Welcome to Alpacaland
Hi There,
My name is Roni; my husband and I retired and began a new life. Yes, we really did. We left the corporate rat race, found our little slice of heaven, fell in love with the adorable, inquisitive alpacas and have not looked back. Join me, as I blog about our experiences traversing through this new world.
OK Let’s talk turkey about the shows. Well, let’s talk alpacas! The Alpaca Show System is crazy, I tell you just crazy! Now, I’m not supposed to say that. it upsets people. But, here is how I see it..and remember it is only my opinion.
The winter is long and cold; it consists of the drudgery of early morning trips to the barn through blustery winds and freezing temperatures. Laden with long johns,alpaca socks and gloves and clunking through the ice in metal tracks attached to heavy boots to keep from falling on 60+ year old bones. The day’s work includes shoveling frozen beans(poop),filling water buckets, delivering hay and grain and a quick check on everyone to be sure the girls and guys are healthy and happy. This is the life of a small alpaca farmer. We don’t have a staff to shovel the poop or haul down the hay. We don’t have an in-house vet to care for the cria’s runny eye, the split lip of Silver Moon our male or watch over the pregnant girls through the cold winter.
When spring arrives, it’s time to get ready for the show season. The air is gentle, the pastures are green(almost) and it will soon be time for the new babies to be born. In between the crias births, show string alpacas are chosen, the vet visits get the medical paperwork completed and we practice. The show season begins for us in April and continues through September. It is fun, exciting and exhausting.
There are so many great things about the show season that it outweighs the challenges of cost and arduous travel. That is why we all continue to take part. We get to connect with other alpaca people and meet new ones. Alpaca people are the warmest and friendliest people in the world. We meet, enjoy meals, discuss concerns,learn new techniques and just relax. We get to put our hands on hundreds of alpacas; we study their fleece and watch who wins the . Best of all, we have our turn in the ring. We show our best girls and guys in hopes of having achieved award winning, dense, soft and consistent fleece . If we go home with a handful of blue ribbons, we are ecstatic. It is January and only a few more months to Showtime!
For anyone who is faint of heart, STOP reading now! For anyone who believes that nature does not need assistance, click off now. For anyone who is squeamish about body parts, best go to another site.
When we purchased our first alpaca,I knew we were naive’. I just didn’t know exactly how naive’ we truly were. She was a lovely 12 month old girl whose name was and is Vavoom. She resided on the farm from which we purchased her because we had no farm yet…of course. So, we traveled the 2 hours once a month to visit her.
Fast forward three years and visit us on our lovely 6 acre alpaca farm in beautiful countryside of Southern Pennsylvania. Bounding through the pastures are 15 alpacas from pure white to true black and at least five shades in between. Three are pregnant(we think), three are babies and five are males. Wow- how far we have come.
Once a month on farm health day we successfully weigh each animal. This seemingly simple farm duty took us months to perfect. Thunder Kiss now stands next in line to have her teeth checked while her daughter Thunder Rose awaits her monthly shot. Ms. Vicky and Sky Ranger( the babies) play in the paddock, while we maneuver the rowdy males through the green gates to their own pasture.
Feeling pretty proud of ourselve we decide to embark on the next learning experience for an alapaca owner…BREEDING.
First, we had to decide which females we wanted to breed and to which male. Sounds easy but there is a great deal to consider. When I look at Fantasia,our two year old girl, I know that she has placed at every show. But, she placed from second to sixth. What traits do we need to improve in hopes to get a first place cria? She is medium brown, we would like a fawn or black. She has great confirmation; no need to look for that. She has a beautiful head, good teeth and will most likely be a strong Mom. Ok in that department. Both her sire and her dam provide her with an award winning heritage. Now the most important is the fleece, of course. She needs more softness and density. This one was an easy one. We have a beautiful black sire who has won 18 championships. His fleece is as dense as a carpet. It is decided; he shall be the Daddy. This exercise is repeated with each female resulting in several trips to other farms and some of the breeding being done at home.
