A Little Recognition

The Royal Alpaca Challenge was a great time this year. We loaded up our alpacas Angelia, Juliet, Cristo, and Randy plus Blizzard from Stone's Throw Alpacas and Serafina owned by Helen Price. They were all very well-behaved and excited about the roadtrip.

Cristo

We arrived and checked in with only a couple of small microchip "glitches". Cristo's chip went missing and had to be replaced and Juliet's paperwork had the wrong number on it. Nothing we couldn't handle! Yeah!

As Magnolia Sponsors this year we were stalled on the end of the barn nearest the arena so we didn't have to walk far and also had good exposure of our stall display to visitors.

We swept out our stalls, lay out our stallmats, brought in the hay and water, then unloaded the alpacas from the trailer. They were quite happy to be out of the cramped trailer, but not too sure of their surroundings. They were just glad to be with (part of) their herd so they followed us without question into the appropriate stalls. It was dinner time for them so we removed their halters, fed them and left them alone while we unloaded and set up the stall display.

After that, it was off to the hotel for a little well-deserved rest. We could have stayed around the arena for the sponsor party but our son Brian was with us and he's not much for adult parties.


Angelia



Saturday morning dawned bright and early and we were all ready to go. The exhibitor's mandatory meeting proved to be very chilly and the metal roof over the arena dripped condensation on our heads as the sun heated it.  The judges were introduced, Canadian Kathy Merkley for the suris and from the UK Nick Harrington-Smith for the huacayas. I thought it was great to have some fresh faces (and opinions!) in the ring.

Basic instructions were given and we were dismissed to get ready for the show to start. Production classes were to show first so we had quite a bit of time to wait.

When all the animals were finally shown we ended up with some nice ribbons. Angelia placed 1st in her class, Juliet got 4th, Cristo was 1st, Randy placed 5th, Blizzard and Wendy brought home 6th, and Serafina won 1st. Angelia also won a blue ribbon in Performance with Brian leading her for his very first time in the ring. We're so proud of all of them (and us)! A good time was had by all.

Fall babies

Here they are. The last of our 2010 crias. All girls. All fabulous!

Destiny - Amber CeBonne X Our Peruvian Navigator

Dream a Little Dream - Dominique X Edmunton Prairie Royale



StarDust's cria - Lofty Pine Star Dust X Pumpernickel Fanfare



Another Successful National Alpaca Farm Days

For those of you who don't know, this past Saturday and Sunday were National Alpaca Farm Days. Once again we opened our farm to visitors (like we don't have visitors every day).
Saturday started out with a bang. Dominique decided to have her cria just one hour before the event was to start. She blessed us with a gorgeous dark silver grey female. Oh Yeah! Just what I ordered her to have. She's a great foundation dam! We've named her Dream a Little Dream. Here she is...

Perfect at 17.6 lbs. Dominique delivered by herself. We walked out to check on her just as the cria hit the ground. She was up and walking within 20 minutes and nursing in about an hour. Now all she does is RUN! Love, Love, Love her!

Then Farm Days started officially. We had a steady stream of people all weekend. Several were actually considering purchasing alpacas. Our store was a big hit. Many people purchased alpaca treasures to take home. Wendy Stone was here to lend a hand. She's always a big help and fun to have around. Her mom Pat and neice Morgan came out on Sunday as well. Laura Brewer was on hand both days demonstrating her spinning and carding skills. My mom was providing backup as always.

We really appreciate all the help from everyone. It wouldn't have been possible without everyone of you!

Here's a picture of some of the kids who visited. They are leading Leopold and Juliet through the obstacle course.

The alpacas (and Leopold) all did very well. We used mostly our yearling girls and Stallone, too. We wanted to get them used to more handling.

New Additions to the herd

We've got a few new faces on the farm these days. Last week we picked up these beauties from Susan Darling at My Little Darlings Alpacas...

Delta Dawn is a true black huacaya with a few brown spots. We're happy to add her Augusto genetics to our herd. Then there is true black suri Otono who is a Pardner grandson and also Overtime who is a sweet brown suri gelding. Stop by and meet the new kids when you get a chance!

We're going this week to possibly do some trading that may bring our huacaya herd a couple of new faces and force us to say goodbye to some of our beloved suris. I'll post more when things are finalized.

Update on Crias

Here are the rest of our gorgeous spring 2010 crias...
Bella had a GIRL! She looks so much like Bella we named her IsaBella

Vanity had a great looking HUGE boy whom we named Stallone

And Lucy had a perfect little man we call Leopold

The crias are all perfect and wonderful. Unfortunately Lucy had a bad episode of choke and developed a fatal infection. She died 4 days later leaving us with Leopold at only 6 wks old. He's doing fine though he refuses a bottle. He's grazing alot and stealing sips of milk from the other moms. He's very loving and likes to be petted. We're being careful to let him know that we are NOT llamas and he is expected to respect our space. We don't need a berzerk boy.

