Back to Blogging!

Well I can’t believe how long it has been since I’ve posted on the blog.
It is not because things have been dull and boring but rather extremely
busy, as usual!

Cria season last year went extremely well with the only exception of the
cria that needed resuscitation and Mom's prolapsed uterus. (see blog posted
dated July 09 for details). I’m happy to report that mom healed very
nicely and an ultrasound performed 3 months later confirmed she was ready
to re-breed. Hopefully this pregnancy will go much more smoothly.
The total cria count was 12 with an even split of males and females. In the next few weeks we will getting pictures up online of all the new animals, we will certainly keep you posted!

This winter was especially long and cold this year. Taking much more of a
toll on the two legged caretakers than the animals themselves. They are
all watching the grass grow and can’t wait to get on green pastures.

Lambing season began in Jan. and they all waited for the coldest days to
deliver. Mom’s and babies did very well despite the cold temps. It is
amazing how hardy lambs are. Of course they were all secure in a barn and
lambs were dressed with alpaca coats.

We have added two new alpacas to the herd. Gold Medalist, a 2 year old fawn
male from New York and Liza Jane, a 2 year old medium brown female also
from New York. We are excited to add these genetics to our herd. GM
already has some babies on the way so we can’t wait to see what he can
produce.

New Video: Grand Central Bird Station

We posted a new video last night: Grand Central Bird Station - Enjoy a few minutes of the Hummingbirds and Orioles playing around the feeders!

Note: If playback stutters, hit pause and allow it to fully buffer. If you have an old computer, you can also turn HD Off in the Top Right Corner.

Grand Central Bird Station from goldentouchfarm on Vimeo.

Believe in Miracles - They do happen!

Friday started off as any typical day, morning chores where done so we decided with such beautiful weather we would take the boat out and do some fishing. We had a great day on the ocean and returned home around 4:00pm.

As always when returning home from an outing the first thing I do is a check on Mothers and new cria. Upon my entrance into the barn I saw a newborn cria laying lifeless in the hay with membranes still covering his face. Immediately my heart sunk and I flew over the railing, when I touched him he was cool, not breathing and had no pulse. Mom was a first time mom and she was very distraught.

I was not hopeful at all but instincts kicked in and I cleared the membranes off his face and then swung him upside down to clear any fluid that might be in his lungs. I then began CPR and mouth to mouth. After a couple of minutes he gasped his first breath. At first I couldn't believe it but it was actually him coming to life. Not only was mom standing over my shoulder watching me but twenty other alpacas witnessed this miracle with me.

I continued working on him until his breathing was at a regular rate, dried him up and put a coat on to help get his temperature up. I put him in a stall and proceeded to focus on mom and getting her in with her new son.

With my adrenaline pumping from what just happened I looked at mom and realized not only was the placenta hanging she had a prolapsed uterus. The uterus was hanging about a foot out from her body. I got her into the stall with her new son and then ran in to call the vet. I got my vets voice mail and when he didn't call back in 10 minutes I knew I needed a back up plan so I put a call out to my secondary vet.

Thankfully I was on the phone with her in 10 minutes and she said she would come but it would take her a while so in the mean time I was to keep the uterus as clean as possible, rinse with clean water and coat it with sugar. Sugar helps shrink the size making it easier to put back. While waiting for the vet I worked at getting this new little miracle baby nursing and was successful. I am still amazed when I think how quickly he bounded back to life. Mom was very cooperative despite how uncomfortable she was. She also let me milk her to get more milk for the little guy.

When the vet arrived she too was amazed at the cria and how he had rebounded. While mom was lying down she made her first attempt at replacing the uterus without success. Mom was still contracting and would put it out as the vet was trying to get it back in. We decided to give mom a little sedation to help relax her and then make another attempt in a standing position. If that was not going to work then off
to Tufts University we would have to go for surgery.

The second miracle happened when she got the uterus in and it stayed. The vet then sutured her vulva closed and she was started on antibiotics and Banamine for pain and inflammation. The next 12-24 hours were critical. I stayed in the barn for most of the night making sure the cria was nursing and that mom was not trying to expel the uterus. I am happy to say both mom and her son are doing wonderful, better than any of us expected. Mom is not totally out of the woods yet but we are all very optimistic. Her sutures will be removed tomorrow and the antibiotics will continue for the rest of the week. Providing no complications she'll be good as new. the jury is still out on the new little guys name but I promise you it will be a special one. Here is a picture of this bundle of joy.

Our Newest Cria! - It's a girl

photo (6), originally uploaded by goldentouchfarm.

It has been raining every day for the last 3 weeks but we managed to snap some photos in between passing showers of the girls out in the fields. Here is a shot of our newest addition to the herd, name coming soon!

New Video: Hummingbirds in the Rain

Hummingbird Sneak Peak - Summer '09 from goldentouchfarm on Vimeo.

We have been tremendously busy this summer (if you can even refer to it as that) so you will have to excuse the lack of video posts. Although we haven't been posting we certainly have been capturing tons of great footage, it is just a matter of getting the time to sit down and edit them all together.

This video was taken yesterday and sums up what the first month of Summer felt like for us - Cold, Wet, and Busy just like the Hummingbirds themselves!

