HPF Alpaca Blog

Happy New Year!

2011-01-12T11:10:00.000-08:00

Well it's a New Year and things are looking great!
I want to thank Dew Hills Coffee Shop in Marinette for selling our alpaca sweaters, gloves, hats and scarves. I also want to thank everyone who purchased our items there. Sales were very good, especially for Christmas! I will be dropping off more sweaters sometime this coming week.

We've been trying to streamline our chores at the farm. We've purchased large round bales of hay and placed them out in our two shelters for our alpaca boys and that helps save time. We're also in the process of rearranging things in the barn to make better use of stall space and the barn's "built-in" feed bunks to provide hay without having a lot of waste.

I (Elizabeth) will be getting married in the fall and my fiance' doesn't plan to do much farming so we are looking for more ways to minimize my time at the farm. Part of that plan includes selling off some of our alpacas so feel free to check out our new, lower prices on our AlpacaNation farmsite.

Busy time

2010-12-18T09:42:00.000-08:00

These past few weeks have been extremely busy! Not only does Christmas have us rushing around but so has the winter weather.

Last weekend, the power went out at the farm and wasn't back on until about 12 hours later. This caused problems in the house and barn by freezing up the water pumps. Fortunately, after the power went back on, the heat tape along with Rick's persistence and some heaters got the water flowing again.

The snow brought about more challenges with drifting and blowing snow making our daily chores to the outside pastures miserable. Temperatures have varied between the single digits up to the low 20s and the wind chill makes it more uncomfortable. Of course this is something we are used to in Wisconsin.

We do several things to prepare for the winter. The first thing we do is increase their daily food ration to help them build up a little more body fat. We feed them alpaca pellets and add some "Sweet 16" to it for a little extra energy. We also make sure they have enough hay to munch on throughout the day since there is no pasture available to graze on. At least half of our alpacas and llamas are housed in the barn which is the best place for them during the winter.

The others (all males) are in shelters that we have built as our herd grew. The first shelter we ever built is a little smaller but is able to house five alpacas. My brother added an overhang off the front entrance which is a nice area for them to stay in the shade during the summer. In the winter, we wrap the outside of the overhang with a couple of tarps, creating an extra "room" for their shelter. This seems to work well for us and the alpacas.

Our second alpaca shelter is much larger and has paneled walls. In the summer, we remove one panel on opposite sides to allow a breeze to pass through. When the weather starts getting cold, we put those panels back up. A heated water bucket keeps them with a fresh supply of water all day, without freezing up.

For both of our shelters we make sure there is hay or straw for them to lay on. It always amazes me when the wind is blowing hard and it's snowing or the wind chills are below zero and I walk into one of our alpaca shelters and it is cozy, quiet and noticeably warmer than I expect it to be. The animals will be standing or laying down inside, all content with their hay.

We always do our best to keep our animals warm and comfortable. They do their part by growing long, thick, beautiful fiber.

That's all for now...take care and keep warm!

Getting back on track...

2010-12-05T08:46:00.000-08:00

Well, it's been almost a year since my last post. Life always gets so busy.

All the animals are well and I'll have to get some new pictures up soon.

Weaning the crias

2010-01-17T08:43:00.000-08:00

Victor and Matthias are now old enough to be weaned off milk. Victor is coming along great. A month older than Matthias, Victor has been eating pellets for the past week or two and is getting less milk supplement.

Matthias is still dependent on his mother although he and Victor both enjoy eating hay. Matthias has been introduced to pellets and will eat a little of them but will lose interest right away and go for the hay instead.

This weekend, we are separating the two boys and will keep them in their own pen for feeding and to wean Matthias away from his mom. This will be a tough adjustment for Matthias because he is very attached to his mother. We've learned over the years that crias will often try to escape their pens during weaning to get back to their moms. In the beginning, we'll only separate them for a few hours and give them breaks to get back with their moms. Of course this won't be an issue at all for Victor since he's been bottle fed and is a very independent cria.

Usually during weaning, I worry about the crias getting enough water. It's important to make sure the crias have fresh water available to them and that they are drinking it. I've seen both Victor and Matthias drink from the water bucket so I know they will be fine. We'll keep track of their weight and make sure they are both adjusting well to their new feeding schedule.

Wrapping things up for 2009

2009-12-29T12:38:00.000-08:00

I hope everyone had a very Merry Christmas!

Now is the time of year when we close out the "old" year and prepare for the New Year. I've got the majority of our tax information together but still have a few loose ends and information to gather yet for our tax preparer. The hardest part is getting everyone else's information and receipts together. It seems to get easier though and Quickbooks has been a wonderfully helpful program for keeping all of our account information accurate and accessible for our tax preparer.

Looking ahead to 2010, we've already registered for a show in the spring and I hope that we will be able to attend at least two shows this coming year.

I would like to make one New Year's resolution and that is to get back on track with my blog posts. I realize I haven't been updating very much lately, especially this last month when my computer died, but the new (used) computer seems to be working great so I should be able to get back on a blogging schedule.

In the meantime, I wish you a very happy and healthy New Year from all of us at Hidden Pond Farm, LLC!

Winter officially begins December 21...

2009-12-16T08:14:00.000-08:00

This picture isn't actually from this winter but it could be. We had blizzard conditions last week and more snow on Monday so it's definitely beginning to look a lot like Christmas!

Well the last post I made to this blog was a few weeks ago and I've probably lost all my regular visitors. I apologize for that. As I mentioned in the last post, my computer died on Thanksgiving. I later found out I would need a new "motherboard" and "power supply" in order to bring the computer back to life. The cost of doing that would be close to buying a new computer so I've had to think on it for awhile. In the meantime, I'm limping along with a very old computer and occasionally borrowing the use of my mom's computer (like right now as I type this).

Winter is kind of rough at our farm, worrying about the water pump freezing up in the barn, keeping the animals cozy and warm, clearing snow when needed, and working outdoors in the cold. I'm a big whiner about putting on my snow pants and heavy boots, along with layers of sweatshirts and coats, thick gloves and a hat. I must be ten pounds heavier when I walk outside in the winter and it gets to be a bit of a workout just to do the regular chores.

Speaking of bundling up, we had to do that in our homes last week. As a result of the big snowstorm, we lost power for about 12 hours at my house and about 15 hours at the farm. Luckily it was "warmer" outside that day so temperatures in the house only got to about 40 degrees. It's a pretty hopeless feeling when you don't have a fire place or alternate heat source to heat up your home! But all is well now and hopefully we won't have any more problems.

I plan to resume posting blogs on a more frequent basis again so check back now and then to see if I've kept my word.

Merry Christmas!

Always busy at the farm

2009-11-29T18:04:00.000-08:00

Today was a very productive day at Hidden Pond Farm! Rick and I had all the animals watered and stalls cleaned, one pasture cleaned, and we gave Ivermectin shots and trimmed toenails on a group of five alpaca boys -- all before 9:00 a.m.

Later we picked up a load of hay and put it up in the loft. Then we fed everyone dinner and cleaned two more pastures before calling it a day. It seems as though everyone loved the "new" hay so we'll see if we can buy another load next weekend.

My computer died on Thanksgiving Day so until I figure out what's wrong with it I'm temporarily (hopefully) using an old computer. Even this simple update is taking me forever as I wait for the computer to catch up with my typing! I hope to be back up to speed by the end of the week at the latest.

2009-11-25T13:41:00.000-08:00

Time Correction!

2009-11-20T17:16:00.000-08:00

This is very late notice because I just found out myself... The vendor fair at Little River Country Club tomorrow (Nov. 21) begins at 11:00 a.m. I apologize for any inconvenience.

Thank you to everyone who has come out to see us at the vendor shows and for stopping in at DewHill's to buy sweaters. We're adding alpaca scarves to our inventory at Dew Hill's in Marinette so visit them again for some coffee and check out the scarves!

I hope to see you out at our Holiday Beauty & Bazaar this Sunday, November 22nd. See my last post for details. Another correction from my last post regarding the times for the Mary Kay facials...we will also be doing facials at 12 noon (as well as 10 & 11 a.m. and 1 p.m.).

In addition to Hidden Pond Farm alpaca clothing, there will be a great variety of other vendors, including Dove Chocolate at Home, Homemade Gourmet, Tastefully Simple, Scentsy,Pottery, Wildtree, Crafts Murals & Accents, Pampered Chef, Purses, Tupperware, and Just Jewelry.

I'll be busy baking this weekend for the bake sale. Non-perishable food donations and proceeds from the bake sale will be donated to our local St. Vincent De Paul.

HPF around town...

2009-11-13T21:35:00.000-08:00

I had hoped to discuss something different for this post, but I've been running in a lot of different directions lately so I haven't had time. I did want to mention where we'll be selling alpaca garments over the next couple of weeks.

Look for our Hidden Pond Farm alpaca sweaters, gloves, hats, scarves, etc, at these upcoming events:

Saturday, November 14th at Best Western (corner of Hall Ave and Riverside in Marinette) from 10:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m.
Saturday, November 21st at Little River Country Club, N2235 Shore Drive in Marinette, from 10:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m.
Holiday Beauty & Bazaar -- Sunday, November 22nd at Holy Family Parish Center, 2715 Taylor Street in Marinette from 10:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m. This event will include a vendor fair with great gift ideas, a bake sale, and skin care information presented by local Mary Kay consultants. As a new Mary Kay Independent Beauty Consultant I invite you to stop in for a free facial/mini-makeover at 10 a.m., 11 a.m. or 1 p.m. Visit my Mary Kay webpage at www.marykay.com/ewoodky to view the latest products or to contact me to reserve a time for your facial! Walk-ins welcome. Bring in a non-perishable food item and enter your name into a drawing for a great prize! Food donations and proceeds from this event will benefit St. Vincent De Paul in Marinette.

Thanks for your support!

2009-11-10T10:32:00.000-08:00

Our sweater sales went really well this first weekend at DewHill's Gifts and Greetings in Marinette! Thanks to everyone who stopped out and bought a sweater or gloves. We'll have our alpaca clothing items there throughout the winter so feel free to check in now and then for different colors as we restock our inventory.

Tis' the season for craft shows and vendor fairs and we're scheduled to be at two of them during the next two weekends. You'll find us this Saturday, November 14th at Best Western in downtown Marinette. Next we'll be at Little River Country Club on Shore Drive in Marinette on Saturday, November 21st.

Well, we trimmed toenails on our older boys on Sunday and a couple of them really needed it! It seems that some of our alpacas grow out their toenails a lot quicker than others. All is well on the farm, but we are watching the newspapers for hay ads. Our supply is running down and we need to stock up for the winter.

Alpacas and llamas need only grassy hay (similar to horses) rather than alfalfa hay. It's okay for them to have alfalfa but they really shouldn't be offered too much of it. We've found it much easier to get alfalfa hay than it is to get grassy hay and you can really see a difference in their fiber when they get too much alfalfa. I've heard it referred to as "fiber blowout" where the fiber (hair) is more dull and puffed out due to the extra protein in the alfalfa. Don't quote me on any of this because I'm writing this from memory and my memory isn't always that great. I'll read up on this topic and fill you in with the correct information on the next update.

If there are any blog readers who live in Marinette or close by, send me a note if you have grassy hay, preferrably small square bales, available for sale. We'd really appreciate hearing from you!

Looking for holiday gift ideas?

2009-11-03T11:39:00.000-08:00

Victor (left) and Matthias have been really growing. Although they don't actually play together, they do spend time out in the pasture grazing. And when we bottle feed Victor, Matthias likes to come over and nibble on Victor's ears!

I mentioned yesterday that we'll have alpaca clothing items displayed at DewHill's Gifts (and Coffeehouse) this weekend. On Friday and Saturday (November 6-7th) they will have special operating hours of 6:30 am to 3:00 pm.

I'm happy to announce that you'll have plenty of opportunities to buy our alpaca sweaters, hats and gloves all winter long at DewHill's. We will have items available there for purchase for the whole season so feel free to stop out and buy some luxuriously soft alpaca gloves and more for everyone on your Christmas shopping list! DewHill's is located on the corner of Main and Wells streets in Marinette.

DewHill's regular store hours are:
Monday - Thursday 6:30 a.m. to 4:00 p.m.
Friday 6:30 a.m. to 2:00 p.m.
Saturday 7:30 a.m. to 1:00 p.m.