With sad hearts we accepted my best buddy Kathy's kind offer of a replacement guard llama. Her big black and white girl Cassadaga has always been one of my favorites so we brought her home to our herd. She's fitting in just fine and even though we will always love and miss our first llama Lucy Cassie has a much more pleasant personality.

Cute isn't she?

Tomorrow we go to pick up a few new animals we're getting from My Little Darlings Alpacas. Two girls-one for me and one for our friend/customer Jim and also a couple of suri boys for me. I'll post pics once they are here. 

Pronking into Spring

Finally, after 352 long days of pregnancy, Rodie had her cria.

The beautiful day brought us a lovely little girl. Yeah!

Thank goodness that's over, now just 3 more babies to await in the next 3 weeks!

Nothing but Trouble

We picked up 5 new suris on Good Friday. When you get new alpacas there is always "something" you have to deal with, be it worming, skin issues, attitudes, or bad fleece.

Here comes Trouble...

Looks like Trouble wasn't shorn last year huh? Unfortunately this pic is from last year and when we picked him up on Good Friday he STILL hadn't been shorn. In fact, I don't know if he had ever been shorn in his 3 years of life in HOT Alabama. Sad, yes. Uncomfortable, yes. Matted, dirty, hot and disgusting-YIKES!

Welcome to Hidden Gem Ranch Trouble!

Our suris are shorn every year, even if we have to use scissors.

Dennis & Melissa to the rescue!

15 minutes with 2 pairs of household scissors and poof! Brand new alpaca. Thankfully,Trouble was a complete gentleman about the whole situation. Up until that point he had been skittish at best. He stood quietly while Dennis snipped off one side and I snipped the other. He's certainly not going to win any beauty contests with the new "do", but he is free from all that hot hair. We clipped off 12" of matted ropes! He's a brand new man now and just a sweetie. Bring on the summer!

Goodbye my friend

If you've ever been to my farm you know who Patty is. The beautiful tuxedo grey girl that everyone wants to take home with them. Well behaved, graceful, and a great mom.

It is with a heavy heart that I say that Miss Patty passed away peacefully last night. She had been fighting a losing battle against what we think was a respiratory infection. We buried her in the pasture that she loved the most and planted a tree in her honor. 

If you have the great fortune of being a keeper of alpacas please take a minute today to appreciate each one for who they are. Patty was not just livestock or a pasture ornament. She was an individual and a friend. She will be greatly missed.

Patty's Big Smile

No Trailer? No Problem!

We have a trailer. We use it all the time. BUT, there are times when I just don't want to haul the trailer: bad weather, when I'm hauling just one alpaca, and/or on long trips. We recently experienced all three on one unavoidable trip. A mid-February trip to Cleveland, OH just after (and just before) a snow storm to bring home an awesome true black suri male. Ugh!
How do I solve such a dilema? Jeep Liberty to the rescue! Fold down the back seats, put down a tarp and a stall mat, bag of hay to munch on and off we go. Meet Cristo...

Cristo didn't seem to mind the 12 hour ride too much. After living in northern Ohio all of his life he seemed to rather enjoy looking out at the snow from the warm and cozy Jeep. We stopped at the occasional rest stop, got him out to stretch and get a drink of water. Of course there were plenty of stares and photos taken by the other travelers but he took it all in stride. He even waited until no one was watching to "go" in the grass. Good boy! Welcome to our herd. Please don't poop in the shelter.

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The New Year with The New Wheel!

Happy New Year to you and Happy New Wheel to me! WooHOo!
That's right. I am now the proud owner of a Majacraft Pioneer spinning wheel. She's lovely and talented. Quiet, yet outspoken when it matters most. She is a modern take on the ancient art of spinning. Take a deep breathe and behold the beauty...

And my first yarn on her, white huacaya alpaca.




Don't be calling wanting me to spin up all your fleece for you. I've got a whole room full from my own animals just waiting for me. Shearing 2010 is in just 2 1/2 months so I don't have much time to make room for more. AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHH

Speaking of shearing season, we are using a new shearer this year. Last year we had over 50 alpacas and llamas here for their annual haircut. That's alot to shear so we've hired a team from BioSecure Shearing to do it for us this year. We've heard great things about them and look forward to working with them. The really good news is that they assured me they can get them all shorn in less than ONE DAY and all we have to do is bring them the alpacas and bag the fleece. No sore knees and backs! No chiropractor trips when we can't stand up the next day. Hurrah! I'm more excited about shearing this year than ever.
Everyone is invited to join in the fun. I'll post the date when I get it.

Maybe you've heard, maybe you haven't but we are having our annual BIG SALE! to make room for spring crias and to get more people interested in alpacas. The sale is going GREAT but will be ending soon. We're only selling a few more at these rock-bottom prices and then the sale is ending. People are calling every day. If you've been considering buying any of our animals now is the time to act. These prices won't be available again. Here are some of the alpacas we've sold recently...many thanks and continued success to our customers!

Marc

Ester and Riga

Ember

BlackBerry

Rudy