| 1/28/2012 12:35:35 PM |
Topic: Fiber Processing Suggestions
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mmalpaca
Posts 1 |
wildwestalpacaranch wrote:
This is my first year sending in fiber for processing. I"m thinking of sending it to NEAFP to get some of their products. Where does everyone send their fiber?
I have sent fiber to NEAFP and I have an account that shows me by blanket, 2nd's and 3rd's what I have in the bank. I think this is a really good way to keep up with what you have. If you purchase anything it is just deducted from one of the fibers and shows you what balance you have.
I have purchased and have sold most all of it.
I like NEAFP. |
| 1/27/2012 5:11:46 PM |
Topic: membership plans
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whitelotus
Posts 3 |
Yeah. I would really like to see a plan that's in $100 range. |
| 1/27/2012 3:48:15 PM |
Topic: Gelding
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katy holland
Posts 10 |
Hello,
I would think the decision would come once the male in question is fully mature. By this time, you will probably know if the male is one you would like to use for breeding. If not, gelding can be done as soon as his 'parts' are fully developed. Gelding should be done during cooler months so he won't be bugged by flies, which can cause infections, while recovering. Your vet is the only one that can really tell you if the male is ready or not. Gelding is really up to you. If the male is a little too dominate for you, gelding would probably help. But the main decision, is based upon breeding or not.
Katy and Delaney Holland
Alpacas of Holland Acres
Olivia, MN |
| 1/27/2012 11:29:03 AM |
Topic: membership plans
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joe
Posts 42 |
Hi whitelotus,
Thanks for your interest in an upgraded Openherd membership. The Plus membership has always been $199 and didn't include auctions until our recent plan updates in mid-December, when we added auctions to the Plus membership. So this was just a value-add for Plus members but didn't affect the price.
Plus membership includes a complete hosted farm website (separate from Openherd),where all your sales lists are automatically synced, you can add/edit your own web pages, navigation, have a blog, upload articles and includes an online store with a shopping cart and PayPal checkout. You are also able to feature alpacas/products on all your sales pages, your farm is included in the featured farms on Openherd's home page, and you also get a free one-time upload of up to 50 animals/products. All of these are included in the $199 plan.
Hopefully these benefits, aside from the auctions, will be worth it for you but we understand that some members don't need all of the included features. One thing to keep in mind with the auctions is that they're not just a sales format but they also offer premium exposure/advertising on Openherd, since they are now front and center to our alpaca search (all search traffic goes to the auctions search page first). So running auctions doesn't have to be with a mind for getting bids but simply for the exposure it gives. The sale can still happen the traditional way.
I hope this helps.
Joe Preston
Openherd.com |
| 1/27/2012 10:48:56 AM |
Topic: membership plans
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whitelotus
Posts 3 |
I have no idea how many people have any of the paid membership plans on Openherd, but I feel that there should be a lower cost plan, around $100 that includes the features of the Plus membership but without auctions. I'm not interested in placing my animals in auctions, so I don't need or want that, and I also don't want to pay for it! |
| 1/25/2012 1:50:27 PM |
Topic: Gelding
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Tom/MaryBeth
Posts 1 |
How do you make the decision to geld a male? Is it size? Personality? I know that gelding will help to maintain a stable fiber as the alpaca ages, but at what age do you make the determination to geld or not to geld? |
| 1/24/2012 4:47:37 PM |
Topic: Best barn flooring
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katy holland
Posts 10 |
Hello,
We have just cement. Well actually, half of the barn is cement and the other is gravel/sand. Our larger pens, which house most of our alpacas, are on the cement. We have one smaller pen where our 'macho man' is and this pen is on the gravel/sand. In the cement, we have grate marks in it that gradually slope towards the doors (this allows the urine and spilled water to head outside). The cement makes any type of clean up a breeze. In the cold months, we do a pack/deep bedding of hay and straw.
Katy and Delaney Holland
Alpacas of Holland Acres
Olivia, MN |
| 1/16/2012 12:15:08 PM |
Topic: Best barn flooring
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centralhill
Posts 1 |
I am new to the alpaca industry and getting ready to build my barn. Any suggestions on the best flooring to put in the barn? |
| 12/7/2011 6:21:22 PM |
Topic: Skin Condition - never seen before?
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EBA Oaks
Posts 1 |
Hi Dr. Ruthanne:
I am hoping that you might be able to solve this problem: a couple of weeks after shearing this year (May 27 and 28th, 2010) I started noting some strange "scabs" on just a few of my female (only females, no males involved). Some have just one round scab, about a quarter in diameter and others have just an small area of crusting, it does not get worse and it does not get better. I looked in Dr. Evans Manual and found nothing that looked like what I have going on. We tried giving Ivomec every other day 1 cc for every 70 lbs, and we did this for two weeks, nothing happened, the mystery was exactly the same as before we did this. Then we tried vitamin E oil, nothing happened, then "Nu-Stock" and nothing happened again - the area is not getting worse on any of them, but definitely not better either! What, if any answers might you have for me to try? They are healthy, eating and generally doing well, except for this problem - it is not spreading, there are about 40+ girls in the general female area, all ages from 2.5 up to 16 years of age - none are pregnant, since we are not breeding, due to having to get out of the business or "Liquidating" as we say. The animals that have this condition are all young and healthy, oldest is about 6 years old. Please help, if you can!