First Date: I read everything available and prepared accordingly. We chose one stall, removed anything that could be harmful( buckets, hay wagons etc.) “Make the stall a welcoming experience”…REALLY? Next, we put halters on Fantasia and Firenzi and brought Fantasia into the stall. We let her get used to her new surroundings and prepare herself.
What ensued next was interesting to say the least and frightening at best. Once Firenzi got near the stall door he started bolting and making very loud sounds. His enthusiam was hard to conrol. So, we clicked the lead off and all XXX broke loose. He raced; she ran. He orgeled; she screamed. he reared up; she pranced. He snorted ; she spit. Eventually, she gave in and the two of them were grounded. Silly me, I thought this was it! While she nonchalantly chewed her cud as if nothing was happening, he continued to appear to be in great pain. he just couldn’t make contact. On went the blue gloves and amid chortling sounds and huffing and puffing, I reached down and assisted with the process.
Forty minutes later, they stood quietly in the stall as if they had never met. All I could think about was that someone told me you have to do this on day one, five and seven to be sure of a cria. What in the world do they do in the wild?????
Spring is such a conflicting time for me. It is not my favorite season, fall is. But, there is so much to love about springtime on a farm. The days are filled with cool breezes and color popping up everywhere. The sky is robin egg blue and the clouds seem to hover like big cotton balls just overhead. The days begin with Watson’s crowing as the alpacas just seem to consider it a lazy morning. They barely stir in the paddock as the sun comes up. Dolly, sprawls her St Bernard body out on a knoll in the pasture, legs up in the air soaking in the cool morning air. Our two winter babies, now 5 and 6 months old are stirring the group. They are anxious to run and play in the pasture.
From our deck, wrapped in comfy robes, we sip fresh coffee and green tea. It is such a nice way to start your day. The new chickens , black Ameraucanas venture out of the hen house to see their new home. Dolly’s ears perk up with interest, possible new toys to play with? Soon I will open the gates and alpacas will tumble out into the pastures. Their colors and graceful bounding will speckle the hillside with contrasting colors from white and gray to black and brown. Mr. Franco soon stops by to enjoy a dish of milk and settles into my lap for a few minutes. But soon he’s gone off for a day of adventure in the early sunshine.
The newly planted Easter tulips add a splash of purple and orange. They blend with fragrant white and lavendar lilacs to create the backdrop for the deep green grassess emerging everywhere.
Everywhere that is except the pasture. We jokingly call the bare dirt our $20,000 grass-less pasture. Spring also brings the rain. Days and days and days of rain. Last year, it washed away all but a thin layer of the new top soil. It created ditches of run-off that became ruts in the pastures. This year we have had thunderstorms, tornado watches, temperatures in the 80s followed by days in the low 50′s. We have turned the barn fans on and then turned them off again only to have to turn them on the next day. The paddock has been one huge mud puddle which is often filled with alpaca poo. The beautiful fluffy alpacas are covered with mud and dirt from the constant rain. Each week we plan to put in new pasture and watch the weather with great anticipation. Just a few warm days are all we need.
Easter Sunday blessed us with a warm and sunny day for the grand-children’s Easter egg hunt and a family picture around the 1939 Farmall tractor. The mud is drying up, the alpacas have amazingly dried off and are fluffy and clean again. The lilacs sway in the sunny breeze and three new crias are due in 45 days. The pastures will be filled with alpaca babies and maybe even some luscious green grass. If not, we always have the fall.
Ok, so I have blogged about the majestic morning sunrises on our alpaca farm, watching our alpacas pronking in green pastures, watching in amazement at the birth of a tiny and beautiful cria, the joy of winning at the shows, the agony of losing a precious tiny cria at a month old and the ongoing joy of our grandchildren visiting “the farm”.
