Cataleya chewing her cud.
Pretty girl
Silly Catlinite wanting to eat his hay, but not liking the goat laying below his hay bin.
Cataleya and Luna, our Angora goat. Cataleya is protective of Luna and treats her like a cria. Luna doesn't seem to mind one bit.
Sweet little Luna. One of my favorite things about Luna is how she will run quickly to me, her wool flying and flopping every which way, as soon as she hears me enter the pasture.
9 comments :
Ok, I've got a few questions for you...
1) What do your llamas' names mean? (I'm never sure I'm pronouncing them right, but they sure are pretty.)
2) What is a "cria"? (And what a wonderful unexpected development to have Cataleya be protective of Luna!)
3) The tag in Luna's ear, is this a mandatory goat thing? (She has got *the* sweetest face.)
Wish I were sitting in that barn hanging with your critters with you - you make it sound like the most peaceful thing in the world.
Luna looks so content. I've never touched angora goat wool. Are you planning on using it? Also since Luna is a girl are you planning on a little Luna in the future?
She is still just too cute!
Thanks for stopping by farmgirl!
I'll try to answer your questions:
1)I have no idea what their names mean. Silly me, I never asked! haha
I purchased both of our llamas through a farm in Indiana and had them transported here(Catlinite was actually being used as an alpaca guard in Ohio, so he was picked up first) and that farm's going trend was to give all of their llamas a surname of CAT. You can see some of the llamas sold(including ours) and the website of the farm with the link below:
http://www.autumnhillllamas.com/llamas_sold.htm
2)Cria= Baby Llama (Yes, it is pretty cool that Cataleya is so nurturing and protective of Luna).
3)I'm not sure about the tag. I don't know Luna's history, except that she was bought at a livestock auction. I'm actually trying to figure out a way to remove it(and the awful green paint on her rump). It's really ugly and looks uncomfortable.
Yes, the barn is a wonderful place to be. And I know you are already feeling the same with your own barn with only the dreams and images of your own critters calling it home. I look forward to reading and seeing more updates as your dreams do come true!
sugarcreekstuff,
Yes, I do plan to use her wool. My intention all along was to have a small fiber farm as I do enjoy knitting and want to learn hand-carding/spinning.
I still have my heart set on an alpaca, a churro sheep, a pygora and possibly another angora goat.
I had never touched Angora fiber (Mohair) before either. Even with Luna's wool all matted, it still has a fine and silky feel to it. I can't wait to feel how it will be once she is sheared and all of her new wool grows back in!
Funny you asked about baby Lunas', because I was just talking to my husband today about that same thing. And we think it would be a wonderful idea in the future!
Christy!
Thanks for stopping by. We think so too! She is such a sweet and social creature, too.
It's funny, but, yesterday in the mail, for some unknown reason, I got a free copy of the magazine "Hobby Farms". Do you know this magazine? Cool articles. Anyway, they have an article this month on 'Raising Bottle Babies 101' and mentioned the word "cria". I swear I had never seen this word before reading it in your post and, now, there it is again! Thanks for the definition. :-) The llama section was actually fascinating because it said to never, *never* bottle feed a cria because it has a high liklihood of later developing something called ABS (aberrant behavior syndrome). I'm sure you've heard of it, but wow - how interesting that something like this could occur from such a gentle, human act?! Sorry for taking up so much space here. :-)
The Hobby Farms magazine sounds like something I'd be interested in. How can I get a free copy, too?
In response to your comment/question about imprinting and bottle feeding llamas, yes bad things can happen. In the llama owners world this is called "Berserk Llama Syndrome"
And this mostly effects male llamas who have been bottle fed, babied and imprinted by humans, and not allowed to live like a llama baby/cri should.
Male llamas then grow up treating humans like llamas and don't have any respect for humans and often treat them as they would other male llamas.....not good.
And it happens more often than it should because when crias are born they are just so cute, soft, needy, and sweet. So it's easy for a human to want to cuddle, pet, and bottle feed them.
Also, keep in mind that llamas don't treat their crias like many other livestock. They don't lick their babies and rarely nuzzle or cuddle them. This doesn't mean they aren't nurturing, they are, but just in their own llama way.
That tag in her ear may be her "scrapie tag" which would help trace back to her farm of origin should there ever be a scrapie outbreak (a goat version of some of the cow diseases as best I remember)(and its extremely rare, so don't give it another thought). Somewhere on the tag it may say unlawful to remove. If you do remove it (they come out fairly often, one of mine is missing) make sure you hang onto it, and record the numbers on it just in case.
I usually take my coffee or wine down in the field and spend that time with the goats. In the summer they get to "free range" a bit.
Ok, well I was full of questions until i read everyone else's comments. So you're off the hook on a few accounts. First of all, is Luna the only goat you have? Does she accept the lamas as her herd and follow them around? I had a single goat for 24 hours and I would never want to do that again. Crying and stomping in alarm non-stop. Also, the paint on her bottom. Is that from tattooing? I know some places tattoo the tail webbing and it makes a holy mess. I'm sure at the least you will be able to get rid of it when you shear her. Have you done that yet? When do you plan to? I sheared Lucy when we got her and it was a looooooooooong affair with my husband's hair trimmers. No fun. And isn't it weird how their mohair feels so waxy? They're really not much fun to pet, I don't think. And Luna looks much sweeter than Lucy. She's such a brat with all the head butting of babies and all maybe that has just biased me against her. Now Louie... he's got a face to make a woman melt. Too bad you aren't closer or we could do a stud service!
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