On the morning of September 11, 2013, as I approached the barn, I noticed that all the alpaca girls had their heads peering either out the gate or over the gate eagerly awaiting my arrival. I greeted them and then did my usual thing of feeding the triplet kids followed by gathering goat feed and alpaca feed in buckets to deliver to the usual feed pens with the goats getting fed first.
As I walked into the alpaca pen, the girls and the two crias milled around in a nervous manner. I walked around the pen and on the other side of their shelter lay stretched out a beautiful sun-kissed cria. She raised her head up as I approached and allowed me to cradle her in my arms. I knew her mother had to be Svetlanaa or Lana as I call her. But Lana was too busy eating hay to even pay attention. I carried the little girl to her mother's side and left the pen to give them a chance to bond.
Throughout the day I made various trips to the barn to check on the bonding process. While I did see Sunkissed nursing a couple of times, I also noticed that she is more aloof with the other alpacas and very unlike the other two crias that are always at each other's side.
Sunkissed is now 6 days old and still not clingy like the other crias. She is growing quickly and is a beautiful light gold-tipped cria. This is wonderful to have two female crias born in less than a month. It has been a good year!
