We have been waiting for this little girl for almost a year as Victoria gestated for 359 days.  Bailey weighed in at 18lbs and is Victoria and Stonewall's second female cria!  Their first one, Fayette, is now in our breeding program and we plan on breeding her this fall to Express' Masterpiece Renoir.  Renoir is the son of Accoyo Express the son of Accoyo Albus who has only five registered offspring in the US, making that bloodline quite rare.  I am really excited about this upcoming pairing.

Here's a quick look at Renoir.....

Renoir is a fabulous looking male.  He has given us 6 blue ribbons, one reserve color championship and a ribbon that I think is really cool - a Best Crimp!  His fleece is exquisite - dense, crimpy and shiny with bundling galore and a 19 micron. 

Renoir will be at Hill Country Alpacas this fall to begin his breeding career.  He will continue to go to shows, too.  

This is Hill Country's Taylor.     Nirvana's Sari X Snowmass Royal Flush

This is Hill Country's Starr.   Dundee's Justine Jaxon X Dante Magnus SFTAR

Victoria was 'officially' due on May 20th, but if she follows along with what out other girls did this spring, she has a few more days to go.....

Victoria is pregnant with another beautiful Dundee's Stonewall Jaxon cria!   Her 2007 female, Hill Country's Fayette, is a beautiful medium/dark fawn and is already winning ribbons.

Called the vet a few days ago and he prescribed 20cc of peptobismol 3 times a day until the diarrhea stopped.  During the time when we weren't dosing pepto, we were to give a double dose of MSE, a microbial paste which keeps their rumen working and gives them some B vitamins.  A couple of them have had a slight fever, but for the most part we are thankful that no one has gone down.  A downer alpaca is yet another story!!!

So, today is the seventh day since we got home from the show and for five days we have been dealing with this diarrhea.  Things are starting to firm up now, if you know what I mean.  An added note is that we don't seem to be the only ranch that came home from the show with diarrhea.  I hope that everyone gets to feeling better real soon.

TxOLAN is a fantastic show and every year there are new ranches who come to it.  And every year there are established ranches that come and try to take all the blue ribbons!  That's what makes it so good - the competition.  The alpacas that are winning the blue ribbons these days are absolutely gorgeous!  Talking specifically about huacaya's, the crimp is unbelievable, the brightness is remarkable and the fineness just keeps on getting finer!  That is what we are all striving for.  And then there is that beautiful head that is continuing to show - big top nots, facial hair, etc.  Fabulous.

Another thing I really like about this show in Fort Worth is that my parents who live just outside of Wichita, Kansas drive down to be with us.  Our son, Ross, and his girlfriend, Rachel, who live in the Metroplex came over to have dinner with us on Saturday night, too.  We had a great time at the dinner and at the following Live Auction.  The Live Auction was great and brought in a good amount of money for our organization - many thanks to all who donated auction items.  Our friends Bret and Rachel, who live in Fort Worth right now came to see us, too.  They came last year and didn't get to see any of the show, but this time they got to see us show animals!  Rachel is busy relearning how to knit and she will be making a beanie for her husband, Bret, out of yarn from our animals. They are so sweet and are expecting a baby in about 4.5 months!  Very exciting times.....

Now, we have finished with our show season for this year.  It's been great and now we look forward to shearing in late March.

Calhoun is a 2 and a half month old cria, a son of Stonewall Jaxon.  He's a real cute kid, and will one day show in a multi class because of the white markings he has.  As you can see in the picture below, the white on his legs comes up into his blanket area.  Since that is the case, he is considered a pattern alpaca.

Calhoun was such a good patient at the vet and everyone that saw him thought he was so cute!   The vet especially like his markings - they are interesting!

Calhoun has a sister who looks almost exactly like he does.  Their mother, Shadow, has some white spots on her face and she also has a front leg with a pattern of white and medium fawn.  She must carry a spotting gene because all of the males she has been bred to are solid dark colors.   This time when we bred Shadow back, we chose a solid white male in hopes that if she gives any spots to her cria, they won't be seen, they will be hidden in the white...  genetics is hard to understand and I know I didn't describe this very well - - - I am still learning.

Good News on the alpaca show scene.  We heard yesterday that Audrey and Lloyd Conklin of West Texas Gold Alpacas had received a special award at the Fiber to Fashion Fleece Show in Las Vegas, Nevada. 

