By Karen, on March 31st, 2012%
By Karen, on March 13th, 2012%
 Alpaca management software We’ve had a few people email us asking which alpaca herd management software we use so I thought I would pass some information along to anyone interested. We’ve been using which I think is the best alpaca management program out there… AlpacaEASE also known as HerdEASE. We started with this software a little over a year ago and I have to say I absolutely love it!
I was amazed at how easy AlpacaEASE is to use and the setup was a breeze compared to the other alpaca software programs out there. I’m extremely impressed with the way this program is written. The program is all contained in one folder so doing backups is very easy. I’ve included a few screen shots to give you some insight into the program.
One of the best features of this alpaca herd management software is that it is very user friendly. I was able to extract my herd and ancestry data directly from the alpaca registry’s website… saving me valuable time. Also when a cria is born it updates everything for the sire and dam as well.
Another one of my favorite things about this herd management software is that I can compare the sire’s pedigree side by side with the female’s pedigree. We have over 100 alpacas so this feature has been very valuable and time saving. It also has great photo management that stores up to 10 pictures plus captions. You can also store documents i.e. ARI certificate, histograms, contracts, etc.
Reports are a snap. There are many animal-specific reports that can be run directly from the animal’s herd screen; medical history, current breeding detail and breeding history, fiber, shows, procedures due, etc. There is also financial and invoicing as well. Plus a contact list for all of your customers and so much more.
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Alpaca management software
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Breeding Alpaca Pedigree Comparison
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Calendar month view
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Contacts
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Financial and Invoicing
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Photo management
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Many professional reports
The program was written by computer professional Ellen Gurewitz. She has over 30 years experience in database design and programming. She continually upgrades and improves the program through the year. Customer support is very important and I am happy to say it is exceptional!
I copied this from the website because this says it all…
Q. Why is AlpacaEASE/HerdEASE recommended over any other herd management programs?
A. AlpacaEASE was developed by a professional computer programmer in consultation with established alpaca breeders, and thoroughly tested by both new and experienced breeders. We provide outstanding support and continually enhance AlpacaEASE/HerdEASE to be sure you get the best management software for all your needs. We are continually expanding and improving AlpacaEASE/HerdEASE and v5 is the latest result. We strive to keep current with the industry and to provide you with the easiest and most comprehensive herd management program!
This alpaca software does so much that I’m not able to include everything it does here. However, you can download a 30 day free trial copy at the website at AlpacaEASE. I don’t get any kickbacks… but I do know quality when I see it and I thought I would share it with everyone. Give it a try, it makes raising alpacas so much easier. Less paper work means more time with the alpacas!
By Karen, on February 28th, 2012%
 Mazaratti and Da Vinci tango In this picture it looks like these two alpaca males are fighting but actually they were just showing off for the girls. We put the males and females in the north pens for the day so they could eat green grass. The pens we moved them to are right next to each other so all of the alpacas were busy flirting and acting silly.
Alpacas are funny to watch. They are very social. Da Vinci loves to show off by standing up on his hind legs. I guess he’s showing the girls how big and handsome he is. Of course Mazaratti thought he could do better but Da Vinci had him beat. Much to my surprise they didn’t fight at all. The boys were too busy trying to look macho!
The males weren’t alone in their display of showing off. The girls were busy running and jumping plus there was a whole lot of flirting going on… it was a fun alpaca day out.
In the evening all of the alpacas were ready to go home to the pens we usually keep them in. Our males are kept in the front pen. They can see the girls from their pen but they are far enough away that the girls aren’t much of a distraction. We have 13 intact adult males all in the same pen. They all get along really well and they act like one happy family. They have a pecking order just like any other group of animals. The only time they have little disputes is at feeding time. I’m so glad our males have such sweet dispositions… it makes everything so much easier when all of our males can live together in the same pen.
By Karen, on February 16th, 2012%
 Calendar Girl's baby Twilight
Calendar Girl received so much attention from her alpaca picture with Taylor Lautner that people are calling her the Twilight alpaca. It made sense to me to call her baby daughter Twilight. It seems to fit her and it’s a cute name for an alpaca. So officially Kya now has a new name… Twilight!
In fact I like all of the names from the Twilight Series that I may have to name Calendar Girl’s future babies New Moon, Eclipse, Breaking Dawn, and Midnight Sun. I think they’re wonderful names for alpacas!  Calendar Girl It amazes me how Calendar Girl continues to dazzle people with not only her charm but with her photo too. Since people enjoyed that photo of her so much I decided to turn that photo into a puzzle. Her puzzle is now online on our website at Calendar Girl’s Puzzle.
Maybe I should have made the puzzle with the picture of Taylor Lautner with Calendar Girl… now that would be funny! 
By Karen, on December 24th, 2011%
 Baby alpaca sleeping Everyone here
at
Walnut Creek
including
the alpacas
plus
the horses,
the dogs,
the cats,
and
Dave & Karen
would like
to wish
you and yours
a blessed Christmas
and
a wonderful New Year!
