People are always asking me how we choose the names for our new baby alpacas (called cria). Here are the top ten ways we do it.

1. Look at the cria and see if he or she is just “looks” like a certain name or if the situation calls for something special. For example, when “George” and “Martha” presented themselves unexpectedly on President’s Day, that seemed a no-brainer.

2. Let your children choose the name. This can leave you with a herd where most of the alpacas are named “Fluffy”, “Brownie” or “Pickachu”, but you can call their offspring “Fluffachu”, “Pickabrown”, and no one will care. Or you can go the fancier route and go with “Fluffy II” or my favorite “Fluffy 2.o”.

3. No? Give the kids some options and let the public vote. (Check out our “name that alpaca” post for example.)

4. Where do you get these names? Scour baby name books.

5. Keep a list of names that your spouse said “no” to when you were having children. Mine is a mile long.

6. Keep a list with you, perhaps on your phone or computer, and every time you like a name from a book or a movie that you think would work for an alpaca, make a note.

7. Name the alpaca the same initial as his/her dam. For example Adele’s cria would be Abby, or Abel. Callista’s cria would be Calliope, or Checkerboard.

8. Visit the internet for pet naming sites like Cat Names Meow where you can find the purrrfect cat name.

9. Combine the names of your cria’s ancestors. For example, I’m considering “Magnum’s Brown Mesquite” for the little guy in the picture above. His sire is our herdsire, SCA Peruvian Magnum, and his grandsire is Peruvian Black Mesquite.

10. Follow your heart. But use your head too. Will people want to buy an alpaca named “Chaos” or “Paris Hilton”? The fun part is – it’s up to you to name your cria. Have fun with it!

Got any good alpaca naming stories? Any unique names or naming techniques you’d like to share? Let us hear about them!

January 16th, 2012 | Tags: alpaca, baby names, cria, name, naming your alpaca, Paris Hilton, Peruvian Black Mesquite, SCA Peruvian Magnum, sire, top ten | Category: Alpacas, New Additions | Comments (5)

Jim and our new cria

After a long deployment in Iraq, my sweetie, Jim Cocking, is finally home! Actually, he has been home a while. We’ve taken the last month to have a honeymoon. Kinda. As much as you can on a farm with a passel of kids and a herd of alpacas. So not much of one now that I think of it.

But it is wonderful to have Jim back home and not in harm’s way. And we love being able to communicate  face to face instead of by email. We have realized how many of our email convos have been misinterpreted because you can’t read the nonverbal and metacommunication. (Yeah, that’s a big fancy word left over from when I was a psychologist. I like to throw stuff like that around every once in a while so my parents don’t feel like my degree was wasted.)

In the above picture with my dear husband is another new addition we need to welcome – Princess Quita’s little female cria that she had with SCA Peruvian Magnum. This little girl is a beauty! She has a tremendous fleece that is already showing excellent bundling, crimp, and density. She and Princess Quita are for sale in our End of the Year Sale in a package that includes a breeding for each of them for $7,000 for those alpaca fans out there. Email me for more info.

November 2nd, 2011 | Tags: alpaca package, Alpacas, deployment, End of the Year Sale, fleece, honeymoon, husband, Iraq, Jim Cocking, Magnum, metacommunication, new cria, Princess Quita, SCA Peruvian Magnum, welcome home | Category: Alpacas, Lifestyle, New Additions | Comments (3)

The other day I went out into the field, and what did I find? A new baby!

Amber had her little cria. It’s a girl, and she’s doing well, bopping around. Playing with the other little girl we had last week. Our next cria are due today so we are on baby watch again for four of our alpaca mommas. Should be a Fun Fall!

October 12th, 2011 | Tags: alpaca, Alpacas, Amber, baby alpaca, cria, Fairhope Alpacas, New Additions, new baby | Category: Alpacas, New Additions | Comments (11)

The other day the kids & I went to my mother’s house to celebrate her birthday. Before I left I checked on the alpacas. The two girls who were (over)due looked fine so we left and had a fun day with my parents in Gulf Shores. I intended to be back before dark, but got back just after the sun went down. As I walked outside to the fields to check on the alpacas I looked down and saw a tiny cria sitting next to Foxy Lady. They were up next to the fence just sitting there like nothing was unusual at all about that.

