Search This Blog

Sunday, April 25, 2010

Alpacas!!

Sunday, April 25, 2010
Temecula, California

I saw a special on tv one Saturday morning about an alpaca farm in Temecula, California. I fell in love with them cause I thought they were so adorable! I quickly google mapped Temecula and discovered that it's only about an hour north of San Diego! So at 9:00 this morning we packed up the family and headed off the the Alpaca Hacienda, just in time for the spit-off!*

When we first arrived, the alpacas were very shy and timid, but once they found out that we could feed them treats, they quickly warmed up to us.

Aren't they adorable?? Sorry for the long post but I couldn't decide which pictures to leave out of this one!!
Add Image
Add Video
Remove Formatting from selection
This is Beth Osbourne, one of the owners of the hacienda. She's really nice and says that they have about 75 alpacas on their ranch!
We tried to get Randy to kiss one, we also wanted to see if he was gonna get spit on...he chickened out last minute. Come find out, Beth said that this was her "blue ribbon spitter!" He spits on everybody!! hahahahaaa! oops! He lucked out on that one!
This is Maggie, one of the friendly dogs on the ranch

*spit off:
CONFIRMING PREGNANCY IN ALPACAS



There are a number of ways to confirm a pregnancy: 1. The best external sign of pregnancy is the female rejecting the male. This is usually demonstrated as the female “spits off” the male. 2. Progesterone assays are, at best, only an indication of ovulation and pregnancy. 3. By ultrasound. It is very important to have a program of periodic testing to determine that the female is retaining her pregnancy. You can use anyone of the tests above. I would check 2 times in the first 60 days and every 60 days thereafter.


“SPIT OFF”

When a female is presented to a male 7 days after breeding and she “spits off” you can be fairly certain that she has ovulated and is probably pregnant, but you need to keep testing her, at 14 and 28 days, until an ultrasound can be performed. When a previously serviced female is presented to a male 14 days after the initial mating and she rejects the male it is likely that she is pregnant. “Body language” (ears back, kicking, avoidance of male and in some cases actually spitting), indicates what is known as “spit off”, but to be safe a pregnancy should be confirmed by ultrasound 30 days after conception and at regular 60 day intervals throughout the pregnancy.

Oh yah, one more thing, Sandy and Jacob actually did get spit on, and it was nasty! They stank for the rest of the day. Hilarious!


10 comments:

Betty Townsend said...

They have the most adorable faces. Your pictures are fantastic. Looks like your niece and nephew were having a grand time!! Years ago during my 1st marriage and we lived in Oceanside, a group of us use to go out to the Temecula area to ride dirt bikes. There was a park/camping grounds that had all kinds of neat trails to go on. My daughter was a baby then so that was over 40 years ago! :))

jalna said...

Your portrait shots are sooooo hilarious!!! They each have a different look. Sooo funny!!

Yosh808 said...

Ummmmm...Wow!! Aahhaha...the brown one is the cutest with his little wig like hair. Hahah!

Les said...

Betty - You used to dirtbike??!!! Somehow I can't picture it :)

Jalna - I wish you were here, you would've had a great time. They're soooo cute. Fisheye pics didn't turn out as good as I had liked, I couldn't get close enough. As soon as I started sneaking up on them they'd get scared and walk away :(

Yosh - soooooo cute yah!!

Betty Townsend said...

I was a passenger on the back of my ex's bike. hahahaha!! And that was only with a lot of "giving me a bad time". It was something to do together. :)

mmiissee said...

Gosh...they look so adorable =) I wish I could have one!
Do they bite?

Erick said...

So cute! They look like little camels without the hump(s). I love expressions and the do, who does their hair? Great post!

Les said...

mmiissee - no, they don't bite but their spit is probably worse than it's bite! It's sooooo stink! They are actually very friendly once they get used to you.

Erick -- funny you should say that cause according to Beth, they are in the same family as camels. Cute yah!!??

Mokihana said...

Jalna directed me to his post. I absolutely LOVE your photos! Alpacas are so cute, and you took the best photos! Mahalo for sharing!

Les said...

I love them too! They're soo cute! I would love to take pics of all your animals...looks like a hoot! Your stories crack me up :)