We have known Audrey and Lloyd for several years now, they are both wonderful people and Audrey has her own style of telling a story that is always entertaining.  Audrey really needs to put together a book of all her funny stories!  I have particularly warm memories of Audrey and Lloyd helping us out at an alpaca show several years ago when one of our alpacas was taken ill at the show.  Audrey and Lloyd loaned us all sorts of supplies from their medicine kit and did all that they could to help us throughout the show.  Audrey and Lloyd are good people and it always is a pleasure to hear of good things happening to good people.

Fiber to Fashion is an annual event held by the Alpaca Owners and Breeders Association (AOBA) and is the industry conference on the fiber side of the alpaca business.  The fleece show held at Fiber to Fashion is usually a large one with some stiff competition.

Audrey and Lloyd were not able to attend Fiber to Fashion in person but sent in several fleeces to the fleece show.  A friend of theirs was going to Fiber to Fashion and arrangements were made for their friend to pick up Audrey and Lloyds fleeces from the fleece show.  The friend was keen to report that Audrey and Lloyd’s fleeces had received several ribbons at the show including one really nice special one – the AFCNA Spirit of Fiber Award.

The AFCNA Spirit of Fiber Award is given to only one suri fleece and one huacaya fleece out of all of the fleeces entered in the Fiber to Fashion Fleece show.  The Award is sponsored by the Alpaca Fiber Coop of North America (AFCNA) and is awarded to the fleece that best exemplifies what our fiber industry is breeding for.  It is a prestigious award.

The alpaca whose fleece is that won the award is FFTX Cody, one of Audrey and Lloyd’s herdsires.  Cody is not unfamiliar with winning blue ribbons and now can add the AFCNA Spirit of Fiber award to his list of credentials.

So congratulations to Cody, may your date book be well booked for this upcoming breeding season, and of course congratulations to Audrey and Lloyd too!

Rosemary

We are also thrilled that our Poseidon son, Paschal, took a second place in a competitive group of 11 great looking white juvenile males. 

And our junior herdsire, Express' Masterpiece Renoir took a "Best Crimp" ribbon in the fleece show competition.  He is really racking up the awards on the show circuit.  Although this picture is from another show, this is how great Renoir looks.

So, we are back on the ranch now.  Did a little behavior testing this morning to be sure that our females who are pregnant are still pregnant.  Seven out of seven and all spit at the male.  Spit testing is one way of testing your females to see if they are pregnant.  A female alpaca is really in touch with her body and once they are pregnant, they want nothing at all to do with a male alpaca.  Other ways to check for pregnancy is progesterone testing or ultrasounding the female.  We have done all methods, but spit testing is one that doesn't involve any lab work or a veterinarian and can be done on a day at the ranch!

It's going to be a long day on Friday.  We have about a 10 hour drive - so it's up at five on the road by six! (That's a phrase my Dad always uses - kind of an inside joke)!   Really, we are hoping to leave the ranch by 8:00am.

As the show approaches we are starting to get more telephone enquiries relating to the show.  Some people need guidance as to how to fill out the forms, some are new to showing alpacas and have questions as to the correct procedures, others have more general enquires such as directions to the show grounds, local hotels etc.

One such enquiry was from a man who had seen an article about alpacas in Progressive Farmer magazine.  The article had mentioned the TxOLAN Alpaca Spectacular and that it was being held in Fort Worth, but apparently had not said at which facility the show would be held (which by the way is the Will Rogers Coliseum).  The man was excited that such a large alpaca show was going to be held in the Fort Worth area and was planning to come to the show.

I gave the man the information he needed and spent a few minutes talking to him.  I asked him if he already owned alpacas, he said he did not but was very interested in them and wanted to learn more about them.  He then came out with something that I hadn’t considered before but which made me smile, he said “How can you not fall in love with something that is born smiling”.

To this man the little crias faces hold a smile and had captured his attention.  In reality, as the crias are born, they are usually gasping as their lungs take in those first few breaths of air.  Once they are dried off and settled down though I can see how someone could see the crias as smiling.  Of course usually I am smiling by that time too, the sight of a cria being born will always be a joy to me.

I hope to meet the man at the show.  I told him that while I would probably be unable to leave the fleece room for much of the show, Ric might be a bit more accessible and that we would love to meet him.

