The United Nations declared 2009 the International Year of Natural Fibres to focus world attention on the role that natural fibers play in contributing to food security and poverty alleviation. Alpaca is a natural fiber with superior qualities.
Five reasons why natural fibers are important not only to producers and industry, but to consumers and the environment:
Natural fibers are a healthy choice
Natural fibers are a responsible choice
Natural fibers are a sustainable choice
Natural fibres are a high-tech choice
Natural fibers are a fashionable choice
Learn more about the benefits of natural fibers, including alpaca, at the 2009 International Year of Natural Fibres website.
Watch a video about efforts to improve Peruvian alpaca fiber quality & profitability
***UPDATE*** Dr. Grant called with the results from the progesterone tests for Chickory and Dominique and they appear to be pregnant! A conservative cutoff level of serum progesterone for determining pregnancy is at or above 2 ng/ml: the test results showed a serum progesterone level of 3.3 ng/ml.
The IgG results for the new cria are a healthy 1268.
The dehydrated alpaca that was treated on the farm with IV fluids on Saturday is off the IV, running around, and seems to be doing well now.
Western Washington is having an unusually protracted heat wave. I’ve lived in the Seattle area for nearly all my life and this has been about the weirdest weather year that I can remember. I just got back home from visiting my alpacas and not more than 5 minutes after I got in the door, it started either HAILING or raining very large, hard raindrops out of a nearly clear sky. There is some thunder too, but the sun is still shining. I hope the lightning doesn’t start any fires somewhere. It’s my fault because I got the alpaca hauler van washed on the way home.
Today I had the vet, Dr. Grant from Tahoma Veterinary Clinic in Spanaway, Washington, come out to the farm to do an exam on my new cria, draw blood for the IgG test and give him a microchip so I can add him to my livestock insurance policy and register him with ARI. In spite of how protective his dam is, he is a friendly little guy and it’s hard to see a sweet little baby of any kind get his first injections. But I’m sure he will forgive us soon. The new cria does have a name, but I will wait to announce it until after he is officially registered.
While Dr. Grant was there, I had her draw blood from two of my females, Chickory and Dominique, to run progesterone tests and see if it looks like their breedings “took.” We’re pretty sure that Chickory is pregnant after one time breeding, but we’re not sure about Dominique. I’ve got my fingers crossed.
Dehydrated alpaca with an IV
Dr. Grant was also there to treat a weanling male that the farm owners noticed the day before “didn’t look right.” The vet’s diagnosis was dehydration and since this was an agisted alpaca, they needed to make a decision about how to treat the alpaca in the owner’s absence. In this case, the owner lives in Virginia and the weanling came to the farm as a “cria at side” with his dam who came to the farm to be bred to their herdsire. The choices were to a) take the alpaca to the clinic to be treated which would be extra expensive on the weekend, b) confine the alpaca in a stall and do the IV treatment on the farm, or c) do nothing. The farm is equipped with a very nice BarnMaster barn with 6 12′ stalls. I mentioned that we might be able to use my portable panels to make a smaller enclosure within a stall to restrict the alpaca’s movement while hooked up the the IV, which could be easily hung from the stall dividers. Everyone agreed, and we used 3 panels in a triangle configuration to make a small space. The fans are going and this patient appears to be doing nicely when I left.
So, if you have alpacas and you don’t yet have any portable panels, I highly recommend that you have at least 4 on hand for a variety of reasons.
They make a terrific small pen for halter and lead training your alpacas. Marty McGee-Bennett’s Camelidynamics methods make extensive use of portable panels for training and husbandry purposes.
They give you flexibility to temporarily confine a small group of animals in a convenient location, for shearing preparation for instance.
You can use them to confine an animal for medical treatment, like in this case.
I purchased my panels from my local MSA Equipment distributors, Jeff and Lorrie Williamson of Liberty Alpacas in Maple Valley, WA. http://www.libertyalpacas.com/ The MSA panels are lightweight and easy for anyone to pickup and move around.
