Now I look
at the blog, I realize it 's been ages since I blogged and when I think about
it, a lot has happened over the last few weeks.
Shearing thankfully passed without a hitch, as the weather kept fine and
once again they now all look clean and
fresh wearing their corduroy coats.
There are always a few surprises when the fleece comes off, normally it's
those pesky mite that have managed to find themselves a nice armpit or crease
of skin to breed in. However, this year although the Ivomec was on hand, they were not in evidence. This year the big surprise, when turning over
a young female was pink fibre ! yes Quelvehin
are now breeding saris pink. On further investigation the colour didn't
follow through to the skin (oh what a surprise!), so we can assume at some time or other she
must have sat in something . Pascal, our french shearer, just had to take a
photo, and cut off a memento of the occasion, Doubt he will shear another pink
for a while.
The herd
has grown by two since last I blogged .
Little Kane our Popham Daniel, Bay black boy was born 3 weeks ago and is
doing well. His mother was our
first fawn Atlas girl out of a solid white, so between him and Daniel we
have managed to go from white to black in two générations.
Then
our first suri of the year, Kushti, a lovely little fawn boy sired by
Moonsbrook Cosmo. Puppy found him all
alone at the bottom of the field, here he is under the watchful eye of his mother, she's second on the left
over the other side of the field in the far distance !!
Mum Emma needed a short, sharp lesson in
motherhood. An hour later all was well
and he is now doing fine.
Our chicken
population has also risen slightly.
There are now about 40 chickens,
all at various stages of development and Steve has had to build another
hen house. They wander freely around the
farm, in and out of the flower beds and over the fields - what a life ! if only they knew their fate. Two have already been put aside for our french friend Bernard, who , although now
retired, once cooked for the rich and
famous in his restaurant on the Champs Elyées . He has invited us to dinner to
sample one of his haut cuisine recipes - chicken of course !
All these
new arrivals has meant we have spent an awful lot of time around the farm
clearing up after one animal or another.
This time of year, Steve and I ,
religiously pick up poo in the fields once or twice a day. All this time in the field gives you plenty
of time to watch the herd. While on one of his poo picking shifts, Steve
noticed a young female acting a little strange.
It is normally me that notices these slight differences and then has to
justify my concerns, so when he said something was definitely not right , I didn't doubt it and we got her in for a good look straight
away. Further investigations did little
to enlighten us , everything seemed fine other than the fact she stumbled
around, bumping in to fences and other members of the herd and tripping over
food troughs. Over the next hour her condition worsened , she had stopped
ruminating and was having difficulty holding her head up. we felt it was time
to call the vet. After a thorough examination,
the vet concluded that she may
have eaten something, perhaps the bracken fern
that grew around the edge of the field or foxglove, although with plenty
of other more palatable options she wasn't totally convinced and neither were
we. By ten at night her condition was no
better and Steve took to the internet to do some research.
Working his
way through the American forums he came across Polioencephalomalacia /Thiamine deficiency. Thiamine is a B vitamin
(B1). It is water soluble and must be manufactured constantly in an alpacas
second stomach as it has a very short life span of around 10 minutes. Symptoms of low thiamine, polioencephalomalacia (PEM), are largely
neurological as the brain needs an adequate supply in order to function
properly. Alpacas can deplete their
body's supply of thiamine much more rapidly than cattle, sheep or goats and PEM
symptoms can bring about the death of an alpaca much more quickly than in other
animals. Symptoms of low deficiency are said to be decreased appetite, failure
to remain with the herd, staggering or
unsteady gait, elevated head or
stargazing, head or ear twitching, excessive salivation or drooling. The acute stage of PEM is characterized by
blindness, grinding of teeth, spasms and seizures, laying down and failure to rise. Untreated these symptoms lead to coma and
death.
First thing
the next morning a quick call to the vet told us that she as well had burnt the
midnight oil and come up with the same
prognosis, she was on her way over with two bottles of Vitamin B compound. We
started a course of 6 hourly injections of 5 mls Vit B1. After the third injection we started to see a
slight improvement in her condition and 48 hours later, she was back to
normal. We are thankful we acted in good time and she was able to make a full recovery.
Causes that bring about Thiamine deficiency include sudden
feed change , an imbalance in the gut flora, imbalances in the rumen caused by
antibiotics and wormers, too much grain
or pellets. Coccidiosis, as cocci rely
on thiamine to reproduce. Other causes
include change in the weather, forage,
stress, drinking well or untreated water and eating bracken fern, which
breaks down thiamine.
On closer
inspection of the field , it was obvious they had all been eating the bracken
fern which poked through the fence with the brambles that they loved.
So, on what
was probably the hottest day yet this year, with temperatures reaching 30° at
one point, we pulled up and cut back any bracken that dared to creep into the
fields. Although we can't say that the
bracken was the culprit, after all they
had all eaten it, it may have been a contributory factor and we were taking no chances.
This
experience has taught us several things
1, always
have a bottle of vit B1 in the cupboard, even if PEM is not present, it will do
no harm giving it if suspected
2, Act
quickly, time is of the essence.
3, Never
under estimate the true benefits of picking up poo.
4, What a wonderful thing the internet really
is. At this point I would like to thank
Bag End Suri Alpacas of Maine, LLC for their wonderful blog date September 2011, http://www.bagendsuris.com/?page_id=735
