Better Late than Never ... Zucco, Zonko & Zymerah

 

 

I thought that I had better update the Blog, as I have been otherwise occupied to say the least.

 

My parents have been staying with me over the summer months and to say I've been slacking would be an under statement !!

 

 

Zucco, Zonko !! & Zambo

 

All my babies are now here, these are the boys.  We ended up with three bouncing boys and one beautiful girl. I think that the pet names are going to stay. 

 

Little Marquette's baby was named as he is always sleeping !!  and his name just stuck hence 'Zonko'.  Zullulah's baby is a real sweetie, I think she might be Rose Grey but its really hard to say at the moment.  I think her name will be Zymerah.

Sad ....

 

 

This is a very sad blog, unfortunately little Zaroo died yesterday after a battle to save him...we tried everything to help him but in the end things weren't meant to be.

He was only three weeks and one day old a very brief life so cruelly taken.Unbeknown to myself as I thought he was doing fine.  He became lethargic three days ago and I wasn't happy with him, he was treated for a range of potential issues from slight constipation to an infection, his temperature was low the first day he was off colour and it continued to drop the next day, he was given Baycox, Baytril and a little enema to see if that did the trick, sadly he only deteriorated and yesterday although being turned out for a brief morning spell I decided to bring them back in as I was not happy with him.  He was bottle fed with milk and honey and the vet was consulted.  The vet was on route and poor little Zaroo fought one battle after another to hang on to his precious little life.... I spent what seemed ages hosing him  down under his belly to try and regulate his temperature...

The vet arrived and I just knew that it would have to be a miracle for this to be a happy ending.  He was given plasma & glucose and a little sedative to ease the stress on his heart.... I was advised by the vet that the outcome would be bleak ... we had just given him his glucose and sadly he died in my arms ... such a shock.  The sedative helped him pass peacefully I guess it was just too much to hope for a happy ending.

So yesterday was a very long and traumatic day.  It has been suggested that he died with Septicaemia, brought on by his inability to absorb enough Colostrum from his mother in the first few hours of life .... How could we know, there is very little that can be done once the infection gets a hold and its a silent killer.  This has come as such a shock, as he fed really well and appeared to be doing fine.  Last week he was running around the field with Zambo.  I thought all was well.

Holly is obviously looking for her baby and they say time is a great healer ....for all of us, such a shame.  His little life was short and precious, he is sadly missed.

We are trying to accept and come to terms with the events of yesterday .... just goes to show, you never know what life has instore.

Still Waiting !!

 

 

 As usual its been another busy week.  We are still waiting for new arrivals, Zambo & Zaroo are now real pals and have lots of fun playing together and when they have tired themselves out they like to sleep together ... it takes lots of energy to grow up beautiful !!

 

 

Marquette is hanging onto her baby along with the three other girls who are due ... any day now.  She looks fed up, I wish they would all hurry up .... maybe tomorrow will be the big day and no doubt they will all arrive together .... that will be manic !!  I do hope not !

 

Zanzibah Zyisha .... has now grown up.  I can't believe that she is nearly a year old.

 

Zaroo is now bigger than little Zambo ...and he loves to pester him, how the tables have turned ...as Zambo was a real pest when he was days old.

 

No rest for the wicked .... just a little job on the 'to do list'  I've been busy spreading 50 ton of crushed rock on to the yard area in the hope that it will be much drier and nicer under foot in the winter time.  I have another 20 ton of smaller rock to dress it off and part of the area will be finished.  Hopefully this will be all done before the haylage bales appear.... some time soon.

 

Nearly finished..... I now have two more piles, just waiting to be spread. This was a photo before they arrived. 

 

Oh, yes .... a few minor adjustments around the buildings, I decided to move some nice little Fir trees as they were growing under the electricity wires, then thought it would be a good idea to have a gap dug into the bank where I have now relocated my manure heap....the idea is to get the yard all tidied up and then when its time to do the muck spreading to load the muck spreader on the field side to try and keep the area tidy .. so this is the new cut through being dug in, with the big digger and the trees being dug out.

 

Finished ...the trees are now located up the field and the gap is complete, I have already moved the manure pile into its new home !

 

So hopefully we will get organised before the weather turns.  The pending job is the haylage .... and

waiting for the new arrivals !

 

 

Centrifuge First Plasma Run !!

 

Yesterday afternoon was the very first time the Centrifuge was being used to harvest some life saving plasma.  Gerry & Lucy from Coire Alpacas came prepared with two bags filled with blood donated from two of their resident stud boys.  Their vets had harvested the blood then it was transferred over to us for the big day. The aim was to harvest some plasma to have in case of any emergencies that might arrive, as their cria are due any time now.

 

 

 

The Centrifuge worked well, it is a time consuming process, however the end result is worth all the effort.  It took approximately four hours to decant the blood into the centrifuge, we did not know what ratio we would obtain from each spin, but we were very pleased with the amount of plasma harvested.  We did eleven spins of 120ml, each spin gave over 60ml which is more than one full syringe.

