Last post we were almost finished with October – so I guess it’s two months since I have done this. Lot’s has gone on.

First of all, The Deputy, Emma & The Sheriff’s son is looking good. He’s up to 37 pounds and seems to have stalled on his weight gain though so we are upping Emma’s food rations and she doesn’t mind that in the least. Started him on SMZ as a preventative and we are setting up the creep feed this weekend as well. If the gaining doesn’t start up will will dig deeper into the bag of tricks.

We have had two more crias join the herd. One is Amerikhan Hero born to Cheyenne and Amerikhan Legend. He’s white but has great fiber… The third this fall was born to Carousel and is a little true black female with white markings. She has been named McKayla by her owner. McKayla and Hero are in cahoots and have avoiding capture down really well. The only time Chuck is able to catch them up for weighing is by tricking them when they are in the barn or when they both jig or jag at the same time and collide! This trio of crias have benefited by the recent mild winter weather and that is a good thing because they have all outgrown the cria coats.

Black Perl and Amerikhan Mischief were tussling the other day and Mischief came up under Perl’s chin with her head and caused an unknown abscess to rupture. Icky. We have her on LA 200 and have been flushing the abscess with Betadine Scrub and water. Poor thing doesn’t want to see me coming lately. Yesterday I managed to fill the space with Neosporin ointment. I am hoping in the scope of things it helped. Will be going out in a little while to assess. Trying to save my boarders a little money and doing the treatment myself if we don’t need to call the vet in. She’s directing me in this so I know I am doing as I should. I have taken a culture but of course the lab is closed today and Monday so it sits in the freezer. If it doesn’t respond really well to treatment between now and then we’ll get a fresh sample and get it cultured. At least we have one preserved if we need it… Of course we don’t know if it is just an abscess caused by a poke from something in the hay, a bad tooth or lumpy jaw…

So that about catches you up on the actual farm happenings.

Show wise the MABA show in November was a really fun show – great people and while everyone would have preferred more alpacas present it did make a level III. Nice venue. Chris & Jess Armstrong were the Event Managers and did an awesome job with the layout I thought. At first I was not sure I would like it but soon found it worked really well.

After the MABA show in November there was Thanksgiving and before I knew it we were brought to the first weekend in December and the VAOBA show! Funny thing dawned on me – on check-in day for MABA the TxOLAN show registration opened and then on check-in day for VAOBA the CABO registration opened. What a coincidence. Anyway, VAOBA’s numbers surprised a lot of us this year. VAOBA has had a show every year since 2006 and this was its third highest number wise. I couldn’t help but think “They’re baack!” With over 500 alpacas in attendance and over 400 of them huacaya we were able to offer Judges Choice this year. Everyone liked that! The new venue was fantastic. I almost cried walking in there for the first time – yes, I am a sap at heart. It was late Thursday afternoon and the sod was down, pens set up and carpet laid. Red carpet – green sod? December show? Yes! It was wonderfully festive just that in itself. Judy Howe and her crew did a great job with setting the show up in its new home!

Now, Christmas weekend is upon us! Season’s Greetings and Best Wishes for a Happy & Prosperous New Year!

Sue, Chuck and the critters large & small…..

Sue, along with friend and partner Linda Polak are opening an online store soon called 1 Alpaca Place. We will carry alpaca items and alpaca related items. This has been a long time in coming but now that we have concluded most of our volunteer work here in Virginia we decided it was time to get moving and finally get a store operational. It has been a learning experience for sure! But it has also been fun learning the ins and outs of eCommerce… We are working on our website constantly (it seems) and a friend is working on our logo for us. Exciting stuff!

With registration for two alpaca shows ongoing and building a store website Sue didn’t have enough to do so she created a “work” website – ShowSuperIvesandCompany. It may be October 2011 but it won’t be long before late spring shows and 2012 fall shows start looking for their show superintendents. So, the time was right to get this site up and running. On it I included other friends and associates who also work as superintendents and event managers. Hopefully it will work!

It is the last weekend in October and cold and rainy. So raw that we turned the heat on for a couple of cycles to take the edge off. With three cria still due here on the farm I am concerned and really hoping this doesn’t mean we have skipped autumn. I don’t mind winter but won’t be happy until those babies arrive, get dried off and coated. We are backing off breeding our own alpacas until something breaks with the economy and we are able to sell some of these critters.

Lot’s to do today for my first show coming up in two weeks… Catch you later!

