A quick note on the past weekend!

Hopefully anyone that reads this spent a little time visiting alpaca farms over the past weekend. This is the largest event put on by AOBA that I know of and the best chance people can really have to learn about the alpaca lifestyle.

We did make if over to one larger farm in our area and learned a little about spinning and needle felting. We have been wanting to do some felting and purchased a needle felting kit from someone at the farm doing the demonstrations.

If you did not get out to other farms and are still looking to learn about alpacas do not give up. Most of the farms are more than willing to meet with you and talk with you. There is also a large online community. One of those gathering places is Alpaca Nation where there is lots of information, especially in the forum area. There are many other places to get information though so if you need more information or can't find what you are looking for do a little hunting and you should find what you wanted to know.

A good fiber day to all!

Well it has been an exciting week for sure. We almost stepped out and purchased two more fiber boys but considering many financial factors we have decided to wait though it would have been a good step toward increasing our fiber output.

I have been involved in many discussions about alpacas and fiber farming as a viable alternative to breeding programs. I think it is sad to see when farms with great animals are so focused on breeding for money that they likely many times let fiber go to waste and destroy less than premium fiber. BTW, let me know if you have 1sts, 2nds and 3rds that you do not want as I may be willing to pay to have them shipped to my farm.

Anyway, I look forward to working with and networking with many other smaller and fiber farms while we all try to make a business out of the true reason for us to keep alpacas as a livestock. If alpacas are not kept for fiber, then they sure are an expensive pet! I read something like that posted elsewhere but I think it is very fitting.

Contact Me if you would like to share links to blogs or other web pages. I am mainly looking for others working toward building good fiber farms though. A good blog is being kept by at http://alpacasprings.blogspot.com.

The great choking alpaca!

Well we've found that alpacas are grain eating maniacs for sure. They act as though they have never had anything to eat when we get it out. They are very funny and it is the easiest time to get them close enough to you to do other things.

However, it is good to always take caution when feeding grain to them. Make sure someone is there watching them until it is completely gone and they are finished chewing and swallowing it. My wife had to deal with this for 30-60 minutes just last evening and there is only one thing I can think of worse than being remote and worried on how things are going and that is dealing with it! My wife had a real work out and got several kicks and stomps while trying to help.

In the end she did a great job. The alpaca seems no worse considering the whole ordeal. If anyone reads this and has ideas on how to keep from having grain get stuck I would appreciate the feedback. We have thought maybe we need to keep grain up off the ground but with our current set up this is where we feed them.

Oh and on a fun note, I made a temporary extension of the pen last night so the boys have a small area of new grass to mow. They really seemed to appreciate it but didn't think there was enough room or grass for them all to be there.

Alpaca life style is more than just a phrase.

From working on things this past weekend I have found that the term "Alpaca Life Style" is truely something that is more just just a catchy saying. It has to do with the hours it will take to do everything related to alpacas. We are a small farm with only 3 animals at this time. As we keep churning along with working and learning it is easy to see how people with dozens of alpacas end up with a real life changing investment. Feeding, cleaning up, caring for and processing each have requirements that need to be met.

Anyway, a quick bit on last weekends skirting proces... It was a good weekend as we were able to skirt 2 show blankets as well as all our second cuts. The thirds still need skirted but we will have to take some time to do that as well as cleaning it. Cleaning it ourselves will be another new part of the process. We plan on making felt items.

As far as yarn creation or other processing. Our seconds alone are not enough to ship off for processing so we will package them up for next year. We'll be able to combine the new blankets, the show blankets from this year as well as next years seconds for processing. At that point we'll get to learn about that part of things.

Before and after...

Well, looking at an alpaca can be intersting for sure. What I find that is so funny about them is they are usually looking right back at you and I'm almost sure we are both trying to figure the other one out. One thing that most people will notice about an alpaca is the fleece and how "puffy" the animals look. This is the part of the animal that everyone ends up most intersted in for sure. However, when you look at an alpaca even a couple months after it is sheared it looks much bigger than it is. This something only some pictures can help with.

The next 3 pictures are my girls each with thier alpaca on a cold shearing day. Ashley/Alexander, Alli/Odyssey and Haleigh/Coronado then all 3 after shearing.








As you can see, they are much smaller than they first appear. All of our boys were just under 1 year old in these pictures. Like people they will have various hieghts and weights but the normal male will be about 5'6" at the head and weigh about 165-190lbs. Our largest male was about 95lbs.

I hope you enjoy the pictures and are learning something along with us.

I've been asked...

I have been asked to upload pictures by my wife, which I've finally done. As we blog we'll add those pictures for everyone to see.

I've also been asked by many people who do not know much about alpacas what they are used for. I think many people consider them to be an odd/exotic pet. While they are very friendly animals, they do serve a purpose and nothing can explain that as well as a picture...


While looking at this picture you'll see just how thick the fleece is on an alpaca and how long the staple is. The alpaca pictured is our oldest, Alexander, who was about 1 year old and had about 10 months of growth on him. One of the easiest ways to tell how dense they are is by looking at the longer fleece still on them for where the dirt line stops.

There are as many uses for this product as for silk and/or wool. The product is much stronger than silk, carries a similiar luster and feel. It is also much softer and less itchy when compared to wool products. We have recently learned how to work more with our fleece, as noted in a prior post and hope to process it into a final product at some point this year.

What a community...

I wanted to thank all the people in the Alpaca community that have helped us so far in determining many many things. They range from who we bought from, boarded with, shearing and advice on fencing, scales, meds, flies, care, skirting and more.

A big thanks to Windswept Farms Alpacas for a good couple Saturdays where we got our hands on several animals, learned/practiced herd health, got advice and learned a lot about skirting and processing our fleece.

I also want to send my thanks out Willow Ridge for the continued help with supplies and information as we try to get up to speed.