Now, it’s time for a reality check. It is not all peaches and cream; days aren’t all the life of Riley and when your cleaning poop, you don’t whistle while you work.
Let’s begin with the majestic sunrises. Many are beautiful and some mornings as Watson crows in the distance I feel like I am where I am supposed to be. But then there are the mornings when it is 14 degrees below zero, the wind chill makes it feel like Alaska, Hubby is sick and the farm work needs to be done. So you layer on clothes,slip into your fur-lined boots,don a hat ,two pair of gloves and a scarf. The snow is deep and crusted with ice and your nose is running. The poop pile is frozen solid so you just give up but the girls can’t get out into the paddock until the snow is shoveled. This is reality…some days.
Watching our alpacas pronking in green pastures is especially lovely since we have the only $20,000 pasture with almost no grass. After uprooting trees, hauling tons of top soil, sprinkling fertilizer, spreading seed and carefully covering the entire pasture with straw, it rained(no it poured) for three days washing everything down over the hill. Maybe next year!
The births and deaths are life-altering. They are frightning, exhilerating and depressing. We watch and we wait;we worry and we plan. No matter what we do, nature has a way of making the choices in the end.
This year we decided to hold our family Easter celebration at our daughters in Washington,DC. It made it all worthwhile to learn that the grandchildren couldn’t imagine not having Easter at Grammy & Pop-Pops farm.
So, with Easter comes Spring and the farm will bloom with life and color. By Summer, we will have three new babies playing in the green(hopefully) pasture and the day to day life continues.
As difficult as it is, death is a part of the daily life on a farm. On day 28, Rapunzel lost her battle. She was a sweet tiny cria with the usual big black eyes and curly baby alpaca fleece. I blogged earlier about her birth and the struggles she was having with weight.
On November 1st, she was born into a cold and windy environment. We quickly dried her off and put her purple cria coat on her. Each day, we watched and tried not to interfere with the Mother/daughter bonding. She didn’t seem to understand how to nurse resulting in a weight loss each day. Since she was only 12 pounds to begin with, we had to step in and begin round the clock bottle feeding. It was to no avail. After five days of taking turns heading to the barn every four hours trying to keep the bottle of goats milk warm, she was still only 12 pounds.
I searched for advice from everyone and tried to follow everything. By day 19, we loaded up Mom and baby and headed to Bolton Veterinary Hospital near Philadelphia. After three days in a private room, Dr. Bill called to tell us that she was still 12 pounds and he believed it was a congenital liver disease. Our options were to run more expensive tests which he did not recommend, have her put to sleep or bring her home and continue bottle feeding in hopes that she would out grow the problem. We opted for the latter.
So on day 23, we were back to our four hour shifts. Each morning, she would run to Fred and sniff out the bottle which he had carefully hidden in his coat pocket. Her appetite was strong and she would gobble down the bottle in a few minutes then run and play until the next feeding. But each day, her weight remained at 12 pounds.
On an unusually bright morning, she didn’t run toward Fred for her breakfast. He picked her up and laid her on the bales of straw we had placed in the stall for extra warmth. We covered her with blankets and tried to encourage her to take some corn syrup but by the time Dr. Ann arrived, she was gone.
Dr. Ann helped us to understand the natural series of events that must follow. She tenderly carried Rapunzel into the pasture and directed me to stay behind the fence. She laid he down and joined me as Rapunzel’s mother came swiftly to her little cria ,lowered her head and moaned. In turn each of the alpacas came to sniff and touch the tiny cria with their noses. After what seemed like an hour, they all left and went down into the pasture. Mom stayed beside her for a few moments and then walked away. I asked Dr Ann if they understood and she said “Yes, they understand that a death has occurred in their family.”
So, we say goodbye to RFI Rapunzel and move on as one does in life. We will always remember her and thank her for an unforgettable experience.