Feel the warmth of alpaca this holiday season! Stop out at DewHill's Gifts & Greetings (and coffeehouse) to check out our selection of great alpaca items!

Selling alpaca garments at DewHills - Nov. 6-7th

2009-11-01T19:07:00.000-08:00

Warm up this fall with soft, luxurious alpaca clothing -- sweaters, hats and gloves! Where can you get them, you ask?

Dewhill's Gifts & Coffeehouse, located at 1609 Main Street in Marinette, WI, has invited us to display and sell our alpaca garments this coming weekend, November 6-7th. Stop in for a delicious gourmet coffee and browse through their store for cards, gifts and alpaca garments from Hidden Pond Farm.

More details to come!

Respite from the rain

2009-10-24T10:45:00.000-07:00

After a couple days of seemingly non-stop rain and wind, we have a nice dry breezy day. Temperatures are only in the 40's today, but at least it's not raining.

All of the alpacas and llamas are taking advantage of this opportunity to get out and graze. Most didn't like the rain and opted to stay inside and wait out the wet weather. I felt the same way, but I still had to endure the sloppy rain to get chores done. Not much planned for today, but we'll see what tomorrow holds.

Enjoy your weekend!

Protecting our investment

2009-10-21T10:48:00.000-07:00

On Sunday, we gave Ivermectin shots to all of our female llamas and alpacas as well as a couple of boys who are inside the barn. This coming weekend, we'll finish up this round of shots with our group of older boys. We do this regularly to protect our herd from meningeal worm (sometimes called "brain worm").

Meningeal worm is a parasite that is carried by white tail deer and passed in their feces. It can be spread to alpacas and other animals by slugs that feed on the deer feces. An alpaca, llama or other animal that is grazing in the pasture may injest one of these infected slugs while eating grass. Once the parasite is inside the body, it can make its way to the brain stem and cause neurological damage to the animal. Signs to watch for are instability or wobbliness in the animal's back legs and difficulty standing up or laying down. If it isn't treated quickly, the animal will die. On the bright side, animals who are diagnosed and treated quickly can survive and be productive members of your herd. Preventive care is the best way to ensure that none of your animals will become infected.

Ivermectin is effective for about 30 to 45 days. We could also use Dectomax instead of the Ivermectin. The Dectomax is effective for 45 to 60 days. Both are given "Sub Q" which means we inject the needle just below the skin rather than into a muscle.

The main reason we use Ivermectin instead of Dectomax is that it is readily available at our local Tractor Supply Store and is usually more cost effective. However, it's easy to order Dectomax online and it's more convenient since we don't have to use it as often as the Ivermectin.

It's important to know the weight of each of your alpacas and llamas in order to give the proper dosage of any medications. We have a livestock scale in our barn and it is one of the most important tools we own as far as our animals are concerned. Be sure to consult your veterinarian for more information or for any questions regarding dosages for your animals. Also, an excellent resource that we refer to a lot is the Alpaca Field Manual from C. Norman Evans, DVM. This book has great photos and information that has been very helpful to us.

The internet has a wealth of information to help you properly care for your animals whether you are a new or experienced alpaca owner. Be sure to research all that is available to you to ensure that your animals stay healthy and productive!

What's in a name?

2009-10-19T11:39:00.000-07:00

We recently named our newest cria, born nearly a month ago. I wanted to call him "Monster" because he's been gaining weight and growing like crazy, but I was voted down. About a week or so ago, we officially began calling him "Matthias" (pronounced muh-tee'-us). Here is the big guy above in the cria coat, hanging out with the ladies on this sunny morning in October.

Any fans of 1980's-era rock music may sense a theme with the names of some of our boys. Matthias and Nuno are both names of guitarists that we admired "back in the day." I'm not sure if we will be keeping with this theme for future alpacas born at Hidden Pond Farm. We just sort of chose these names because we like them, not to intentionally name them after musicians.

Actually, Francis Bean is also a name I borrowed from the rock music world for our huacaya female born last year. (The real Francis Bean is the daughter of the late Nirvana frontman Kurt Cobain and musician/actress Courtney Love.) I liked the name because my grandmother's name was Francis and I thought "Bean" was cute because we alpaca farmers always refer to a natural alpaca byproduct as "alpaca beans." And since I'm on the subject... our suri male HPF Iggy was actually named after our grandfather Ignatius and not after musician Iggy Pop.

There really is no rhyme or reason as to what we name each alpaca born at our farm. I tried to be creative in the beginning, but now we all kind of brainstorm and try to find a name that everyone likes. If it takes three weeks or more to choose the name we all feel is right for that cria, then so be it. Each and every one of our alpacas is unique and their personalities are very different. We try to select a name that each one of them will be happy living with for the rest of their lives. They all seem to be very happy so far, so I guess we're doing alright.

Have a great day everyone!

A snowy fall morning

2009-10-13T21:19:00.000-07:00

So on Monday I wrote that we were getting some snow flurries. After I posted the blog, the weather started looking a lot more snowy and wet! Here is a photo of Rico and Nuno checking out the snow on the ground on Tuesday morning. In the background you can see that the leaves on the trees are still working on changing colors.

Normal temperatures for us this time of year should be around the 60's, although last year at this time we had temps around 80 according to last night's weather report. This week, we've been waking up with temps in the 30's and then warming up to the 40's during the day. So much for global warming!

All the snow you see in the photo was melted by this afternoon, but there is more rain and snow forecasted for the rest of this week. The alpacas were busy grazing today to make sure they get their fill of green grass before winter sets in. There were sunbathers, too, taking advantage of the sunny afternoon now that the days are getting shorter.

Have a great day!

Winter preparation

2009-10-12T10:00:00.000-07:00

We've started having snow flurries here in Marinette over the last few days. Not any "real snow" but just a few little snowflakes to let us know that winter is on it's way.

All of our alpaca and llama girls are in the barn so there's no big change for the winter except for spreading straw bedding around to keep them warmer on the barn's cement floor. The boys, however, are a different story. We have two pastures and shelters for our alpaca boys and the shelters need to be "winterized".

Winterizing the boys' shelters is not a very big deal. The older boys have wall panels that need to be put up. In the spring, we remove a couple panels on either side of the shelter to allow better air flow. Now it's time to put the panels back up to keep it cozy and warm inside.

The younger boys' shelter is a little different. We have an overhang that provides shade in the summer. In the winter, we hang tarps on two sides of the overhang to provide extra protection from the strong winter winds and all of the snow. This also creates an extra "room" for the shelter so the boys won't feel too crowded inside when it's cold and nobody will get left outside.

Fortunately, the alpacas are growing nice thick fiber to keep themselves warm in addition to the extra straw bedding and winter preparations that we do at the farm.

Mixing of the machos

2009-10-06T10:58:00.000-07:00

We're starting to prepare for winter at the farm. One of the most difficult things about winter at our farm is keeping water from freezing and caring for animals in several pastures. Now that Leroy and Lucas are both over one year old, we decided to move them into a pasture with several older boys. This usually causes my motherly instincts to kick in and I worry about the safety of the little boys as they are introduced to the older boys' pasture. If you own alpacas, you'll understand what I'm talking about.

Male alpacas (called "machos") have to establish the pecking order in their pasture whenever a new male is introduced. We've seen over and over how the dominant males will clash and fight and the whole herd will chase the "new guy" around the pen. There is usually a lot of noise, including squealing and grunting, from several of the males involved in the chaos.

Fortunately, there was none of that at all this weekend. Leroy and Lucas have been living in the pasture adjoining the older boys' pasture for several months and they've all grown used to each other through the fence. As a matter of fact, Iggy, Rico and Nuno all stood together at one end of the pasture while Leroy and Lucas explored their new home. Later in the day, it started raining and all five boys laid down together inside their shelter and waited for dinner.

At feeding time, I was somewhat surprised to see that the youngest boys in the group took the first dinner dishes I put down while the oldest two boys waited patiently for me to set down the last two dishes for them to eat. This was the easiest transition we've ever had putting young males in with older males.

Prior to putting the males together on Sunday, we gave them all ivermectin shots. Although the weather is getting cooler, we'll still need to keep up our worming program to protect our alpacas and llamas from meningeal worm and other parasites. We'll complete our ivermectin shots on the rest of the herd next weekend.

In the meantime, we've been bundling up outside. Lots of rain and wind today! I miss the warmth of our short summer...

Misty's big baby!

2009-10-01T10:11:00.000-07:00

It wasn't easy taking this photo of our newest cria this morning. The girls all crowded around him and protected him from the camera as soon as I took his jacket off for the pictures.

We've haven't decided on a name yet -- last weekend we were calling him "Charlie" -- but I'm now thinking of calling him "Monster" because he's getting so big. I weighed him yesterday afternoon and he's gained FIVE POUNDS at only one week old. He was 14.8 pounds the day he was born and yesterday he weighed an even 20 pounds!

Our little monster is such a sweet, inquisitive and energetic cria and his suri fiber looks great so far.

This second photo shows all the alpaca and llama ladies crowding around "Monster" as I tried to take his picture. Seriously, he's in the middle of that crowd -- they even managed to hide his legs from me!

While I was out taking pictures, I checked out a couple of the girls to see how long their fiber has grown since shearing them this spring. It's amazing to see how fast that fiber grows out. They are all ready for the cool temperatures of the fall and will have even longer fiber by the time winter sets in. Nature really does take care of these beautiful animals.

Fall has arrived!

2009-09-29T11:25:00.000-07:00

Fall officially started last week and the cool temperatures have definitely come with it! It's time to bring out your alpaca sweaters, gloves and hats. Rene' has a nice inventory of all of the above and has sold them at craft shows and also at our own open house. We've talked about setting up an online store and I'll be looking into this more closely.

If and when we do set up our online store, you'll be the first to know. In the meantime, take care and stay warm!

Weekend Wrap Up

2009-09-27T18:50:00.000-07:00

So did you visit an alpaca farm this weekend? We met some really nice people and had a fun time answering their questions about alpacas and llamas. Plus, the alpacas really enjoyed all the attention they received from our visitors! (Moe sends a special thank you for the carrots from a new friend he met on Saturday!)

The weather wasn't the most cooperative this weekend...rain on Saturday morning and gusty winds on Sunday that brought our tent down and sent alpaca gloves flying off the table! But at least the brief showers this afternoon held off until after our event ended. Overall though, it was a great experience for our first farm open house.

If you live nearby and you missed the open house, feel free to contact me and set up a time for a farm tour. Thanks to everyone who stopped by to visit and thanks also to Rene' for the cool HPF logo shirts for us to wear!

National Alpaca Farm Days This Weekend!

2009-09-25T21:23:00.000-07:00

Our new - and still unnamed - cria relaxed in the sun this week while we prepared for our Open House event.

We're as ready as we'll ever be for the open house at Hidden Pond Farm running from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. on Saturday and Sunday. Rene' has plenty of alpaca clothing items to display and sell. We'll also have a fiber display table set up on our actual shearing table and we'll show you what we feed our alpacas and llamas. Of course there will be plenty of alpacas around for you to see and feel their luxurious fiber!

We're expecting rain on Saturday, but hopefully it will hold off during our 3-hour event. Sunday should be a great day with nicer weather, but we'll be happy to see our visitors no matter what the weather forecast!

Have a great weekend!

Oh Boy!

2009-09-22T12:28:00.000-07:00

Misty's new cria arrived this morning...and it's another boy! We now have over 50% male alpacas at our farm. I don't know why we are having so few female crias over the last few years...

Anyway, back to our new baby boy...he's a beautiful fawn colored suri and he's very healthy. This little guy was standing and trying to nurse from his mom within 20-30 minutes after he hit the ground!

As you see in the photo above, the new cria has the pink jacket on that Victor has been wearing for the past few weeks when it's cool outside. Our next larger size cria coat is green so Victor will get that one if he needs it. We washed the pink jacket this morning and then I rubbed the outside of the jacket all over the new cria before putting it on him. I wanted to make sure his mom was comfortable with the smell of the jacket before I put it on her new cria.

Both mom and cria are comfortably relaxing in their own private stall. It's cool and rainy outside today so I'll wait a day or so before letting Misty and her cria outside with the other alpacas.

One week until the Open House...

2009-09-21T07:20:00.000-07:00

Hmmm...still no new cria in the barn, but it's still morning. Misty still appears to be very pregnant and showing signs of the cria's impending arrival. She also has a great appetite so I'm not worried yet. Last year, Misty mysteriously miscarried her cria with only a couple weeks left of her pregnancy so I'm keeping a close watch on her for any changes in her appetite and personality. So far so good!