It’s great to meet all of the different people who enquire about the shows we work on; they come from all walks of life but share a common thread, an interest or a love of alpacas.  It’s also great to hear their different perspectives about alpacas and the alpaca lifestyle. 

I will look forward to meeting this man who came out with a lovely thought about crias being born smiling, and I bet that one day he too will get to deliver a cria and realize that the smile will be not only be on the crias face but also on his own.

Rosemary

  Yesterday’s mail contained a large stiff white envelope addressed to me from the Alpaca Owners and Breeders Association (AOBA).  I wasn’t really expecting anything from AOBA but it is the time of year when we receive calendars and other promotional items in the mail from companies that we have done business with throughout the year.  So I thought maybe the envelope contained something of that nature.

Upon opening the envelope I was greeted with a Certificate of Appreciation and a lovely handwritten note from Margie Ault of the Judges Training Certification Committee (JTCC).  The Certificate of Appreciation was for my volunteering at the Oral Reasons Clinic in Shawnee, Oklahoma in October and the note from Margie was a thank you note.

It would have been too easy for AOBA just to continue business without giving too much thought to saying thank you to the volunteers who took part at the Oral Reasons Clinic.  Too often these days organizations are so busy that the little things that make the difference are neglected or forgotten, but on this occasion AOBA made the extra effort to recognize their volunteers and that gesture means a lot.

To me volunteering is always a two way street.  The organization that needs the volunteers reaps the benefits of the volunteers’ time and skills, and the volunteers usually come away from their volunteer experience having learned something new and with a greater appreciation of the work the organization does.

AOBA has historically relied on volunteers to keep the wheels of the organization turning.  It has only been in latter years that paid positions have become more common in AOBA.  The paid positions are necessary and ensure that the organization runs smoothly, after all there is a limit to the amount of time that anyone can volunteer (although I may add that there are many volunteers within AOBA who devote large amounts of their time and effort and appear to have a bottomless pit of volunteer spirit and to those people we should all be grateful).

I thoroughly enjoyed my time volunteering at the Oral Reasons Clinic.  Was it work?  Most definitely yes, but it was work that was rewarded with a lot of learning and the chance to experience just a part of what our AOBA Judges go through to obtain or maintain their certification.   My experience also gave me a greater appreciation for the work our AOBA Judges do, it is not an easy job and while the judges are paid they earn every penny of that payment during the course of an alpaca show.  Let’s face it without trained, skilled judges where would our show system be?

My Certificate of Appreciation and Thank You note will be proudly displayed in my office and to AOBA, Margie Ault and the JTCC I say thank you for taking the time to show your appreciation, it really does mean a lot.

Rosemary

To date the virus has not been identified and in addition to the name “The Snots” it is also being referred to by some as Alpaca Upper Respiratory Virus or Acute Respiratory Distress Syndrome.  The exact method by which the virus spreads has yet to be determined, but it would appear to be either airborne or transmitted by some form of carrier such as flies.  Alpaca Farms that have good biosecurity measures in place are finding that even with quarantine and good biosecurity the virus can spread throughout a herd of alpacas quite rapidly.

It is easy for alpaca breeders to become alarmed when something like this comes along, this virus has hit during the fall show season and what better opportunity for a virus to spread than when you get a large group of alpacas together in one place. 

The International Camelid Institute has put out an Emergency Alert, which can be viewed at http://www.icinfo.org/Pages/respiratoryvirus.html The Alert describes the virus in more detail and also goes over biosecurity measures that should be taken. 

Many alpaca breeders have decided to voluntarily restrict the movement of their alpacas until this virus is under control, which will hopefully help reduce the opportunity for this virus to spread.   

I feel with any virus in any species the key to keeping the virus at bay is making sure that the immune system of the animal concerned is strong and healthy.  Many alpacas that have already come into contact with this virus have shown little or no symptoms, which is probably a reflection on their strong immune systems that have been able to fight the virus with little disruption to the rest of their bodies. 

We hope that with all of the steps we take at our farm to ensure good nutrition and good biosecurity our chances of having this virus come onto our premises has been reduced, but we further hope that should we encounter this virus the overall good health of our herd will give them the protection they need to successfully fight it off.  As the saying goes “an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure” and you can bet that we are going to keep implementing our ounce of prevention.

