Sad news and Beautiful news

This is the last photo I took of the gorgeous Sirocco Adelina. She was 1 day away from turning 2 weeks old. This was Saturday afternoon. By Sunday morning she had passed away. We're not entirely sure what took her life so young. But from experience, and in observing her symptoms (rapid, noisy breathing) - it was either a URI (upper respiratory infection - like a cold/flu) or a heart condition. (We lost Little Dante in similar circumstances at the start of the year at nearly the same age!)

Her mum and sisters were quarantined with her as soon as we discovered the symptoms, but so far no one else in any cage, including the rest of Adelina's family have shown any symptoms. We are having some miserable freezing cold and drizzly weather at the moment, which is not ideal for piggies. They all have as many cozy beds, hidey houses and blankets as I can cram into the cages - as well as cuddle sacks for those in the tower cage. But if I'm honest, THIS is the kind of weather that will bring on an attack of respiratory illness. So now we play the waiting game - analyzing every sneeze, every breathe... and hoping! 

To shed a bit of light into the gloom that has been the last few day, this find made my day! Giselle delivered one HUGE baby girl this morning (26th June 2012). Liam is the father, and this will be the first pedigree texel female from Liam that we've had born here! We called her 'Sirocco Arabella' (which means 'little lion'), and she will be staying here! 

Sirocco Arabella. Weighed in at 140g! (I thought Giselle had two bubs for sure! lol). 

Giselle and Arabella are separated from the main herd, which is standard for mums about to deliver - but with the current situation they will stay separated indefinitely for their own safety. Babies, new mums, pregnant mums and older pigs are the most vulnerable to winter illnesses. 

A week in litters.

This is Leilani, a choc himilayan coronet from Hazelron cavy stud. 

This is Bella Donna, one of our home-bred pedigree texel x purebred rex girls. 

And we all know Sebastian - the gorgeous pedigree texel. 

Sebastian has been busy, and both of these girls delivered his babies this week. Leilani on Wed the 20th June in the early hours of the morning, and Bella in the early hours of Friday the 22nd June. 

Leilani's babies. Two little boys and one little girl.

This is Sirocco Genoveva. She is a pedigree texel in P/E white. She may develop mum's himi points, but we won't know for a while.

This is Sirocco Gideon, he is a P/E white pedigree sheltie. He is going to have a beautiful beautiful coat. I actually haven't seen a fully white sheltie in person before... he's going to be hard to keep clean! lol

And this is Sirocco Galahad. He is a mix of white and gold. There may be some roaning to his coat, but I'm not 100% sure. It looks more like the gold on his body has white tips rather than solid white hairs mixed throughout... but I'm going to wait until his body is a little bigger to get a better look.




Bella's bubs - she deliver 4 good sized babies, 3 girls and 1 boy. All bubs are 3/4 texel, 1/4 rex. Which doesn't really mean anything in cavy terms - mostly that we won't know what these coats are going to do at this stage. It'll be another 'wait and see' situation. We should have some idea by 4 weeks, and know exactly by 3 months. There will be some bubs who end up looking texel, some will look rex and some might be somewhere in between.

This is Taylee. She is a gold agouti, gold and white curly coated girl. 

This is Tosca. She's a funky mix of gold, dilute chocolate agouti and white. 

This is Tiana, she's a pretty little D/E white (dark eyed white) with a hint of colour on one ear. 

And this is Tundra. He's also D/E white with a touch of cream by his ear. 

Cleo is home! (and she's bought two son's with her!)

This stunningly beautiful piggy you see before you is Cleo. She may seem a little familiar - or maybe her name seems familiar? If so, that would be because Miss Cleo was born here late last year to Alice and Liam. Her sister Chloe is one of my resident females (and one of my favourites!).

I can see Cleo becoming a favourite quick smart too! Look at that soft little face! Oh. My. Word!

This handsome man has been Cleo's friend for a little while (his name is Greg, and he is a stunning black/white sheba-coated man from unknown origins), and together they've recently had their first litter of 4 funky little baby boys.

Two of the four bubs came home with mum. I couldn't help myself! Check out these coats!

This little guy is 'Rocket'. He has mum's colouring with the cream/lemon agouti, cream and white, and the awesome funky rosettes from both mum and dad. His coat will keep growing upwards until it becomes too long and heavy, then it will start to cascade back to the ground giving him a kind of 'walking toupee' that sheba pigs get! 

Rocket from the other side. His little face and his coat-type remind me a lot of Beetlejuice actually - just without as much white!

And this is 'Gizmo'. He has the exact same coat as his brother Rocket... only he comes with curls as well!!!!

This is EXACTLY the kind of piggy I've been trying to find/breed for sometime now. He has about half a dozen rosettes that I can locate in all that fluff, and his curls really do head out in all directions like a sheba. The curls hide the direction of the coat a bit, so that it just looks like one big fluff ball - and he actually doesn't look that much different to an alpaca here... but I'm curious to see what he looks like all grown up. Will he just look like a messy alpaca, or will we get something totally unique?!

(if you have a pig with the sheba rosettes/length AND the curls like this - I'd love to see pics! - email me at eleb2000@hotmail.com).

These two were the bubs we had to leave behind. They're all currently 5 weeks old and will all have the funky, long crazy hair of mum and dad. If you're interested in either of the two remaining boys, please email me at eleb2000@hotmail.com and I'll forward on your details to the family who own them. (Pick up is from Brisbane/Goldcoast area).