NEAFP in the News!

picture from the Herald News article - A New Fleece on Life

Recently the Herald News came out to our mill in Fall River to do a story on our Fiber Processing business, The New England Alpaca Fiber Pool (http://www.neafp.com). For those of you who do not know, along with running our Alpaca Farm, we also got involved in the commercial processing of Alpaca Fiber over 7 years ago. As new Alpaca Owners, one of the first questions we asked ourselves was "What can we do to utilize this fiber?" - We soon learned about NEAFP, which was conveniently located practically in our back yard and we became very involved in the day to day activities of commercially processing Alpaca in the United States into finished products for resale.

Since those early days we learned a tremendous amount about running a textile business in the United States, and eventually took over the company 5 years ago. Over the last 2 years we have seen tremendous growth in how much fiber we process each year, as well as how many products are being resold by Alpaca Farms to the general public.

Although the Economy is weak across the board right now, we couldn't be more excited about the future of our business and the U.S. Alpaca Fiber Industry as a whole. As more and more farms embrace the Fiber Side of their business, the animals and their fiber are being introduced to more and more people. Their charisma alone can win any cold heart over and we believe the entire industry is in for some amazing growth as more and more people embrace alternative investments and support local, sustainable businesses and agriculture in their communities.

When you have a free minute, head on over to the Herald News and read the article

We will be a vendor at the Providence Open Market June 6th!

We are happy to announce that we will be setting up as a Vendor at the Providence Open Market this upcoming Saturday June 6th from 10am to 4pm. The open market is located just outside of Lippits Park, on the East Side of Providence.

We will be selling the majority of all of our Alpaca Products - including Survival Socks, Casual Dress Socks, Knitter's Yarns, Rugs, Tote Bags, Hats, Gloves, and all sorts of other great items!

"The Providence Open Market, now in its 3rd season, is the city’s only Open-Air Market where you can shop for handmade artisan goods and fine art. Now located in picturesque Lippitt Park, on the east side of Providence, at the juncture of Hope Street and Blackstone Blvd, where Providence borders Pawtucket."

Click Here for Directions

We hope to see you then!

Great Video and Article about Alpaca Farming

Alpaca farm prepares for World Alpaca Conference

You can also find the full article by America's Heartland here

Catch up on all 45 of our Farm Videos!

I was just going through our Vimeo account and it is hard to believe that we have uploaded 45 videos of our farm in the last year and a half. We have had such a tremendous response to them, and it really helps us showcase our farm to people across the globe. The best part about it is that it is a lot easier than you could ever imagine.

 

Believe me, I am not the most technically savy person in the house hold, yet capturing, editing, uploading, and sharing these videos is do-able by even me. I also have to give a lot of credit to Vimeo.com - their quality cannot be beat and the community is very helpful and friendly. YouTube.com might have a lot of eyeballs, but I have always believed in Quality over Quantity, and the immaturity that runs rampant through their comments are a huge turn off.

Below are all of our videos, catch up on all the ones you missed!

 

 

Hatching Chicks!

A few days ago the Chickens started hatching in the incubator and we now have 13 little chicks! There are some Silkies and the rest are Rhode Island Reds. We have had chickens for the last year and a half and absolutely love having Fresh Eggs each morning. Our neighbors, friends and family has also enjoyed the extras! You really can't beat the taste, I don't think we will ever go back to grocery store bought eggs.

Video: The End of Mass-Marketing w/ Seth Godin

As a small farm constantly looking for new ways to connect with our local communities through grass roots approaches, we found this video very inspiring. Most certainly worth the 15 minutes!

Breif Synopsis: Seth Godin argues the Internet has ended mass marketing and revived a human social unit from the distant past: tribes. Founded on shared ideas and values, tribes give ordinary people the power to lead and make big change. He urges us to do so.

Handheld Hummingbird Feeders

We recently purchased some handheld hummingbird feeders from http://www.theplantwhisperer.com and we are excited to see if we can get our growing H.Bird population accostumed to them.

It will be amazing to capture some video of Hummers eating out our hands, especially for when people come to visit the farm.

Here is a demonstration video of it in action:

The World According to Monsanto Documentary - Video

The World According to Monsanto is an in-depth Documentary that looks at the domination of the agricultural industry from one of the world’s most insidious and powerful companies.

You can watch the other 9 parts in DVD Quality on YouTube

20% OFF at our Online Farm Store!

Didn't get Alpaca Socks for Mother's Day? Well we can fix that, we are offering 20% off our entire catalog for the rest of the month of May. Use the COUPON CODE:
"motheralpaca" at checkout to receive the discount on all orders of $30 or more.

If you have any questions don't hesitate to contact us!

http://www.GoldenTouchNaturals.com - Our online Farm Store!

HD Video: Hummingbird Sneak Peak!

We were glad to finally see the sun come out this weekend after 6 rain filled days and the birds enjoyed it too. After Mother's Day family dinner we managed to capture some great shots of the Hummingbirds getting out and stretching their wings at the feeders. Enjoy this sneak peak video!

Hummingbird Sneak Peak from goldentouchfarm on Vimeo.