Livestock and Alpacas

I wish I had the flair for writing that Paige does. My posts seem so boring compared to Paige's but I occasionally have some piece of life to share. As many know my farm life has changed greatly in the last 2 years. I went from managing a farm with as many as 40 alpacas at one time to living in downtown Indianapolis. I have wanted to keep as much of farm life as possible and so with just 5 females left I decided these were mine to keep. This would be my little breeding herd. Of course my best animals were sold so of the 5, 2 are from my original purchases over 10 years ago. However, 1 of the 5 was a granddaughter to a male of mine and a daughter of one of the best white males in the country who I was lucky enough to have owned. She, Copper Ridge's Pinkstar aka Pinky, was what I had left to show for 11 years of breeding. I took her to AOBA Nationals in May and she won a blue ribbon. While a blue ribbon was great it was not nearly as exciting as the fleece scores she received. She seemed to have an extremely above average fleece. As I write today my little herd has dwindled to 4. This is because Pinky got ill last week and within 24 hours of arriving at Purdue she died. The alpacas are so frustrating. By the time they are showing you any signs of being sick they are really sick. We didn't wait she went right away and arrived at Purdue much healthier looking than most but as we waited for Purdue to get started working on her we could see her going down hill quickly. This falls' crias will help make the ache of the animals lost a little less painful but here's to hoping each experience helps us to take better care of the next.