Saturday, September 28, 2013
TWINS BORN AT DOUBLE D
Well our very last pregnancy of the year resulted in twins. We were beginning to wonder if Kontikki was really pregnant since she was due two weeks ago. We had some difficulty getting her pregnant last summer so we decided to field breed her to Torbio's Don Mateus and it took.
Friday morning, Dave headed out to go pheasant hunting at the crack of dawn and I was extremely busy putting the finishing touches on the store for National Alpaca Farm Days. I had to dash to Walla Walla to get a crown reseated and did not even go out to the barn. I headed down the road and my phone rang. It was Dave back from Pheasant hunting and he said I think Kontikki had her cria. "Great, go check on it and let me know what it is." The phone rang again and Dave said, "You are not going to believe this. It is twins." Oh my Gosh!!! I was beside myself with excitement and could not get out of the dental chair fast enough.
Kontikki had a 12 pound girl and a 10 pound boy. The girl is extremely vigorous and was up and nursing immediately. She is straight and strong. The little boy is not quite as strong and down on his floppy little pasterns but he seems to have a strong will to live. We milked some of Mom's colostrum and gave it to him. He has a good sucking reflex so that makes me happy. We also supplemented with some frozen goat colostrum that we had on hand. It took him a little longer to stand then his sister but he was soon up staggering around.
What great timing! The twins were a big hit at National Alpaca Farm Days today. A reporter and photographer came out from the Walla Walla Union Bulletin. So by tomorrow the twins at Double D Will be famous in the Valley. We can hardly wait to see the Sunday morning edition.
Twins are extremely rare to be born of alpacas. Only about one in 3,000 births result in twins and usually only one survives. Dave said one source indicated there are only about two dozen known twins that have both survived.
We named the twins, Zephyr (West wind) and Solara (sun). We have lots of both in Touchet. We remain cautiously optimistic about Zephyr but will hope for the best.
Zephyr