By Karen, on December 22nd, 2011%
 Anatolian Shepherd, Lacey We had to face the fact that our Anatolian Shepherd, Leila, wasn’t going to come back home. Emotionally I wasn’t ready for a replacement. It doesn’t matter whether I’m ready or not, I just know we need another guardian dog here to protect our alpacas. We have a big place with a lot of coyotes so we need at least two working dogs on our ranch at all times.
When Pac’s sister Sadie died, Pac worked all of the time. He was running himself down, working day and night for a few weeks. Then he became a recluse in our barn. It was so sad because he went into a deep depression. We replaced Sadie with Leila and then slowly Pac returned to his old self once again. Now that Leila is gone I’m not going to give him a chance to get weird on us.
I’m going to stick with the Anatolian Shepherds. They are amazing dogs. Anatolians are an old Turkish breed and they are specifically bred to be guardian dogs for livestock. I found a beautiful full Anatolian Shepherd not too far from Hot Springs, Arkansas at Livestock Guardian Angels. They have beautiful Anatolian Shepherds and they raise all of their dogs with goats. They are wonderful people to do business with.
 Livestock guardian dog, Lacey
We named our new guardian dog, Lacey. She is marked almost the same as Leila except she has red hair. Lacey turned 8 months old this month so we had her spayed quickly. Our dog, Pac, accepted her as his companion right away. Since she was raised with goats she made an easy transition to guarding alpacas. We were happy to see that Lacey fit right into her guardian role so easily. I still miss Leila… she was an amazing dog and she will always have a special place in my heart. Lacey has big paws to fill but she is off to a great start!
By Karen, on December 10th, 2011%
 Alpaca Baby Calendar Our new calendar for this year is a baby alpaca calendar. Most of the alpaca pictures are from our fall baby season. I tried to use the baby photos from my new camera rather than my old one. I think the pictures from the new camera are so much more professional looking.
My new camera is the Pentax K-5, a 16.3 megapixel digital SLR. It’s a big upgrade from my old Panasonic DMC-FZ30. The Pentax K-5 is an awesome camera but I still have a lot to learn. I’ve been playing around with the settings quite a bit. When I get the settings right the photos are much improved from my old camera. I don’t know why but my pictures seem to come out sharper when I lower the pixels to 10 megapixels. Maybe it’s because the alpacas are moving around quite a bit.
I have two lenses for my camera. The one that came with the camera is the 18-55mm kit lens which is a pretty nice overall lens. The other lens is the DA 50-200mm F/4-5.6 AL weather resistant lens. It’s a very nice mid range zoom that takes beautiful pictures. I like it better than the kit lens that came with the camera.
I love taking pictures of the alpacas. They are wonderful subjects… warm, fuzzy, and smiling too! Be sure to check out my new alpaca calendars for 2012!
By Karen, on December 2nd, 2011%
 Our Anatolian Shepherd Leila
Our livestock guardian dog, Leila, has been missing since Sunday. Leila guards our alpacas along with our other guardian dog, Pac. She’s a beautiful Anatolian Shepherd. She is so wonderful with our alpacas. Actually she’s great with all of our animals. Leila is one in a million to us.  Leila loves the alpacas
I’m so worried that something horrible has happened to her. It’s hunting season right now so I’m afraid she may have gotten shot or stuck in a trap. I can’t stand the thought of her being out there hurt. I can’t help her if I don’t know where she is. I keep praying she’ll come home.  Leila loves our chihuahuas
We’ve been out looking for her everyday but so far no leads. It’s so hard for me even to write this. I’m so attached to her and I love her so much. I’ve be in tears everyday since she’s been missing. I’m so sad and I just want Leila to come home safely.  Leila even loves cats
Leila has been an amazingly wonderful guardian dog. The picture below was taken at the bottom of the alpaca pen. She would jump out of the pen on to a column of rocks. She would stand on the rock column and look out to see if there was anything lurking out there. I love the Anatolian Shepherds. I think they are the best livestock guardian dogs a ranch could have.
 Leila amazing livestock guardian dog
If anyone sees this blog post and knows something about what happened to Leila please call or email me. Thank you. 
By Karen, on November 22nd, 2011%
I keep finding our alpaca and Taylor Lautner together online. Someone put my alpaca, Calendar Girl, and Taylor Lautner together in a picture and the picture went viral on the internet. They seem to think this Lautner guy looks like my alpaca… I personally don’t get it… how crazy is this? They’re even calling her the Twilight Alpaca, it’s just too funny!!!
 My alpaca with Taylor Lautner I didn’t even know who Taylor Lautner was. I looked him up online and found out he plays the part of Jacob in the movie Twilight. A friend of mine just emailed me about the sequel called Breaking Dawn. She said it’s a good movie. I don’t get out much to the movies but maybe I need to go see this one.
Just out of curiosity do you see any resemblance? Does he really look like my alpaca?
Our alpaca, Calendar Girl, is a 2x Champion and she’s one of our best females. You can visit her page online at Calendar Girl She has a baby by her side and I was going to name her baby girl Kya, but now I think I’m going to name her baby Twilight!