Regards,
Aase Frederick
EBA Oaks Alpacas
Yreka, CA 96097
Email Aase@4fast.net
Phone 530-842-3504 |
| 11/23/2011 9:16:38 PM |
Topic: coxicidia how do you get rid of it ?
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jillmcm
Posts 2 |
Not Dr. Ruthanne, but if your animals are getting reinfected by coccidia repeatedly, you're probably going to have to change some of your husbandry habits. Coccidia need somewhat damp, warm environments protected from direct sunlight in which to reproduce - piles of bedding or manure are ideal for this. Barns that stay shaded and moist inside are also great places for coccidia to grow. The cleaner you can keep the alpacas' environment, and the less stress the animals are under, the better. Overcrowding also leads to outbreaks of coccidiosis. Here is a link to a paper on small coccidia - the same general information also applies to E. mac ("big mac"), a more dangerous coccidian. The paper discusses life cycle, prevention and treatment options.
http://www.bagendsuris.com/?page_id=395 |
| 11/13/2011 7:45:35 AM |
Topic: how do you "tame" an agressive male?
|
hobysue
Posts 1 |
we have a two year old herdsire. Sometimes he is as sweet as can be, other times he will charge you and jump on you. Is there anything we can do to get rid of this behavior? |
| 10/21/2011 11:23:45 AM |
Topic: Updating Herd Count
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joe
Posts 42 |
That's a good question. The herd breakdown numbers are referenced in two places on Openherd - on your farm pages and when someone does a breeder search. These numbers give a visitor a good sense of the size of your herd and the balance of Suris vs. Huacayas. The reason we don't automatically count the herd stats based on what's listed in My Herd is because many farms don't list all of their animals and so these numbers wouldn't represent their farm size very well.
Hope this explains things.
Joe Preston
Openherd.com |
| 10/20/2011 5:23:21 PM |
Topic: Updating Herd Count
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sandollar
Posts 2 |
Just wondering if there isn't a way that OH can update the herd statistics when the breeder enters data about its herd? Can't it just count the number of bred huacaya females, open huacaya females, etc. on the sales list and add it to the number of foundation alpacas? |
| 10/15/2011 9:12:49 PM |
Topic: Additional search capabilities
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Marceels
Posts 2 |
I would love to be able to search for alpacas that have fiber sorting records. While this is relatively new to our industry, it is gaining popularity FAST!
Thanks,
Marcee L. Stephenson
Criation Station Alpaca Farm
www.usaalpaca.com |
| 8/12/2011 8:01:31 PM |
Topic: Frontline for mites
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joeykatp
Posts 2 |
Hi,
I could only find frontline plus instead of just frontline. It has fipronil and S-methoprene in it. Is the S-methoprene harmful to alpacas?
Thanks,
K. Paternoster
Our Father's Farm |
| 7/25/2011 9:45:51 PM |
Topic: Frontline for mites
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Julie Follansbee
Posts 1 |
Hi Dr. Ruthanne,
I was just reading the forum at Ope herd and came across the discussion about witch's brew. I have one pregnant alpaca with quite a case of mites that I have been treating with Mike Safely's recipe for witch's brew which contains DMSO...now I'm nervous since I read about the possibility of her aborting. She is due late this summer. I think I will make the next batch up according to the forum recipe without the DMSO. I also read about the reason Frontline has been unavailable (appalling!) and I am interested in your substitute as well as a reprint the article you referred to.
Thanks so much in advance! These mites are awful!
Julie Follansbee |
| 7/25/2011 5:46:54 PM |
Topic: Questions about Click Stats
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joe
Posts 42 |
Hi,
Yes we are going to add statistics for products/services - sorry I didn't answer that previously. We already collect the clicks but just haven't added those to the statistics grid yet.
Joe Preston
Openherd.com |
| 7/25/2011 2:26:59 PM |
Topic: Questions about Click Stats
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rip55jcp
Posts 13 |
Hi Joe,
Thanks for the info!! Does OH have any plans to add click stats for our Products pages? I know I can see the top 3 listings, but would love to see stats like I see for my animals that I have listed.
Thanks.... |
| 7/24/2011 12:39:39 AM |
Topic: Questions about Click Stats
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joe
Posts 42 |
Hi,
Yes bots and other website crawlers are filtered out of all Openherd member statistics. This is a good question because it is common practice with website-based services to give page view statistics that include all "hits," many of which can be from automated software, so that the numbers are not representative of the number of actual human beings (i.e. potential customers) viewing your pages.
For those reading this who aren't sure what this is all about, let me briefly explain: A "bot" is short for an internet robot. This is a piece of software that is programmed to crawl its way around websites cataloging and indexing web pages, either for search engines, or for other purposes. While these page "hits" can be useful to a member, in terms of being indexed by Google or other search engines, they don't represent a human being who has looked at your web page. That's why Openherd prefers to have slightly less "impressive" numbers but ones that represent real people looking at your pages.
Hope this helps!
Joe Preston
Openherd.com |
| 7/23/2011 9:05:14 PM |
Topic: Questions about Click Stats
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rip55jcp
Posts 13 |
Are bots filtered out of the click stats that I see for my pages? Also, do you plan to add click stats for products that I have listed in my store?
Thanks... |
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