A group of six farms who also happened to be friends have organized into the Virginia Alpaca Consortium. Our new website, one that I had a part in creating I might add , is The BestAlpacasInVirginia.com. We are currently waiting for our Marketplace to be set up – once that happens you will find alpacas for sale and herdsires for use from all of our farms. It’s a way for us to offer large farm numbers and small farm service. Folks purchasing from us will not only get mentors from the actual farm they purchased from but also from the other five farms. We are pretty excited about this!

Spent last weekend at the State Fair of Virginia. Each year friends Teri Phipps of Fireweed Alpacas and Hank Boyd & Linda Polak of All About Alpacas spend many hours preparing for the first weekend of the fair when the alpacas have their biggest presence of the fair run. Last year the weekend was on National Alpaca Farm Days; not the case this year so we called it Virginia Alpaca Farm Days instead. There were about 15 breeders, give or take, who set up alpaca pens and vendor spaces where alpaca made products were sold. Aside from talking with a lot of people about alpacas and working with their fiber it was a wonderful weekend of camaraderie among the breeders.

Through out the weekend demonstrations of spinning took place in our tent along with felting demonstrations in the craft tent. Linda P and I demonstrated needle felting. I made a little needle felted pig who we affectionately named “Too Tall”. Legs were a bit out of proportion! Linda started needle felting a hat – a project she has been meaning to do for the longest time!

On Saturday evening and again on Sunday morning Linda coordinated a Fashion Show of alpaca wearable items, some handmade but more machine made & offered for use by Lanart, a distributor/manufacturer based in North Carolina and Peru. The shows went well and one of the favorite models was Royal Flush (Teri’s alpaca) who showed up in his tux and spats. What fun that was!

Back to the real world now that fair is over for us…. Cheyenne is due with her Amerikhan Legend cria and Tabitha with her cria from The Sheriff soon. Cheyenne is on day 322 of her gestation and Tabitha, day 309. We have the cria coats ready! The Deputy who started out following a gestation of only 311 days at 12 pounds with no teeth weighed in yesterday at 19.5 pounds on his 18th day. His teeth are in, his ears have become alpaca ears and he is a true instigator out in the yard pushing the young ones to play and even from time to time getting the mom and aunties up and moving. I keep thinking, “there’s a new sheriff in town”!

Shows are starting to ramp up. Lots of paperwork to scan in today. That’ll teach me for taking time away from it last weekend. It probably wasn’t the weekend actually but the preparation for the weekend. I do say though, I love going the route of scanning the paperwork instead of lugging the files to the show. Although I will probably bring ARI certificates that have been mailed in when I drive to shows like MABA and VAOBA. I will give them back to the exhibitors so they can recycle them for future shows…

Well, guess I had better get on with this day… Until the next time!

Sleepy boy...

More tomorrow!

Mischief and Soot are headed for show in December and not only need to be halter trained, they need to not be worrying about leaving home without “mom”! Nikolai is beginning to be a pest with the ladies, large and small. Since I plan to move the dams away from the cria for about a month and then move the cria in with the next oldest groups the timing should prove right all around.

“Our” spring cria are doing great! Spirit is almost the size of her half sister Mischief – that is really amazing to me. At four months old? We are really watching Whitney closely to make sure she keeps condition and are really glad that we didn’t rush to breed her this spring. We did expose her to The Sheriff once but are pretty sure she didn’t take. We were so happy to see her cush for a different male that we didn’t have the resolve to not let it happen! You see, Whitney typically chooses her own mate… She gets it in her mind who it will be and it does not matter who we may want to put her with – if it isn’t her prince charming she will slather our choice with the green stuff! I know, it is ridiculous.

Had a sleepless night last night trying to decide what to do about starting up a store. Mostly what I have to sell, aside from alpacas, is roving and a few finished items. Still wrestling with the value of taking the time to set up an online store and imagining how to present the product to showcase it the best way and then taking pictures? That’s like my worst nightmare.

I hadn’t been watching the weather and thought today would be a good day to ask my daughter to take pictures of the alpacas for me. Well, surprise, it’s raining and they have been crowding in the barn and are dirty… That’s par for the course. Or, being that it is summer I will get to a certain point where I have time to go out and take some. Invariably right after Chuck has sprayed bellies and the pacas have rolled in the sand. You know those times where the black and white alpacas cannot be distinguished?

