Breeding Time
Saturday morning we loaded up the trailer with our Sienna Rose and her mother Sharona Rose and headed up to Crystal Lake Alpaca Farm to meet up with two of their herdsires. It was a year ago when we purchase these breedings and have waited for this time to come. Yesterday was it. We arrived at Crystal Lake Alpacas and Chris showed us all the new cria. What a fantastic looking bunch. It was clear to us from the moment we saw what he was producing that “Crystal Spartan” was exactly what we were looking for. “Sparty” as they call him was the 2010 Futurity Huacaya...
Read MoreThe End of The Day
At the end of the day there is nothing more comforting then to stop by the alpaca pen and have a moment of conversation. I start every conversation when my call out from my truck, “Where are my Paca’s”. Within seconds the heads start popping out as if to say, “What has been keeping you?” I could share with them all the details of the day that keep me away but none of it matters at that point. The only thing that counts is that Melody has her ears up and is staring at me (I know she is waiting for me to sing her song to her) and Marissa is wondering if she can...
Read MoreThe Secrets in the Sorting
In February I attended a Fiber Sorting class. I had no idea how that class would change the way I think about the alpaca business and fiber. It is so clear to me now that not sorting out the different grades of fiber in a fleece before putting it into production is much like saying as long as I am using wood it doesn’t matter how good the wood is the table I make will look the same. It won’t, some wood will look grainy and rough and not get you a good product. Fleece comes in different grades and in order to end up with a superior end product you have to sort. You only have...
Read MoreAgain and Again
It is cold outside and quite frankly I hate winter and cold. That being said I can put aside all that dislike for the weather once I get out in the barn and have one of these wonderful animals run up to me as if to say “What have you been up to. We have been waiting for you all day”. Now I know they are mostly interested to see me when I am going to get the kibble out for them so they can start their feed ritual but I still am thrilled with their apparent happiness at seeing me walk in the barn door. Marissa who leads the pack pushes to the front and puts her nose right up...
Read MoreAE Peruvian Mikayla
Mikayla grew up to be everything we thought she would. Structurally you could not ask for more. Her look is striking and her confidence is evident. Mikayla has beautiful fiber that has a great deal of crimp. When you put your hands on her it is impossible not to notice that her coat is dense and bright. We have anticipated Mikayla being ready to breed. This summer she became of age and we bred her to an outstanding herdsire “Avalon’s Peruvian Tri-Star”. There is not doubt in our mind that this breeding is going to produce something special. Mikayla is available...
Read MoreStubborn with an attitude
Marrisa is a girl out of the foundation herd. She is one of the original girls here on the farm and is in no uncertain terms the leader of the herd. She recently returned from being bred at Avalon Alpaca Farm who co-owns her. In their herd of 80 or so I don””t think she makes the impression she does here on a small farm. Here her attitude and stubborn determination makes her the leader of the herd. I love this girl. If you watch her she knows just what she wants and goes about getting it without the rest of the herd ever questioning a thing. If she thinks it is...
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