Today I skirted a fleece from a male that arrived at our farm on Saturday. Starry’s Rastban is his name and he’s a light fawn herdsire owned by Starry Mountain Alpacas and boarded at our farm. And he’s for sale! Anyways, his fleece is fabulous – dense and fine with … Read More
Our first cria of 2010 was born prematurely last Tuesday. He needed support for the first few days, but finally seems to be nursing well on his own. I’ll watch him carefully during this week’s hot weather to be sure he doesn’t overheat and dehydrate. Several females are ready to … Read More
Our fellow alpaca breeder, Karen, from Moonacre Farm, picked up our champion white male, Snowshoe Aristides, early this morning to take him to the MAPACA Eastern Alpaca Jubilee in Harrisburg, PA. Ron is too busy shearing this time of year to travel to a show, so Karen will show Ari … Read More
We had a scare last night with one of our prized herdsires, Nibblewise. Just before 7pm, Ron noticed Nibbles was cushed and groaning and salivating. He was obviously in pain. Our first thoughts, of course, were “worst case”: intestinal torsion or impaction or something like that. Our wonderful vet was … Read More
We’re busy this morning with last-minutes preparations for our first show of the season, the North American Alpaca Show, which is held in Springfield, MA at the Eastern States Exposition. Ron will be showing our champion white male, Snowshoe Aristides. After several days of rain, Aristides is not looking his … Read More
Weaning, in some ways, is one of the more difficult things we have to do here on the farm. Generally, we wean crias that are at least 6 months old and at a good weight for their age. We time weaning for late winter – when the temps are not quite … Read More
There’s nothing more depressing in mid-winter than a warm rain. The 40+ degree weather and heavy rain yesterday took us down to bare ground in all our paths and drives, but the unplowed ground is still white. Temps are below freezing this morning, so our fields are all ice. No … Read More
Registration for the North American Alpaca Show opened this morning. Spring is on the way! We’ll reserve our pens today for the two males we’ll be showing: our white multi-champion, Snowshoe Aristides, and our juvie male, Snowshoe Pharoah. We’ll also reserve space for a suri male, Christopher, owned by our … Read More
Yesterday, Glinda gave birth to her first cria, a healthy, vigorous rose gray girl! Her sire is our white herdsire, CCNF Synergy, We were hoping this match would produce a gray with more character and density than usual and it looks like it might have done just that. Time will … Read More
A new cria was born here yesterday. Penny Lane, owned by New Millennium, had her first cria, a male who will be named Lennon. He is small – just over 13 lbs, but spunky. He’s nursing well and Penny is being a good mother.