Thursday, March 13, 2014
Alpaca Births (from a 9 year old's perspective)
An extra hand
My youngest brother, Zack, has grown up with the alpacas and he adores them! Zack has Down syndrome and is 9 years old. I call him "the alpaca whisperer" because the alpacas feel so comfortable around him and he is so good with them!
Zack has attended an alpaca birth or two and loves (LOVES) the birthing process; being there, photos, videos - he loves it all! His frequent questions when spending time with the alpacas are, "Who is pregnant and has a baby in their belly?" and "Can we get the baby out of her belly!" To a 9 year old, 11.5 months seems like FOREVER!
This past year Kelly (my mentor) and I had to assist getting the shoulders out during a delivery, as the cria was 22 pounds. My mom acted as photographer and got some "great" shots of the action. Zack was very excited to see the photos and refers to them frequently! He had to write a paper for his class at school and he informed me that he was going to write about the alpaca birth. His sentence was 'One Time Amy Helped Pull a Baby alpaca ouT.' Along with a lovely illustration depicting an alpaca giving birth, complete with the head coming out!
I don't know what his teacher gave him for the paper, but in my opinion the paper was an A+! Zack is certainly a little farmer in training and he will be attending as many alpaca births as possible.
The paper
Zack's first alpaca birth!