Aside from farm & family business I have been keeping busy as always. I just wrapped up a project with AlpacaNation and VAOBA to have the new Marketplace pages on the VAOBA website. When I was on the board in April we voted to do this and I followed the project through. I am rather aggravated now because after taking office on June 25th and being notified of the progress of the project about every two weeks the board waited until we had launched the pages last Wednesday to decide to pull the plug! Our board decision was reversed and without a care – because they could. The reason I am irked is that VAOBA asked AlpacaNation to be a part of this and I can tell you, they spent hours getting this set up – a team of people not just one. I spent hours of my own. Shame on them for doing this at this time! Had it been addressed when they first took over it would have been one thing. Or when I sent in the first update. Why they waited until all the work was done is beyond me. Oh, BTW, if your affiliate wants to do this with AN I highly recommend it. PAOBA has and the VAOBA pages looked great the couple of days they were up!

I am really looking forward to the first National Show Task Force call! Although, I am trying to decide how it is going to work with so many on the call. Seems like there may be twenty or more on the Task Force. Can’t wait to hear everyone’s ideas!

The SRC (Show Rules Committee) has been meeting extra to go over possible changes and additions (or deletions) to the handbook for 2012. So far the Fleece Competitions have been tweaked with a new competition added. We now have a Cottage Fleece competition that ties in with the Spin-off. One of my February shows is offering it and we are really excited about it. Spin-off just opened so we will soon see how the exhibitors respond to it.

I have three 2012 shows awaiting certification. Two of them have all of the materials in to AOBA and I believe the third does as well – I am just not in the know with the show management. Then, I am waiting to hear on two shows I have bid on. The wait is always the longest for me since I typically respond almost immediately with my bids. I did hear that impressed the last show so I guess I will keep that up…

Better get off this now and do some show work. There’s not a lot but I also have a fleece spread out all over the living room being cleaned up for the mill. It’s Chey Gal’s and so nice! Check out her fiber stats from Ian. I haven’t received the Yocom results yet.

Until the next time!

I have astonished myself at posting again this month. This weekend has been spent adding alpacas and updating their pages. Still have more to add so I hope that tomorrow allows it!

It amazes me that the crias are still able to race around and play like they do in spite of the weather. They all love getting hosed down. It’s been great fun introducing them to the hose. But why must they instantly go and roll in the sand? None of them will read the book. They are growing beautiful fiber – it isn’t in the book that sand helps that!

The next very pressing chore around here is to prepare space for the dams of the November cria so they can have peace from them and regain their condition for breeding this October & November. The cria are all between 70 and 80 pounds and the dams are pushing them all away. This is the first time we have left them together for so long and it has worked well. We will give the dams some adult company by selecting other open females to join them and keep the crias with the dams who delivered this spring and those due this fall where they are as it is easiest to see them from the house.

Work is going well. My only wish is that there wasn’t such a long drive to and from. Well, there’s one more wish. I wish that Hanover County would find roads other than two of my route to pave! Hopefully it will be done soon.

The fall show season is ramping up. So far both of mine look like they are doing good. Fingers crossed.

Had a great visit with our niece and her fiancee last weekend. They are so happy! Jamie had a really rough year last year and it is wonderful seeing her so relaxed and happy…

Oh well, until the next time!

We are doing whatever we can think of to make this easier on them. We are fortunate that each lot has natural share from trees at any given point during the day. I think I would be happier if they had more shade in the afternoons but they still have some. Of course all the barns and shelters have fans so they tend to spend more time there than anywhere.

Watering the bellies and legs every couple of hours helps. I don’t think they have more than about 30 minutes relief from it though but cushing those wet bodies in the barn on the cool floor in front of the fans has to help extend it somewhat. For those that are smart and do not lay in the sun for a sunbath after their mandatory roll in the sand. Maybe if they make their wet fiber muddy the good feeling lasts longer and they aren’t doing it just to be dirty?

After work yesterday I went to the farm store on the way home and picked up minerals, electrolytes and a gallon of 70% alcohol. It was the last gallon jug they had. We have our plan of action in place in case any of them head towards heat stroke. We don’t have pools out for them but we do have Rubbermaid tubs (50 gal and 100 gal) for hay troughs. It won’t take long to over turn one and fill it with water if needed.

I mentioned I stopped on the way home from work… I now work three days a week for a veterinary practice a couple of counties over. One of the doctors handles the alpacas as well as sheep and goats primarily and the other two keep busy with cows mostly. I work most closely with the alpaca vet – that’s how I came to know about the job opportunity. Anyway – the point of this is how much I am learning just by being around her. It’s great to be able to ask a question to be able to further understand something.

On the show front registration is now open on two of my shows and I am working personally on certification for two of the February shows while the affiliate show committee is working on the third. The RFP should be going out soon for the 2012 National Show and I am hoping to hear soon on an April show. Not sure I mentioned it but I am now on the SRC – Show Rules Committee. I love it because I am getting such a thorough understanding of rules and there are some wonderful people on the committee. We meet at least a couple of times a month now since we are going through the handbook for 2012 updates. I was invited last week to join a Task Force on the future direction of the National Show. I am really enthused about serving on that and cannot wait for it to start!

