is much stronger, I feel much better. Marg has been mean and replaced the teat on the bottle, so I really have to work hard to get milk from that. I can cush for ages now with my head held up, and I'm finding it easier to stand up, and cush down. When I was in the paddock late yesterday I even skipped around a few steps....... it felt good.
Marg and Dave keep checking on me. The dogs were good to me when I was really sick, and watched over me, and tried to be gentle..... but they aren't allowed in the shed when Mum is there, because she just doesn't like them.

To be continued..........

A Christmas Baby

22 December 2005. A baby boy is born...... Isn't he just gorgeous! Mother Natalie, father Monty. He'll be Yuli, Yadra or Yannock or some name that we make up. I'm beginning to wonder if Natalie ever has girl babies..... She certainly does have Christmas babies though...... Chin Wag on 15th Dec 03, Zhenka on 26th December 04, and now this little boy. My theory is still holding true ........ the suri babies stay longer in utero and are up and racing around the paddock quicker than the full huacaya babies. They also seem to be bigger at birth (weigh more) . Well, that is my theory. All the other girls and the boys in the paddock have checked him out.

Dec 05

Dec 05,

So, what have I been doing? It's ages since I updated this blog, so here we go. This is a sample of the work I've completed in the past 3-4 weeks. I started the typically Peruvian crafts while on a textile and cultural tour of Peru with Puchka Tours. It was wonderful. I'm going to use the embrodered piece on some clothing...but have to work out what. The cap is a bit small for an adult, and doesn't have ear flaps..... plenty of room for improvement there as far as tension goes. Backstrap weaving is just wonderful. I love it. Can't wait to start something much wider. The felt hat was made because the price being paid for alpaca fleece here in Australia is really bad, and so I've decided to use up as much as I can, rather than be paid peanuts for top quality fleece. It does felt easily and quickly. The difference between the felt in this hat and the sample shown in an earlier entry (the white piece) is that I actually carded this fleece prior to laying it down; using much better quality fleece( I used the skirt rather than belly and leg hair which has heaps and heaps of guard hair.) than what I used in the white felt, and ....that's about it. Even though I used crappy fleece in the white sample, it still felted quickly, and the texture is "textured"! I guess if I want to make better quality items, I have to do it better....... I was happy with the hat. I also made a beret and that turned out well too. I used silk, mohair, and wool as decoration/relief on the hat.

Shed&alpacas

Shed&alpacas,

Lord is our stud male. He is nearly 6 years old, and still has a micron count of 22.6 He is a lovely boy.
Kimberley is Ms Personality, and loves to take baths in the hot weather. She's the one likely to escape under any fence, and has explored neighbours gardens. She'd be the one who would sneak a cigarette if nobody was looking. Her baby is Yelodin and he was born at the beginning of July this year. He is just gorgeous and loves to rub noses with me (that might be what makes him gorgeous......?????) Looking a bit ratty at the moment because he was shorn 3 weeks ago.

At the beginning of July both Kimberley and Miss Tunisia were due to have their crias. Yelodin was born uneventfully but Missy had big problems. She went into labour on the Sunday, and I called the vet out because it just didn't seem right to me. He examined her (although he is not an expert on alpaca birthing) and thought that because she was still feeding and drinking and didn't look uncomfortable that everything was fine. The short version of the long story is that she had to have a caesarian a few days later. The cria was in a really bad breach position with legs akimbo, and there was no way that it could have been born. It had died, (a little white boy) and Missy was in a real bad way. We thought that we might lose her, but she fine. She's going to have a baby one day....... Normally if babies are in the breach position the back legs present, but in Missy's case the baby's hind quarters were locked.
So, what with slipped pregnancies, absorptions, and still births.....this has been a really bad year. I had many of the girls blood tested for everything from mineral deficiencies to anaemia...but all in all, they're a healthy mob. Keep your fingers crossed for me.

scenery

scenery,

I went to Peru......and the drought (sort of) broke. These are a couple of shots from either the house or driveway of the surrounding country. City folks....eat your heart out!

(Not quite "scenes from an Italian Restaurant", but not too bad all the same!)