Bailadores delivered her cria today after 345 days of gestation: the normal average gestation for alpacas, no more, no less. Thankfully, the weather only got up to about 80 degrees today so we are happy that she gave birth now rather than this weekend which is predicted to be in the 90′s. Since her belly was so big we thought it might be a large cria, but he weighed in at a very normal 15 lbs. Birthing only took about a half hour, he was up, nursing quickly, and the placenta looked as healthy as a much younger alpaca with good color and vascularization. Bailadores is a very protective mom and is constantly talking to him. If we have to pick him up to treat the navel or weigh him, Bailadores is right there and very worried to the point of making an alarm call if he is out of her sight for even a moment. His even colored fleece is heavenly soft, showing signs of nice density and architecture, and he has a cute wedge-shaped head with a black spot on top like a star, but that is hard to see in these pictures. He also has a small black spot on his left hip. His Sire is Platinum Sensation S977, ARI #1042191.
I couldn’t believe how smooth everything went. With our shearer, Ann Kizer, we exceeded our goal of 20 alpacas per day, sheared 42 alpacas in two days, and finished with time to spare on Monday. I enjoyed working with Ann and we have made a reservation to use her again next year in May.
When I got home and unloaded the bags of fleece, I ended up just sitting there fondling Brightsmith’s & Cuppajoe’s fleeces. I couldn’t believe how nice all of Smitty’s 2nds felt and the brightness I found, especially in the white fleece from his neck, but in the rose-grey areas as well. I compared a sample of the rose-grey fleece to my fleece samples from the Fiber Workshop by Wade Gese I attended at Misty Ridge Alpaca Farm, and I think Smitty’s fleece is about 20 micron in the rose-grey. Mindy you, that was not a sample taken from the blanket, because the blankets will be processed as show fleeces! Well, you can probably tell that I’m pretty pleased. I just hope that I can properly skirt the show fleeces and do them justice.
The only bummer is that I was moving around some bags of fleece (fleece that was given to me from another farm) in the basement to make room for the new stuff, and I discovered MOTHS inside a couple of bags that weren’t sealed up tight! I was taking the bags outside and trying to get the moths out of the house. I hate moths with a passion! Fortunately, it appears that they haven’t done much damage yet so I hope this fleece can be salvaged. I told Walt I needed to freeze the bags of fleece to kill the moths, but he said we don’t have room in our regular freezer. So, bless his heart, he went on Craigslist and found a freezer that somebody was giving away for free. Then I’m going to have to use foggers in the house to kill any other moths lurking around just looking for some tasty wool to destroy. Of course, the birds will have to be out of the house when I do that. Did I mention that I hate moths?
We are having an unseasonable heat wave here in the Pacific Northwest with temperatures running in the upper- 70′s to mid- 80′s F. for part of last week and predicted to last until the weekend. It’s even warmer in the foothills, up to 92 degrees out by Darrington, WA, reported by Squire Creek Alpaca Ranch who are shearing this weekend. Last year in June, we were calling it “June-uary” because was nearly cold enough to snow. Since it doesn’t usually warm up this early, everybody is anxiously awaiting their shearing date so the alpacas don’t get overheated.
Our shearer, Brian Schreiber, was scheduled well ahead of time for June 13-14, but we recently learned that he is getting out of the business and has turned over his shearing calendar to somebody new in the business. To make matters worse, my agisting farm has been playing phone/email tag with the replacement guy, which is worrysome. The soonest we could schedule another shearer with a good reputation to come out to the farm is in mid- July.
Another impact is on breeding and late-term pregnant females. Herdsire owners are reluctant to risk overheating their males by breeding them in full-fleece during the heat wave, causing breeding dates to get pushed back. And I’m starting to worry about Bailadores, who is due to give birth July 11th. If she gets too stressed from the heat, it could cause her to go into labor prematurely. We will be looking for creative ways to keep the alpacas cool, such a setting up a sprinkler set on low for them to get their legs and bellies wet.
*UPDATE*: It appears that through much negotiations, my agisting farm has found an excellent shearer, Ann, who can come on June 14-15th. Now if we can just keep the alpacas cool enough through the end of this week, the temperatures hopefully will be more reasonable, we can get everybody sheared, and set up for their breeding dates.
I’ve updated all the alpaca listings on the Our Alpacas page on this website and on the AlpacaNation site. I had hoped to build my herd a bit more before putting any alpacas up for sale, but due to recent unexpected, huge expenses with my rental house and advice from my CPA to the effect that “every alpaca on the farm is for sale, for the right price or else they are pets”, I have had to rethink my plans. Thus, I am moving to the next phase of being an alpaca breeder: can you sell them? Yet another alpaca learning experience. And being a new, small breeder with no herdsires of my own, I can’t offer the types of “deal sweeteners” that larger farms can. But I can offer some excellent, hard to find genetics, especially for anyone breeding for grey or black alpacas.
