Me, You, and Scrappy-Doo

I would like to introduce two new family members, Golden and Mizrahi.  The come to us from Mahart Farms (thank you, Marci!  They're sweet boys!), and are beautiful light colored  Suri boys.  Golden is fawn-colored, and Mizzie is white.  I am interested in experimenting with natural dyes, and we wanted to acquire a couple more lighter-colored fiber males. 

This is Golden:

Golden is about the same size as Atticus.  He is very vocal, and hums a LOT.  I think that will settle down once they all settle in to a routine.  He is a Suri, so his fiber will grow in "dreadlocks", whereas the Huacayas (Solomon and Atticus) will have fiber that makes them look like big puffballs.  We're going to call the vet and have them come out and do some dental work on this little dude.

Here is Mizrahi, or "Mizzie":



Mizzie is the smallest of the group, but he's sure scrappy!  He has a bit of a limp--his right shoulder required surgery early on in life, and so he's got some metal hardware embedded.  He's our bionic alpaca.  Being the smallest and having a limp doesn't slow him down AT ALL.  He kind of reminds me of Jerry in temperament and stature--small but mighty. 

We introduced them slowly to Atticus and Solomon, letting them sniff each other over the fence.  Marci recommended taking Atticus and Solomon out, and letting Golden and Mizzie in, so that they could get the lay of the land without being completely dominated.  We tried that.  I was a little worried that the older boys would pick on the newcomers.  That was not the case. 

Golden decided to take an aggressive stance right off the bat and went after Atticus.  Soon, the herd was thundering around the pasture, like cars zipping around a track.  It wasn't particularly warm outside, but I was afraid everybody would overheat, so we got the hose out.

We'd heard that spraying down chests and bellies would cool them down if they were overheated.  It hasn't been that warm a summer, and there is ample shade in the pasture, so it hadn't been an issue.  But, since the boys were all heated up from their run, and it was a tense situation for everyone anyway, we erred on the side of caution.

They LOVED the hose.  In fact, Solomon loved it so much, that he came close enough to me that I could practically touch him.  He kushed down and basked in the coolness.  Everyone finally settled down, and were soon calmly grazing. 

Golden and Mizzie were eager to explore their new home, and were soon nose-to-beak with chickens.  The hens were mildly curious, but were too busy avoiding Harry and his insatiable amorous advances to really care one way or the other.

Eventually, all was quiet, and a good nights' sleep was had by everyone.