After a few years of off and on work on our barn siding, we've finally completed the project. The entire exterior of the barn is now sided...the old green shingled siding has been replaced with green (steel?) panels. It looks great and it's nice to have that project off our list!

We had some rain last night and it's pretty dreary looking outside today. The weather forecast shows a possibility of rain this weekend for our National Alpaca Farm Days Open House...hopefully it will only rain at night!

Have a happy Monday everyone!

National Alpaca Farm Days - September 26-27th

2009-09-19T11:00:00.000-07:00

Preparations are still underway for our open house next weekend. Details are posted on our website at www.hiddenpondfarmalpacas.com.

Since this is our first year participating in NAFD, I've kept things kind of low key with minimal advertising. I'll be happy with a dozen alpaca enthusiasts coming out to the farm. We'll be open from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. both days.

Misty hasn't given birth to her cria yet so maybe she'll wait until next weekend.

If you live close to Marinette, feel free to stop out and say hello, otherwise visit www.nationalalpacafarmdays.com to locate a participating alpaca farm near you.

Sunbathing beauties!

2009-09-15T18:54:00.001-07:00

So while I've been (impatiently) awaiting the arrival of Misty's next cria, she and the other ladies have been relaxing and sunbathing without a care in the world! Misty is the white alpaca in the photo above. As the old saying goes, "a watched pot never boils." I guess a watched alpaca never seems to have her cria when you expect it either.

After some chillier weather last month, we've had a nice warm up this past week with temps in the 70's and even into the 80's. It's been great! I'm thinking I should be spending time out there sunbathing with the alpacas before the end of the summer, too!

National Alpaca Farm Days is coming up September 26-27th! This will be our first year participating so if you live near Marinette, stop on out and say hello! We're just planning a very informal event from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. for this first year - nothing fancy. Check out the details at our farm website.

Fruits of our labor

2009-09-07T11:43:00.000-07:00

Happy Labor Day!

Check out the plums on our plum tree at the farm! We had lots of plums and lots of apples in our "mini orchard" this year. As I type this, my mom has a home made apple pie baking in the oven and it smells deee-licious!!

I realize that for many people Labor Day weekend is a time to relax, but I don't know that we've ever done that at the farm. For us, it's an extra weekend day to get more projects done. I got some work done at home, thanks to my boyfriend. We put up a rain gutter on my house and dug up and "reset" my patio blocks which have been moved over the years by tunnelling chipmunks. It was a lot of work so I was very disappointed to see a small hole next to the patio this afternoon with a pile of gravel next to it. Nasty little rodent!

Once I finished with my home projects yesterday, I headed back to the farm just in time to put three loads of hay up in the loft. After putting the hay up, we fed the animals and I was about to collapse by dinner time around 5:30!

I was hoping Labor Day would produce an extra cria at the farm, but Misty is still holding out. She's looking good, has a great appetite, and seems in no hurry to "criate" the newest addition to our alpaca family.

Victor is looking good, too. I can see he's getting taller. I'm sure he will be very excited to have a new playmate. As usual, I'll keep you posted...

Update on Victor

2009-08-31T14:02:00.000-07:00

I always have the best of intentions when it comes to updating the blog, and then one thing or another comes up and time gets away from me...

Our new "surprise" cria Victor is already a couple of weeks old and is doing great! Although his mother was originally not allowing him to nurse, we were able to get her more comfortable with letting him practice nursing from her. Unfortunately, Victor felt that he was getting milk more easily from the bottle so he loses interest in nursing from his mom. So here we go with a bottle-fed male cria. We tried every day to get him to nurse on his own while supplementing with the bottle, but we could see that it just wasn't going to work.

Fortunately we were able to get enough of his mother's colostrum the first day. We also gave him his mother's milk for a few days by milking her. Ultimately though, we've been feeding him milk replacer five times each day and he's steadily gaining weight and is a very eager eater.

We're on cria watch again...this time it's Misty. She's looking as though she'll give us a new cria soon so I'll post it as soon as she delivers the goods! Take care all.

Everybody's birthday!

2009-08-19T11:58:00.000-07:00

Well, August 18th proved to be quite a day for us at Hidden Pond Farm! It was our mother's birthday as well as our great-nephew's birthday...and then it became "Victor's" birthday.

Don't let the pink jacket fool you, that's a male cria in the photo. My calculations must have been off because I didn't expect this cria for at least another couple of weeks. Unfortunately, Victor's mom has not been very cooperative about feeding him so we are supplementing him with a colostrum powder mixture as well as milk we've gotten from his mom.

It has been a busy couple of days. I'll update you more later this week...

Wet hay

2009-08-14T10:22:00.000-07:00

This is a picture of our wet hay on the field. Since this past weekend, the weather reports had shown a sunny 5-day forecast so we started cutting hay on Tuesday. Then I believe there was a 30% chance of rain in the forecast for Friday. Last night on the news, we saw a 50% chance of rain. I was hoping the rain would bypass Marinette so that we could get our hay dried and baled, but unfortunately that wasn't the case.

During the night and this morning, we received a significant amount of rain. If it clears up soon, maybe we can salvage our hay on the field without any problems. All we need is some sunshine and a nice breeze to hopefully dry it out. I'm not getting my hopes up though.

The alpacas, however, are enjoying the rain after several days of hot, humid weather.

Warm days of August

2009-08-11T10:22:00.000-07:00

After a cool July, we've started August with warm days and lately, very humid weather. We've gotten lots of heavy rain, too. We're still holding out for more hay baling weather and hopefully we'll be able to do just that by this weekend.

I'm noticing a lot of toenails that need trimming lately. We'll have to get those taken care of when we give Ivermectin shots over the next week.

The Results Are In!!

2009-08-07T10:47:00.000-07:00

Yay, pretty ribbons! Our first ever fleece show entries did well. Leroy received a 1st Place Blue Ribbon in the juvenile suri male indefinite color class. Lucas received a 3rd Place White Ribbon in his juvenile suri male light color class. The judge also commented that Lucas has "Great Luster!"

We didn't receive the DVD from the AFCNA Fleece Show yet, but I'm sure they are still editing from this past weekend's show. It will be nice to see the comments from the judges on the DVD. One area where I know we have to do better next time is to include more fiber. We scored low on fleece weight. I'm thinking I didn't bag enough fiber from the blanket area and may have thrown some of that fiber into my bag for leg and neck fiber during shearing.

We'll definitely get better at this, but at least our fleeces did well in spite of my mistakes! I'm really glad we finally entered a fleece show. Now that we've gotten the first one done, it doesn't seem as hard to do and we learn as we go. If you've never entered a fleece show or spin-off before, give it a try...you can't win if you don't enter.

Leroy asks...

2009-08-06T08:27:00.000-07:00

As you know, we entered our first fleece show recently. Leroy and Lucas (left to right) aren't the only ones anxiously awaiting the results of this past weekend's AFCNA Fleece Show. Hopefully we properly prepared our entries. We'll just have to be patient for the results.

Other than that, we are waiting for a few days in a row of dry weather so that we can cut and bale more hay. We had a lot of heavy rain this past week and I admit, we really needed it. But now, we need some baling weather. There's a 70% chance of rain tomorrow so we won't be cutting any hay tonight for weekend baling. That's probably alright since the temperature is supposed to get into the 90's over the weekend. It's not fun stacking hay in hot temps like that! Maybe next week will be better.

Photo update...

2009-07-29T12:31:00.001-07:00

On second thought, I think I like this photo of Lucas' fleece a lot better than the one below...

First Time Fleece Show Entries

2009-07-29T10:40:00.000-07:00

Wow! It was a lot of work but we skirted two fleeces for the 2009 AFCNA Continental Fleece Show coming up in Gettysburg, PA, this weekend. This is very new to us because we have never before entered a fleece show competition. I'm really excited to find out how things turn out.

What is even more exciting is the fact that they will be sending us back a DVD (at no extra cost) showing the fleece judging as well as all of the seminars at this weekend's event. Even though we won't be there in person, we'll still get to see all the seminars. Even better -- or not -- we'll get to watch as the judges look over our fleece entries and make their comments. Good or bad, it will be a learning experience for us. If the comments are bad, we'll know better next time.

PHOTOS: The "golden" fleece in the box above belongs to our now 12-month old suri male, Luxor's Lucas. I'm worried that as a suri fleece I may have let it get too "fluffy" in preparation. His flat lock style was more connected and actually fell off in more of a blanket as I hand sheared him.

In contrast, our 10-month old suri male, HPF Leroy had all individual pencil locks in his fiber. This photo doesn't quite do it justice since the sky was so overcast as I snapped the picture on my back porch. Although the photo makes it look like a mop, it really is beautiful to see in person.

Both entries are different from each other so we'll have to just wait and see how each of them fares in the fleece show. As they say, you can't win if you don't enter. We took a blue ribbon in our first spin off competition...maybe we'll be just as pleasantly surprised in the fleece competition. When we hear the results, you'll be the first to know!

Making hay.

2009-07-19T19:58:00.000-07:00

Since my last post, I've been busy studying fecal samples with the new microscope, talking with farm visitors, training for and running a 10k run (last week), and this weekend we baled hay.

Although our cut hay had gotten rained on the other day, it still dried out enough this weekend for us to bale. At one point we had two balers going and finished the day with about 260 more bales up in the hayloft.

We did need the rain and I hope we get some more soon. However, I hope it rains before we cut hay again!

I want to say hi to my new friends Joanne and Phil from North Carolina. They were in town for a family reunion last week and stopped out at the farm with Phil's mom to see the animals and the old family homestead. (Phil's mother's grandfather and family built the farm. My parents bought it way back in the 1960's.) Coincidently, while in town, Joanne signed up for the 10k run and the two of us ended up running together. We were both really pleased with our time of 1:07. Thanks again, Joanne, for keeping me motivated to make it through the whole 10k! Thanks also to Phil, our cheerleader who cheered us along throughout the route. It's funny how a short stop out to visit our animals turned into a last minute running partner for both of us and a nice friendship!

On-farm fecal testing with the new microscope

2009-07-06T12:12:00.000-07:00

I may have mentioned that we bought a microscope and fecal testing kit for the farm a few weeks ago. I finally took the time this past week to try it out. Fortunately it wasn't as complicated as I had thought.

The kit contained complete instructions on how to mix up the flotation solution, as well as provided all the necessary utensils (specimen cups, test tubes, cover slips and slides, etc.). The solution is just a mixture of water and sugar, boiled until it turns clear. You can store the flotation solution in the fridge for a few weeks for use as you need it.

According to the instructions, you need to obtain some fresh "beans" from the dung pile (make sure you know which alpaca or llama the beans came from) and put them into a specimen cup. Then add some of the sugar solution and smash the beans completely in the solution. Next, using a strainer, you pour the liquid from the solution into another specimen cup and then transfer the strained solution into a test tube. You'll need to leave a little "bubble" of solution at the top of the test tube before placing a small, thin glass cover slip over the top. After this is done, you wait 6-8 hours to allow any parasite eggs to float to the top of the test tube. (If you have a centrifuge, the process is different and you won't have to wait as long.)

The final step is to remove the cover slip from the test tube and place it onto a glass slide to examine under a microscope. Our kit contained photos to help identify internal parasites that are common to alpacas and llamas. I'm pleased to report that our worming program is working well. The only scare I had was on one slide that had all of these round black "cells" that looked like tiny black inner tubes. It turns out they were only air bubbles!! What a relief! I will now be more careful not to have too much liquid on the cover slip before I put it onto the slide.

My plan now is to practice reading the slides to make sure I know what I'm looking at and work with Rick and Rene' for their opinions as well. This will help us do a better job of parasite control with our animals.

Please note that my description above of the process is just an overview. There are specific measurements for mixing the sugar flotation solution as well as how much solution to add to your fecal samples. Check out www.rollinghillsalpacas.com for info on purchasing a microscope or parasite testing kit for your own farm. It's an excellent investment to ensure that your alpacas stay healthy!

Hot weather and heat stress

2009-06-25T12:11:00.000-07:00

All of our girls are fortunate enough to have access to our cool barn in the summer. The alpaca boys however have shelters that don't stay as cool as our old barn. We are able to remove side panels on one of the shelters for a cross breeze to keep it cooler inside. Another shelter for a younger group of boys has an overhang for shade that we enclose with tarps in the winter. Last Saturday, the panels and tarps were removed for the season, and just in time.