That just about catches things up – our niece is stopping by this weekend with her intended and we are looking forward to that. Jamie has seen the alpacas before and wants to introduce Craig to them. We’ve got some adorable juveniles here and I think they will both fall in love with them.

Until the next time….

I see that I have probably broken my own poor record of not posting in a timely manner yet again.  The last post was coming up on year end.  Well, there’s lots to write about then!  Let’s go month by month.

January – I remember it was very cold this year.  Oh – you need more than that?   OK.  January was spent getting ready for my first two shows of 2011.

First up was the Sunshine State Alpaca Expo on the second weekend in February in Tallahassee.  It was a small level III show but you know, those shows can be great fun!  My daughter Dee and good friend (and assistant) Joni drove down.  It was a very long drive and we arrived at midnight or so on the Wednesday before the show.  Early check-in was on Thursday so we had to be available for that.  Thursday was a very quiet day for us; Friday a bit less.  Still, it wasn’t a stressful show at all.  Great people – great alpacas!  Had a wonderful dinner with Diana Timmerman on Sunday night when it was finished.  Headed home on Monday.  Then, we headed right back out on Thursday for the Carolina Alpaca Celebration.  That show was a strong Level IV and just a wee bit more work. It went really well though. The fun thing about these two shows are the many people we see at the first and then again the next weekend.

I went down with the flu upon arriving home from NC and stayed down with it about a week. The next weekend Dee and I drove out to Virginia Tech to the Neonatal Seminar VAOBA sponsored with VA Tech featuring Dr. Cheryl DeWitt. Dee has started learning how to be an alpaca midwife! With having to travel it seemed appropriate for her to take it in case something happens on Chuck’s watch here at the farm.

March was spent getting caught up with end of show paperwork etc. And, getting ready for the next show in April! I also had the opportunity to attend a Fiber Sorting and Grading Seminar the VAOBA Fiber Committee organized which was put on by Wini Labrecque. Very good seminar!

OK, there’s just a bit to begin my updates. I’ll be back soon with April’s!

In just a few days we will be saying goodbye to 2010.  What a year it has been.  Looking back, I don’t think there could have been a busier spring!

Actually, the busy spring started in the winter months as the Carolina Alpaca Celebration, my first show of the year, was in February.  It was followed in March by the Palmetto Alpaca Classic and in April by the California Classic.  This year the Sunshine State Alpaca Expo is the first show with the Carolina Alpaca Celebration the following weekend.  Unfortunately the Palmetto Alpaca Classic is no more… It is pretty sad when shows fold.  In this case the affiliate will cease to exist at the end of the year which in itself is a shame.  The California Classic is still on in April…

Shearing Day is getting harder and harder each year… The more alpacas we have and the bones don’t want to cooperate with the activity.  We had Fall Line Shearing in 2010 and will again in 2011.  This year we’ll lose a lot of fiber due to the alfalfa they have had.  Boy, did it make a mess of the fleeces.  Lesson learned.

2010 was my first year superintending the AOBA National Show.  It is a ton of work but we had a great time doing it.  I had a good crew and even though there were moments we felt we were spittin’ against the wind (how else would a camelid mom describe it?) we all agreed we’d try for the show again.  At this time we aren’t sure it is in the cards so-to-speak but we should hear in January…  Fingers crossed.

While at Nationals (on May 21st) our Lady Emma gave is her first cria, a boy we named National Treasure…  What can I say – I wanted to celebrate the fact he came during Nationals!  He was followed on June 8th by Charming Angel of Dreaming Dragon thanks to Princess.  Treasure is all weaned and with Classic and Emily’s Cowboy now.  Angel is still sneaking snacks from her mom and will be heading to the young girls group very soon.  Both were out of Friar Tuck… If you scroll back to early posts you will read about how he earned the nick name of the “Virginator” with these two maidens…

Right after Nationals last year Chuck’s sister Sue and her daughter came down for a visit.  It was bitter sweet as we knew it was the last time we’d see Sue.  Not many tears were shed outwardly but let me tell you, inside was another story.  Susan lasted until September 1st and passed peacefully in her sleep at hospice.  She is missed.

The Alpaca Fiber Symposium held its event in June in Richmond, VA.  I didn’t feel it was a good as previous gatherings and was disappointed that Virginia farms didn’t give a better showing.  We held the VAOBA annual meeting Saturday evening of the symposium and had all of 14 members attending.  I took over as President of the association and remain president until June 30, 2011.  It’s my second round and I have to admit looking forward to volunteering winding down.

