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Tag Archives: cria

The Liston saga: final chapter

23 Sunday Aug 2015

Posted by morselsandscraps in what next?

≈ 12 Comments

Tags

alpacas, cria, rooster

Dickens always finishes his novels, as do other Victorians, by rounding off the stories of his characters. So here we go. Although I am definitely no Dickens, I have capacities I suspect he might envy. I can quote directly from Facebook (in blue) and link to WordPress.

While we were wrangling my daughter's menagerie, she was off-stage doing some wrangling of her own. You can read about it in the log of the journey from Slovakia to Warsaw with a pair of inventive twins.

The Liston menagerie has had a few adventures since we left.

Victor the rooster, one of the first Liston chickens, was taken by a fox two days after our departure. My daughter says:



He was an old warrior, almost seven, and maybe this was a better end than a lingering old age. I think it was the same cheeky fox that chased Leopard. We've got pacas and dogs all over both yards, so I think he had left the safety.

But that was not the end. He reappeared, minus an eye, and is once again flourishing, victor over a fox.

 

Boo the orgler (I promise! My last use of that word) and Scout his younger brother have moved to the farm of friends. Mel is one of the very few people who like Boo, and he and his brother will take on a new role as sheep guardians. Boo can spit at intruders and attackers, and be praised for it, rather than arousing my ire by spitting at the defenceless cria.

They are both “for the cut” as soon as the weather warms up.

Operation Orgle a success. We wish Boo and Scout well as they move onto a life of gainful employment. They have a creek, and a young forest of native trees and a horse.

 

The cria now has a name.

We are totally unsure about gender – s'he has lots of foldy genital flesh that might be balls or might just be pudge. In the interests of non-gender specificity we are calling it Johnny-May. Doesn't that sound like the worst trailer-trash name ever?

The name is an anglicisation of Jaś (Jan) and Maja. Aunty promised the twins she would name the baby after them.

Em resumes her indecently early morning-runs.

Murder mysteries often start with the early-morning lone dog-walker finding the mutilated corpse. Don't think this doesn't cross my mind whenever Emmy tries to pull me off the path in the 4 am gloom. It would have to be a man. I'm tired of the trope of the woman as victim.

Leopard returns to animal sacrifice, and Loki remains inoffensive.

The holiday slowly fades for my daughter. She is emerging from jet lag, and returning to domesticity.

As I come out of my stupor I notice that the crockery and cutlery fairy has paid us a visit. Thank-you, kitchenware support.

 

The animal carers and kitchenware support team are reclaiming their lives on the coast and in the bush respectively: digging gardens, burying wallabies, clearing a study of the detritus of years, going to the movies and buying tickets to return to Warsaw in March, 2016.

 

Posted with BlogsyPosted with Blogsy

Cria at three weeks

05 Wednesday Aug 2015

Posted by morselsandscraps in photos, Stanthorpe

≈ 21 Comments

Tags

camelid behaviour, cria

 

 

 

 

 

 

The cria is now three weeks old. In the course of that time I've had a crash course in camelid behaviour. The thing that the first photo demonstrates is their desire to hang about together, and rumps appear in all the photos, not far away. Bruce, the senior male alpaca / llama hybrid, is in a separate yard, and he becomes quite distressed if he can't see the rest of the herd as they graze in the house garden. The junior male, Boo, is a bully: the other day he actually spat at the tiny one, who was just going about its business of investigating everything, including big brother. Apparently mating is a social event too.

Like all active small things the cria – who will probably have a name by his fourth Sunday: my daughter returns on Thursday – is hard to photograph: as soon as you focus it runs off or at least changes position. Yesterday, when the herd was startled it led the charge to the middle garden.

 

Posted with BlogsyPosted with Blogsy

Two weeks old

26 Sunday Jul 2015

Posted by morselsandscraps in animals, photos

≈ 10 Comments

Tags

cria

Today the cria is two weeks old. It has survived freezing temperatures, snow, balmy spring-like weather, and our care.

 

 

 

 

 

Posted with BlogsyPosted with Blogsy

While I was on Mt Tamborine …

19 Sunday Jul 2015

Posted by morselsandscraps in animals, Liston, photos

≈ 21 Comments

Tags

cria

… an unexpected cria was born at Liston. J went out to feed the animals on an icy Sunday morning and saw what he described as “a periscope poking out of a small pile on the ground.” When he went to investigate, he found a baby alpaca sitting down, head poking up, placenta beside it. He is no animal mid-wife and was driven into a state of near panic. The mother, Rosie, wasn’t feeding it, and the weather seemed colder by the minute. An attempt to settle mother and child in the shed failed. He rang the vet, who connected him with a couple who breed alpacas and who arrived with information leaflets, a coat for a baby alpaca, instructions about preparing the coat for mother’s acceptance, and general reassurance. By this time the baby was suckling happily, and the coat was never used. But confidence in its survival was still not strong.

When I turned to Stanthorpe on Wednesday, J met me, saying “There’s something I need to show you.” And there it was. A tiny brown and white creature, long-legged and alert-eared, taking brief and frequent feeds from its mother. Having read the information on alpaca fertility cycles, J became paranoid about the boys impregnating Rosie again immediately, and began a contraceptive fence-strengthening project to keep them away from her.

And then, just when confidence was building, the snow began to fall, and the wind began to howl in a once-in-thirty-years weather event. It took us a while to figure out that alpacas live in totally inhospitable-to-us climates and that Rosie may well have chosen to unpack her offspring in ideal weather. Rosie and babcia Connie stayed close to the little one and they all sat in a sheltered spot under the eucalypts. The cria even frolicked on the freezing day when frolic was the furthest thing from my mind.

The day after the snow was sunny and warm, and, superstition fading, I was finally allowed to take photos. The baby is a week old.

 

 

 

 

J strengthening the contraceptive device

 

 

Posted with BlogsyPosted with Blogsy

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