Never one to dilly-dally around, our herd matriarch Afrodita jumped the gun as usual and delivered her cria a little early, but spunky and fully mature. Lady Liberty of Genesis made her arrival at 10 months, 20 days gestation, far short of the usual 11.5 month alpaca gestation. 14 lbs and with her two little front "toofies" erupted, Liberty's joints are strong and she was up nursing 4 times in her first hour of life.
Beautiful Liberty has captivating Cleopatra eyes. Her bright fleece is dense, and crimpy, curly bundles cover her cute little body and neck. Liberty is the first offspring of our full Peruvian Med. Rose Grey herdsire Incan Legacy of Genesis. We are so delighted with the results that we plan to breed Afrodita back to Incan Legacy when she is ready in 3 weeks. Next time we are hoping for an equally wonderfully fleeced cria, a female if we are lucky, and perhaps rose grey if we are really blessed! It is so hard to wait nearly a whole year to see the results of these breeding decisions!!
No worries about this little one's immune competence, her blood IgG level at 24 hrs of age was an astounding 3173, a level rarely seen. Alpacas do not receive their mother's antibodies through the placenta like humans do. Like other ruminants, they must nurse well in their first 24 hrs of life to receive the colostrum (first milk) that is so full of antibodies.