Randomly Cute -- New Alpaca arrives today!

[Blue_Frog]

Swamped with work these last couple weeks, but taking the time to add the randomly cute new Alpaca thats coming to the farm today.

We bought him for my mom for her birthday back in October, and his name is Syndrome. Hes a blue-eyed white, which means that hes not good for breeding (as he would have a higher chance of producing deaf offspring), however hes the softest squishiest little guy, with a super personality!

He hasn't been big enough to come live with the herd until now, so today is the big day --- and here I am stuck at work with no chance to see him until the weekend!

So for now, heres some random squisy alpaca pictures -- with hopefully more to come this weekend if i manage to escape from work long enough!

Syndrome is the one at the front


The one at the front still ...


Just the fluffiest little butt!


Here he is from the front



More to come later (hopefully)!

[kimlovescats]

What a fluffy cutie! What do you use alpacos for? Do they provide some sort of service for your farm, or are they just pets?

[DrKym]

Cuteness warning needed!!!!!

Ok so the trade for Jasper is now on again LOL
1 hubby for 1 alpaca

*here syndrome come to mama*

[Lori Jordan]

They are adorable!

[DrKym]

Gee Ali, Jasper says he doesn't like our trade???

wonder why?

[Blue_Frog]

What a fluffy cutie! What do you use alpacos for? Do they provide some sort of service for your farm, or are they just pets?

Well, they're sort of multifunctional -- you shear them once a year, and turn the fleece into yarn for knitting, rovings for spinning, or you can use it to make felt and things like that. A nice thing about Alpaca wool is that it doesn't have lanolin in it like sheeps wool, so people who are allergic to sheep wool can usually wear alpaca -- and it doesn't have the tell tale sheep smell when it gets wet too

My mom is working with a couple of the alpacas to become therepy animals, that she can take around to retirement homes, or to children with disabilities for visits and education.

Heres some of the things that me and my mom recently made --
- Hand felted decorator pillows and purses
- Knitted and Croched scarves

[Karen]

Wow! He is completely adorable!

Hmm, never knew that about alpaca wool - I am horribly allergic to sheep's wool, so it's need there's another alternative out there.

But Syndrome is completely and utterly adorable - would you give him a hug from me, please?

[cassiesmom]

May be random but definitely cute! What a sweet face! Blue_frog, I have the same question as kimlovescats: why do you have alpacas? I know they have coats rather like sheep, and their fiber is used for excellent blankets and garments. I know they are similar to llamas. That is the extent of what I know about the alpaca. Do they let you pet and hug them? I bet they would be really soft to pet. What do they eat? How long does an alpaca live? I see a couple of brown ones in the photos too. Thank you for sharing these with us!

[Blue_Frog]

Gee Ali, Jasper says he doesn't like our trade???

wonder why?

*LOL* poor jasper, traded away for an alpaca
No refunds or exchanges!

[Blue_Frog]

May be random but definitely cute! What a sweet face! Blue_frog, I have the same question as kimlovescats: why do you have alpacas? I know they have coats rather like sheep, and their fiber is used for excellent blankets and garments. I know they are similar to llamas. That is the extent of what I know about the alpaca. Do they let you pet and hug them? I bet they would be really soft to pet. What do they eat? How long does an alpaca live? I see a couple of brown ones in the photos too. Thank you for sharing these with us!

Well, heres how it all happened ---

When my mom got early retirement, she decided that working in an office again was never going to happen, and she ran across Alpacas at a show somewhere and fell in love. So, she went out, bought a 279 acre farm, and we all spent a lot of time putting up fencing and getting things ready for a small herd of Alpacas. She doesn't have a large herd really, compared to a lot of people -- its a herd of 10 alpacas, and one llama, but its enough to keep her busy! I have one of the Alpacas, and the Llama is mine as well, but I live in the city, so i get up most weekends to help out at the farm.

Alpacas and Llamas are in the same family, and come from South America. Alpacas are smaller, and more docile, and have better temperments, and Llamas are larger with coarser fibre. The llama in the herd is as a guard animal, so if anything ever gets into the paddock, he would attack it while the alpacas fled. Theyre part of the Camelid family, and are related to Camels as well!

The alpacas will let you pet them and put your arm around their neck, etc. - its all a matter of handling -- the more used they are to people, the more friendly the are to being touched. Since my moms herd is so small, its easy to spend a lot of time with individual animals, over having a farm of 60+. Most of hers will eat apple from your hand, and let you hug them -- and hte Llama is also huggable since he's been handled since he was small as well.

Alpacas eat hay, grass, and alpaca pellets, and dont mind the snow and cold either, which is good since theyre in snow land right now! They live for quite a while, i believe around 20 years.

I have about 2 gigs worth of alpaca pictures, but haven't had the time really to get into putting them up in the gallery for viewing.

If you're interested in Alpacas, you can check out
http://www.gentlegladealpacas.com/
http://www.alpacaontario.ca/
http://www.alpacainfo.ca/

[Blue_Frog]

Wow! He is completely adorable!

Hmm, never knew that about alpaca wool - I am horribly allergic to sheep's wool, so it's need there's another alternative out there.

But Syndrome is completely and utterly adorable - would you give him a hug from me, please?

Of course! I'm currently taking orders for Alpaca-Hugs for the weekend for anyone interested!

[DrKym]

Count my order in!!
and a llama hug as you already know that Llamas are not my friend LOL

Btw, is that brown one the famous manual paca? I am sure not everyone here knows that you have a talented catalog model

[Zippy]

Awww..That is great he gets along with the herd.They are all so cute and fluffy.

[critter crazy]

Awwww....they are so cute!! My neighbor, just got around 50 alpacas this fall, i walk onto the back end of my property, and watch them all the time. I have a few pics, from when they first arrived, they are too cute! I just wanna squish them!!

[cassiesmom]

Of course! I'm currently taking orders for Alpaca-Hugs for the weekend for anyone interested!

Hugs for me too! They look so fluffy!