Solomons Alpacas

24/06/2026

Hecate is doing well, despite the weather!

Just under 10kg now, and not two weeks old yet.

21/06/2026

21/06/2026

Lots of people are asking how the alpacas will manage in this heatwave.

The answer is that they manage very well! Originating from South America, they lived in very hot daytime temperatures, and cold night times.

As long as they have water, and some shade to get into, they are more comfortable than me, that's for sure.

For thier comfort though, today they have gone out into our valley field, which has lots of shady trees to get under, and some very long grass to help keep them cool.

20/06/2026

I couldn't resist this picture of Hecate.

Day eight and she's put on 500 grams over night.

I guess mum is helping her to catch up!

18/06/2026

Here she is, after 5 days of worry!

Mum isn't the best, but it's now feeding her daughter...

Welcome to Solomons Hecate.

18/06/2026

So thank you for keeping everything crossed!

Enola's cria is now back to birth weight, and feeding from mum!

Pictures soon!

14/06/2026

Another one that I've been slow to post.

This little one was born Friday afternoon while I was stuck in a 5 mile tail back on the A34! Luckily Jon was in charge!

6.9kg at birth, it all seemed straight forward and fine.

She had other plans!

She made little effort to feed and when she did, mum wouldn't stand still.

Enola, her mum, is a maiden and not very bright sadly.

I believe the problem was too much milk in the milk bar was making her feel very uncomfortable. I tried to milk her, both to give some to the cria, and to relieve any pain in mums b***s.

She was having none of it. Having gone 6 rounds, with two falls and a submission, we tried giving baby the bottle. Apparently that was not acceptable.

After much hair pulling and fannying about, we put them in isolation, with a friend, and sat back to watch.

Two days of stress seem to have finally done the trick. She's feeding from mum today.

Not out of the woods yet. Still not back to birth weight, but putting on a bit.

Please all cross your fingers for her.

13/06/2026

So Thursday, in the pouring rain, this little charp was waiting for us when we got to the barn.

I say got to the barn, she had dropped him outside the fully open barn, where the others were hiding from the rain.

He was soaking wet, only a few minutes old.

We dried him off, which wasn't easy because only 6.4kg, the force is strong with this one! He's a wiggler!

He was feeding within minutes.

We welcome Solomons Hex.

12/06/2026

This post is a bit delayed...

This little poppet was born three days ago.

She seemed fine initially, mum had waited till we turned our backs for an hour to give birth, must have been a very fast birth! She was up and dry when we found her.

When checking her over though, she wouldn't suck. Not premature, nor dysmature, but not interested. Her membranes were dark too, indicating an infection.

She was going downhill fast.

We got her and mum indoors, mum had plenty of milk so it was imperative to get some into her; there is a small window to get enough colostrum into them, and we had to try.

We had some help from our neighbour with the milking thankfully (thanks Tali!); is not easy, and mum was not obliging! My bad back didn't help either.

It was slow progress, 10ml at the time. We found that a large hole in the teat, and raising her head, meant she had to swallow the milk.

Six hours of that, whilst a biblical storm flashed, crashed and hailed around us, thank goodness for our barn!

We also administered some antibiotics, and put a coat on her to keep her temperature up. A quick call to the vet to cover all bases, confirmed there was not much else to be done.

I got some colostrum replacer from a friend, and we got a better reaction to that, she actually sucked for the first time! We tried holding her to mums treats, but she wouldn't latch on.

By now it was almost 10pm. Everyone was exhausted, so we took the slightly risky decision to turn them out got the night and see if nature could fix things.

Heart in mouth the next morning early doors, we went up to see the girls and found a mini miracle; she was in her feet and feeding, and had put on weight!

Welcome to the world.....

Solomons Honolulu Hurricane!

02/06/2026

So it's not written in stone till she's registered, but it looks like this huge cria will be called.....

Wait for it..... drumroll......

Solomons Hucklebuck Honey.

Year letter is H, mama's theme is dance.

She's the size of a month old cria! Strong and well at 2 days old.