Violet and Blaise welcome two Pedigree Sheltie bubs

This is Violet. (Pedigree Texel)

And this is Blaise. (Pedigree Sheltie)

And this is what you get when you mix Violet with Blaise! Two super sweet pedigree sheltie bubs. 

This cheeky little man is Sirocco Chase. He is a gold agouti and white boy, and weighed in at a very healthy 110g. 

This is Sirocco Charlotte, she is a lemon agouti and white sow, and weighed in at 105g. Two very good sized bubs! They just look so sweet together. 

They reminded me a lot of Violet's first litter back in January - two little boys - again, one darker, one lighter! (Texels that time as the daddy was a texel). 

Isla's Surprise bubs

The gorgeous Isla delivered three healthy bubba girls on Sunday the 10th June 2012. We were out at a family gathering all day, and came back to the wonderful surprise. Walters Sebastian Bear is the daddy (Pedigree texel). Isla's parents are Glenjolie Savannah (pedigree texel) and Lavender Vale Tex (pedigree texel) - so she is also pedigree texel, just missing a prefix in from of her name as the stud she was born at last year didn't quite finalize their registration process, and I cannot claim her as 'Sirocco' as she was not born here. 

These three girls will be pedigree texels as well, with the prefix 'Sirocco' in front of their names. The only time a stud can use their prefix in front of the name of one of their babies, is if the parent animals also come with a pedigree. There appears to have been some confusion around this from other studs. Pet stock cannot be given a prefix name or a pedigree. Pet stock can also not be introduced into a pedigree, no matter how spectacular their coat! (For those who attacked my Facebook page last week, if you have a browse through the hundreds of posts there and here on blogspot, you'll see this has NEVER happened at Sirocco. Your energy may be better spent elsewhere!). 

For those curious as to what can be added to a cavy pedigree, this might help. 

Pedigree Texel can be paired with:

*Pedigree Texel

*Pedigree Sheltie

*Pedigree Merino

*Pedigree Coronet

(and these breeds can all be interbred and still maintain the pedigree lines)

Pedigree Alpaca can only be paired with:

*Pedigree Alpaca or

*Pedigree Peruvian 

(and Peruvian back to alpaca, or Peruvian x Peruvian etc. These breeds cannot be mixed with the ones above, and still be considered 'pedigree')

No other breeds (rex, sheba, short-coat, crested, aby etc) can be mixed with any of the above breeds, and be called a pedigree either. 

 And now that we've hopefully got that sorted, I can introduce you to the gorgeous little ladies! This is Sirocco Ariani. She weighed in at 85g and is a cream, white an cream agouti sow. She will be traveling up north to Xavora Cavy Stud when she's weaned.

This stunner is Sirocco Adelina. She is a stunning white, gold and gold agouti sow, weighing in at 75g. She will be off to Ohana Cavy stud when weaned.

And this is little Sirocco Amethyst. She is a silver agouti (like her granddad Tex) and white texel sow. She weighed in at 80g and will be staying here.

Little Lacey has become a mummy!

(Lacey as a 4 week old bub herself)

On Tuesday the 5th June 2012 my husband and I were doing the evening food rounds for the pigs when I spotted two little faces snuggled up next to Lacey. Who had only been one face a few hours earlier! On closer inspection we found two gorgeous little texel girls.

Lacey's daughters. Hours old. Sebastian is the daddy. His first litter too! 

This little lady was named 'Cookie Crumb' and is a cream/cream agouti texel. She weighed in at a petite 70g but is strong and active.

And this was the second girl, a stunning golden agouti/white roan texel. I've never personally seen this colour blending before. She's something a but unique our little 'Coco Frost'! She weighed in at 110g.

Sparrow's BIG boy!

On Sunday the 3rd June 2012 at about lunch time, Sparrow delivered one rather large, gorgeous silver agouti baby boy. We've called him 'Atticus' and his weigh in topped the scales at a massive 150g! He was so chubby I could feel the weight as soon as I picked him up!

I don't know what to expect with Atticus' coat. Sparrow does carry the long-hair gene. So there's a slight chance he'll end up looking sheltie, but it's probably more likely that he'll look just like mum (without the crest) when he's all grown up.

With that gorgeous broad nose and big bold eyes, he's going to be a stunner no matter what!

This is mum (Sparrow). Silver agouti short coat crested.

This is dad - Silver agouti texel.

Sasia and Malakai's first litter

It was late on Saturday evening when I popped out to check on Saskia (and bring her inside for the night), when I found this little scene! One pink-white bub had just been born. 

I settled in to watch Saskia then deliver another 3 babies. All while Malakai kept guard from the cage next door! 

This was the first born bub. A little Sheltie-coated girl with a perfect jet black ear, dark eyes and a touch of chocolate roaning. We called her 'Dove'. 

This little guy was next. A black and gold sheba-coated boy we called 'Diesel'.

Then this gorgeous lady arrived. A big lilac, gold and white sheba-coated girl we called 'Diamond'. 

Then last was tiny Declan. He was a tri-colour sheba-coated boy. He was a lot smaller than his siblings, and just wasn't strong enough to get the suckling action working. He passed away after 2 days of fighting for survival.