Sunday, April 8, 2012
Our Easter holiday didn't start off all that well, given the dead rabbit that was outside our bathroom window. Glad we found it and not Stephanie, although it appeared to die of natural causes and not by predator.
Stephanie sold her nice girl, Victor Hemingway's Freedom to a nice farm in Liberty, Kentucky. The transporter picked her up today and hopefully the weather will be mild on her trip. "Fria" is soooo dense, hate to think of her sweating on such a long trip.
Last of the cria weaning read more...
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Tuesday, March 6, 2012
A couple of years ago, my husband took our show animals to an alpaca show on the California/Oregon border. While at the show, he fell in love with a Komondor male that was there and learned there was a litter of pups that were ready to go. Just so happens, one of these pups was being donated for the dinner auction and guess what -- he bid, and bid, and bid.....after about 12 telephone calls later, he was disappointed to tell me that he lost out on the bidding. The next morning, Zoltan (the breed read more...
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Monday, February 20, 2012
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Saturday, February 11, 2012
This day brought cold, drizzley rain but warm hearts to the first annual AAWW Herdsire Event held in Enumclaw, Washington! There was good participation with over 50 local herdsires present and farms representing both huacaya and suri males for a date in 2012!
Everyone enjoyed the Valentine's theme with dressed up alpacas, lots of decorations, chocolate, roses and me with my big crockpot full of chili :-) Thanks to Sara for bringing corn bread muffins. We had a good time visiting with other read more...
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Wednesday, February 1, 2012
Ok alpacas, get your nom nom on.....yes, we decided to add another element to our alpaca business by carrying Puget Sound Vet Group alpaca feeds.
Our herd has been enjoying this feed for over a year, utilizing the three different rations:
Maintenance
Lactation
Show Ring
These different blends meet special requirements for our herd and we've noticed weight GAIN, even in lactating moms with crias at side! Highly palatable, lower cost and lower consumption rates made this decision a no b read more...
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Sunday, January 15, 2012
Gotta love the weathermen....snow has been flirting in the forecast but today it arrived. At the time this picture was taken, the ground had accumulated about three inches of snow.
Watching the alpacas in the snow is always entertaining, especially when they nibble the snow off the top of the fenceline. It almost reminds me of someone eating an ear of corn, row by row.
The moms found cover most of the day in their shelters and mostly stayed close to the hay feeder, only to occassionally go read more...
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Tuesday, December 13, 2011
Anything but rain is generally welcomed here in the Seattle area but this past 10 day stretch of weather has brought sub-freezing temperatures at night. Leaving in the morning in the dark and then coming home at night in the dark is my least favorite part of the winter weather.
The alpacas are well suited for this type of weather and not at all bothered by it. Some of the older moms with crias at side, we give a little extra ration to. This helps them help retain body score and heat without c read more...
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Sunday, November 27, 2011
New construction is always exciting, and adding alpaca space certainly gives a sense of satisfaction to us alpaca ranchers. We are happy to add a 24' x 20' overhang to our existing barn which will allow us the convenience of the obvious weather issues we have here in beautiful Washington state where we get a lot of rain (aka liquid sunshine)!
This structure will help us to keep the show alpacas dry (which is always a challenge here in the Pacific NW no matter what time of year) and when shear read more...
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Monday, November 14, 2011
Winning a blue ribbon is a wonderful feeling of accomplishment for the alpaca owner but taking the purple banner takes it into a whole other level!
Nervously standing in the ring, watching the judges eyes darting left and right and then left and right....when finally, the moment of anticipation when the judge walked directly towards me and awarded Alpaquitas Peruvian Sorpresa the Color Championship in a highly competitive class of silver females! And to think, she's just a yearling! But oooo read more...
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