Rosemary

We also heard recently from Susan and Kent Sasser of AlpacaWorks that their dam Girasol had delivered a beige male cria also from Zin.  I was surprised that the breeding of Girasol and Zin resulted in a beige cria as Girasol is a medium to dark fawn and with Zin’s fawn coloring I had hoped that breeding would produce a fawn cria.  You never can tell with alpacas what color a breeding will produce. 

So Zin now has four daughters and two sons on the ground with more cria arriving soon.  It is exciting to see the offspring of a herdsire, especially when that herdsire is one that was raised as a cria on your farm. 

When dealing with herdsires it is important to keep track of the offspring they produce.  Prospective clients often request information on the progeny of a herdsire before they purchase a breeding and the more information you have available the more helpful it is to that client when it comes to making a decision on that breeding.

We always do our best to keep track not only of the crias sired by our herdsires but also as to how those crias do as they grow up, their show record information and also information on their offspring is all valuable information to us.

We also recently heard from Troy and Mary Ogilvie of Timberlodge Alpacas that their Enchantment’s Prince Regent son Treasure of Airlie placed second in his class at the Mid-American show in Kansas.  Airlie has done well in his show career and has never placed lower than second place at any show he has attended.  He also has a reserve color champion to his credit and Troy and Mary are looking forward to being able to use Airlie as a herdsire in their own breeding program.

We jokingly refer to the offspring of our herdsires as “grandkids” and now have many alpaca “grandkids” on the ground.   We take an interest in all the “grandkids” and love to receive updates from their owners.

Just recently though we received news that we are going to be having a different sort of “grandkid” in our lives – a human one!  That’s a first for us.  Laura and Ren who were married earlier this year are now expecting their first child.  The baby is due to arrive at the end of March and will be joining an international family with uncles, aunts and grandparents in several different countries.  Before realizing that they were expecting Laura and Ren had planned on coming over to help us with shearing next spring, but it looks like that plan will be on hold.  Grandpa Ric though already has plans for baby Pienescu to be driving a tractor and shearing alpacas before he or she can walk!  I am pretty sure Laura and Ren will have something to say about that.

So congratulations to Marilyn and Roberto, Susan and Kent, Troy and Mary and most of all to our dear Laura and Ren.

Rosemary

Sandy Steffy has devoted many, many hours to the Wild and Wooly in addition to running her alpaca farm, helping her mother with the family business and rebuilding her life after her house was damaged during Hurricane Katrina, credit has to go to Sandy for coordinating the Wild and Wooly and making it a success during such a demanding period of her life.

My journey to Louisiana was a good one, with my flights being on time or early and the weather being calm and fine. The only hiccup in my travels was getting out of New Orleans in my rental car, the map and directions I received were not exactly the most specific and before I knew it I was headed toward Baton Rouge! Fortunately Regina Dart of Llano Soleado Alpacas called me at that time and was able to get onto her computer and help me get turned around to the right direction. Thank you Regina, your timing was fortuitous and thanks to you I did make it to Covington safely.

The drive out of New Orleans was an interesting one as I drove on the North Causeway over Lake Pontchartrain – wow that is one long drive over water! The traffic was not too bad and it was quite surreal to be driving over a large body of water while being surrounded first by numerous dragonflies and then by hundreds of butterflies. It’s a drive I will not forget.

Later today I will give my presentation and hopefully I will have time to sit in on some of the other seminars and get to visit with some alpaca breeders and visitors to the Expo who are interested in learning more about alpacas. I’m looking forward to the day and hope that my presentation will be well received.

Rosemary

The alpacas didn’t seem too bothered by the heat; they did a fair bit of sunning but moved around the pasture well so I was not too concerned about them.  Having turned the fans off earlier in the week we had to turn them back on to provide some breeze, I guess when the first snow hits the ground it will be time to clean off the fans and put them up for the winter.

Chai was the only alpaca that seemed to be taking it easier than normal, but considering that she is only two weeks out from her due date her behavior was not unusual.  Of course we kept a close eye on her throughout the day to make sure that she was not going into labor.  Chai loves to sit on the bed of hay in the big shelter, I suspect it provides nice cushioning for her ever growing “bump”, but it means that we have to walk out to physically check on her rather than just looking out of the window.  Throughout the course of the day Chai looked good and was definitely enjoying lying on the hay and nibbling what is left of the big bale that was in the big shelter, she has developed wax caps on her udder now and so we are probably not too far off from her giving birth.

