The two newest crias on the farm were born this week. Both were uncomplicated births and the crias are healthy and active. That’s the way we like it! Our little preemie is maintaining and getting slightly stronger, but is still unable to pick himself up. He requires regular feeding. He … Read More
This little guy was born yesterday – just a couple days short of 11 months gestation. Not extremely early, but he exhibits all the signs of being premature: teeth not erupted, floppy ears, weakness. His dam – who is usually a very good mother – doesn’t have a lot of … Read More
Rosita has been under our watchful eyes for weeks now as she often has her crias early. Finally – at day 340 – she had her cria at around 2:00 this afternoon. A big boy – 19.5 lbs. He looks to be medium silver gray. He’s active and pretty steady … Read More
It’s birthing season here at Snowshoe Farm. Alpacas have a fairly wide window for birthing; gestation, in our experience, can be as short as 10-1/2 months or can go over a year. So we do a lot of watching and waiting. Rosita is up next; her 11 month date is … Read More
We’re starting off on the right step this year – our firstborn cria is a girl! The first cria of the season was born on Friday, May 6. Her dam is our beautiful Nishio daughter, Isabellita, and her sire is our own champion white male, Snowshoe Aristides. This is the … Read More
Our schedule usually includes a string of alpaca shows each spring and fall. Both are very busy times of year even without the added stress of shows. But now that Ron is so busy shearing, we don’t do all the spring shows that we used to do. Ron took four … Read More
Just when things start to slow down for us, they start right back up again with registering and planning for spring shows. Our first show of the season is the North American Alpaca Show in Mass. Registration opened yesterday, so we spent some time the other day reevaluating our 2010 … Read More
We’re having a mild spell, so we decided to wean a few of our older, larger crias. Today each of them had a brief halter training session as we weighed them and walked them to their new pen. Looks like this group is going to need a little more work…
The temp is above freezing already this morning and the forecast is for several mild days with rain and snow showers. Bummer. Melting and freezing make such an icy mess. But I will take advantage of the warm weather and spend time in the barn skirting fiber. My goal is … Read More
I’ve been busy this week washing, dyeing and labeling yarn to take to the Southern Adirondack Fiber Festival next weekend. Tomorrow I pack up and I drive over on Friday morning. Hopefully, the weather will cooperate and make for a busy festival. Since the weekend is National Alpaca Farm Days, … Read More