Potential issue with Ivermectin

We aren't certain, what we first thought was an infection in Ebony, could be a "hypersensitivity" to Ivermectin. At less than a week old, we gave her Ivermectin along with the rest of the herd, just has we have done with other crias. She crashed a few days later. Since she was exhibiting neurological symptoms, (non responsiveness, trembling) the vet treated her as though she had an infection in the brain. Her prescription was a regimen of IV fluids, antibiotics and B vitamins. "Ebony" revived and thrived after that.

Until this Sunday, three days after her next shot of Ivermectin. Similar neurologic- like symptoms--appearing listless and non-responsive, kushing whenever she could and walking stiffly. I checked my records and figured out the timing of her symptoms was very similar to her first dose of Ivermectin-about three days. We began the same regimen, in case it was an infection, but already by today she is doing MUCH better. The vet said that if she responds quickly to discontinue antibiotics because it most likely is a hypersensitivity.

"Hypersensitivity to Ivermectin" is well documented in certain breeds of dogs--mainly collies. It produces neurological symptoms and can be fatal but more often is not. The vet and a physician confirmed that it was a possibility it was a sensitivity even though she had not seen it before.

If it were an outright allergy--the reaction would have been immediate.

To read more about this in dogs--check out this reference. I couldn't find anything about it in alpacas. Just reminds us of how little we know about these animals and how important it is to share knowledge and support research.

Grandchildren on the farm

We now have two grandchildren on the farm and both girls: "Ebony and Ivory" though Ivory's co-owner, Laila from Graceland Farm, would like to call her Domonique since she is out of Domingo and Mystique. It would be fitting except that we already have Ebony who is white and now need a black Ivory, which we just got. Oh well. We'll work it out.

Ivory's birth was a little bit stressful for poor Laila. Mystique wasn't progressing in her labor. I was on my way to Ellsworth to pick up my daughter so I was no help. The feet were poking out but, couldn't see the nose right off. Bravely, Laila gloved and lubed up to find the nose and then Mike Reardon, from Full Moon Alpacas, was nice enough to heed the call and go in to stretch things just a bit and the baby popped right out just the way they say they should. Thank you too, to Cindy Mingle as always to provide counsel via phone and Morelia Candida, who came armed with pitocin in case the placenta didn't arrive on time. It did and all is well.

"Ivory" "Domonique" is out of Mystique who is out of Puella. Ebony is out of Skye who is also out of Puella. She produces fine fleeced alpacas of good bone. Let's see if that passes on to the next generation as well. So far, so good.

Gestation was 369 days! Who would believe it.

Early morning scene, Maine's Bellemont Farm Alpacas.

If you double-click on the image and look closely, you can just see a cria catching the early morning light and the NOISY guinea hen sitting on the fence. This is some of the best of having alpacas--the moments when things just feel right.

The guinea was quite quiet until this Spring and now I know what people mean about them being potentially annoying. He makes his terrible noise for hours almost every morning starting around 5:30.

This picture gives you a good view of our "barn." Our real barn burned in a fire four summers ago (August 4th to be exact). We were not able to rebuild both the house and the barn so we had foundation dug for our barn of the future and the alpacas have a good cool place to get out of the weather and bugs. It works for now but we both fantasize about having a traditional New England barn again some day, though not quite so big as the last time (about 40' x 70', 2 1/2 stories).

We have had a strange spring/summer with girls open we were sure were bred, and girls going loooong gestation periods. Dolores had her baby after 359 days and Mystique was at 335 days July 6 so she is up to 346 days so far--not extremely long but since she is a maiden, we would like to be here but it is close to impossible to be here all day every day.

Ebony is doing well after a bit of a rough start. It seems her immune system wasn't as strong as it should be after initial nursing even though she appeared to nurse well after birth and was gaining for the first week. Now she is growing like a weed. We named her Ebony at the request of my daughter's friend from college. Apparently, they were Ebony and Ivory on campus, so despite the fact that Ebony the cria is actually very white, she had the name "Bellemont's Ebony." She is Skye's first cria!

We have another first as well, Thunder's first cria is a rose gray male out of White Birch Alpacas Mamasan. He is stunning--all one color. No spots. Can't wait to get a picture of him.

I found the neatest website that I would like to share with everyone. Someone has set up a calculator to predict when your female will be most receptive according to the delivery date of her last cria.

http://personal.smartt.com/%7Ebrianp/breeding.html

It worked perfectly for Andromeda who was open all winter, spit off one day this Spring and when I brought the male in for her most receptive day, she was down before he even got to her!

Guinea hen finds new friend

I last wrote about our guinea hens. It has been a tough winter and of the three, only one has survived. What is remarkable is that the surviving guinea hen decided to adopt our appaloosa pony as his friend. He spends all him time either in his stall or ON HIS BACK! I never would have imagined it. Double-click on the photo to see "Thumper" and his unnamed friend.

Pen Sale

We are signed up for our first pen sale at Royal River Alpaca Farm. They have a beautiful setting in North Yarmouth, not far from Portland, off Route 1 North.