On the Zeus report there is exciting news, he had his biggest gain yet yesterday 0.6 lbs!  We were so excited that we phoned his owners and told them that we were going to have a party.  What will be really exciting is if he can show the same gain today, you can bet we will be holding our breath again as we step on the scales with him this morning.

We finally have a weekend we are both home so are planning on sorting through some fiber to send it off for processing into socks and also sorting out which fleeces to send to the Alpaca Fiber Coop of North America (AFCNA).  We have a lot of fleece to sort through and the process will take a little while but once we get into the routine of sorting some fleece every day the job will soon be done.  We also have several show fleeces to skirt so I need to work on those too as there are some good shows coming up which I would like to enter.

It will be nice to have a weekend without dashing here and there, that is of course unless we end up dashing out to deliver Chai’s cria!

Rosemary

            Before the judges can be certified as AOBA judges each apprentice must then attend a specified number of level II, level III, level IV or level V shows working in the ring alongside a certified training judge.  The apprentice may discuss different aspects of each animal but the certified judge makes the final decision on animal placement in the show ring.  The training judge will then write a lengthy report on the apprentice performance in the ring and that is turned and evaluated by the AOBA show division.  Once the apprentice has satisfactorily completed all aspects of show apprenticing both in halter and in fleece then the show committee can award the new judge his or her certification as an AOBA judge.  This entire process can take up to three years or longer to complete.

            The next time you’re in the show ring feel confident that the judge has taken a lot of time and effort on his or her part to be there judging your animals with confidence.

            Life here at Windrush has gotten back into routine of getting chores completed fixing fence and completing the multiple jobs that seem to pop up every day on any farm.

            Today I will be challenged to get all the chores completed, check on all the animals to make sure everything is OK and get ready to go to my other job by 8:45.  I sometimes accept opportunities to substitute teach in our local school district and I accepted the challenge of teaching a high school class today so I will let you know how it goes tomorrow.

            Just a quick note to let everyone know little Zeus gained weight again yesterday, not as much as I would have liked but every gain is a good sign.  Last night when I checked on the animals before going to bed Zeus was playing King of the Hill and standing on the mound as he frolicked around the pasture.  I think he must take after Rosemary and is turning into a night owl, as all the rest of the animals were settled in for the night.

Ric

Along with our own girls, we also will have outside alpacas coming here to be bred in the fall.  The typical alpaca breeding contract offers the services of the male alpaca, plus a free agistment/boarding period (in our case 90 days), the confirmation of the pregnancy by ultrasound or progesterone test and a live cria guarantee.  The typical stud fee for a male alpaca is between $1500 - $2000, although there are some studs that are offered at a lower price and some at a much higher price.

For those who have never handled breeding visiting alpacas on their farm the breeding process can seem quite simple and they wonder why breeding fees cannot be lower.  They deliver their alpaca, they go home and await good news and then return to collect their alpaca so what could possibly cause the stud fee price.  The owner of the herdsire however knows that there is much more involved in the breeding process.

First biosecurity must be considered, all alpacas coming into our farm are quarantined for three weeks, and are required to have a negative fecal test and a negative BVD PCR test.  The quarantine pen is specially set up for that purpose and we tend that pen last when doing chores to avoid contamination.  While we make every effort to follow good biosecurity practices there is still an element of risk in bringing visiting alpacas onto your farm.

Often when an alpaca arrives for breeding she will have a very young cria by her side, so in addition to caring for the dam we are also responsible for caring for the cria.  Some crias do just fine; others may show signs of stress following traveling or just from being away from their buddies at their home herd.  As a crias immune system takes a while to develop they are vulnerable to bacterial and viral infection, so during their stay with us they are under close observation.  We weigh all crias daily until they are 25 lbs at which time we go to weighing every other day until they are at least 30 lbs.  after that we weigh them monthly unless there is cause for concern.  It is not unusual for us to have to treat crias for diarrhea or parasites such as coccidiosis during their stay, and depending on the age of the cria we may have to take them through the process of being introduced to grain during their stay.

We often receive requests from the owner of the dam and cria to microchip their cria for them, perform other routine blood work, or in some cases even halter train the crias.  All tasks we will happily do if we have sufficient time, but “time is money” as the saying goes so there are additional charges for performing these tasks.