Well, Rapunzel is hanging in there. She started at 15 pounds and has dropped to 13. Today she is at 13.7. She has a low temperature so she wears two cria coats and is in a heated stall with her Mom. We bottle feed her 3 times a day becasue she “just doesn’t get it.” according to our vet. Mom has plenty of milk and Rapunzel tries to nurse but can’t seem to get the hang of it.
- Rapunzel with Fred
She is so adorable, friendly and cuddly. We must watch that she does not bond with us instead of Mom. So, tomorrow we will be in the barn feeding her and in the afternoon we will weigh her and see how she is doing. I’ll keep you posted
In the fairy tale, Rapunzel lets down her golden locks and all is right with the world. Well, this story is a bit more scary. Three days ago on a cold dreary November day, we had been waiting for our alpaca, Rainbow Joy to deliver a well overdue cria. We kept her in her paddock area for almost a week. But on this day, we decided to allow her some time in the pasture with us checking on her often.
Now, one of the old wives tales people tell you is that alpacas only have their babies between 7am and noon. So by 1:30 and no baby, we relaxed only to walk out at 2pm to see a wet, cold little golden beauty running after her Momma. Since the one lesson everyone learns is that the cria must be warm, I ran out, wrapped her in a blanket and under the spitting head of her mom, raced with a shivering bundle to the barn. We dried her off put the two of them in the stall which was already winterized and after warming the little one with a hairdryer, took her temperature. Satisfied that at 101.5 degrees she was doing good, we left Mother and baby to bond. By the time Dr. Ann arrived the next morning, she was nursing and racing around the stall. The vet said she looked more like a three or four day old, . Again, we relaxed. Since she weighed in at just over 15 pounds with a tiny face, graceful legs and beautiful wavy golden fleece, we called her Rapunzel!
Tucked in the warm stall in her tiny pink cria coat with her Mom by her side, we went to bed. The next morning we weighed her and she lost a pound. We weren’t too worried because they tend to lose weight the first day. But by Friday morning ,she weighed only 13 pounds and her temperature dropped to 98 degrees. What was wrong? What could we do?
Dr. Ann gave us direction. At this moment, we are bottle feeding her goats milk every three hours, adding Karo syrip and keeping her in the warm stall. She is so tiny and so lovely. When I hold her to feed her I just recall the fairy tale, Rapunzel, Rapunzel, let down your hair.
Fred and I were both raised around farms. He was practically raised by his grandparents and they had a true working farm. He plowed fields, gathered eggs and beheaded chickens for Sunday dinner. I spent every summer with my Aunt and Uncle who raised beef cattle. I canned string beans, picked strawberries and learned what happens on church hayrides. So imagine our surprise when we realised that neither of us had actually observed a natural birth or been involved in the breeding of a single animal. How that happened, we aren’t sure. But, here we are with baby alpacas being born and our business plan venturing into a breeding program.
Let’s begin with the birthing. I know that’s the wrong order but it’s easier to begin there. When you purchase your first alpaca, it is recommended to begin with three females (all pregnant). In this way, you have really purchased two for the price of one. That is of course if they survive. So, you have almost a year(335 days to be exact) before you even have to think about it. By the time the first birth is imminent, you have faced and tackled many of the obstacles. You have mastered how to catch them, feed them,train them, and show them. Your feeding program is working, your an expert at giving shots and clipping toenails and they are almost nice to you when you enter the barnyard.
Then you realize a baby is due in a month or so. You begin to read everything you can find. You google every word associated with a new cria. You call your vet and she reassures you that if you just stay out of the way, it will most likely happen all by itself. And guess what…it did-twice! Two beautiful, delightful crias popped out nose first and landed on the ground. They were greeted by their dotting Moms who licked them clean and within an hour, they were happily nursing by their side. There was still much to do and we were prepared. The cria must be dry and warm with a body temp of about 101. They should be up and trying to find Mom within a few minutes and they must be nursing very quickly afterward. All of this sounds natural but as you watch from the side line, it is crystal clear that if any of this does not happen it may result in death of that adorable baby. So you worry and often step in…just a little to ensure success. You make sure they are dry and warm adding a tiny cria coat if it is chilly. You guide the little one in the right direction and help him find Mommas milk. It is quite an ordeal, stressful and exciting. The reward of course is in about three days there is a lively bouncing cria running through the pasture annoying all his Aunts.