It's been hot and humid for the last several days with temps in the upper 80's and into the 90's. On Tuesday afternoon, Leroy was looking like he needed a break from the heat so I brought him and Lucas inside the barn to cool off. To be on the safe side, I wetted some towels and used them to cool his belly. I did the same for Lucas, too, although he didn't seem like he needed it.

Several years ago, our large male llama Java Joe suffered from heat stress. We saw him out in the pasture, wobbly on his legs, with his mouth open and panting. This was the first time we had seen this happen and one call to the vet gave us his diagnosis. We immediately hosed his belly with cold water and brought him inside the barn. We continued to cool him down in the barn with cold water and got him to drink water. Eventually, he improved and we kept a very close watch on him for the next few hours. Since that time, we have seen him on another occasion get early signs of heat stress by breathing with his mouth open and we take him into the barn as soon as we notice. We had heard that he is more susceptible to heat stress since he had it the first time.

It's a good idea to have electrolytes on hand to mix in the water on hot days for your alpacas. We've actually mixed powdered Gatorade into water buckets for our alpacas and llamas when the weather gets really hot and humid. They love it!

Also, hosing down their legs and bellies with water will help keep them cool. Our alpacas have been afraid of the sprinkler and the water hose so I try to atleast wet the pasture so they can lay on the wet grass or sand after I remove the sprinkler/hose.

Make sure you have clean, fresh water for your animals when it's hot and humid like this. If the alpacas are dipping their stinky feet in their water buckets, raise the buckets up so their water stays fresh.

Take care and stay cool!

That's a mouthful!

2009-06-20T08:05:00.000-07:00

Leroy just can't get enough of the long grass we pull and feed to him and his friends! I took this picture the other day after I sheared him. The temperature is already up to 75 degrees at 10:00 this morning so he should be really happy with the new haircut.

Plans today are to fix a barn window and clean some pastures. Tomorrow we will be picking up a "new" (used) haybine so we can get started on cutting hay soon.

Happy Birthday to our nephew, Noah!

Have a great weekend!

Hand shearing suri alpacas

2009-06-15T19:17:00.000-07:00

Today, I finally made time to hand shear Leroy and Lucas, our two youngest suri boys. It took me just under four hours to get them both done. Check out the photo of Lucas above that I took after shearing him. The inset is a photo I took of him just a couple of days ago.

This second before and after photo is a close up of Leroy's fiber. Again the shorn photo is from this afternoon and the photo of Leroy's long locks was taken just a few days ago.

I have to say I'm very pleased with the beautiful job on these guys! Rick and my mom agreed. They look almost as though I used the electric clippers, but I actually used really good, sharp (Fiskar) scissors.

This wasn't my first time hand shearing. The first couple of alpacas I hand sheared several years ago, I had given them a layered look. This time I tried a different technique in order to give them a more uniform length. Rather than cutting straight across horizontally, I cut from the top of the back and down. I pulled out each section of fiber and cut straight down, trying to cut at the same length all the way down. It's difficult to describe in words and unfortunately I was unable to take pictures as I did it.

Fortunately, both Leroy and Lucas were relatively cooperative. They did get a little nervous when I sheared their legs and close to any "important parts" but otherwise they were very well behaved. I was hoping to get photos of their really shiny, lustrous fiber close up, but they both decided to roll in the dirt after we let them back out in their pasture...before I got the camera out!

So this officially wrapped up our shearing season. Now it's time to skirt the blanket fiber and prepare it for the fleece show.

Ready for my close up!

2009-06-11T12:00:00.000-07:00

I just wanted to add this fun picture of Frances Bean. What a cutie!

Rotated to new pasture!

2009-06-11T11:24:00.001-07:00

Can you see the alpacas hiding in this photo? After grazing next to this grown out pasture for so long, the girls were excited to finally get a chance to enjoy themselves and roll around in the long grass! This will give their other pasture a break and a chance to grow a little before we let them back in.

Our first fleece show

2009-06-10T12:26:00.000-07:00

The AFCNA Continental Fleece Show will be held in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, August 1-2. It doesn't look like I'll be attending, but our farm will be represented.

This will be our first time entering a fleece show competition and I now need to get moving on skirting those entries! I want to make the early bird deadline of July 11th to save money on entry fees. That gives me one whole month to pick out all the vegetation and pack up our fleeces. ... Plenty of time, right?!

A cool thing about this show is that they will include a free DVD with judges comments about why they scored each fleece a certain way. So even though we most likely will not attend the show in person, we'll get to see the fleece show and the seminars. What a great bonus for entering the show!

Beautiful, sunny day today at the farm with more sunshine in the forecast!

Rainy day

2009-06-08T16:50:00.000-07:00

It rained all day and was chilly and breezy. I spent a good part of the day with wet shoes and socks. I shouldn't complain -- it sure beats farming in the middle of winter!

We're running low on our hay supply. I was hoping we could start cutting and baling our first crop soon, but with all the rain lately we can't get started. We'll be switching our girls to a new pasture soon and that will help us cut down on some hay.

The rain has been great for growing hay but we now need a good week or two of dry hot weather to get a nice supply of hay cut and baled.

Great news!

2009-06-06T19:22:00.000-07:00

I'm on Twitter (@ElizabethWoodky) and I follow (and am followed by) some alpaca farms. On Friday, one of my Twitter friends attending the AOBA National Conference in Ohio made the following tweet:

"ARI will be offering BVD testing by Geneseek. They will test from the bloodcard."

Although I did a quick (very brief) internet search for more info on Friday, I have not heard an official announcement from ARI (Alpaca Registry Inc.). I'm very excited about this because the BVD testing is an extra expense and trip to the vet for us with our crias.

I'll post a link if I hear more info on this topic. This will be great if we can have BVDV testing done at the same time we are registering our crias with ARI!!

On another topic, Rene' just purchased a microscope and fecal testing kit so we can start doing our own fecal tests on the farm! Way cool! First we'll have to read directions (ugh! how boring!) and then we'll figure out how to do the testing...I'll keep you posted on our new educational experience!

Sunny day at the farm.

2009-05-29T22:09:00.000-07:00

After two days of rain, things started clearing up on Thursday. Friday was another really nice day with sunshine and a cool breeze. The alpacas and llamas were happy to see the sunshine although the ground was still very "squishy" out in the pastures.

Here's a photo of Heide, Amy and Callista sporting their new haircuts on Friday morning.

Naked alpacas...and llamas, too!

2009-05-22T15:52:00.000-07:00

Everywhere you look at Hidden Pond Farm, there are naked alpacas and llamas! For the last few days, I've seen them laying flat on their sides, sunbathing.

Yesterday, Rick and I switched gears a little and sheared five llamas. Since we were shorthanded for a day, we knew we could just put the llamas in the chute and shear them fairly easily. Some of the llamas get a little feisty when shearing around their legs and necks, and toenail trimming on a couple of them can be nearly impossible. Nevertheless, we had a nice feeling of accomplishment at the end of the day.

Today was no different. Rene' was able to help us shear four (big) alpaca boys and one more llama. This weekend, we can finish up with Java Joe, our 400+ lb llama, and three alpaca boys. The two juvenile alpaca boys will be hand shorn instead of using the clippers so that should be interesting!

Wishing you a safe and happy memorial day weekend from all of us at Hidden Pond Farm!

I see spots!

2009-05-18T09:53:00.000-07:00

Here's a before and after shearing photo of Frances Bean - what a cutie! She turns a year old next month and this was her very first time being shorn.

I love shearing an alpaca the first time to see how the color has changed and darkened "below the surface" of what you usually see. Franny's dark brown fiber looked like chocolate and then to see her spots - wow! I'm showing a close up of her rear end in the photo below because we found appaloosa spots under all that white fiber. She also has a lot of spots on her neck as well.

Rick has taken the week off and Rene' will also take a couple days this week to get more shearing done - maybe even finish everyone, we'll see. Today though we are taking a day off from shearing. Tomorrow we'll start back up again and we'll have some very grateful alpacas who will enjoy the sunny weather even more with their new haircuts - Wednesday is supposed to get up to 80 degrees!

Have a great day!

Four more shorn...

2009-05-17T15:34:00.000-07:00

We sheared four more alpacas today -- two suris and two huacayas.

I'll have to take some shots of Frances Bean and post them on the blog. She looks so incredible now that she's shorn! She had so many appaloosa spots under all that fiber she reminded us of an Oreo Blizzard from Dairy Queen!! She's adorable.

Just a short post today. I'm a little worn out... Only 12 more alpacas left to shear and then we'll do the llamas.

Before and After...Shearing Season at HPF!

2009-05-14T09:26:00.000-07:00

Federico ("Rico") was the first to be shorn this past Sunday at the farm. We hesitated to shear because it was very chilly that morning. After we got started though it seemed to warm up.

Rico wasn't extremely excited about the shearing but he's feeling very comfortable now and about 8.5 pounds lighter. We also trim toenails at shearing time. Rico's toenails didn't look too bad but they still needed some trimming.

Our nephew Noah and brother-in-law Rob were there to witness their first alpaca shearing. Rob was kind enough to snap a couple of pictures for the blog. I decided to use the one below with me (Elizabeth) at Rico's head and Rick starting the shearing. That's Rene's arm holding onto the back legs. And, of course, Noah giving a two thumbs up!

Black sweatshirts and flannel were not the best clothing choices for shearing -- we all ended up full of white fiber. Hopefully, we'll have warmer weather these next couple of weeks so we won't have to dress as warm.

Rico was our "practice run" to help us get started. I can't remember how long it took us, but it was not our fastest time. Once we get into the rhythm of shearing, we can usually get each alpaca shorn and toenails trimmed within a half hour.

If you ever have a chance to see a professional shearing demonstration done at an alpaca show, I highly recommend it. We watched a demonstration at the show in Madison. The professional shearers were able to completely shear one alpaca in about six minutes! Of course they had several people helping and they didn't have to worry about toenail trimming either. Two men would hold up the alpaca while two others would place the feet in ropes. Then the alpaca would be lowered to the floor and stretched out. As one man sheared, someone would collect the fiber off the alpaca and bag it up for the owner.

Personally, I'm happy getting them done in 30 minutes. We usually have about three people -- one to shear and one at each end of the table holding down the feet and head. We'll stop every few minutes to gather up the fiber and place it in bags. The shearing table makes it a lot easier on our backs, too.

So this is what we're up to lately at Hidden Pond Farm and most every alpaca farm across the country at this time of year.

Tis the season for shearing alpacas...

2009-05-08T20:54:00.000-07:00

And we will definitely get started this weekend. We'll start with our huacayas because their fiber is so thick, and it is actually easier for us to shear than the slippery suri fiber. The huacaya fiber will come off in a nice, full blanket, followed by all the leg and neck fiber. The suri fiber is more loosely connected because of the individual locks throughout the body. Once we start shearing, we gather up the suri fiber in clumps as it falls off the alpaca.

Whether we're shearing a suri or a huacaya, our separation process is the same. We have a three bag system where we place the blanket fleece in one bag, the upper leg and neck fiber in a second bag, and in the third bag all of the extra fiber (second cuts and the less desirable, coarser and dirtier fiber from the lower legs, etc). I always mark the bags or slip a note inside with the alpaca name and shearing date as well as the bag contents (blanket or leg/neck fiber).

We're planning on entering some fleece shows and spin-offs this year so everyone will be working on skirting fleeces and preparing entries. I've been compiling a list of show dates and entry deadlines this week. I'll post more about skirting later.

I hope to find time to post some shearing pictures and comments from the weekend by Tuesday...

It's that time again...

2009-05-04T10:44:00.000-07:00

Shearing season is upon us and we had great intentions to start this weekend. Unfortunately, we didn't set a gameplan and got too involved in other projects that needed to be done. Pastures needed cleaning, AlpacaNation pages needed updating, fences needed mending....now that the snow is gone and the weather is nice, we find so many projects that need our attention.

Rick fertilized our hay field some more yesterday with our own "home-made" alpaca fertilizer. He filled the spreader with a second load of composted manure and it turned out to be too much for the old spreader. The chain broke before he even got started so the manure had to be emptied manually - that's right, he started shoveling it! Poor guy did a lot on his own before he had to take a break.