The majority of the time the visiting dam breeds on the first or second attempt.  We supervise every breeding to ensure that both dam and herdsire are safe during the process.  Following breeding we then check the dam on a weekly basis to see if she is non-receptive, by the time she is approximately 30 days pregnant we look to schedule the ultrasound or progesterone test.  Once the dam is confirmed pregnant we notify the owners and discuss when the dam will be ready to travel.  In most cases we recommend that the dam is 60 days pregnant before she travels, by that time there is a greater chance of her holding the pregnancy.  It would be a shame for an owner to travel a dam all the way home to find that the stress of the journey has caused her to absorb her pregnancy and they need to make the trip back again.  For the sake of a small wait that scenario can be avoided.

Occasionally we get a dam that is difficult to breed or has other health issues that her owner was not aware of.  An unhealthy alpaca is unlikely to get bred easily and so health issues need to be taken care of promptly.  Alpacas that are difficult to breed is a whole other topic, but that situation usually results in the dam being with us for a longer period of time than her owner expected, and some veterinary treatment to assist the dam with getting pregnant may be required.

Of course as with everything else there is the dreaded paperwork, accurate records need to be kept so that the owners have that information available to them for future reference.  We also like to keep the owners updated on a regular basis on the progress of their dam.

So as you can see there is more to a breeding contract than just a breeding.

It’s always interesting to have other dams visit your farm for breedings, it is a chance to see the quality of alpaca that other farms have and with their individual personalities it is always fun getting to know the visiting dams and their crias.  It is a great feeling knowing that the dam’s owners have selected your herdsire to enhance their breeding program.  Every cria that is born as a result of a breeding from one of our herdsires is a part of our alpaca family and we enjoy hearing of their birth, seeing their pictures and learning of their success in the show ring.

Rosemary

As the boys charged out on the wheat today I thought about how much I enjoy my boy alpacas.  I find that the boys tend to be a little more personable than the girls.  To give the girls their due you have to remember that they are pregnant and hormonal for most of the time so a little reticence and grumpiness is understandable.

The boys on the other hand have a relatively easy life, eating, napping, sunning and waiting for the next breeding opportunity to come along.  Because of this we do have to be careful not to overfeed the boys, their calorie requirement is much less than that of the girls who are pregnant or feeding crias and so we have to make sure we adjust their feed to suit their activity level.  We don't want to starve the boys, they need enough feed to maintain good health and good fleece, but we also don't want the boys to become obese.

As the alpaca community grows I suspect that herds comprising solely of male alpacas will become more commonplace.  The ratio of births of boys to girls is said to be 50/50, and while the majority of girls will be placed in a breeding program only a small percentage of the boys will (or should I say should) be used in a breeding program.  This means that there will be many boys that will not be herdsires but rather will be fleece, pet or companion animals.

Recently we have had more enquiries into the commercial viability of an all male herd than we have had in the past.  I think as people research alpacas they are seeing that all male herds are a possibility for the future.    For some the lower cost of purchasing a non-breeding male makes that alpaca more attractive.  Others don't want to deal with the breeding and birthing side of raising alpacas and prefer to have only male alpacas.  Some owners just want a couple of alpacas as pets and have no interest in the commercial side of the business.

At this time in the alpaca industry the main source of money is from the sale of breeding stock, but as time goes by and the fiber side of the industry is developed, herds of non-breeding male alpacas will become more commercially viable.  There are many breeders who are already making a good part of their income from the sale of fleece and alpaca end product and to me it is encouraging to see this side of the industry develop.  The purpose of the alpaca is to produce luxurious high quality fleece and over time the fleece and all that is done with it is what will secure the long term future of the alpaca industry.

So here's to the boys who provide kisses to visitors, who can go to visit schools, nursing homes and other PR occasions without the fear of losing a pregnancy, who give us many hours of fun in the show ring, who need little maintenance and yet still produce luxurious fleece.  The old Maurice Chevalier song goes "Thank Heaven for little girls" but I personally think we should also be thanking heaven for little alpaca boys who one day may prove to be the vital ingredient to the success of the fiber side of the alpaca industry.

