Like many farms, we often package several alpacas together and offer the group at a discounted price. This is generally to help a client sell the last of their herd or maybe to rehome a few geldings as a group. But the other package deal we offer as standard practice is … Read More
Here’s our newest offspring sired by our multi-champion, Snowshoe Aristides: Snowshoe Pleione. This photo was taken just as we were getting ready to shear her. This little girl is a pistol. She’s gaining weight like crazy, leads the rest of her group out to pasture and is already chewing her … Read More
And she’s over a month early…. At 301 days gestation, she’s by far the earliest cria born at Snowshoe Farm. She’s small – only 11.4 lbs – but not frighteningly small. It took her about an hour to be able to hold herself sternal and about 4 hours before she … Read More
This is the kind of winter’s day we live for…sorta. It’s mild and sunny and the snow is perfect. But we know what comes next. Tonight’s forecast is for snow, then freezing rain, then rain. Things are gonna get ugly. So we take pics while things are lookin’ good. … Read More
You hear a lot about the equipment and supplies you need to have in order to properly care for your livestock. But it seems it’s often the little things – the simple things – that turn out to be the most-used and most-valued tools. From day one of alpaca ownership, … Read More
I’d venture to say that most alpaca breeders don’t shear their crias until the spring following the crias’ births. But those cria fleeces become messy very quickly as their fine, velcro-like tips attract hay and other debris. We’ve learned that we can get much cleaner and more valuable fleeces in … Read More
Finally! We’ve been waiting for weeks for the first cria of the season to arrive. The first female due was Rosita, who usually goes at least week or two early. Not this year. She didn’t even go first; her daughter, Glinda, had the first cria of the year. Oddly enough, … Read More
This time of year usually find us beginning to halter train last year’s crias, especially those we plan to show in the spring. Only one of the crias we are currently training will be shown in the upcoming season – Snowshoe Ginger. This 9 month old fawn female is a … Read More
Herd health day takes on new meaning in cold weather. We’re not quite there yet; today was brisk, but not freezing. A light pair of fingerless gloves was all that was needed to keep hands warm while giving shots. For those of you not familiar with alpaca husbandry, alpacas require … Read More
We’ve been watching this beautiful young female cria, Snowshoe Fancypants, tear around the pastures – she’s something else! Her fiber, we could see when we recently sheared her, is starting to crimp at the base and should be looking great by spring shearing. Fancypants is sired by our 8X Champion/Reserve … Read More