By Karen, on November 12th, 2011%
 Jenni's baby with Marcello
Today was our last alpaca baby for the season. Jenni had her baby sometime during the night. By the time we found him he was dry and up nursing. We missed the whole thing. In fact he didn’t even need our help. Don’t get me wrong I’m glad he didn’t need my help but it’s nice to be needed at least a little bit.
Well this baby is very photogenic… I’m going to love taking pictures of him. In fact all of Marcello and Giacomo’s babies are very beautiful. Actually who am I kidding I love taking pictures of all of the crias. I’ll have to get over to the cria section and start posting pictures soon. I don’t know how I got so far behind.
The baby season is over but here in Oklahoma the breeding will continue through to December 15th and then we’ll be done for the year.
By Karen, on November 10th, 2011%
 Blind cria When this cria was first born, Dave said, he reminded him of Stevie Wonder because of the way he holds his head. Of course I was in denial and I kept on insisting that nothing was wrong. Well when he started to take his first steps we realized something was very wrong. Instead of the normal struggle to learn to walk this little guy acted like he was drunk… that’s when it finally hit me, it broke my heart, this cria is blind.
I stayed with him and helped him all day long. His mom was great and she stayed right by his side but he needed extra help finding the milk. He seemed so lost and I wasn’t so sure he would be able to overcome all of the obstacles that lay before him.
His mother had severe heat stress this past summer to the point where we thought we were going to loose her. We had two months of over 100 degrees and days when it was up to 114 degrees. I’m amazed our alpacas did as well as they did. I guess something didn’t form right when his eyes were being developed. His eyes are dark in color but the center of his eyes looks cloudy.
 Independent boy The first week I had to help him nurse about every two hours. I had to put him under mom to make sure he was getting enough milk. Sometimes I would find him in the corner of the pen going around in circles in complete frustration. His mother was so worried about him. She would stay right by him most of the time and she wasn’t eating or drinking. I would pick him up and bring him back up to the barn to give her a break. She would follow us to the barn where she would rest, eat and drink. This went on for a little over a week. I was starting to have my doubts about this boy thriving and living a somewhat normal life.
The second week he was still going around in circles but his circles were getting bigger. He’s finally starting to learn where everything is. He runs a little and acts more like a normal cria. He runs and stops about a foot from the fence. He can now find the barn, fences, trough, and mom! He still has a little trouble with rocks and trees but what a big improvement from the week before.
Dave calls him Stevie but I call him Mr. Wonder because I think he’s wonderful and soooo smart! This week he’s improved so much that he hardly acts like he’s blind. He’s running and playing with the other crias. He’s doing so well that he doesn’t even need my help anymore. In fact sometimes he gets mad at me when I try to help him. He’s very independent and wants to do everything himself. I’m so glad to know that this little cria will do just fine without his sight. He’s a happy healthy beautiful boy!
 Mr. Wonder and Kya The other day when I was watching him I noticed Calendar Girl’s cria, Kya, was leading him to the barn. Kya was at his side with her neck behind his neck and it seemed like she was pushing him forward towards the barn. Now I don’t know if this was by accident or if she was actually helping him. I’m going to give her the credit… alpacas never cease to amaze me… they are so smart!
By Karen, on October 10th, 2011%
Sometimes an alpaca cria is born with a small umbilical hernia. It’s nothing to get excited about… the crias abdominal wall hasn’t fully closed around the umbilical vessels yet. If you place your fingers on the umbilicus you will feel a bulge. When you push the bulge back up into the abdomen it will go through a small opening.  Cria with hernia wrap Other alpaca owners have been asking us what we do when one of our crias are born with a hernia. If the hernia is small and the opening it’s protruding through is only around the size of one finger it will usually close up within a month. We don’t do much other than gently massage and push the hernia back up into the abdomen. We do this several times during the month to make sure the hernia and the opening is reducing.
If the cria’s hernia is a little larger, about two finger widths in diameter, then we use a wrap to reduce the hernia. The wrap will hold the hernia up inside the abdominal wall. This is done to make sure nothing gets trapped outside of the body when the abdominal wall closes. If the hernia gets trapped, persists or if it’s very large the cria may need surgery.
We make a homemade hernia wrap for the cria with vet wrap and some kind of tape to secure it. The only problem is it usually doesn’t stay in place and we would find the wrap every where except where it’s supposed to be. The other problem was the tape would get stuck to the fleece and we would have a hard time removing it.
 Cria wearing hernia belt This year we have a cria with an umbilical hernia and it’s about two finger widths in diameter. Cate is very active and she wiggles all over the place when we try to wrap her. Then when we finally get the wrap in place it only stays on for about an hour. It’s not very effective.
After fighting with her for several days we decided we needed to try something different. I finally broke down and bought an umbilical hernia belt that is specially made for alpacas and llamas. Well I can’t get over how much easier it was to put on and yes it actually stays in place!
We’ll have to check the hernia belt every few days to make sure it’s in place and that it’s not too tight. She’s still very active and she doesn’t mind the belt at all. She runs and plays and it seems to be working great. Hopefully the hernia will be resolved before she out grows the belt!
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