Rosemary  

It's always good to see owners and alpacas reunited, although typically the owner is more excited about the reunion than the alpaca.  Marti has grown a lot since she has been with us and has been through the weaning process during her stay.  Rana is now confirmed pregnant by our multiple Color Champion Male "Windrush Jennifer's Zindel" and as I wrote earlier Celeste is confirmed pregnant to one of our up and coming herdsires "Windrush Moonlight Surprise".

It's always good to catch up with our alpaca friends, hear their news, show off our alpacas and discuss all matters alpaca.  We had a great visit with Tamara although it was too short as always. 

One of Tamara and Donna's alpacas will be staying with us for a while.  "Kiss Me Rohan" is Rana's cria from last year by our herdsire "Enchantment's Prince Regent" , we recently showed him for Donna and Tamara at the TxOLAN Alpaca Spectacular and are planning on taking him to the Great Western Alpaca Show in Denver in May.  Rohan did us proud at the TxOLAN show when he took second place in a large white class.  He is a good looking male with a wonderful fleece and I am sure he will do well at the show in Denver.

Rohan's half brother Rian (also by Prince Regent ) will be particularly pleased that Rohan is staying as the two have bonded since Rohan's arrival here which again seems to demonstrate those alpaca family ties (See post "There's Nothing Quite Like Family" - March 10, 2007) .

So this morning we waved goodbye to Tamara and her girls and will look forward to hearing about the crias that the girls have next spring.  Drive safely Tamara and look after those girls!

Rosemary

On Friday morning I received a phone call from Troy and Mary Ogilvie of Timberlodge Alpacas, Kaufman, Texas.  Troy and Mary are two lovely people who are very enthusiastic about their alpaca herd and have some great ideas on promoting alpaca fiber in the United States.  About two years ago Troy and Mary purchased an alpaca, Theresa, from us.  Theresa was bred to our Enchantment's Prince Regentand produced a stunning light brown male cria, Treasure of Airlie in June 2006. (That's a picture of Airlie at the beginning of this post after his second place win at the 2007 TxOLAN Alpaca Spectacular in Fort Worth this year.)

The reason for Troy and Mary's telephone call was to let me know that Treasure of Airlie had just won not only First Place in his class but also Color Champion at the Houston Livestock Show.  I was thrilled to hear the news, not only because Airlie is out of our herdsire, but also because of the joy Airlie's achievement brought to Troy and Mary.  I walked around with a smile on my face for the rest of the day thinking about how happy they were with their win.

Treasure of Airlie will be off to the "Alpacas of the Ozarks" show in Arkansas in April and I am sure he will make a great impression on the judge at that show too. 

So Congratulations again Troy and Mary (and Airlie), may your victory at the Houston show this weekend be the first of many!

Rosemary 

Maybe the word "treat" is the wrong word to use, as the beet pulp shreds are a deliberate part of our nutritional program, but the alpacas love their beet pulp shreds and anxiously await the sight of the white bucket every morning.

Beet Pulp is the by-product of processed sugar beets, it is what is left over from sugar beets after the extraction of sugar.  Beet Pulp is high in fiber and runs around 9% protein.  It is important to soak the beet pulp shreds in water prior to feeding them, and this is one of the reasons why we incorporate them in our feed program.

Our climate is a very dry one and to keep our alpaca fleeces soft we need to ensure that our alpacas water intake is good.  By feeding the soaked beet pulp shreds we are managing to get at least a little more water into our alpacas.  Some people would argue that the water intake from the shreds is minimal, but as the shreds also provide good fiber intake for the alpacas we feel their purpose is two-fold.

Apart from our daily routine with the beet pulp shreds we have also found that when we are at shows the shreds encourage the alpacas to eat and help avoid diarrhea brought on by the stress of travel.  We have also had a couple of occasions when sick alpacas have not been willing to eat their pellets or hay but will indulge in some soaked beet pulp shreds thus keeping the rumen functioning, which is a very important thing for alpacas.  During the cold winter months we soak the shreds in warm water and the alpacas seem to appreciate the added warmth.

So the little beet pulp shreds play a big role for our alpacas.  Some are more fond of them than others and then there are the "Shredaholics" who can't wait for the shreds to be put out and insist on trying to get their heads in the shred bucket.   So if you pay us a visit and we ask you to carry a certain white bucket into the pasture brace yourself, for soon you will be the center of attention for the herd!

Rosemary