The summer wasn’t as unbearable as it usually is down here in Virginia but not being a fan of summer at all I had to be reminded of that fact frequently.  Being from New Hampshire I was used to only a couple of weeks in August with hot and humid weather and when I lived up there 80 degrees was horrible.  After twenty years in the south my tune has changed and now even I smile when I am able to say “It’s only going to be 80 tomorrow!”

At the end of July we did have a weekend of excruciating heat and Jade, an alpaca given to us by our friend Carolyn, aborted.  That was on a Monday but I think the “cria” died on Sunday night.  We were watching Jade like a hawk knowing that she was terribly out of condition.  Taking care of her was almost a full time job in itself and we truly did all that we could.  In the days that followed the delivery she went down hill fast.  We were relieved that it was a still birth because we couldn’t fathom how she’d manage to mother it.  We had even discussed taking it from her from the get go.  We worried that would kill her though.  She passed away that Friday around five pm.  We didn’t necropsy her knowing how emaciated she was deciding it was probably liver failure.  There was a break down in communication regarding her normal weight.  We were told that her pregnant weight was exactly what she weighed when in fact her normal non-pregnant weight was that.  She’s gone to be with Lord Darby over the Rainbow Bridge… Hmmm, maybe Susan is enjoying their company now as well.

In August I visited “my” fiber mill.  It’s just two hours away and I am pleased as punch with the pr0duct.  I brought several pounds of fiber and had it processed into roving.  I am waiting on my second batch now.  I am gathering inventory to hopefully begin selling.  And I have started crocheting again so I should have a good stock by the time opportunity knocks.

In September we celebrated National Alpaca Farm Days at the Virginia State Fair and had a blast visiting with other breeders and talking with the general public.  I shared some hand made items for the display in craft building and did a needle felting demonstration.  Also helped with the fashion show (behind the scenes of course!)  I look forward to taking part again this coming year.

October brought us to the VAOBA Alpaca Expo.  I have show super’ed that show since the first one in 2006.  Numbers were down but everyone that attended was happy and enjoyed themselves.  We have a new venue for 2011 and are hoping that the move will see us at the next level.  I haven’t decided yet if I will bid on the job.  Probably but not positive yet.

November was a busy month beginning with moving the manly men out front.  Things were finished up enough to move them and now we have the nine of them together.  It’s true, the more you have together the fewer issues.  Jacob and Victor had been kept separated because Victor didn’t play nice at his last two farms and we kept Jacob separate because we worried about him fighting and dislocating his “shoulder” again.  Tuck was so full of himself it was ridiculous so he was on his own as well.  All together now they are for the most part getting along.  Tuck and Sheriff are back to proving who is boss more often than I’d like but it’s usually short lived.

On November 1st my friend Andrea from the AOBA office in TN had her first child – Caitlyn.  It was great working with/for Andrea on the Nationals – we had some good moments.  I’ve missed her these past two months and even though I bet she isn’t, I am looking forward to her coming back to work in January!

And then came the crias!  Black Velvet started things off with her delivery of Amerikhan Mischief of Dreaming Dragon after a gestation of only 321 days… It took a couple of days for Velvet’s milk to come in but all worked out well.  Two days later Carousel delivered Nikolai.  That gestation was 328 days.  Nikolai took his own sweet time finding the milk bar – there was plenty there he just needed to find it.  He did and all was well but not until after a few tense days.  Miss Wise made us wait for her cria.  Sista Soot arrived on November 14th.  She was found cushed by her dam outside… We totally missed the birth in spite of watching… really, we were!  Amerikhan Mischief is out of Amerikhan Legend and is a true black female; Nikolai is out of Victor and is the spitting image of his brother Cowboy.  Sista Soot (sort of named after Chuck’s sister Susan) is out of Dynomite and is a dark ashy grey/black… Probably a judge check!

These last three crias have been by far the most enjoyable we have had yet.  Just as soon as we get some pictures (tomorrow hopefully) we will start populating our Yearlings and under section and showcase all of them.

December has been relatively quiet… We went to a Christmas party at Winterberry Farm and enjoyed the company of other alpaca breeders and friends.  It was a very nice gathering.  Of course Christmas was just this past weekend and in a few days it will be Emily’s birthday and New Years.  The show registrations are beginning to pick up and it’s almost time to start all over again!  We just had hay delivered and are making plans to get a years worth delivered come June… How lovely that will be!

This is certainly a lot longer than I thought it would be!  OK 2011, bring it on!

Until the next time!