My Home for the Blind – Part I
Four years ago we didn’t have any blind alpacas. Now we have three who are “visually challenged.” No, I’m not breeding for blindness. lol. But I have been fortunate enough to have three wonderful alpacas with eye problems.
Honeybelle and SiSi
SiSi
Once upon a time there was a fabulous alpaca called Isis. Isis was a fine alpaca. The best female on the farm. Isis was taken to breed to a big deal herdsire. The sire’s owners were to take Isis’ cria in exchange for several breedings. Everyone was happy when the little cria was born. She was a beautiful girl named SiSi (Isis transposed). SiSi was so nice, in fact, that her owner decided to repeat the breeding that created her. It was then that SiSi injured her eye. The vet came and prescribed some ointment for it. SiSi and her momma, Isis, traveled back to the sire’s farm for breeding. Isis was successfully bred, but SiSi’s eye just got worse and worse. The sire’s owners called Isis’ owners and said that their vet said that SiSi would lose her eye and that they did not want her anymore.
Poor SiSi. (At least that was my feeling as I heard her story from my friend who owned her then) Her left eye atrophied and is now small and a cloudy blue color. She cannot see out of it at all. Her other eye is fine. My friend asked me to sell SiSi for her (not because she was blind but because she needed to sell some animals and she has Isis and SiSi’s full brother). I agreed, but once I saw SiSi and put my hands in her fleece, I knew she would never leave my herd.
Years later, SiSi has had two cria for me. She is the type of producer that sacrifices herself for her cria, putting everything into her offspring. She got sick when Napster was at her side. Yet she still produced an amazingly healthy cria, (Ella) anyway. Napster is a Beige Champion and Ella may be even better. Her cria’s histograms top the chart in our herd, making her the best producer statistically. (There are so many good ones, but she stands out…) When we are taking pictures, we like to laugh that SiSi really does have a “good side”. She doesn’t have a problem getting around, and we try not to sneak up on her blind side because that startles her. Bred to Magnum now, we look forward to every year with SiSi. She’s a gem.
Read My Home for the Blind – Part II Beloved’s Story
Stay Tuned for My Home for the Blind – Part III
November 23rd, 2008 at 10:22 am
Katy, that was a beautiful story. Thanks for sharing.