After lunch, he went back out and I gave him a hand as well. Our older brother Terry came out soon after and the three of us unloaded the spreader out onto the hayfield. Now Rick will have to add fixing the chain on the manure spreader to his list of priorities.

The weather is going to be in the 60's over the next couple of days, with rain later on this week. We may try to shear a few alpacas in the evenings after Rick gets home from work. This afternoon I'll be setting up the shearing table and getting things ready to go. Rene' will come out and help with the shearing too.

Ribbons for everyone!

2009-04-29T09:52:00.000-07:00

We haven't attended an alpaca show in a couple of years, but we still remember the feeling of bringing an animal into the ring and leaving the ring without a ribbon. I am extremely happy to report that all four of our alpacas received ribbons at this year's Great Midwest Alpaca Festival!

Frances Bean received a 2nd Place ribbon! We had to wait until Sunday afternoon to show her but we're happy with her beautiful red ribbon. HPF Leroy took 3rd place in his medium fawn juvenile suri male class. The judge remarked that he couldn't place him higher than third because his color was inconsistent (light fawn, medium fawn and dark fawn throughout his body). I'm thinking he would have done better if we had placed him in a pattern/indefinite color class instead.

Nuno took home a 4th place ribbon and Luxor's Lucas took 5th in his class. I'm especially pleased with Lucas' placement mainly because of the tough class of light fawn males. Lucas has a "flat lock" structure to his fiber which doesn't always look as impressive as those with the tight spiral-shaped locks of fiber. Lucas was the only alpaca in the ring with flat locks and he placed above two other males because of his luster and density of his fleece. I know many people wouldn't be happy with fifth place, but it sure felt good not having to walk out of the ring empty handed.

We took pictures in the show ring but none of them turned out. All of the pictures were blurry, probably because of the distance we were standing from the ring or the lighting in the arena. Whatever the case, they didn't turn out. I was really hoping I'd have at least one photo to post.

We arrived in Madison Friday afternoon and had our stalls set up and animals color-checked by around 5:30 or 6:00. It took about three people to decide which color class to place Leroy in because of the different color variations. In the future, I'll plan to put him in a pattern class if possible.

We were up bright and early Saturday morning to get to the arena before 8:00 and get our stalls cleaned up again. Then we waited...we didn't get to show Lucas or Leroy until late Saturday afternoon. Rick took Nuno into the ring Sunday morning and I showed Franny in one of the last classes of the day on Sunday afternoon. By the time I brought Franny into the ring, we had most of our things packed up for the trip home. It was a long weekend with a lot of waiting time and nervous butterflies. It's good to be back home again.

Next on our list is to start shearing alpacas. There are some fleece show and spin-off deadlines coming up soon so we'll be shearing some "entries" this weekend.

On our way to Madison!

2009-04-24T05:33:00.000-07:00

Not much time to post a message this morning since we're getting packed up for the Great Midwest Alpaca Festival. Hopefully I'll have some good news to report when we return from the big weekend in Madison.

Keep us in your thoughts and/or stop by and visit with us if you're at the show!
Have a great weekend!

Rain, rain go away...

2009-04-22T11:24:00.001-07:00

I was hoping we'd get some rain to help clean our alpacas off before this weekend's show. Well, we got it - three days of it! Here is a picture of poor Nuno on Monday. He is much drier and fluffier today than the last few days.

All of our suri boys at the farm chose to spend more time out in the rain (and some snow) than in their shelters. They were so soggy looking that I'd feel bad for them and put a little more hay and straw in their shelter. They'd go in for a while to warm up, but then they'd be right back out in that rain!

Thankfully, the rain has stopped and we should have sunny weather with temps getting up to 70 over the next couple of days! That will give the boys and Franny three good days of drying out before Saturday.

Our new stall mats and halters arrived a couple of days ago. Now I just have to get things organized and decide what else we need to take to the show. Off the top of my head, that list includes feed, hay, water buckets, muck bucket and "pooper scooper" to keep the stall clean, grooming supplies, show halters and leads, business cards and marketing materials to promote our farm. I'll have to sit down and think if there's anything else besides ourselves and our show clothes...I'm sure there is.

This is our first show in a couple of years so I'm getting a little nervous. Once we get there though, it's all up to our animals to look their natural best. Of course we can help them by picking all the hay we can out of their fiber and properly leading them into the show ring and handling them well for the judges to get a look at them.

We'll have to wait and see...

Preparing for the show

2009-04-19T17:47:00.000-07:00

We've only got a week left for final preparations for next weekend's alpaca show. Since I did a poor job of blogging in March and April, I'll fill you in on the details of what we've been doing to prepare.

Recently, we had our vet take blood samples from our alpacas who will be attending the show. One of the show requirements includes testing your alpacas for the presence of an active BVDV (Bovine Viral Diarrhea Virus) infection. This is to prevent any Persistently Infected (PI) alpacas from entering the show facility. It's a good idea to have your animals tested whether you are attending a show or not. Thankfully, to date, our entire herd has all tested negative for BVDV so we are good to go.

We also had to have our vet examine our four alpacas and complete a Certificate of Veterinary Inspection within 30 days of the show. In addition, we have to pay close attention to them during this week to make sure they are still healthy. We'd never want to bring a sick animal to a show and we wouldn't want anyone else to expose a sick animal to ours. A veterinarian will be at the show during check-in to make sure all animals entering the show are healthy. Any sick alpacas won't be allowed in.

This past week, we ordered new stall mats for our show stalls and a couple of new halters so we're patiently awaiting our shipment to arrive.

The show also requires that we worm our animals seven days prior to the show so this weekend we wormed them with Ivermectin and Safeguard.

In addition, we double-checked everyone's microchip with our chip scanner. We had chipped Nuno over a year ago when he was just a cria and had noticed late last year his microchip didn't show up when we scanned him. We thoroughly scanned him today from head to toe and we still couldn't locate the chip. It may have fallen out sometime after inserting last year if we didn't push the needle in far enough. Today we inserted a new chip and I'm confident it will stay put.

During this week, we'll be fine tuning our halter training with the crias. We took Leroy and Lucas for a long walk on Saturday and I was amazed at the major improvement with Lucas. I have to do more work with Frances this week, but I know she'll be fine.

There's still more to do to prepare so I'll keep you posted during the week as our countdown to showtime continues...

I asked the boys to pose for a photo...

2009-04-17T09:17:00.000-07:00

Can you believe they posed for this?! I was so excited to get this picture of our boys on Thursday! My mom and I led Leroy and Lucas (front row, left to right) outside to their very own pasture yesterday. It's right next to our older boys' pasture (left to right Iggy, Nuno, Rico).

The little guys were so happy to be out - we've had them in the barn since they were weaned late last year. Now they are getting some sunshine and maybe even a little rain this weekend. That would be good for them because the rain will give them a better "suri look" and help tighten up their locks a little. That will be great for next weekend's alpaca show.

Lucas is getting better on the lead now...he at least isn't dropping to the ground and insisting we drag him. I'm still a little nervous with the show coming up, but I think he'll be fine. We'll take him, Leroy and Frances for a walk or two this weekend to get them used to it. Plus I'll still be working with them during the week leading up to the show.

I'm also going to add them to our Alpaca Nation and Alpaca Street websites now that I've gotten some new pictures of them. At this time next week, we'll be on our way to the Alliant Energy Center in Madison for the Great Midwest Alpaca Festival!

Our first BLUE RIBBON!

2009-04-15T10:56:00.000-07:00

We learned recently that our very first fiber spin-off entry received a blue ribbon!

Last year we attended a skirting bee at another alpaca farm and learned how to properly skirt our fleeces for shows as well as prepare entries for spin-off competitions.

Rene', her daughter Beth and I worked diligently at cleaning all the tiniest pieces of vegetable matter from our first entry. We used beautiful medium brown fiber from our 2-1/2 year old male suri, HPF Iggy. We entered the spin-off competition for the 2009 Spring Bling Alpaca Show in Neenah, WI. Chris Rogers of Whisper Meadows Alpacas in DePere notified me of our first place ribbon and kindly returned our entry w/ribbon in the mail since we weren't able to attend the show.

Comments from the judge included, "Very nice color!" and "Excellent shine!"

We did, however, get dinged a few points for inconsistent lengths of fiber in our entry. We will need to stay within 1/2" length variance. We also need to pay attention to the variations of fineness so that we include the same, consistent samples of fiber in each entry. It was a great learning experience overall. We're so excited to have gotten our first blue ribbon!

We've been preparing for the Great Midwest Alpaca Festival show in Madison, WI, coming up April 25-26th. I promise to have more blog updates over the next two weeks as I get our four alpacas ready for their big public debut!

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

2009-03-17T11:58:00.000-07:00

This time of year always makes me happy and gets me out of that "winter funk"! The snow is melting and the temperature is in the 40's and 50's.... Yay! Spring is springing!

Now is also the time of year to make sure your alpacas are wormed if you gave it a rest during the coldest winter months. We've already started vaccinating with Dectomax over the weekend and have to finish up. We like to use Dectomax on our pregnant girls because there has been some thought over the years about the safety of using Ivermectin on pregnant females. I can tell you, however, that we have used Ivermectin on our pregnant females and thankfully never had problems. But when in doubt, use the Dectomax...it's more expensive though.

Safeguard is another wormer that will keep your alpacas (and llamas) safe from parasites. We used to buy the paste and squirt it in their mouths. It's thick so they try to spit it out and that gets very messy! We discovered over the winter the beauty of liquid Safeguard. They accept it much more easily so we know they are getting the proper dosage. I'll give you more info about that in an upcoming post...

I'm looking forward to corned beef and cabbage for dinner today --

Happy St. Patty's Day to all!

Hurry up spring!

2009-03-10T10:04:00.000-07:00

On Sunday we had a snowstorm that brought us several inches of new snow. Today, it's rain and temperatures in the 30's.

This is that sloppy time of year that makes me want spring to get here even faster! I get a little peek at the ground below all that snow. The days seem to be longer with more sunshine. Even the alpacas, llamas and other animals at the farm are looking a happier at the signs of warmer days ahead.

My older brother raises Scottish Highland Cattle and a few yaks at our family farm where we raise our animals. Over the weekend, one of his cows who always has her calves in the middle of February, usually during blizzards, had a beautiful little black heifer. We did some shifting around in the barn and he made mom and new baby a stall to avoid Sunday's snowstorm.

When he brought the calf in the barn, you should have seen all the alpaca and llama ladies! They all gathered at the side of their pen and stared happily at the pretty little -- 60 pound -- calf. The majority of the alpaca and llama ladies are moms and no matter what kind of baby it is, they get the happiest looks on their faces when they see a baby! I wish I had brought the camera outside with me because it was priceless.

Of course all the ladies love to see the new baby, but they are glad that mama cow and calf stay on their own side of the barn. Plus it's just a temporary housing situation for the new mom. She'll be mingling again with the rest of the herd within a couple of weeks.

That's all for today. Hope you are warm and dry where you are!

Sylvia the comedian!

2009-03-04T08:38:00.000-08:00

Sylvia is one of our llama girls. She is actually very beautiful, however due to the subject of today's post, I tried to use the goofiest picture of her that I could find.

I always tell people that alpacas and llamas usually don't spit at people. They will spit at each other during squabbles over food or hay. They may also spit if they don't want us to give them a shot. If you have a bezerk male llama (like we do) who doesn't like "change" or new faces, you will also see the spit fly. But for the most part, we don't get spit at very often by our animals.

Sylvia is the major exception on our farm. I'm not sure where she learned it, but she likes to play a trick on new visitors or us if we forget her little joke. She will come up to the side of the fence and reach her face over to look at you and when you lean in and look back at her pretty face -- SPLOOSH!!! She'll get you!

Today it's "warm" out - temps in the 20's. I decided that since the girls have been cooped up for a couple of days, I would let them out. First I let myself out the side door and closed it behind me so I could make a quick check of the fence...just in case snow or animals or something made a weak spot. Everything looked fine so I went back and opened the door - SPLOOSH!! That darn Sylvia was standing at the door when I opened it! I shut the door in her face and got my bearings, then opened the door again -- SPLOOSH!!

That little wench spit at me a second time! I held my hand up in front of her face as a shield and scolded her. I doubt that she cared at all. I'm sure she was laughing at me the whole time! I let the girls outside and checked out my hat. It wasn't in too bad of shape...just a few green chunks of hay. The smell was fierce but I was no worse for wear.

