Summer Getaway!

Here are May and Winny, excited to go to the summer pasture!Here Winny hides in the tall grass
May goes to Winny to make sure all is well
Here is May, Bella, and Winny's apple tree.

It provides shade, twigs, leaves, and delicious apples for them!

More Babies!

Here are the one week old angora bunnies that our doe, Rosie had on May 25. Their father is Ethan, pictured below.

Rosie:
Ethan:

Expansion!

Below are a few new editions to WML: Dea. Her name is Latin for "Goddess," Deus, Kibus, and Terre Madre.
She is a future breeding doe for spring meat rabbits. I will have a rabbit tractor ready to go in the May 2009 grazing season. She is a mixed breed Dutch coloration with blue eyes! We also have several other does that we purchased from Scenic View Farm to get some meat rabbit production under way.

Await pictures of the chicken tractor, chickens and grass-fed lambs to come!

Cria's 4th Day and Bunny Surprise

One of our first angora rabbits, Rosie, had a litter of bunnies a few days ago. Here she is (below).Here is the cria on its fourth day (below):
Below is a video of the new rabbit mama eating some wild greens.

Below is a video of the cria's fourth day. She is beginning to run up and down the hill. The llamas will be moved to their "wide open spaces" later on this week.

First Poop!

It is important that a few things happen in the first 12 to 24 hours of life in a cria (baby llama). The first priority is nursing, the second is defecation. When the fetus is in the womb a plug is made in orifices of the body because all actions take place through the umbilical cord. When the cria is born it needs to pass a plug before it can begin defecating. Its sometimes difficult to push out for a newborn baby. Our little cria passed that plug today about an hour ago, or 36 hours after birth. How do we know it was her first time? Let's take a look:

This is what her "plug" looked like. It is soft, striated, has almost no scent, and is has mucus in it. Her regular stool should look more like little llama pellets, or like rabbit pellets. If you don't know what llama or rabbit poop look like, then google it.

Llamas also all defecate in a few specified areas. This is similar to habits in wild camelid species, like the guanaco, from which the llama was domesticated. Here (below) the cria learns to defecate in the "poop pile."

When the cria is first born the bones and ligaments have not all set completely. She will look a little crooked for the first few weeks until she grows into her body. Here (below) is a picture from the front, to show her wobbly legs.

Another picture demonstrating how stretchy the newborn cria is:

While the cria is wobbly, her strength is astounding. She climbs up and down the hill all by herself within 24 hours:

Last, but certainly not least, here is a video of some "baby steps":

A new day!

Here she is at 24 hours! She is all dried off and vigorously nursing!

Below is May getting some extra breakfast (make that milk Mama!)

Below are May and daughter standing on the hill in the backyard.

Daughter nursing!

The cria is just as soft as she looks! No matter how many births I see, each one is a miracle. This birth was no different. May carried this little cria for 11 months and is not vigilantly caring for her. I hope that every person may have the chance to whitness a birth.

Thank you everyone for checking in with White Mountain Llamas! We appreciate your support!

Congradutlations May! Its a girl!

This morning between 8:00 and 10:00 White Mountain Queen of the May gave birth to a 35 pound female cria. The cria's sire is Fabyan (see the history entry of this blog). She was standing within minutes and nursing within hours. May is proving to be an excellent mother. Auntie Bella is very supportive and they both watch over the young one like hawks.

The three llovely llamas will be moved up to their summer pasture on the outskirts of Woodsville in a week or two. Please feel free to stop by and visit our new baby!

Below is May and her Cria after a couple attempts to nurse. Both rest after such a new experience. This pictures was taken at 11:00 AM.

Addition to White Mountain Llamas!

This beautiful llama is Arethusa. She is Bella's grandmother. She has been welcomed back to the White Mountain Llama herd. This girl has given us a range of wonderful possibilities. She is a very nice breeding animal, she shows well, and she has beautiful fleece! We will see what the next few years has in store for her!

She may take up residence at Green Mountain College in the fall, helping to utilize extra grass that cannot be efficiently grazed by the other livestock.

Welcome to the herd Arethusa!

Spring Pictures and Update

Shearing season is upon us! If you would like to have your llama or sheep shorn please contact Erika and Hana. We will begin shearing after May 19! A little "spring foot clip" never hurt either! We offer training, information, education, and services. Don't hesitate to contact us!

Here are some wonderful spring pictures that our Aunt Sue took for us. Thanks Aunt Sue!

Here is a beautiful contrast of colors: Brooke and Rosie are resting on Bella's back for a break between excursions in the snow

May visits with her good friend, Rosie

Bella greets Rosie as well

Hana scoops up Brooke - what a poof ball!

