100% Alpaca

I was disappointed to learn that 100% suri should not be done. Not for a good quality wearable product. Not that suri isn't a good quality fiber, it is; however, I have recently learned that suri fiber doesn't have memory, therefore it won't hold the shape of whatever it's made into. That was very disappointing but not the end of the world and certainly not the end of my suri herd.

My fiber mill made a very simple suggestion: blend the fiber. If I want to still have 100% alpaca blend the suri with huacaya. And he said I would only need 10% for the yarn to retain memory. Of course I can blend it with other naturals as well. I was already considering silk, angora or cashemere. I have no problem adding huacaya to that list.

Now that I know that blending is a necessity, I'll definitely be adding huacaya fiber animals to my herd. I've just about completed my revised plan which tells me that at the end of 5 years I should have 17 breeding and fiber animals, not counting the cria born to my breeding herd. I think 17 is a nice manageable number.

Sad Day at the Ranch

My visit yesterday was bittersweet. It was great because I got to spend all day with my kids. We walked Michael and Ewok and they did very well. Ewok has decided he definitely does not like being halter trained but he cooperated - somewhat. Michael did so well, he looks like a champion. He’s going to do his father and grandfather proud. We did a mock show and he tolerated being touched, though he did object to looking under his tail. Not bad for a 4 mo old on the halter for the third time. :-) I’m especially excited that he gained another 9 pounds. He will definitely reach the cria goal of 60 lbs by 6 months. He already weighs 57.

People say that alpacas are really smart and I fully believe that. Especially after yesterday. I went to hug my boys because I won’t be seeing them for a while and they went with it. Even Ewok and he hates being touched. It was almost like they understood I was saying good-bye. I’m going to miss them terribly. I didn’t interact too much with the girls because newly preggos are hormonal shouldn’t be upset.

Rick and Patti gave me an amazing send off: we had wine and cheese on the patio and they gave me an alpaca bear. Rick looked over my route to make sure I was going the most efficient way.

I know they’ll take great care of my kids. But I'm going to miss going to the ranch every week and seeing my kids grow and sitting with Rick and Pati and discussing alpacas. It's very hard to find good people and I'm very blessed to have them as friends.

Oh Happy Day

What a busy,busy productive day! We officially traded Keona for Priscilla, we drew Ewok's blood for his ARI registration, walked the boys (Michael and Ewok) and both of my girls, Priscilla and Carmella were bred.

We bred Priscilla to Blade and Carmella to Flash. They were happy campers. What's truly funny is that Blade hurt his knee the other day so he was walking with a slight limp but when he realized he was going to the breeding pen, that limp disappeared. He wasted no time to getting the deed and if his knee was bothering him, it didn't show. He even went back for seconds. Priscilla was such a great sport, she took a nap while he did his thing. The things we gals put up with.

We went to get Flash, and he actually started to skip. I'm so proud of myself that Rick and Pati agreed that Flash was a good breeding choice. He got right down to business. Pretty good for a first timer. When he was finished, he got up, and tried to go back for more but he was so excited he was just all over the place. We tried to let Majik breed to his grandmother's best friend but they both spit him off. Poor guy.

Michael and Ewok didn't walk quite as well as they did the first time, but they did walk further than the first time. Nice trade-off. Then after being forced to walk on the halter, poor Ewok has blood drawn. He was not a happy camper. Michael let me put my hands all over him which will be great for shows, but he wasn't too pleased about my looking under his tail. One step at a time.

Overall, it was a very successful productive day and I'm a happy camper. I wish I could be here for the spit tests, but a girl can't be greedy.

Yes, I can. I'm keeping my fingers crossed for girls.

Using Knowledge for Planning

The more I learn about this business, the more I tweak and adjust my plans. It happens. It wouldn't make sense not to make changes if I've learned that something I want to do isn't practical or financially sound. A lot of my original plans were made based on being excited and anxious to get started. Now that the initial excitement has given way to common sense, I can make real plans.

I still have a lot to learn about this business, but I have learned enough to know that my stress level and vet bills will be a lot lower if I stick to my plan of a predominately fiber herd. Besides, I have found that I really like the male alpacas more than the females. It might be because the males are more sociable, but I understand that the constant hormone fluctuations of being pregnant, giving birth, nursing and nursing while pregnant can play games with one's disposition. Another reason males are easier.

