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It was the 16th of May, 4 days to go before due date. With no signs of labour, I really wasn’t expecting what happened next.
Back from a swim (training for this ridiculous idea of mine to do the Come & Tri event 😬) I went to the shed to inject a poorly lamb. On my way, a white piece of fleece caught my attention. Going to clear it I realised it wasn’t a stretch of fibre but rather a baby alpaca, in big trouble. Under the nettle bush he lay there helpless, his mum and other alpacas at the top of the field - they’d all abandoned him.
We quickly gathered him up and ran them all into the shed. Identified mum, set up the heat lamp and rang the vet. Mum Elsa wasn't interested and didn’t go near him, he couldn’t stand and while he wanted to drink milk she wouldn’t let us latch him on. This was gonna be a long night.
We hatched a plan with Pete the vet to take him down the following morning and Mary would give him a plasma transfusion. We’d taken 3 of our boys to the Dick Vet in Edinburgh back in January. They each gave blood which vets spun into plasma for us to store should it be needed.
By 3am I couldn’t warm the wee fella up. Farmers bring lambs in all the time and so inside we went, in front of a heater on a thick bed of old quilts and blankets. He took bottles from us every 2 hours. And I mean every 2 hours - new parents I feel your sleep deprivation!
Old hands at plasma transfusion Gail and Mary, along with the team at Galedin Vets in Kelso, got to work. I went shopping for goats milk with our plan in place to care for him at home, with vets just a phone call away. They are superheroes but none of them will ever take this!
All that was needed was a name. We had nicknamed the wee fella Nettles, because that’s where he was born. After a group chat that was it settled - he even got a wee jacket with his name on 🥰
Nettles returned to my living room and crashed on his bed. The next 24 hours were taken hour by hour; he went flat, perked up and went flat. The modern apprentice, who has a full time job off farm, took shifts which meant we got 4 hours in a row each. I give him a hard time but honestly he was fab - just don’t tell him.
At 5am I came to take over to find Nettles sat upright, holding his head and hubby beaming with pride. “He’s gonna make it, night I’m off to bed’. Nettles rallied, then he found his legs. How on earth do you keep a baby alpaca in the house once mobile - you don’t!
It was a beautiful sunny Saturday and we took Nettles outside onto the grass. His mum Elsa came to the fence and seemed interested. He found his legs and was off walking with gusto. The campsite was pretty much full and I think by this stage every camper was watching, willing Nettles on.
We put him with his mum, she sniffed him but mainly kept her distance; until the modern apprentice tried to lift Nettles back in. Then she turned into a fire breathing anti aircraft rapid fire missile. She hurled herself at the MA in a full spit/kick assault. I did my best not to wet myself laughing because let’s face it many of us have had those moments where we do wish we could respond in such a way 😂🦙
The next morning mum & baby were reunited and the next miracle happened. She started to feed him; we only fed him 1 bottle once he was returned. We had some dicey moments when Hope kept trying to claim him, she even fed him but he wasn’t hers! After another night of up every two hours followed by obsessive weighing for the next couple of weeks, we finally breathed a sigh of relief.
Nettles is thriving. He’s as cute as a button, loves carrots from our visitors and is thoroughly spoiled by the other females. Sadly, the other two who we thought were pregnant weren’t. But Nettles really doesn’t mind. Big sister Poppy plays with him and he’s a proper little mischief maker.
Why not come and see for yourself, book a visit to meet and feed Nettles and the gang. Did you know you could also adopt him? He’ll make you smile no matter what’s going on.