After morning chores were finished and I went inside to clean up, I noticed a few green splatters on my glasses. I haven't lost all my dignity - at least there were no witnesses, right? ... and Sylvia had her fun for the day!

Luxor's Lucas is officially registered!

2009-03-01T17:44:00.000-08:00

Hooray! As of Thursday, February 26th, our little Lucas' registration was finally complete! And his sire and dam are exactly who I said they are! According to the Alpaca Registry, we should receive his certificate in the mail in the next week or so. Thank goodness!

If you happen to be attending the Great Midwest Alpaca Festival in Madison, WI, at the end of April, please stop by our stalls to say hello and see Luxor's Lucas, HPF Leroy, Nuno and Frances Bean. I'm excited to attend because we haven't been to a show in quite some time due to scheduling conflicts and bad timing. Those shows really fill up fast nowadays!

I had a pretty good following of readers on this blog and I'm sure I've lost many of them after the New Year with my irregular blogging schedule. I'm hoping to win some of you back though. I should be able to blog more regularly now because I'm one of the latest victims of corporate downsizing. The unstable economy has taken it's toll on the company I worked for so they were no longer able to keep me and many other employees. So while I'm searching for work, I'm able to spend more time with our alpacas. I might even be able to do a better job of marketing them now...who knows?

Lucas - who's your daddy?

2009-02-16T10:23:00.000-08:00

I haven't written in quite a while...it's not that I haven't had anything to write about. I just didn't have the time to sit down and write.

I'm going to vent my frustration a little today about the ongoing ordeal with registering one of our crias. You might recall my post back around December when I was registering our three crias Franny, Leroy and Lucas. All went smoothly for Franny and Leroy and we had their ARI certificates in hand within about two weeks.

Lucas has been another story. When I register our crias, I sometimes add an extra "possible herdsire" choice just in case somebody got switched around if we leave more than one female at a farm for breeding with different males. I doubt I will ever do that again. After paying the initial $40 and submitting Lucas' blood sample card, we were later asked to resubmit a new blood sample card - and another $40 - for his dam, Sofie. Oddly enough, there was no problem registering Sofie's previous cria, but now all of a sudden they needed a better sample so they could test for more DNA markers.

Well, that ended up fine and of course his mother is really "his mother". Now it came back that both herdsire choices are a possible match as Leroy's sire! So I paid for yet another blood sample retest for the other herdsire choice (that I don't even own) so that the Alpaca Registry could make up a 14 marker DNA panel to rule out the second choice! I should have gotten the results last week, but they forgot to submit it to the lab.

So this Thursday I will be finding out that Lucas is exactly who I think he is and that I never should have submitted a second choice herdsire when I registered him. All that for $120!!

Say a prayer and keep your fingers crossed that I will have results by this Thursday and won't have to give any more blood or money to get Lucas registered!

A few resources for alpaca information...

2009-01-25T12:18:00.000-08:00

I guess everyone's pretty tired of hearing about how cold it is so I'll try to change the topic this time!

It's that time of year when we have to renew our membership in AOBA (Alpaca Owners and Breeders Association) and Suri Network. If you are interested in alpacas, these are great organizations to check out for more information and to find farms in your area. Alpacas Magazine (published by AOBA) and Purely Suri magazine (published by Suri Network) provide a lot of helpful information and news about alpacas including marketing tips, health topics, alpaca fiber crafts and stories about other alpaca farms. If you haven't read these publications before and want to find out more about the wonderful world of alpacas, visit the links above to find out how to get copies of these magazines.

Another good source of information is the alpacasite on Yahoo Groups. You first need to register for the group before accessing it. This is a truly wonderful resource because there are so many people on the alpacasite 24/7. Whenever you need help with a particular issue on raising your alpacas, you can just check out the archives to see what information is available or you can post your question on the site. Not only are there experienced alpaca breeders on the site, but also veterinarians who own alpacas who can provide helpful advice. It's a really nice feeling knowing you're not alone out there.

We've also recently joined AlpacaStreet.com. Their website also has a wealth of information including a listing of farms and ranches in your area (Market Street), fiber information (Mill Street), and plenty of advertising opportunities.

Of course there are a lot more resources online than I can ever list here, but these are some of my personal favorites.

One cold week!

2009-01-18T07:46:00.000-08:00

Well we brought Misty home last weekend and everyone was excited to see her. We're happy to have her back and she settled in very nicely.

This week was incredibly cold! Temperatures were down to -15 degrees and that wasn't even the windchill! It's supposed to be warmer this weekend...I was expecting temps in the 20's but so far it's been around 8-10 degrees these last two days. It does feel more comfortable though then it was. We had about 3-4 inches of snow yesterday.

The animals have been handling the cold, cold weather really well. We make sure they have water to drink, a little extra straw to lay on, plus we give them a little more feed and/or hay on those really cold days to keep their energy up and keep them warm.

Nothing new to report today. I'm just waiting for warmer weather!

Happy New Year!

2009-01-07T17:22:00.000-08:00

I hope everyone has had a safe and happy New Year so far. Here's a photo of what 2009, and actually the last month of 2008, has looked like for us. This is the road to our farm and I thought I'd take some pictures to remember how pretty it looks with all the snow and ice on the tree branches.

Monday morning on my drive to work it was -4 degrees and today it was in the 20s. We had more snow today and expect more later this week. We're hoping to drive down to southern Wisconsin to pick Misty up from another farm. After she lost her pregnancy this summer, we needed to rebreed her. I'm praying for good weather for our drive because it's no fun towing a livestock trailer on slippery roads, especially with a pregnant alpaca in the back!

I received an update from the American Alpaca Fiber Federation recently about the denim show in Paris. It sounds like there was a tremendous interest in the alpaca denim product with over 70 mills, manufacturers, retailers and designers interested in samples of the new Alpaca Fiber - Cotton Denim! Stay tuned on this one... there is sure to be more good news as the AAFF follows up with all of these leads over the next few months. Did I mention that some of those interested in the product were top designers like Salvatore Ferragamo and Versace as well as Gap, Levi, Tommy Hilfiger, Old Navy and more? Very cool!

That's all for tonight. I'll plan to post again this weekend. Stay warm!

2008-12-25T07:47:00.000-08:00

It's cold!

2008-12-16T18:36:00.000-08:00

I've added a new gadget to the blog. I wanted to add just a simple gadget that would tell you the temperature here in Marinette, but then I saw the Doppler Radar gadget and thought that would be really cool. Well, I've got a dial-up connection so all I see is a blur. I may change it in another day or two if it doesn't work.

It was warm on Sunday, in the 30's and raining all afternoon. Then it got really windy during the evening and temperatures were in the single digits and negatives during the night so it all froze. Windchills are in the negatives...I admit I haven't listened very closely to the weather because I don't want to know the windchill! I saw earlier tonight the temperature was a nippy 5 degrees F. I hear the wind howling outside my window every now and then and I'll bet it's even colder than 5 degrees now. Burr!

Everybody in the barn got extra straw to lay on because otherwise the concrete is way too cold. The boys in the shelters outside have a lot of hay - that they waste - to lay on so they will be fine. Of course they've also got all that warm fiber to keep them warm too. Their shelters actually stay pretty cozy and keep them protected from the wind. They all seem to be handling this weather fine but we keep an eye on them to make sure they are comfortable and have water to drink and hay to nibble on during the day.

Great news...Misty has been confirmed pregnant. Now we just have to figure out when to make the trip to pick her up. Hopefully we'll have good weather and no snow on the day we make the drive.

Only 8 more days until winter officially starts!

2008-12-13T11:19:00.000-08:00

So why do we have all this snow already?! Plus it's been really cold this past week. We kept the girls indoors and the barn doors were closed this week to keep everyone warm. This morning I let the girls out and they took off out into the field. You can see Sofie here running around in the snow. After I put the camera away they all came running back towards me and the barn - it would have been a cute shot. I think they purposely wait until they see the camera go back in my pocket!

We'll most likely close everyone up again tonight and if not tonight, then tomorrow sometime. It's supposed to get warm tomorrow - in the 30's but we could get some rain and snow. Then it's back to temperatures in the 'teens' for the rest of the week. Ah, yes, Wisconsin in the winter...

Registering the crias

2008-12-03T18:45:00.000-08:00

I registered the crias online tonight with the alpaca registry. It's really easy to do although the registration isn't complete until all of the labwork is received and the crias parents are confirmed. Basically all of the "paperwork" and payment is done online so it's nice to get that taken care of quickly.

The Alpaca Registry, Inc. (ARI) requires DNA testing for all registrations. This is done by obtaining a blood sample from each alpaca you are registering and putting it on a card. You can see on the top left corner of this photo the big red blood spot in the middle of the circle.

We're getting better at this every year. I don't like having to do this to our poor little crias but it only takes a few minutes. We use a syringe to prick a spot on the ear to get our blood sample, then we suck up a little in the syringe and carefully squirt it onto the dna card. (I face the "open end" of the needle down toward the paper so it doesn't splash outside the circle.)

Although I'm sure it's uncomfortable to the crias, they really don't act like it was a big deal after we've finished. We make sure to put some pressure on the ear where we took the sample if it bleeds a lot. It stops bleeding rather quickly after that. Other farms may use a different technique or draw blood from the tail or different location. We've gotten comfortable with this method.

You'll also notice above the ARI natural fiber color chart. I clipped a small lock of hair off each alpaca and we matched up their fiber color with the color chart. You can order these directly from the ARI website for about $20 - it really is an important item to have because some of the colors are so close you really can't judge it for yourself that easily.

As a matter of fact, Leroy's fiber was a little tricky because we wavered a little between medium fawn and dark fawn. Depending on how the light hit it, the fiber "kind of" matched both colors. In the end, we decided on the dark fawn.

Now I just have to mail in our dna cards to ARI for processing and wait...

Happy Thanksgiving!

2008-11-27T07:46:00.000-08:00

Well, Moe just couldn't leave things alone. Yesterday he squirmed his way under the fence into the pasture with Iggy and Rico. Everything was fine in the beginning...he even had dinner in there because Rene' thought we had purposely put him in that pasture. A while later, everything got a little crazy and Moe had to be pulled out of there.

Normally, we would let the boys work things out but with Moe's leg injury last year we didn't want to take any chances. He is now in the barn in his own stall to keep him out of trouble. As of this morning, his former roommate Nuno is sharing the pasture with Iggy and Rico. They seem to be getting along fine.

We've got a lot to be thankful for this year - healthy families, healthy animals. I couldn't ask for anything more. Happy Thanksgiving everybody! Enjoy your day.

Success with the crias and trouble with Moe the escape artist!

2008-11-23T13:29:00.000-08:00

Lucas has been eating more pellets this week and I saw him drinking water yesterday afternoon! It was cute - he stuck his tongue in the water a couple of times to try it out and after a couple of dips, he lowered his mouth and took a long drink for nearly a full minute. YAY! I was so worried that he would get dehydrated if we didn't keep letting him back in with his mother. Now we can keep them all separated without worrying.

Actually, we can switch our worries in another direction. Our 2-year old male, Moe, has become an escape artist since Friday afternoon. (That's Moe in the photo with Nuno behind him.) We were thinking that he must have found a spot to jump over but we'd never see him do it. After escaping the second time today, I noticed the fence was pushed out in one corner near the ground. There's a low spot on the ground and he must have been crawling under the welded wire fencing! We reinforced the fence with an extra section of goat fencing, plus we placed a couple of cement blocks in the low spot. That must have been the spot for sure because Moe was rather agitated after we patched it up. We're hoping he behaves otherwise we may have to pen him up in the barn.

It was about one year ago that Moe had gotten his rear left leg broken when we moved him into a pasture with several older boys and two others his same age. Luckily, the fractured bones hadn't broken through the skin so the Vet School in Madison was able to perform a successful surgery on Moe. He spent one or two months in Madison before we were able to bring him home and then he was confined to a 12 x 12 stall until we finally felt comfortable enough to set him up in his own pasture with Nuno in late summer. Apparently Moe's leg is much stronger so he's able to crawl under fences on his belly. That's a good sign that we will be able to use him for breeding next spring. We would have liked to use him this fall but we wanted to give him enough time to build up the bone around the repaired area. I hope he behaves and stays in his pasture so we don't have to pen him up again.

