Last cria for 2010

Areia is the last cria for us this year. She is the daughter of our dame, Tula and her sire is Smokey from Ashton Stone Farms. Check out their blog at http://ashtonstone.blogspot.com . She was born on Sunday at around 4 pm. Last year Tula had a more difficult birth. With Areia, she delivered in 15 minutes. I was there to see the whole event. The last few days Tula had been sitting in the shelter and isolating herself a bit. When she began delivery she was resting in the shelter while the rest of the herd was grazing. She walked to the bean pile and kept turning her head to see what was happening at her behind. I figured it might take a while but I was mistaken. She walked around, got down on the ground, walked back to the shelter, sat down, got up and delivered! She was very quiet until the cria arrived and then she just kept talking to her new baby. I moved them up to the barn and within 45 minutes Areia was speaking to her mother. Birth is a miraculous event. This is my 7th cria to be born on our farm. With each birth I am excited and anxious as I was when our first cria arrived, Quito, 1 1/2 years ago.
I try to stay out of the birthing process and let the mom do her job. Alpacas are very sufficient at taking care of their own delivery and care of their newborn crias. I only intervene if necessary and so far that has not happened. Thankfully. NowI will have to patiently wait until late next spring for the arrival of a new cria.