Speaking of adjusted herd plan, I've been reading for sale ads and it's amazing to me how many animals are being sold for practically nothing because the animals are so closely related to their herdmates. I've been thinking of how to avoid this in my own breeding herd and I've decided to have two herdsires and each of them having their own exclusive females within my herd. This way I don't run into the issue of having my animals so related to each other that I have no one to breed them to. Now, I just need the discipline to stick to that plan. :-)

Happy, Productive Day

Today was a great day on the farm. Pati and I had a great conversation about my kids, my future plans and where they fit in those plans. We decided that Keona wasn't the best fit for my plans and they generously allowed me to trade Keona for one of the white proven females, Priscilla. I put my hands on Priscilla she has really nice fiber, just as important, her cria, Cleveland, has great fiber and luster. I'm very happy with my trade and I'm still on track to give myself Carmella as a Christmas present. And typical of how wonderful Pati is, she gave me Priscilla's fiber. It's really great.

In other business, we put the boys on halter today. Ewok didn't alarm scream like he did last time. He actually walked along side Michael. Michael behaved beautifully. He pulled and pronked a bit, but for a new guy, he did very well. We took Michael and Ewok by Boy's Town and introduced Michael to his father, Blade. However, once Blade determined Michael wasn't a female, he lost interest. Haltering and unhaltering Michael would have gone a little better if his Mom hadn't kept clucking at him. Now that I think about it, maybe she was just trying to make him feel better, but he took it as come here.

All-in-all it was a good day.

Happy Farm Days

Whew! This was a whirlwind weekend! Setting up for farm days reminded me of my Venice Beach days. It was realy fun meeting and greeting visitors. Even more fun was the hands-on learning about the fiber. I spent Saturday learning how to pre-cleaning fiber and on Sunday I saw alpaca products flying out the door.

The kids were so great. Considering the amount of traffic they had to put up with, they were amazing. Shogun and Hardy were excellent ambassadors. The girls were majorly funny. We threw hay over the fence so they would come over and be seen. Some of the girls (Malea and Paris Hilton) decided these were there personal hay beds and rolled around in it and promptly fell asleep. Too funny.

We took two girls to a show pen and Miss Dora decided she wanted no part of it and tried to carry the show back to her pasture. Poor Dora. Maybe next year will be better. Dreamgirl was loving getting treats from everyone. So was Barry. I think the alpacas have decided that since Farm Days = treats all day, they like it!

Farms days were a great fun and totally educational experience. I can't wait until I can have my farm involved.

60 Days.....and Counting

When I started this blog, I decided I wanted to write daily because so much happens when a new venture begins. But I also realize that a daily blog is a lot to read. I know because I read my friend Susan's blog that she kept for two years. It took me several days and she only kept hers weekly (most of the time). After reading hers I decided to keep mine daily for 90 days and then switch to a weekly format.

Since things have slowed down, there really isn't much to write about so I'll be switching to the weekly or if something interesting happens format early. Yesterday I kind of reflected on my time, but I'm going to really reflect:

From the time I had that fateful conversation with Susan and started into the world of alpacas, my life hasn't been the same. I started looking at my future with prospect and hope. I could see that I could fulfill my dream of financial independence. The economy was crashing (still is but not as bad) so I was worried about how I was going my finance my old age. At this point, the stock market was proven as an unsafe place to put one's retirement fund, social security would not exist by the time I reach retirement age, so what was I going to do?

As I began researching alpacas, I discovered the best of both worlds: an independent income and having lots of animals. I've always been an animal person. The idea of alapcas made me very happy. I found three boys I wanted to purchase, but I was talked out of that and bought Keona packaged with Michael instead. And of course I bought Ewok for Michael. If I hadn't made an excitement purchase and thought about my purchase more carefully, I probably would have bought one of the pregnant girls first. Of course, I realize I still would have needed a second female, but I think two preggos would have been better. Please don't get me wrong, I am very happy with my kids. Keona is a maiden and will eventually will give me crias. And Michael, as the grandson of Cantano, has the potential to be a great herdsire. My apprehension is that now I am thinking in terms of fiber production rather than breeding, I am concerned about having animals whose fiber are not colors that people normally wear. From this point forward, I will only be purchasing animals whose fiber is light fawn, white, black or silver grey. I have definitely decided that I want a fiber farm and I will keep space available for rescue and/or evacuations.

I will still have a small breeding program, that's where Michael and his lineage comes in. And Lady Carmella. She's a King Kong daughter. In about six months, I'll go on the hunt for a white herdsire with great lineage. By then I will have decided if I want to breed Huycayas. If I do, I'll have to buy a breeding pair. Unfortunately, it doesn't look like Ewok is going to cut it as a herdsire.

I am very much looking forward to my alpaca farm career. Being on any farm is just so peaceful and relaxing. The peace and quiet alone is worth whatever financial trade-off I'm making. As long as the kids pay for themselves and give me enough to feed me, I'll be a happy camper.