Since I'm already talking about Moe's leg, let me take a moment to do a commercial for the veterinarians who fixed him up. I can never say enough good things about our experience with the Vet School in Madison! Every chance I get, I tell everyone what wonderful care Moe received. They saved his life and he actually enjoyed his follow-up visits to Madison. They updated us every day while he was in their care so we never had to worry about how he was doing. If you are ever in a situation where you would need them, I know first hand that your alpacas will be given the best care possible and you will be well-informed about what's going on with their care.

Well, that's all for tonight. Happy Thanksgiving!

Weaning the crias

2008-11-16T15:34:00.000-08:00

It wasn't easy getting a picture of these three because somebody was always facing the wrong way or had their face buried in the feed dish. I finally got this picture of Franny (brown & white huacaya), Lucas (center) and little Leroy this afternoon.

We've had a little trouble getting Lucas to eat and drink on his own. I noticed earlier this week, after just about two days separated from their moms, that Lucas was straining over the poop pile. I hadn't seen him drinking on his own so we gave him a bottle of supplement like we've been feeding Leroy. He wasn't too keen on drinking it but we made sure we got the full bottle into him so that he wouldn't get dehydrated. The following morning, to be on the safe side, we let Lucas and the other two crias back in the pen with their moms. Lucas nursed like there was no tomorrow.

Now we've got them on a schedule where we pen them up in the evening at feeding time and let them back out with their moms in the morning. Franny and Leroy dig right in to the sweet multifeed, but Lucas is still not as interested. I've noticed Lucas eating more of the feed this weekend though. I'm hoping he is starting to drink water on his own too. I've made sure he's aware of the water by letting him dip his mouth in the bucket and wetting my fingers and getting a little water in his mouth. We'll still have to keep a close watch on him for a while I guess.

In seven years of raising alpacas, I don't remember ever having this much trouble weaning any of our crias. Fortunately, Lucas is the only one we've ever had to worry about. I can see he's catching on but I don't want to rush him if he isn't ready. For now we'll continue to give him time with his mom during the day until we can see he's able to drink enough water on his own as well as eat pellets.

Oddly enough, as small and young as Leroy is, he's been eating and drinking to his heart's delight - that little guy is definitely a fighter! Since Leroy's eating regular feed now, we're cutting down his bottles to only four per day. He's well over 30 pounds and doing great. Maybe he can teach Lucas to become less dependent on his mom...

Winter is coming...

2008-11-09T15:06:00.000-08:00

We just started seeing some very light snow flurries here this weekend but luckily it's still too warm for the snow to stick. The wind today felt bitter cold though and I had to pull out the long johns for the first time this fall! I'm not looking forward to the cold winter ahead.

The time was right for us to pen up our crias away from their moms for weaning. Of course it doesn't make a difference with Leroy because he is still being bottle fed. Franny seems to be handling the separation okay, but Lucas wasn't very happy with it at all. Lucas was humming and trying to find a way out of the pen to get back to his mother. After a couple of hours though, it seemed that all three crias were calmed down and nibbling on hay in their stall. They are set up right next to their moms stall so they are still able to peek their heads through to talk to each other.

We'll have to keep a close eye on Lucas in particular to make sure he is getting enough to eat. Franny has been eating pellets and sweet multifeed for a few weeks now, but Lucas never really seems to be interested in it. I put a few bits of sweet feed in his mouth, one at a time, and he spit them out, one at a time...by the fourth piece though he seemed to realize that it didn't taste too bad. I saw him at the feeder for a little while but I'm not sure how much he ate. He finally relaxed in his new stall and was snacking on hay when I last checked on him. I'm sure he'll be fine but we have to keep an eye on him to make sure he's eating enough now that he can't rely on his mom for meals.

I've also noticed that Franny has a tendency to choke when she eats so I put some grassy hay in the feeder so she'll have to forage through it for the grain. This seems to help whenever we have a problem with an alpaca that chokes. I guess it slows them down so they can't eat as fast. When they eat really fast the saliva combined with the pellets causes the pellets to expand in their throat and they have trouble swallowing it. That's when they start to drool and choke.

Rick and I have different techniques to fix it and I basically try everything I can to help out the choking alpaca. One way that seems to work for Rick is to vigorously rub their neck in long strokes, up and down. Most times I try to pat up and down the neck to loosen things up in there. I'm sure everyone has their own method that works. The alpaca will usually start coughing up green slime from the loosened up feed and after they get some of it out they are fine. Just keep an eye on them and make sure they are acting normal and starting to eat again or nibble on hay.

I'll try to post some pictures this week of our three new roommates Franny, Lucas and Leroy.

Where have I been?

2008-11-03T17:33:00.000-08:00

I didn't realize it's been a couple of weeks since the last time I wrote. Time really flies. My back went out right around the time of my last post, then I had some additional health issues to take care of. Now my back is fine and everything is looking much better.

Last weekend we microchipped our three crias. Alpaca farms participate in the livestock ID program by microchipping or eartagging their animals. We use Riley ID and have a scanner to read the chips. The chips come in a sealed package and are inside a very large "needle". We use a special injector that pushes the microchip out of the needle after we poke the needle under the skin. Click on this link to see instructions from Riley ID on how to inject the microchips: http://www.rileyid.com/directions/injecting.htm.

It looks like it might really hurt, but after we're finished our alpacas are fine. They might be upset with us at first, but they get over it in time. Fortunately, we've never had any complications or problems while microchipping our alpacas. As a matter of fact, there most often isn't any bleeding from the process either. It looks lot worse than it is.

I received an update from the AAFF regarding the alpaca fiber they've purchased from member farms. In their latest message they said, "December 3 & 4, 2008 will make history for the alpaca world. That is the date of the Denim by Première Vision, show http://www.denimbypremierevision.com/." The show is in Paris, France, and it's dedicated to denim. AAFF will be promoting their American alpaca denim fabric. Let's hope they have great success at the show so the demand for alpaca fiber increases in the U.S.

Hey, tomorrow is Election Day - don't forget to exercise your right to vote!

HPF Alpaca Fiber - SOLD OUT!

2008-10-15T15:35:00.000-07:00

Well we did it. We sold the rest of our alpaca fiber for the year! Now if we could only do that with all the llama fiber we've got stored up.

The American Alpaca Fiber Federation (AAFF) Mobile Alpaca Fiber Processing Trailer pulled in to Green Bay today to pick up fiber from member farms and we were one of those farms. Everyone was really nice. Thomas showed me samples of alpaca thread and denim. The denim samples had different percentages (up to 50%) of alpaca thread in them. The alpaca denim was very nice and looked just as durable as regular denim but had a softer feel to it in comparison to the non-alpaca denim. I'm not sure how much fiber will be used in the end product when they are able to produce the Paca Blues Jeans but I know that people will really love wearing them.

I'm not sure if you've seen the postcards and advertisements for the AAFF, but if you have, you've seen Thomas' daughter Emily with her alpaca. Emily is touring the country with the fiber processing trailer. I had to get a photo of her and her father at the back of the trailer where the ad is posted. I thought it was kind of cool to see the actual model from the ads going from farm to farm across the country picking up fiber for the jeans she'll be modeling some day.

It was a really good experience to meet them all and hear their enthusiasm for this project. They'll be attending a fashion show in Paris later this year to promote their alpaca denim product and hopefully generate more interest in the American alpaca fiber market. I'm really glad to be a part of this and hope to bring a little bit of alpaca into more homes across the United States. Just think, we could be wearing jeans made out of fiber from our very own alpacas! That's really cool.

What's up at the farm?

2008-10-10T14:58:00.000-07:00

Here's Leroy and Callista enjoying the sunshine today. As you can see, Leroy is looking great and doing really well. He's finally gaining weight and is now over 23 pounds.

The fall color is really starting to burst on the trees around the farm. This is a great time for taking pictures of the animals because the background scenery is just beautiful.

We'll be busy this weekend, packing up our fiber to sell to the American Alpaca Fiber Federation. We'll be meeting them in Green Bay on Wednesday where they'll be picking up fiber from a couple of other farms besides us. I'll try to remember the camera so I can get a picture for the blog. I'm excited to see the AAFF fiber truck in person. I'm wondering how they can handle picking up so much fiber from farms across the country on each trip. I can't imagine where they store it all. That's what I want to see. Maybe they'll let me take a couple of pictures so you can see it too.

Learning about fleece preparation...

2008-10-05T19:02:00.000-07:00

This weekend, Rene' and I went to a skirting bee at another alpaca farm. It was a really good experience for both of us. Since we don't show our alpacas as regularly as we should, I am determined to start entering their blanket fiber in fleece shows and spinoff competitions.

We took one huacaya fleece and one suri fleece with us to the skirting bee. The huacaya fleece is very fluffy and it's important to pick every little piece of VM (vegetable matter) out of it that you can, as well as second cuts (shorter cuts of hair from shearing) and coarse hairs that would deduct points in competition. Basically, you want the blanket fleece you show to be the best representation of the animal. The huacaya fleece we were working on was mainly white but had some small areas of black fiber since the alpaca has a couple of small black spots. We learned that we need to take out the black fiber and just stick with the main color. The judges look for consistency throughout the entire fleece (length, color, crimp, etc) We aren't going to be showing this particular fleece we worked on, but instead were using it to learn from. We plan on selling this fiber next week to the AAFF. (Read earlier posts for more info...)

The suri fleece is a little harder to work with since it doesn't stick together like the huacaya fiber. Suri fiber is long and silky and has more individual locks. Preparing it for competition is basically the same. Make sure all of the VM or as much as possible is removed. We were separating out locks of the same length to be sent in for a spinoff competition. We needed to gather up 2 oz of similar length fiber and put it in a gallon size ziplock bag.

What happens in the competition is that a handspinner takes the sample of your alpaca's fiber and spins it into yarn. As she works with it, she'll write her comments and score it. She'll also pick out any VM and guard hairs to show you why points were taken off for those different things. In the end, you'll hopefully get a ribbon for your alpaca's fiber, but at the very least you'll get some great feedback and a cool piece of yarn spun from your fiber.

I'm excited now and I can't wait to enter and see how we do. I'll let you know in the months ahead how things go with any entries I send out.

Leroy update.

2008-09-26T05:14:00.000-07:00

I realize I haven’t updated the blog for a while and I promise to get some new pictures up this weekend.

As you know, our last cria born on the farm was Leroy. Unfortunately, Leroy’s mom is a first time mom who just doesn’t have a clue as to how to be a mom. We tried our best to get the two of them working together – at first she was resistant to him nursing from her, then he was resisted to trying to nurse from her. In the end, we’ve been bottle feeding Leroy for the past couple of weeks. I don’t recommend this for a male alpaca or llama but we had no choice. We couldn’t get any of our other moms to take him under their wing either. It was kind of touch and go for a while, but now it seems that Leroy is going to be fine. He’s only around 19 lbs or so but he is strong and perky and doing great.

Happy Birthday Leroy!

2008-09-09T10:28:00.000-07:00

We had another birthday at Hidden Pond Farm on Saturday, September 6th. Our maiden suri Amy (aka Amazing Mist) gave birth to her first cria, a 16 pound male. He's very sweet but a little frail as his new mom is having trouble adjusting to her new responsibility.

We've been bottle feeding him for the past few days but we're going to have to get his mother to take over very very soon. Here are a couple of photos of Leroy.

Happy Birthday Rene'!

2008-09-05T10:11:00.000-07:00

It's Rene's birthday today so we gave her the day off from farm work. (She actually doesn't come out on Fridays but we would have given her the day off if she did!)

Thanks Rene' for all the extra help at the farm this past year - we really appreciate it. We wish you a very happy birthday and a great year ahead!

Little visitors...

2008-08-29T12:32:00.000-07:00

Joyce and the children from Gran Gran's Daycare came out for a visit today to meet the alpacas and llamas. Check out Heide laying down next to the gate so the kids could get up close and personal with her!

There were about eight children and two adults in the group and they all seemed to have a good time petting and visiting with the animals. We even penned up a couple of my brother's fainting goats who were very friendly with the children.

Rene' and her daughter Beth helped with setting up for the group this morning and Rene' brought a sample of alpaca apparel to show how the fiber is used. She also brought a supply of finger puppets made from alpaca yarn and those were a big hit with the kids! Each child got to pick out a finger puppet to take home as a souvenir of their visit.

We all enjoyed their visit today and hope they had a good time, too.

Getting it all done.