We decided to put Mystique in the sale. She is a nice dark color and bred to Dalia's Domingo who produced champion El Camino Real . We co-own both Mystique and Domingo with Laila of Graceland Farm alpacas.

This year we are sending Prince William to the North American Alpaca show with Long Plains Alpacas. His sire is Sugar Ray, and Evander son who has been producing some beautiful crias. Life is busy here and Marcia, who lists our animals for Long Plains, was nice enough to offer to take him. We may try to get there but am not sure we can get away at that time. We need to start halter training the little Prince. He has such incredibly long bundles of crimpy, soft dark brown fleece. I can't wait to shear him!

Winter finds the alpacas hiding out when it snows and howls but are otherwise content to come out and eat hay and cush in the mountains of snow we have had here. At least it keeps the paddocks looking clean as it is hard to clean up with all the snow and ice. So as long as we get a fresh coating of snow every few days, things look good. Can't imagine what Spring will bring!

If you want to see the alpacas, or learn more about Maine's Bellemont Farm Alpacas, click here.

Guinea Hens

Many people who own livestock of one kind, manage to collect other species. Last summer, after thinking about chickens for a long time, we acquired three guinea hens.

We had no prior experience with birds of any kind.

They came home and my husband, Chuck, created a small shelter for them in the barn to try to contain them. We had heard if they get fed in one area for awhile that they will return to it and not fly or wander away. They promptly left that shelter and wandered around the barn and barnyard. Several times, my husband found them straying so he herded them back toward the barn.

Now, we don't worry about them anymore and they stick pretty close. Life with them is pretty uneventful. The noise everyone had said could be a problem, isn't a problem for us. They do squawk from time-to-time but it isn't bothersome and our neighbors aren't close enough to complain. Maybe it's because we have just three.

The one annoying thing they do is roost on the edge of the water trough and poop into the trough! They do the same with the alpaca feeding trough.

Their strangest behavior is in a snow storm. The first true wintry storm we had with howling winds, swirling now and bitter cold, they flew all the way up to the top of Chuck's shop and perched on the ridgepole. They stayed that way, all hunkered down, throughout the storm. They had never perched there before!

We didn't notice where they were during the next storm, but after it was all over, we noticed one on the very edge of the barn roof. We could barely tell it was one of the guineas--it just looked liked a blob of feathers and we assumed it was a dead bird.

When Chuck went to pick it up to put it in the compost pile, it was literally frozen on. When he pried it off, it started to move and was actually alive. He set it down in the hay and a day later it was up and walking around again.

It's like they are cats with nine lives!

If you want to see the alpacas, or learn more about Maine's Bellemont Farm alpacas, click here.

New England Coastal Classic

This is our fifth year attending the New England Coastal Classic and our second year as exhibitors. Showing is not my first love but the time spent there and the visibility is helpful. I find the environment a good one for meeting people and making a few connections. Each time I am impressed with the beautiful animals. Each time, I have made connections that have been helpful, especially with pursuing breedings.

The show results were once again reinforcing that I am on the right track. Evander's Evie took sixth place out of 10 in an all-white class; the most competitive classes at the show. The judge said her confirmation was perfect but her fleece just not as fine or as dense as those placed above her. I knew her fleece was not that fine from her histogram but her placement and "staying in the ring" meant that her confirmation and fleece character still carried some weight. Density is difficult to measure by hand--there are so many animals that are of medium density. But I tell you, I have felt DENSITY twice, once on Koko's Kokopelli, from Journey's End Alpacas, and again on Cherry Bomb from Foss Mountain Farm. When you touch those fleeces, they barely give, it is as though they are truly packed on the animal.

It is what we are striving for in all our animals, that and fineness and correct conformation, crimp style and on and on. It is a never ending quest.

Thunder took first in a very small class of Grey 2 and older males. I knew it would be his last time "out" so to speak and I wanted to get another opinion on him now that he had grown up. There were only three in the class which was dissapointing since I always want a truer measure of comparison but here are judge Amanda Van der Bosch's comments:

"Nicely balanced, Finest fleece in group. Good Handle. Balanced, complete package. Nice young male."

Amanda is such a treat to show in front of. She is gracious and gives extensive clear explanations.

In the championship class, she pulled up a Cas Cad Nac male that I was able to get a peak at his fleece--almost the crimp style of white and I assume a great deal of fineness as well. I understood why he was placed above Thunder.

On the way home, my 16-yr-old son called to give us a farm update: "New baby, about an hour old, placenta passed and a girl!" This is the last one for this year and we are delighted with her. Her fleece is a bright almost coppery color--surprising out of two white parents, Andromeda and the above mentioned Koko. I hope that she lives up to his amazing fineness and density. Time will tell.

A good end to a busy three days and our third alpaca-packed weekend in a row.

Next weekend-- a trip to Hartford to visit our daughter at Parent's Weekend.

Want to read past posts or see the animals? Click here: Maine's Bellemont Farm Alpacas.