As most visitors to the arena over the winter may have noticed we have been busy clearing land, building a shelter and putting up fence.  This was to house our future acquisitions, alpacas. Recently we have acquired 5 alpacas to complement the arena business and the birds.  This fall (2011) we hope to have alpaca products for sale.

This is a picture of our herd

    It consists of 5 females.  Four of them are fancies or multies as they are called because   they are not solid coloured.   The three smaller ones are babies born in 2010

Alpacas eat very little food (approximately 1 cup of pellets twice a day and ½ - 1 pound of free choice hay or pasture per animal) and therefore require only a small amount of acreage per animal, alpacas are herd animals so they have to be kept in groups of two or more.  Alpacas are very social animals and communicate to each other with humming noises, body and head movements. They also have a distress call to alert the rest of the herd of danger.  Some of you may have heard the chirping noise they make when they are alarmed by your dogs. Alpacas are friendly and very curious.. Alpacas have no teeth on top in the front and do not bite; they have soft feet with pads under their toe nails, and a non-aggressive personality. They produce fibre that is fine as cashmere, soft, silky and much warmer than sheep’s wool. Alpacas come in a whole range of colors, 22 basic colors and then 250 different shades. Alpacas are shorn once a year in the spring. Alpaca fleece is 3x warmer than sheep wool and 7x stronger.   Larry took a shearing course in New York state in April and using the knowledge he gained there he was able to shear our alpacas this year.

Introducing our herd:

Saddle is the oldest born 01 June 2002   She is a black and white multi.  She is matriarch to the herd and is mother to two of them.  She will be bred spring 2011 for a 2012 cria

Before Shearing                                                                                                   After Shearing

Sadie is the next oldest born  28 May 2008   She is one of Saddle's daughters and she is mother to one of the the 2010 cria, Gennie.  She will be bred in spring of 2011 for a 2012 cria

Sadie and daughter Gennie after shearing - forgot to take the before picture!

Paris was born 21 June 2010  She is a firm favourite as she is the only solid colour alpaca so she readily stands out.  She is also a total mooch and will come running when we approach in case someone has any food!  She won't be old enough to be bred until 2012 and we are working on picking out a suitable male

Before Shearing                                                                                                 After Shearing

Abby was born 29 June 2010  She is also a Saddle daughter.  She vies with Paris to see who can mooch the most!  She is also not old enough to be bred until 2012.

Before Shearing                                                                                               After Shearing

Gennie was born 08 August 2010  She is Sadie's daughter which makes her Saddle's granddaughter.  She is a rather shy girl and tends to hang back and watch while Paris and Abby mug people for food.  She is also not old enough to be bred until 2012

Before Shearing                                                                                          After Shearing