Randomly Cute -- New Alpaca arrives today!

[CathyBogart]

Wow, they're wonderful! How many males/females are in the herd? Are the males all neutered? (gelded, castrated, snipped...)

Oh...and does your mom ever sell those lovely purses??

[Blue_Frog]

Syndrome is so adorable and I just want to give him a BIG squish Many questions!! I'm looking into different animals to keep when I'm finished taking care of my grandparents. I've kept horses before. Are alpacas easier, harder, or just different? Do ya'll shear them yourselves? Also, I'm an amateur knitter/crocheter. I'm also thinking about spinning my own yarn. Do you spin and dye your own yarn? Or do you have all that professionally done? Thank you.

I've never kept or really been around horses before, so I'm not sure that I could say which would be harder. Basically, you need a barn (not a super large barn either, just something to accomidate them out of the elements) and pastures for them to hang out in (generally on a rotating schedule to allow the grass to grow back - they will crop it right to the ground, but don't pull out the roots). They get pellets every day - about a 1/2 scoop each to supplement the hay they get (greener hay is better than the yellower hay), plus wormings, vaccinations, and vitamins. They need to have their nails trimmed on occasion, but the alpaca people seem to be on average very friendly, and I'm sure someone could show you how as well. They dont mind the cold, and as long as they have somewhere out of the wind to go they're generally OK.

They get sheared once a year, by a professional shearer. The reason being that if you do a bad job on the shearing, you lose the current year fleece (since its lopsided), and then you lose the next year as well as it grows in crooked. Now, that doesn't mean you couldn't use it for felting or other things, it just becomes less suitable for spinning or being turned into yarn. Usually a professional can help you sort the fleece as well, as the fleece from the body is good for yarn, whereas the fleece from other areas isnt (but can be used for other crafts).

For processing, it depends on how much time you want to dedicate to it -- my mom sends most of her fleece off for processing to a mini mill, and has it made into yarn and rovings (she spins some herself, so the rovings are for that), and she uses the other bits for felting and for stuffing things like pillows etc.

For dying, she does some herself (she took some courses in natural dyes), but whats nice about alpacas is that they come in around 40 different natural shades, ranging from browns, and fawns, blacks and greys and whites, and everything in between! If you wanted blue, you could dye that from white animals.


If you are interested in getting a feel for Alpacas, and the alpaca industry, you could look for a local farm that has them, and see if you could pop in for a look and explanation -- you can search on google, but heres a couple in TX ...

Twin Buttes Alpaca Ranch
http://tbar-alpacas.com/
10793 Twin Lakes Lane, San Angelo, Texas 76904

Casa De Campo Ranch
http://casadecamporanch.com/
421 CR 1358 South , Stephenville, TX 76401

[Blue_Frog]

Wow, they're wonderful! How many males/females are in the herd? Are the males all neutered? (gelded, castrated, snipped...)

Oh...and does your mom ever sell those lovely purses??

My moms herd is all males. Alpacas are what i believe is called induced ovulators, so if they get bred, they get pregnant at that time. Her all bachelor herd is mostly gelded, except for 3 that are potential breeders (seppe, leroy and sarge).

If theres one that you particularly like, I can see if she still has it, and what she might be looking for in regards to price -- Drop me a PM if you like

We've been making a bunch of different crafts up in anticipation of an alternative livestock show in may.

[cassiesmom]

Blue_frog, do you happen to have a more recent photo of Syndrome and the alpaca family? If you don't, could you please post some when you take pictures of them again? I could use a dose of their cuteness!