Shearing Day!

Yesterday was shearing day on the farm as everyone was given their yearly haircut! I want to thank Linda & Mark Rosenbaum of My Sweet Alpaca for their shearing expertise. Linda takes her time and does a great job and I would recommend her to any alpaca farmer here in the southeastern states.


I'd like to thank the many helpers yesterday, none more so than my wife Tara and son Jansen who helped out with handling duties. It's a stressful time for both the animals and the people involved but it all went very smoothly. Thanks to everyone who came out to lend a hand with sorting and bagging of the fleece, sweeping the shearing mats as well as photographing the inaugural event.

In the photo below Shakira is next in line for her shearing. Shakira has good bone structure and has very dense fleece with well defined crimp just like her sire Amber B Legend and grand sire Peruvian Bonanza. Both are multiple Reserve, Grand and Supreme Champions.

Just look at Shakira's blanket fleece! Wouldn't you love to have a sweater or blanket made with that fiber.

Romeo says "Just a little off the top please!"

Otto gets some dental work done.
"Hey guys, you forgot the Novocaine!"

The girls seem to like their new hairstyles!

I'll be weighing and sorting the fleece soon and will post quantities and pricing of the raw fiber for sale here and on the website. Check back for details......

Santo & Lucia

This coming Saturday will be a year since we acquired Santo and Lucia, our Maremma LGD's. I looked back on last years post and Santo and Lucia were about 70 and 50 lbs. respectively. One year later they have almost doubled in size as Santo is around 135 lbs. and Lucia is over 95.

These dogs never cease to amaze me. While we were on vacation, my son Jansen said they took turns eating. Because I was away and someone else was feeding them I believe they thought they could be poisoned. So they alternated feedings and one day Santo would eat and the other day Lucia would eat. It took 5 days before they would trust Jansen feeding them and finally they would both eat.

They are nocturnal animals and sleep most of the day but patrol all night. They instinctively know what their job is and they are so much fun to watch and observe. Wherever the alpacas are, you will find at least one of them (usually Santo) right in the middle. The other (Lucia) will be on high ground keeping a watchful eye for predators. She's very quick and agile and runs extremely fast for an animal her size.

Maremmas are an ancient breed that can be traced back over 2000 years. Although they were originally bred to be able to kill wolves they are loving and gentle towards people, pets and the animals they guard. We settled on Maremmas because we felt that they have not been bred very much here in the U.S. and that would keep their instincts intact.

Here they are with Tara one year later at almost 17 moths of age:

Spring Cleaning

Tara and I took a much needed vacation for 10 days in Florida. It was great to get away from the daily chores and just relax for awhile. I have to admit I felt a little guilty about not having anything to do plus leaving our alpacas. However, I trained our son Jansen on how to care for them and gave him all the important phone numbers in case of emergency. He did a wonderful job and it's great to know that we can rely on him caring for the animals for future vacations!


When we returned the grass was much taller and needed attention. I bush hogged the pastures and cleaned the fence rows.

Our 11 acre field with Orchard and Timothy grass is about ready to cut for hay. I sprayed it with Milestone last month and I have to say it did a great job in controlling the weeds. Milestone made by Dow came recommended by alpaca farmers who have used it with great success. I would recommend it as well.

Shearing day is approaching and all the boys and girls will get a much needed haircut. I'm sure they'll appreciate it as it will shed their winter coats and hopefully make them a bit cooler.

Sammie's birthing date is estimated as June 6, 2008. That will be exciting as we are nearing our first cria to be born on our farm.