Llamas and Spring and Spring Cria Worries

Spring is trying to join us here in the Pacific Northwest. Our annual hummingbird migration has started and even though its early we have around a dozen visiting so far, the pears trees are trying despite the radical weather to bloom, the cherry and apple trees are trying, and my thoughts are turning towards the baby cria we are expecting this year.

The first of our girls due this year is our sweet and beloved Luvy. She has gotten big with still a month left to go and I always worry, no matter who the llama is about all the things that can go bump in the night. Will we be home when she goes into labor, will the baby deliver normally, will it be healthy, will it latch on start nursing? These are tough animals with millenia of giving birth under their belts without our help, but still all the thoughts go racing through your head. Her first baby, Katee went flawlessly. In fact so fast that between the time I got the call to come home and the time I actually got home, she was out, and up and blowing and going.

Then we have the newest member of our herd Chilean Countess [TESS] who came to us last summer with baby on side and bred for a summer baby. We don't know much about her birthing ease, but were told by her prior owner that there were no problems.

And then there is the first female we ever owned, Cayan. This will be Cayan's fourth baby and they have all been amazing and wonderfully cherished cria. She has never had any problems with delivery and we don't expect in reality that there will be a problem now, but reality and the all the kinds of things that go through your head are very, very different creatures.

We bred two other girls and all indications that they did not take, which in all honesty is probably a good thing. 5 babies in one year is just too many. And while I would have LOVED to have seen the babies these two girls would have produced out of the boys we chose, it will be easier to wait for next year and consider trying again.

And so as I watch the weather go from sun to rain, to hail, to sun and back again I stare wistfully at our three girls, wishing somehow the clock would tick faster and they would all be done.