Parsons' Prairie Farm

I won’t lie and say that the last 5 months or so has been the best.  There has been a lot of worry, a little sickness and then a lot more worry.  We have had weeks around here where it didn’t seem like one thing was going our way.  And to add to the stress and worry, the winter has seemed to have lasted forever!  But we have had many, many good things happen the last few months as well.  Along with that bad winter, we received much snow and a changed weather pattern that has brought enough moisture to end our drought.  Our ponds have filled back up and our pastures are green once again.  We were able to re-stock the ponds a few weeks ago and just this weekend have gotten our garden planted for the year.   The hens began laying eggs this winter and we now have fresh, delicious eggs every day.  So now that it looks like Spring has finally arrived, we just needed that push, that little momentum shift to begin seeing life on the warm, bright, sunny side again.  And that little momentum that we needed arrived on Thursday as the first cria born on our farm.

We had done a little breeding last spring, but to tell you the truth, the summer was so horribly hot that we didn’t want to put the alpacas through the stress of a test.  We had determined that several of the alpacas that we had bred were not sound.  We did not know for sure about PowderKeg but felt certain that she was not pregnant.  Nevertheless, we kept watch just in case.  On Thursday afternoon she delivered our first cria on the farm, a male.   His name is Momentum, PARSONSPF Momentum to be exact, but his around the barn nickname will be Mo.  Our sweet Great Pry, Balto was there watching over him the minute he was born.

Then the alpaca aunties took over, cleaning him up and making him presentable.

It looks like Mo hates it when adults spit and try to smooth down his fiber just like human kids hate is when their moms do the same thing.  Uggh!  Why do us moms always do that???

Now, at 3 days old, Mo is a clean, happy, beautiful and energetic new cria.

You just never know when your momentum is going to change for the better!