It has ben an exciting start to the season of llama births! Do you know the gestation period for a llama is 11 months and 2 weeks (minimally)? So we wait almost 12 months to see if we will be blessed with successful births after the careful breeding selections made the year before. And compared to our nine month human gestational peiod, in my opinion, a year seems too long to be pregnant! The breeding season in Montana is necessarily short. We don't want to breed too early in the season and have a baby born in the snow. The babies also need time to grow and thicken their fleece for the upcoming long, cold winters.
Some of the female llamas are proven, meaning they have already had at least one baby, called a cria. These are almost always very simple births, usually unassisted (we don't have to do anything but watch, or find the cria running around the pasture one day!) Maidens are different. Although they often instinctively know exactly what to do, some need help with the birth of their first baby.
So the birthing season has finally arrived! As of Memorial Day weekend, 2024, we have had three births! Bees Funkadelic Komotion, call name Karma, had her second cria, after being bred last spring to one of our awesome herd sires, Star Best Bet. He and Karma have had a beautiful daughter! Some of you may remember her first little girl (born April 2023),call name Dottie, never leaves her side. Karma, when she first came to our ranch, was bred, but that was not known to us. Karma had her first baby at 9 PM that winter in the snow! Karma and Dottie are always together in the pasture. So just like those of us who had kids kind of close together in age, each of Karma's daughters are vying for momma's attention! They are usually seen foraging about or lying together as a family in the pasture, Karma and her two beautiful daughters. Her newest daughter has yet to be named, but once her personality provides some insight to help us with that, we will officially name her and she will have her own page here on the website.
May 17 was a rough day for a cria to be born. Wind gusts were up to 50 mph here on the mountain, and the hail was coming down sideways. It was to be the first birth for Star Prime Pattern, call name Star. Sergi, one of our Ovcharkas, gave the warning call, barking other llama away from Star as she tried to birth her cria. I was almost finished with work, and Herve was in town, so it was another 45 minutes before I could free up to go into the pasture. The birth was not progressing. Crias are usually born with their head and either one or both legs coming first. In Star's case, her baby's head was exposed fully, but neither leg had accompanied it. Herve was quickly on his way back, as I tried to help this baby. You can usually get your finger around the "elbow" of a leg, and in straightening it, the baby is typically born pretty quickly. In this case, both legs were folded completely under the torso, and even trying to change the baby to a sideways position in utero was not working. When Herve arrived, we were able to get her into the barn at least, and out of the truly awful weather, but there had still been no progress with the birth. Our mobile veterinarian, Dr. Kaylee Senior, was about 45 minutes away, but when she arrived with her two assistants, things moved along like clockwork. After trying to reposition the baby as much as she could, ultimately she had an assistant draw up a syringe of lidocaine, and administered what I would call an epidural to Star! Dr. Senior was then able to expose enough of each little foot to attach obstetrical chains and at last, pulled a perfect little silver colored male cria into the world! I had never seen this technique used before - bravo and congratulations to Dr. Senior and her expert team! If this birth had been in the wild, or unwitnessed here at the ranch, neither the baby nor the mom would be alive today. Instead, God has indeed provided us with the help we needed. We give all the glory to God, with special thanks that He sent Dr. Senior!
We were absolutely delighted when 5 days later, our most prolific llama, Star Premium Property, aka Momma Llama, gave birth (UNASSISSTED!!!) to a beautiful baby girl. As is his behavioral routine, Sergei let us know something was going on in the pasture, and sure enough, we had a new baby, already up and walking about! Once again, it was a day for Herve to be doing our chores in town, but this time, I had literally just finished work and could go right out to the pasture. I called Herve to let him know, (he was incredulous, asking, "will we have a baby every time I have to go into town?") and although he rushed straight back, this was completely different than our most recent experience. I was able to tie Sergei up to keep him from being his very protective self, and got the new baby into the barn, which was less than 10 feet from where I found her. Momma followed immediately. Since it was overcast and rain or snow was called for, I was so fortunate that Star and her little girl were also right there at the entrance to the barn, and they both came in as well! I was able to sequester them all into safety and at least a drier and less windy location. Herve arrived and made it so that each momma was only with her own baby and had all the room they needed to continue to bond and humm to their little ones.
As a side note, Momma Llama was one of the first llama we had purchased when Windy Ridge Llama Ranch began. We had driven all the way from Montana to Star Llama in Dundee, Michigan, where we bought her. She not only had been bred by the Brants before we came to pick her up, but we puchased her along with her four month old baby girl by her side. That little girl was Star! So momma and daughter had babies, both within the same week - awesome!
The bond between llamas and their babies is incredibly strong. It seems to be a lot like us in so many ways! Our unborn babies get used to our voice and heartbeat, and llamas yet to be born have listened to their momma humming for almost a year! They know their mommas hum, even with a whole herd of other llamas humming around them. Once they give birth, they, like us, are unable, well, unwilling, to part with them even for a second! Llama mommas are fiercely protective of their babies while being so extraordinarily gentle with them. I love to capture the "nose to nose" picture of a momma and her new cria (I will try not to post too many of them, but my heart just melts when I see them snuggling together) My phone/camera battery is almost always depleted of charge after I've gone out to check on the llamas.
If you sit in the pasture - I have a rope swing hanging off a gigantic pine tree - and you listen, all the llamas are talking. They hum, coo, grunt, and yes, they do occasionally spit (!) but they have a beautiful language that they share with their human friends and care givers. I have often just sat in the pasture to pray to God, thanking Him for all our blessings, and it truly overwhelms my senses. My heart is full of the Spirit, the scent of the pine trees is everywhere, and the beauty and grandeur of the mountains surround me. And usually, while petting an Ovcharka or two, I am listening to the love language of the llama.