Blueberry Hill Farm

I'm trying to get caught up with farm news and am afraid I left you hanging concerning Runaround Sue and her baby.  I blogged about her several days ago when I was nervously anticipating the birth of her baby.  All I can say, regarding the actual delivery day, is that I must have gotten her due dates wrong, because it was August 10th before that baby was born, and on one of the hottest, most humid days of the summer!

Around noon, Sue's cria - a little girl - was born.  Since that was my sister's birthday, I decided to name the cria in honor of my sister, Cathy.  Hence the name BLUE Accoyo Merry Cathy.

Unfortunately, after the birth, we had a bit of a stressful day because Sue would not allow the baby to nurse.  After trying everything I could think of, and after following all the vet's suggestions, with no avail, Dr. Dixon came out around 9:00 p.m. to see what he could do. 

The conclusion is that Sue does not have very much milk, a problem not uncommon in first time alpaca and llama moms.  It requires supplementation with bottle feedings and is quite time consuming.  It won't be forever and before long, Cathy will be grazing and eating grain and it will just be another farm adventure that we can chalk up to a new experience.