I rushed inside their pen and picked up the cria. It was dry so it had been born earlier in the day. I wanted to see if it was a boy or girl, but it was too dark, so I had to feel around to try to determine what it was. I was pretty sure it was a girl, and as I held her up in the moonlight, I could see by her face that she was a Magnum daughter. Just the look of her jaw…well, I know what his babies look like and I saw him in her face. (Of course I knew her mom was bred to him, but it was so amazing to see it so clearly in the moonlight like that.) I guessed she was some sort of fawn, but I’d have to see that in the morning. (The whites shine in the moonlight. If you’ve ever seen a garden of white flowers in the moonlight you’ll know what I mean.)

This little girl was not only walking around, she was running around and it looked like she was nursing too. This was excellent news! Her dam, Foxy Lady, was a first time mom. Sometimes first time moms don’t know quite what to do with their babies, or they don’t have milk yet. Various things can happen with them, but it looked like nature had done a perfect job while we were gone that day. A textbook birth and bouncing baby girl.

Since she was born on my mom, Suzy’s birthday, I decided to name this little cutie “Suzy Q” after her. This video was taken the next day. I hope you enjoy it as much as we are enjoying her!

October 4th, 2011 | Tags: alpaca, Alpacas, cria, new addition, Suzy Q, textbook alpaca birth, video, You Tube | Category: Alpacas, New Additions, video | Comments (1)

Pretty Mya in the beautiful fields out West.

Above is one of the latest additions to our herd. Our farm, Fairhope Alpacas has recently acquired the girls from the Windy Ridge herd. We are so excited to add 20 amazing females to our herd. Later this Spring we will be sending our herdsire SCA Peruvian Magnum to cover most of them. The thought of it just gives me the vapors. sooooo exciting!

Jim and I believe in the future of the alpaca industry, and we are thrilled to have this opportunity to grow our herd. I have worked with Windy Ridge for several years and I know their bloodlines well. They are all about quality, just as we are. When they needed to get out of the business due to health problems, I was happy to be able to acquire their stable of lovely ladies, and one phenomenal boy. (more about him very soon!)

One of the challenges over the years that Jim and I both faced as alpaca breeders of “small farms” was that it was difficult to grow our herds if we were also selling well. Breeding all of these girls this Spring will make for a wonderful growth spurt for our herd in the Spring of 2012.

I can hardly wait! Thanks Windy Ridge and the Tharp family for the opportunity. We luv you and wish you all the best.

February 28th, 2011 | Tags: alpaca, Alpacas, Fairhope Alpacas, farm, Mya, SCA Peruvian Magnum, Windy Ridge Alpacas, Windy Ridge Ranch Alpacas | Category: Alpacas, Farm Business, New Additions | Comments (6)

As a newbie to the alpaca business, I remember visiting a large farm when the owner’s walkie-talkie alerted her to say a new cria had been born. Excitement spread through the farm the way a human “wave” rolls through a stadium.  That owner told me, “Everything always stops when a cria is born.”

And sure enough. Everyone on the farm stopped what they were doing to come by and see the new baby.

I have found that to be true no matter what the size of your farm. No matter how many cria you’ve had over the years. Whenever a cria is born – everything else stops. And everybody comes by to see the new baby.

Today it was Misty Maui’s cria sired by Black Icecapade. Boy, have we been looking forward to this one! (And it is a boy.)

Here is the little guy with his dam, Misty Maui. Wobbly, but strong. His ears started out floppy but they were straightening up quickly.

Alpacas are super social animals, and they ALL want to meet the newest member of the herd. He will be the most popular guy on the farm today.

Wait, cutie! Those are the front legs. Uh – Try the back legs.

(common novice mistake at the milk bar)

He sure is BROWN! That’s one thing for sure. Black Icecapade and Misty Maui made one BROWN baby. I give this breeding two thumbs up. Thanks Roni and Brad Perkins at Providence Alpaca Farm who did the breeding for us.

February 15th, 2011 | Tags: alpaca, Alpacas, Black Icecapade, brown alpaca, Fairhope Alpacas, Misty Maui, New Additions, new cria, Providence Alpaca Farm, Roni and Brad Perkins | Category: Alpacas, New Additions | Comments (14)

Have you ever had a teacher tell you that you were unprepared?

I was the definition of unprepared the morning of a very important farm visit recently. In fact, I didn’t even know he was coming until about 15 minutes until I was supposed to leave to go and pick him up at the airport, thanks to my down email and his busy schedule.

Oh, I had been planning for weeks, months to meet my friend from the UK. We had been working on getting things looking nice on the farm the week before…but when I didn’t hear from him…and the kids kept telling me about holiday parties at school, basketball practices, piano recitals, etc. – I have to admit I thought he had cancelled his trip and forgot to tell me. It just went to the back of my mind.