Bella scoops up Brooke!

Bella looks back at Brooke for a quick kiss!

Bella and Hana visit with Rosie
Ethan explores the snowy wonderland

Brooke plays in the llama hay pile

May and Bella give Brooke kisses

And more kisses!

Thanks for visiting our site and supporting our farm! Have a wonderful Spring!

Erika and Hana

Spring in the White Mountains

This spring White Mountain Llamas is one of the first flowers to bloom. Hana and Erika are drafting a business management plan (our first ever). Gee, is it fun! We are setting goals and guidelines for what we want to accomplish. We are looking at prominent animals from other farms to bring to our herd to start breeding for athletic, public relation, and healthful animals that produce lots of and a variety what we love - fiber!

Animals that strike my interest for a future breeding program are resistant to parasites and are healthful throughout their aging years with proper exercise and nutrition. Its important to have a breeding program that embraces healthy animals, and not just good-looking or high-producing ones. It is convenienc that many times an animal that is put together well (has nice confirmation) will be a healthier animal throughout its life.

Erika will be graduating college in about 14 months and we are beginning to look at llovely llamas for our new farm! As a strong advocate of animal shelters and rescue efforts, White Mountain Llamas will probably go to shelters to adopt most farm animals other than the breeding llamas we will be working with. In the future there may be alpacas, llamas, sheep, and perhaps a haflinger or a dairy goat added to the farm if the management plan, feasibility plan, and other aspects of our environment allow it to happen.

What a lovely spring this is turning out to be! Best wishes to everyone for a happy and healthful spring!

Happy New Year

Hana has been spinning like a whirlwind since Christmas came with her new spinning wheel and we are going to start selling hand-crafted scarves and yarn! Here are some pictures of our scarves and some of the animals that used to be attached to the wool!

The llamas are thoroughly enjoying Vermont. Getting used to the cows has been their biggest challenge so far...they made wonderful hawk-like noises the first few times they came across one!

May and Bell:

Bella:

Bella, next to the calf hutch:

At Home in Vermont

White Mountain Llamas participated in a Farm to School Day today at the Poultney Elementary School. Ethan Allen and Dust Bunny, two of our angoras went to the school and we brought llama wool, two sets of carders, and home-made drop spindles to show the students how to spin! It was a very successful day with each class spending 15 minutes going to whatever station they chose. Many new children know how to spin today as a result! There were farm animals, food comparisons and tasting, butter making, and much more!

The llamas are residing with Erika near Green Mountain College currently and are having lots of fun in their newest residence hanging out with cows! The llamas are very vocal around the cows and are a riot to watch interacting with these strange new creatures!

As a strong advocate of food security and learning White Mountain Llamas c0-owner, Erika, has been learning and teaching about local, historical food preservation at Green Mountain College. So far workshops that have been done are apple sauce and sauerkraut, milk preservation, meat processing, and animal husbandry.

"Food is the vessel of Life.
Because Life is another name for God,
Food could be called "the vessel of God.
If you truly respect and revere the Spirit
Then shouldn’t the first thing you do
Be to build a shrine within your own body?"

Eiwan IshidaGenmai, (Tokyo: Japan Pub. 1989)
www.southrivermiso.com

Hand made soap and herbal products

Hana and I are beginning a new side business called Pro-Pos-In-Tea, which is an abbreviation for pro-positive intentions. It involves making soaps and herbal products like lotions. If you would like to know more about it please visit our other website!

Thank you for visiting our site and have a wonderful day!

Farmer's Market, Littleton, NH

Starting on June 17th White Mountain Llamas will have their first stand at the farmer's market in Littleton, New Hampshire (downtown by Rockie's Video). We will be bringing our wool products!

Our angora rabbits, Rosie and Brooke

We hope to bring llamas and angoras to the stand every Sunday! We will also be hosting a myriad of classes. A trait that White Mountain Llamas prides ourselves on is the diversity of events we can plan and give information about. An example of a few classes we can offer are:

From the Farm:
Spinning and Wool Processing
Origami for Health and Wellbeing
Knitting, Crocheting, or Weaving
Dry/Needle Felting
Wet Felting
Jewelry making
Llama or Rabbit Husbandry
"Llama Whispering" (can be applied to other animals)

Dowsing Theory Classes:
Agriculture Dowsing
Husbandry/Pet Dowsing
Dowsing Chakras
Dowsing Herbs
Dowsing Earth Leylines/Crystals

If you are interested stop by the Littleton Farmer's Market or email us at whitemountainllamas@hotmail.com