2008-08-28T10:26:00.000-07:00

I don’t know how we’ve done it, but we’ve been getting a lot accomplished around here.

Two weekends ago, we squeezed in the task of roofing my house thanks to my boyfriend Marc and my brother Rick. Add to that, baling hay and regular chores, plus our full time jobs during the week. Marc completed the roof this past week. On Sunday, we loaded more hay up into the hayloft and put up fence and a new gate so that we could put two more alpaca boys in a pasture outside. Last night, Rick and I completed siding the front of our barn and it looks great. We have half of one side of the barn to do and we’ll have completed this siding project we started a few years ago.

In addition to baling hay now and then, we’ve also bought a couple of loads from our friends John and Cindy. John was kind enough to drive both loads to our farm from their home about 35-40 minutes away. If you’ve ever pulled a wagonload of hay behind your truck before you know that this isn’t an easy – or quick – task. In fact, John even experienced a flat tire on the wagon with the first load of 200 bales. Our hayloft is looking very well stocked at this point but we will still need more to carry us through to next spring. We estimate that we’ll need a total of about 600 bales since we use almost 2 bales a day for our herd of 16 alpacas and 7 llamas.

Tonight we will put up a small fence to provide an enclosure for Frances and Lucas on one side and a couple goats on the other side. We have a group of visitors coming on Friday from a local daycare. The short 36” high fenced stalls will give the kids a chance to get up close to the animals while I talk about the farm, fiber and the difference between llamas and alpacas.

Well, my lunch break is over so that’s all I can write for now. I’ll try to post more pictures over the long holiday weekend.

What to do with all that fiber!

2008-08-17T19:41:00.000-07:00

We've joined the American Alpaca Fiber Federation (AAFF) and I'm excited to see how this investment works out. As members, we'll have the opportunity to sell our fiber every year to AAFF, a guaranteed place to sell it. The best part for us is that they do not require us to skirt, sort or scour it. We also have the option to not sell our fiber if we have other uses/buyers for it and that's what I really like.

The AAFF will travel to major farms, cities and alpaca events across the country with their tricked out fiber truck. Member farms can bring their fiber to these drop off points and get a receipt for their fiber. The special equipment in the fiber truck will allow them to weigh, cut and bale the fiber to get it ready for processing.

Eventually, our alpaca fiber will be made into denim and marketed as Paca Blues jeans. How cool is that? Hopefully, our investment, along with that of all the other AAFF members, will pay off and demand for American alpaca fiber will increase. We took the leap of faith to join the AAFF and I'm keeping my fingers crossed that this has been a good move on our part. I'll give a little report now and then as we progress with this new organization.

Time flies...

2008-08-10T18:30:00.000-07:00

Over the last couple of weeks since I updated this blog, we've baled hay two or three times. Here's a picture of Rick with the haybine, cutting one hay field back in July.

He and our brother Terry were both baling on Saturday morning until it started raining. What a downpour! Rene' was out in the field picking up hay with her truck until Terry got back out in the field with the hay wagon. The rain didn't last long, just long enough to soak all of us. Rick brought in his wagon load and we put up what we could for the day, spreading it out up in the hayloft to help it air dry over night.

Today they picked up where they left off and we put up another small load. I think we've got about 600 bales so far but we'll need a lot more than that to cover our herd of alpacas and llamas, plus Terry's cows, yaks and goats.

There is always lots of work to do at the farm. I plan to make more time for the blog though. I've been asked to do a farm tour for a small group from a daycare before school starts. I have a lot of preparation to do before their visit...

Summer is here...

2008-07-17T10:12:00.000-07:00

Summer is here and it's been very busy lately. We picked up Misty and her companion, Callista, from the Vet School last Friday. Callista had some work done on an abscess gone awry and we have been flushing it out twice a day with luke warm water. It will take some time to heal but she is cooperating very well with her daily treatments.

I'm posting the above photo of our crias Lucas on the left and Franny. They are best buddies and enjoy spending time together in the sun and chasing each other around in the pasture!

Sad news...

2008-07-09T10:21:00.000-07:00

Well, I was hoping that during 4th of July weekend I could have updated the blog with pictures of Rick cutting and baling hay. We did get the baling finished but we had an unfortunate situation over the weekend with one of our girls.

You'll recall me mentioning that Misty looked like she was due any day. I'm sad to report that Misty had a miscarriage on Monday morning while in the care of the wonderful doctors and students at the UW-Madison School of Veterinary Medicine.

Misty had been acting strangely all week and had been lactating for about two weeks. On Friday, I noticed that she wasn't eating but she was drinking a lot of water. We put her in her own stall so that we could monitor her more closely. On Saturday morning, Rick noticed she didn't have any beans (aka alpaca poop) in her stall. We gave her some Karo syrup in the morning and again around 5 p.m. Rick had also given her some plain yogurt twice during the middle of the day. This regimen was to help her digestion and remedy her constipation or blockage.

We saw a few beans on Sunday but she was straining a lot over the poop piles. We let her outside with the rest of the girls so she'd be more comfortable. Since there wasn't much improvement in her condition, we decided to take her to Madison for observation. We don't have a local vet who is able to come out to the farm to thoroughly diagnose any serious problems so Madison was our only choice. It's a 4-hour drive but well worth the peace of mind!

Misty underwent a thorough pelvic examination followed by ultrasound. The doctor was unable to really see the cria inside with the ultrasound. Bloodwork showed an infection of some sort. We left her overnight and the doctor informed me the next morning that poor Misty had aborted the pregnancy early Monday morning. Apparently, the cria had been dead for at least a day or two and wasn't full term as we thought. They have been unable to find any specific reason for this so far.

Our girl has been on antibiotics this week and is doing well - eating, drinking and "making beans". We'll be picking her up on Friday.

We are so thankful that she is okay and we appreciate all the wonderful care from the UW-Madison Vet School.

We've finished shearing!

2008-06-29T20:29:00.000-07:00

Today, we completed all of our shearing. We finished up this weekend with our four "llama ladies". Two of them are older and easy to shear and the other two are younger and wild when those clippers come near them. Luckily this year things seemed to work out well.

Check out this picture on Saturday showing Gwendolyn with her shorn body and full growth on her neck. This is actually the best we've done with her as we usually do a barrel cut - just shearing around her middle. This year we were able to shear her back end as well, but fell short of shearing her neck. Behind her in the photo is Sylvia prior to being shorn.

We were prepared to take a beating from Sylvia while we sheared her. However, I think she was ready to have all of that heavy fiber shorn so she actually remained pretty still for most of her shearing today. We were very happy that she even allowed us to shear her neck. Maybe she's actually maturing... Here's a photo of the final outcome.

Over the last month or so, we have shorn a total of 13 alpacas and 7 llamas. We took it step by step and sheared from 2 to 5 animals per weekend. Some people may do their animals all at once, but it's easier on our backs to spread it out over several weekends. Plus we can try to get other weekend projects done too. It was a great sense of accomplishment to have the shearing completed before the end of June.

Now we can concentrate on making hay... hopefully the weather will stay sunny and dry for a few days to allow cutting, drying and baling this week.

Yes, you can sell alpaca fiber!

2008-06-25T19:03:00.000-07:00

We just did! I know...a lot of people sell it all the time but this is new to us. It's funny because we've been so busy for the past few years with our day to day chores, jobs, etc that I never took the time to even try to sell fiber. I knew we needed to do it, but that was one more thing on the list. Now that we sold some I've got so many ideas for selling more!

The tough part is skirting the fiber to take out all the short "second cuts" and all the pieces of hay, etc. These are farm animals that like to roll around in the grass and dirt. Before we shear them, we try to get as much vegetable matter out of the fiber as we can but we can't get it all out. The only way to do it is to find a comfortable spot to lay it all out and start picking through it. Over the last several weeks we've worked on skirting some fiber for a friend to buy. Rene' and her kids, Rick and I all worked off and on to get it done. It was definitely a team effort! Thank you Kathy W. (and Abbie) for your purchase!

Well, we are finished shearing all of our alpacas for the season and now have only four female llamas to shear this weekend. I think last year we were still shearing in July so we're way ahead of schedule!

I mentioned last week that we are expecting a cria any day now...well it could be any day or any week now. I'm not going to try to predict it and Misty isn't going to tell us until she's good and ready.

Surprise - It's a boy!

2008-06-17T17:02:00.000-07:00

Well, we didn't expect Sofie's cria to come along for another couple of weeks, but our due date must have been off a bit. Sofie was humming and acting suspicious this morning and between around 10 and 11 a.m. this 17 pound boy came bouncing out!

Here's a picture of the happy mom Sofie (aka She's So Fawn) and her new baby boy.

According to our mom, before noon this guy was already running around the pasture like he was born a couple of days ago. This healthy and handsome guy is the son of Bruxo's Peruvian Luxor, the 2006 AOBA National Champion White Suri Male. Special thanks to Daley's Pleasant Hill Farm for another outstanding herdsire!

I rechecked our two other pregnant girls and one looks like she's building up her milk supply...I won't be surprised if we have another cria within the next day or two!

Weekend wrap-up

2008-06-16T04:48:00.000-07:00

Whew...the weekend flew by really fast and I meant to get the new cria picture up on Friday. Here she is on Friday in top form. I like this picture because it shows the little brown tip at the end of her tail. What a cutie! We have tentatively named her "Franny" after our grandma, Frances.

More shearing this weekend...we finished up four more girls, including Franny's mom Mira. They are so happy to get all that long, thick fiber off to enjoy the cool air.

It's a girl!

2008-06-12T17:12:00.000-07:00

Misty's Morning Miracle (aka Mira) and JJA Royal Adonis are pleased to announce the arrival of their new cria. Here is the first official photo of mom and baby soon after the birth. (Mom needs a haircut.)

The new baby girl weighed in at 14 pounds, 10 oz and is nursing well from mom. She's beautiful! Thank you to Joyful Journey Alpacas for their outstanding herdsire.

I'll post more pictures later, but I just wanted to get at least one on the site tonight.

It's shearing season

2008-06-10T18:58:00.000-07:00

Every spring we shear our alpacas and llamas. It's amazing how long and thick that fiber grows on them over the winter. By spring, some of them are practically begging to get it shorn off so they can enjoy the cool breezes.

We got started a couple of weeks ago, just shearing our suri male, Moe. He allowed us to shear him standing up in a chute. We didn't want to risk tying him onto the shearing table since he had broken his leg last November. It should be well-healed by now, but the thought of tying that leg down made us nervous.

Two weekends ago Sunday, we sheared five males. Rick, Rene' and I were worn out by the end of the day but we had a really good feeling of accomplishment. All of our alpaca males in outside pastures were shorn, their toenails clipped, vaccinations and worming completed. They were all in good shape and looking pretty cool with their new haircuts. I was a bit bruised and a little battered....some of them like to put up a struggle getting onto the shearing table. This picture shows our shearing table and Rick and Rene' working together with our mom (you can see her hands on the far left) to shear one of the alpacas. They stay pretty calm on the table so it's very easy to work on them that way.

Last weekend, Rick and I sheared our three llama males. The shearing wasn't so bad as long as they stood still. These guys are way too big to use a shearing table so we put them in the chute and shear them standing up. Our biggest guy is Java Joe and he weighed in a 432 pounds! He doesn't like getting his toenails trimmed at all! I'll have to post a picture of him...I can't find one at the moment but I know I've taken pictures of him.

This weekend we'll start shearing the girls...there's about 7 alpacas and 4 more llamas to go and we'll be finished with shearing for the year.

My first blog post!

2008-06-02T19:03:00.000-07:00

We've been raising alpacas since 2001 and it's been both fun and frustrating at times. We started with four alpacas and now have grown our herd to 14! Prior to raising alpacas, we had been raising llamas for a few years. We have 7 llamas now and don't plan to breed any more since they are so much larger and a little more difficult for us to handle when shearing, toenail trimming or providing other care. Our alpacas are much easier to handle.

My goal for this blog is to educate and maybe entertain a little. Since we all have full-time jobs, farming is done after work and on weekends. As our herd size grows, so does the work load but it is also very rewarding to see all the smiling faces in the barn every day and hear them greet us with their cute humming sounds! I hope to post at least one blog each week and maybe several a week depending on how much time I have or if we have any news at the farm. We are expecting 4 crias (baby alpacas) this summer so I'll share the news here. Keep checking in because we are on cria watch with one of our girls expecting within the next week or two...