Then email worked & I was surprised to hear from him. I was rushing around like a madwoman trying to get dressed in a tiny amount of time on an oddly frigid morning with our pipes frozen – unheard of in L.A. (lower Alabama).

As I drove to the airport, I fretted about being seen as unprofessional because the only paper left at my house was light blue. (My little artists go through reams of white paper like babies go through formula.) Could I really print sales info on that?

Luckily he didn’t mind stopping at Staples on the way back to the farm, and was a prince about the whole thing. I needn’t have worried. It was a laid back day, and Carman made it all worthwhile by presenting us with a Magnum cria (above).

Alpacas gathered around the new cria just after she was born just outside my office door.

The man came a long way to see Magnum and his kids. All the previously put together packets in the world are not as showy as what Carman did by dropping one on the ground for him to see!

Magnum himself did a great job too. Magnum is a very impressive animal because he is extremely intelligent. Upon seeing him, our visitor commented, “It’s not like seeing an alpaca, it’s more like looking at a human.” It is true. When you look at Magnum and talk with him, you feel more like he knows what you are saying to him. He is incredibly bright.

This little girl was tiny when she was born, only 9 lbs. This may be why her ears were inside out and curling up. They will get better if we curl them the right way with our fingers each time we catch her for a treatment or to dip her naval or weigh her, etc. If they do not, we will tape them for a short while and that should fix them right up.

Mitzi with her dam Carman, a Camilio daughter.

Thanks Carman for saving the day! While our visitor was enjoying the cria I was able to run to the house and gather some materials for him.

You gotta love it when your animals pitch in and help you out! After the year I’ve had, that really spoke to me on a basic level. That the alpacas and I are a team. We have been through a TOUGH year together and we are still here.

We are still working together, still producing cria, still producing fiber, and still a team. I can see it in their eyes every day when I go out there. And I wouldn’t trade it for anything.

I love alpacas. I’m so lucky to love what I do every day.

Thanks again Carman.

I love that little Mitzi. Don’t you guys?

December 19th, 2010 | Tags: alpaca, Alpacas, Carman, cria, cria coat, Magnum, Mitzi, New Additions | Category: Alpacas, Husbandry, New Additions | Comments (12)

Nie Nie fell asleep on my arm after a long trip to the emergency clinic in Mobile. Took 8 tries with my phone, with my other hand (pulled over mind you) to get this picture. Yes, she insisted in sitting in my lap while I drove.

Happy Thanksgiving! & Happy Wordless Wednesday.

Note: This was early on in Nie Nie’s medical history. She’s doing well now, running around like she owns the place. Something I am definitely thankful for this Thanksgiving.

Read more about our premature cria Nie Nie.

November 24th, 2010 | Tags: Nie Nie, Wordless Wednesdays | Category: Alpacas, New Additions, The Daily Stuff, Wordless Wednesdays | Comments (4)

Here she is. All 8 pounds of her. No, It’s not a necklace that she’s wearing, but a catheter, via Auburn’s Large Animal Veterinary Hospital where she spent a short time. But she’s home now and doing great.

Her mom didn’t know what to make of her at first, but now they are inseparable.

I bought her mom, Niida, because I thought she was the prettiest thing ever. And that she and Magnum would make a perfect match. So far it’s a good combo.

Alpacas are very social, and the girls wanted to meet the new addition to the herd. NieNie is the only cria we have on the farm right now so she is the star!

Nie Nie’s floppy ears are a sign of her prematurity. She was about two weeks early. That will either go away on its own by straightening up, or we should be able to fix it be taping them later if the problem persists. (In Nie Nie’s case it is already correcting itself.)

The bond between dam and cria is one of my favorite parts of raising alpacas. It is so tender, so gentle and loving that it sometimes takes my breath away.

Way too young to be getting significant nutrition from grass, tiny NieNie imitates her dam’s grazing behavior at just a few days old because “I want to be just like Mom!” Precious.

If you like this post you might also like:

Tiny Alpaca Phoenix Rises

Meet New Alpaca Cria Sista

Meet George & Martha the Alpacas

November 18th, 2010 | Tags: alpaca, Alpacas, dam, Fairhope Alpacas, Magnum, NieNie, Niida, premature cria, prematurity, premie, SCA Peruvian Magnum | Category: Alpacas, New Additions | Comments (11)