So, would I recommend that you have a bit of barnyard experience first? Well, yes but nature has a way of helping us out and provide on-the-job training.
I AM ON CRIA WATCH!
Ready for spring in my pink cria coat
For those of you who have no idea what I mean, let me explain. Alpacas are independent, lovely, gentle creatures. They have a mind of their own and rarely need the interference of humans to go about their daily life. It is we, who require them to be needy. Nothing brings that to bear more than the cria watch. At about 18 months of age, barely old enough to have enjoyed two spring romps around the pastures, the girls go on their first date. This usually results in the anticipated news that she is pregnant. This instantly ends not only her joyful romps with her girlfriends but her show career, as well. Whatever ribbons are to be won, must have been gleaned during the past 12 months. From this point on, the graceful girl will spend her days eating, grazing, sleeping and occasionally being weighed and medicated to stay healthy (by those two-legged friends).
For the next 11 and a half months, she goes about her life with little attention to us humans. Well actually only about 11 months and then we begin the cria watch. Here’s how it goes:
Day 325- Shearing day for the others. The Shearer expresses his concern that she isn’t very big for being so close to her due date. Oh,No, what if she isn’t pregnant?
Day 326- Called the Vet to stop by and just reassure us. She does.
Day 327- The Cria Kit arrives; Open every container to be prepared as if I had any idea about how or when to use a stethoscope or a speculum. At least now, I do have a general idea about the little pink capped needles.
Day 328- Not happy with the Cria Kit; Run to Tractor Supply to add three more items. Iodine dip for the umbilical cord, a film canister used to dip it and an pet enema. I feel as if I’m on a scavenger hunt.
Day 329- Set up the video stand in the barn to capture the whole thing. Tried three different angles none are perfect but it should capture the happy moment
Day 330- It is five days prior to the due date and we begin discussing the barn re-arrangement. Where will we put the males? What about the other preggy mommies? Where should the cria and Mommy be? We should have built a bigger barn.
Day 331 – Cria watch begins. Every time we pass a window, we glance out to the paddock…just to be sure she doesn’t need us. I have no idea what we would do but it is reassuring to us that we know we are watching.
Day 332- Today, we begin a log. The next time we will have a reference guide.
Day 333- Log states,” Straining over the poop pile; sure to be any day now”. Well, not so fast. Thunder sits down,stands up, sits down and does some more straining. Something must be wrong. better call Dr Ann.
Day 334 – Called the vet; she says “Relax.” This is all normal. “Oh, really?”
Day 335- Due date; called everyone. They say, “Relax”. No more straining. Could it be a false alarm? Get out all the Internet notes I printed off. They are dogged eared and covered with three different colored markers. The more I read them, the more nervous I become.
Day 337 – Thunder is walking around a lot today;she is standing on the other side of the paddock and the girls seem to be giving her space. I just have a feeling;but, I’ve had that feeling before. Checked her before turning in and she is still walking around in the dark.
Day 338- 5:30 am I went to the window and she was straining and walking. It was just before dawn but I thought I saw something. I threw on my clothes and ran to the barn and to my wonderment there was a tiny nose popping out…just where it was supposed to. I ran back in the house and called to my husband,”If you want to see this you had better hurry.”
6:00 – This was the critical time. What would show itself next? Everything I had read had not prepared me for the fear that I had no idea what to do if it went wrong.
6:30 – By now two legs and the head were dangling , the ears were moving and she was twitching even though she was not yet born. It was amazing. All the aunts and sisters gathered round to watch the big event. As Thunder circled and moaned, they seemed to take it all in stride. Sure, easy for them!