If you value a consistent, spot-free grey blanket color, my featured alpaca, Bailadores, is hard to beat. She is due to deliver on July 11th and the cria she is currently carrying by Platinum Sensation is sure to be something special.
I am very fortunate to have to offer 2 very promising young males from the Pluro line. When the top alpaca breeders speak of the all time great males, Pluro always makes the list every time. Pperuvian Pluro G4571 was exported from USA to Australia, and there become one of their all time great machos before passing away in 2003. These genetics can be hard to find in this country.
Cuppajoe inherits royal Accoyo bloodlines from his sire, Ross; a Pluro son. Ross also sired The Rebel, who as a yearling sold for a whopping $96,000 dollars, setting a record for highest selling Jr. Grey herd sire in alpaca auction history. Brightsmith also inherits Accoyo bloodlines from his sire, Silver Creek; another Accoyo Peruvian Pluro son who is known for producing high quality grey offspring. “Smitty” is shaping up to be a real looker.
With Ross now deceased, and Silver Creek retired from breeding, these may be the last males born to carry these valuable bloodlines into future generations of elite alpacas.
I got to go visit my alpacas yesterday and everyone seems to be doing nicely. The weather was sunny and warm; it felt great to me, but I could tell that the alpacas are definitely ready for shearing. Hopefully we can schedule it for earlier next year, but it always depends on the shearer’s schedule and the weather. I have heard of some people who have had to postpone their shearing this year in other parts of the country due to rain. And here in the Pacific Northwest we are always at the mercy of fickle weather. I remember last year in June, we were calling it “June-uary” because it was so unseasonably cold and wet.
I took a few pictures of the crias. Amaya’s legs and topline are showing tremendous improvement, with only a very slight trace of stiffness lingering in her hind legs as she moves. I took some pictures of Brightsmith and Cuppajoe in full-fleece. They both behaved well from their previous haltering and leading lessons. With the owners’ request, I started halter/lead training on their male cria who is about the same age as Brightsmith but hasn’t been worked with yet. And I enjoyed watching the alpacas as I sprayed water on their feet and legs to cool them off. It’s funny to see that Amaya appears to have the same love of water that her dam and grand-dam have.
Good news: Bolivian Christina, my medium rose gray (MRG) “pink” alpaca was confirmed pregnant by ultrasound today. Christina is bred to General Steel de Peru, a dark rose gray (DRG), full Peruvian herdsire at Alpacas of America. I’ve got my fingers crossed for another “pink” alpaca.
Christina was imported in 1994, so she is more than 14 years old. The best word to describe her is “matronly”. She still has her regal bearing, she has produced beautiful healthy cria including Cuppajoe last year, and she is mostly trouble-free. She doesn’t even seem to be as effected by parasites as other alpacas. Sometimes when I look at her face, I crack up because she looks like an old lady with too much powder on.
Today’s ultrasounds revealed that Sinsacate, who was also bred the same day (to a different herdsire, of course), may or may not actually be pregnant. The ultrasound was inconclusive for her. Unfortunately, she may be in the process of absorbing her pregnancy. I will confer with the veterinarian on how best to proceed.
As I am learning, sometimes alpacas don’t get pregnant on the first, or second breeding attempt. Getting pregnant is a process. If you time it right in their cycle, you may have better luck, but that is assuming that you have ready access to a herdsire. If you have access to a herdsire you can check the female’s behavior, to see if they go from cushing for the male before breeding to “spitting off” the male after they become pregnant. With no male to check their behavior with, you have to rely on either ultrasounds, or a progesterone check from a blood sample, which means that you either have to know how to draw blood from an alpaca and send the sample off for analysis, or have a vet come to the farm to draw blood or do the ultrasound. Behavior and progesterone tests are not infailable. It is possible that they could act pregnant and have a high progesterone level, but in reality they have a retained corpus luteum. There can be other reasons too. But the reality is that they don’t all get pregnant the first time, every time.
All of these things are additional challenges for the urban alpaca owner. When you care about your animals like I do, it is difficult to not be able to participate directly in the day-to-day tasks. And being a small beginning farm entrepreneur, there is so much riding on a sucessful breeding program. Working with a knowledgeable and experienced agisting farm is so invaluable, and makes me grateful to have mentors to help me learn all the nuances of becoming an alpaca breeder.
