Two crias have already been born in the past eight days...

Harpursville had April, Unity has Riata, Isadora and five more expectant alpacas

Holly S. Edwards
Fri, 05/26/2017 - 3:30pm
Riata and little Watson, her alpaca baby, called a cria, have a roll in the sunshine and dirt less than four days after he was born at Northern Solstice Alpaca Farm in Unity.
Riata, before giving birth to Watson days after this photo was taken.
Sleepy new-born Watson, trying hard to stay awake.
Isadora’s cria, born 25 days earlier than expected, takes his first shaky steps. You can watch video of his birth and first steps on the Northern Solstice Alpaca Farm YouTube page.
Isadora and her new cria, born early in the morning on May 26.

Story Location:
141 Crosby Brook Road
Unity, ME
United States

    UNITY — For two months, give or take a day, more than 2 million people at a time were tuned in to YouTube, watching a giraffe named April and waiting for her to give birth to a calf. In the rural Waldo County town of Unity, the folks at Northern Solstice Alpaca Farm took notice of how popular watching “baby” animals being born was and decided to open their live cameras up to a limited number of people so they could monitor the eight alpacas on the farm, each due to give birth to a cria.

    Access to the cameras requires downloading a free app on your mobile device and/or using the Internet Explorer on your desktop, and the fee to cover the cost is $5.

    On May 18, Riata gave birth to healthy boy that has since been named Watson. This morning Isadora also gave birth to a boy, this one 25 days earlier than expected. Isadora’s cria does not yet have a name.

    “He weighed in at 18 pounds, which is normal weight. Things are looking good so far!” the crew posted on the farm’s Facebook page.

    A piece of sad news came out early yesterday morning, when the farm posted that one of the expectant alpacas and her unborn cria died during pregnancy complications. Sugar Magnolia, “Maggie,” had had a successful pregnancy in her past, giving birth to Windjammer, now an adult male living at Harvard Alpaca Ranch. The veterinarians May 25 tried to save Maggie and her cria, but neither of them made it.

    And now there are five pregnant alpacas left, with the hope that five healthy crias will be born soon.

    Northern Solstice Alpaca Farm is open Saturdays and Sundays, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m., as well as Wednesdays, Thursdays and Fridays, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. The farm is closed Mondays and Tuesdays.

    To view videos of the two new crias, their births and the other alpacas on the farm, visit their YouTube channel and their Facebook page. The farm also held shearing day on May 21, and 35 alpacas are now ready for real summer weather (like the rest of us.)

    Northern Solstice Alpaca Farm in Unity, and its two Maine Alpaca Experience stores, one in Northport on Route 1 and the new one in downtown Ellsworth (grand , are owned and operated by Robin Fowler Pratt and Corry Pratt.

    Related links:

    • Warming your heart and your hands, with alpaca fiber
    • Northern Solstice Alpaca Farm website

    Reach Editorial Director Holly S. Edwards at hollyedwards@penbaypilot.com; 207-706-6655

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