7:00- We watched in amazement as the baby slid out and dropped to the ground. We stared as her mama cried and screeched, letting all of us know to back away. This was her job. I’m not sure if it was exactly 7 am; there are no pictures or videos to document the first birth at Racheal Farms We were too enthralled to remember.
7:10 – Tiny Thunder Rose was dryed off and moved into the stall reserved for her and momma. She is a beautiful dark fawn girl with her mommas confirmation and her Daddy’s fleece(we hope).
7:30 – After much licking and bonding, she stood up. A bit wobbly at first but she did it. We weighed her and she was only 12 1/2 pounds, put on her bright pink cria coat and gave her back to mom.
8:00 – Again we held our breath as we waited for Rosie to find her breakfast. I had read horror stories of needing to sleep in the barn for a week and bottle feed a little cria. But, sure enough, right before our eyes, she chugged away and has had no problems ever since.
Day 345- Rosie is one week old today. She weighs 16.9 pounds and runs all over the pasture with her Mom, sisters and aunts.
Day 360 – Rosie is 3 weeks old, weighs 26 pounds and is a healthy,
RFI Thunder Rose 3 weeks old
beautiful little girl!
Life is back to normal at Racheal Farms…until August when we start the count down again
And the shearing begins
Hold still
"Oh my I feel better"Getting Ready
Let’s see, there was arrival day and weigh-in day and the first day we gave shots to our herd of alpacas. However, none was as anticipated as …shearing day! Alpacas are raised for the luxurious fleece produced once a year, usually in late spring. The fleece has been compared to cashmere in its fineness and soft touch. By May, most alpacas are in full fleece and it has served them well. During bitter cold Pennsylvania winters, they remain toasty warm and can graze in the elements much of the time. Their coats are thick and dense and by early spring become quite uncomfortable. When the temperature reaches 70 degrees, fans in the barn are turned on and run full time throughout the summer.
Alpaca owners schedule a shearing day quite early in the spring to harvest the fleece which will be turned into beautiful yarn and clothing . It is greatly anticipated by both the alpacas and the owners. Since this was our first such endeavor, we started with….a plan! First was staff; we would need a shearer who was available to shear a small herd. Many farms use the services of a team from Australia but our herd was a bit small, this being our first year. Nathan Good, his wife and two little ones headed up the operation. Our son, Fred, daughter-in-law,Teresa and two of our grandchildren, Zachary and Katie became our support staff. There was an extensive list of necessary tools, shears, ropes, nail clippers, bags for the prime blanket, bags for seconds and marked zip lock bags for show and micron samples. There were labels and mats and a scale, tape and markers and even a hairdryer (which was accidentally dropped in a water bucket). Then, there is the list of all the items we forgot like, a vacuum, a broom, a skirting table and a few bottles of water.
Finally, the orchestration! It required all hands on deck. Zachary and I were in charge of animal preparation. We needed to corral the right alpacas into the stall and get them ready for the shearer(this is when the hairdryer got dropped). We gave them some electrolytes to help calm them for the ordeal. Fred was in charge of assisting Nathan to position the alpaca and lay them down. Teresa helped with fleece gathering and Katie was bagging, labeling and weighing. Each lovely girl was in turn, prepared, escorted to the station,laid down and stripped to a naked condition. Her fleece was carefully weighed and tabulated and she was released to the pasture.
There was much humming and crying,though they were never in pain. We all took turns holding their heads and whispering,”It will be OK”. Once they were released into the pasture and we got over the shock of how truly small and helpless they are, we remembered that they will really appreciate not wearing a heavy coat when it reaches 95 degrees. By winter, they will have a new coat and we will have warm alpaca socks,hats and gloves and perhaps a lovely scarf or two…and the cycle of life continues!
A special thanks to Fred,Teresa,Zach and Katie. We couldn’t have done it without you!