 

We ended up with 11 full 60ml syringes.  I was doing the drawing off from the blood bag and decanting into the centrifuge tubes and Gerry was busy drawing off the plasma into the syringes.  The plasma was placed into a freezer bag and taken back to Coire HQ !

 

It was around 7pm when Gerry finally left with his precious cargo !!

 

I think it was fair to say that we were both impressed with the Centrifuge process .... it takes time, but you can't rush these things and the opportunity to have your own plasma can be an invaluable one. 

 

 Unfortunately up here in northern Scotland this option is just not there, but with having the centrifuge facility here ... now it is !

 

Hopefully it will not be needed, but it is a great peace of mind to know that you have the option in emergency cases.

 

So the Centrifuge has done it's maiden voyage ..... I shall tweak a few minor adjustments but overall it was a great success.  I think we both quite enjoyed the whole process, I was very satisfied that we had managed to obtain our goal  .... A good job, well done.

 

Sleeping Beauty !

 

 

What a difference a day makes ... little Zaroo is now dried out fully and yesterday he spent the day out enjoying the sun.  Today however is is pouring with rain and all the alpacas are inside, one good thing is the pond is filling up with all this rain.

 

Zaroo out yesterday, he is a beautiful apricot colour, I have had a little look inside his fleece and it is really golden in colour.

 

 

 

Little Zaroo has the most whiskers on his nose I have ever seen on a baby, after having a close inspection of Stravinsky he has the same whiskers ....obviously this little fella takes after his daddy. 

 

Less than 24hrs old and he is already strutting his stuff, he is 6 days younger than Zambo but he is much bigger, but not as mischievous.

 

Spot those whiskers ....

 

 

Zanzibah Zaroo .... has arrived !!

 

 

It has been an exciting morning ....we have a new baby, the very first cria from Wellground Stravinsky.  I have been waiting for this to one to arrive.  We have an absolutely gorgeous light fawn boy .... I have named him Zaroo.  This name comes from a Spartan War Cry ...'Aroo' with a hint of 'Z'.

 

 

Zaroo is only minutes old and hasn't even dried out yet, he has a fantastic bright fleece already and little 'cats whiskers' .....on his nose.

 

I had to help rearrange the legs as they were crossed and this makes the birthing more difficult.  He was born quite quickly at 10.10am.  I am yet to weigh him but he looks a fine healthy cria.

 

I have been keeping a very close eye on him this morning and he was up and about quite quickly but he was failing to feed, as the sun got hotter I noticed he was becoming more listless....so I have brought them back into the barn out of the sun and flies.  As I carried him in, I noticed he had a small umbilical bleed, this has been tied off and has now stopped.  Once inside I give him some lamb 'Quickstart' to boost him and give him some extra needed strength.

 

 

I have since seen him feeding and he is doing ok, but it just goes to show, you can't be too complacent, left without intervention, I fear he might have just gone down hill rapidly in this heat. I think I like my babies born into cooler weather, no flies and no overheating !!  At the moment mother and baby are doing fine.

 

Us Brits are never happy ...with the weather are we ....anyway ....more photos and updates to follow.  When he dries out.

 

I shall be putting the girls and babies out later in the evening when it cools down and the flies have ....buzzed off !!

 

 

Welcome Showers !!

 

 

Little Zambo is doing just fine, he has continued to thrive since the day he was born.  I do like it when the new babies have a strong will to live and are up and active, its a bit of a relief.  It makes life a little easier and hopefully he will continue to do well, he is now 4 days old and he has started to run and play which is lovely to see.

 

We have had some heavy showers here today, which is a welcome change from all this hot weather....the pond has started to slowly fill up, I can't wait for it to be full ...funny how when the weather is cold and rainy all you want is sunny days then we get an actual summer and all you want is rain ....and some cooler days to have a rest from the heat and all the flies !!!

 

 

This is our way of cooling off in the heat ... we have sprinklers !!!  The boys just love to stand in range, mind you Zelqui is sitting right in the middle and gets a real good soaking. 

 

The view from the pond back up to the house ... you can see the pipe which feeds the water into the pond, it is happily running throughout this hot dry spell, so there shouldn't be any problems when the weather turns back to normal !  I have always wanted this pond here and did a spot of water divining to trace this pipe back from the burn which runs along one side of my boundary ....I have been watching the water running through the pipe and it hasn't altered at all since the long dry weather .... which is a relief ...I'm sure in the winter this pipe will be gushing, but by then ...it will be at the bottom of the pond.  We have an overflow pipe on the opposite side of the pond, so hopefully once the pond reaches a certain depth, it will discharge back into the burn.

 

I am still waiting for Holly to have her cria ...she is hanging on, I thought she would have her baby before Dusty ...but what do I know.

 

Wishful thinking .... I'm guessing (hoping) its a little Fawn Girl ...worth the wait ..as this will be Wellground Stravinsky's very first cria ....he has some fantastic genetics including Silverstream Czar of Anzac on his Sire's side and Wellground Ruffo's Reflection on his Dams pedigree.

 

I guess you can't rush royalty ..... so I shall just have to wait and see ... what we get ....

 

The more I watch ... it seems the less is happening ....you can bet your boots....I'll miss it !!