Grass Hill Alpacas

One of our chickens…they roam around eating bugs and rolling in the grass. Oh yeah, and spreading “fertilizer” everywhere.
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This summer slipped by in whirlwind. The wedding was absolutely fabulous but I never got caught up afterwards. There’s too many things going on…not necessarily with the farm….that stays pretty constant and grounded, if you will. No, it’s everything else. But that’s not why you read this blog.

In June Malena had her first cria. Beethoven’s Sonata was born on June 15th. She is spectacular! Everything we dreamed of in a Beethoven offspring. Perfect confirmation. Dense, soft fleece with lots of structure. She is strong and healthy and pretty much rules the girls’ barn. We’re really psyched about her and can’t wait to take her to the spring shows next year. This past weekend we took Malena up to Summerhil Alpacas to breed to multi-champion Magnum who the co-own with Cagney’s Way Alpacas. He is another dream herdsire and we’re anticipating more stunning results next fall.

In other breedings, we put Angel back with Semper Fideles of Clark Summit in NH, hoping to get a female as nice as our Semper Paratus, who is now a yearling. Hannah has been bred to Aristides at Snowshoe Alpacas in VT. We’ve bred our newby herdsire Bronz-son to our maiden Siobhan and we’re holding our breaths. That’s it for this year. Hopefully we’ll have four new additions to the farm next year.

We’ve been doing a little public relations over the last few weeks. We brought Rusoro and Nash to the 3-County Fair in Northampton on Labor Day weekend to promote NEAOBA and alpaca ownership. They were a hit but the 3 days of constant traffic took their toll on us and the animals. We opened the farm up for visitors on National Alpaca Farm Days. The weather was perfect and we had a steady stream of visitors. Allie was a hit. She loves people and gave out lots of kisses. There are pictures of her on our Facebook page being mauled by children and she just sitting there soaking up the love. We did well selling alpaca-wear and met several people who think they’d like to start their own herd. Finally, this past weekend, we set up at the Garlic and Arts Festival in Orange to sell socks and “stuff”. We did very well, especially on Sunday when the morning temperatures were in the 30′s. We’re going to have to order more merchandise to get us through the holiday season.

Dave has been advancing several projects around the farm. Specifically, clearing brush for an new access road and a manure composting slab and shed. He’s also been preparing a 4th pasture for the boys’ barn. In additon, he’s been studying soil nutrient management and the farm is beginning to reap the benefits of his tailored treatments as the weeds are starting to thin out and the grasses taking over.

We survived the great drought of western Mass with little permanent damage. The fields were dry and the re-growth was slow but everything stayed green. I count us amongst the lucky. We were able to get our hay in from the winter as our source is in western VT where they had nearly perfect growing weather for hay.

Well, I’ve rambled enough for now. Hopefully I can get back to this before the holidays. Besides, the Patriots and Miami game is about to start. Keeping check back.

Another bunch of months have slipped by without me updating this journal. I really must be more diligent. I’m sorry if I’ve disappointed any of our loyal readers (if there are still any of you still checking).

The show season has come and gone.  We walked into the ring 9 times and came out with 7 ribbons.  We’re not unhappy with that.  Would we like to have done better.  Of course…..we didn’t bring home any banners.  But that will come.

So, what’s next?  Well, first is shearing.  Normally we would be going over to Northeast Alpacas for the shearing event on Memorial Day weekend but, not this year.  Son Dave is getting married that weekend so that’s out of the question.  We’re patching together shearing days during the month of May.  We took care of 4 animals at the North East show in Syracuse this past weekend.  This Saturday we’re going to take a bunch over to Mike Beaudry.  We want to get the girls and the “babies” taken care of now since Malena is due with her first cria in June.

Which brings us to the best part of being an alpaca breeder….births.  Malena is the only girl we bred last year.  And what a breeding.  She is carrying a cria from Beethoven, the astounding herdsire owned by Vermont Alpacas.  We are so excited about this baby.  He has produced some remarkable progeny and they are a perfect match-up.

On the farm, we’ve got a long list of projects for this year.  Spring has come so early that everything is lush, green and in need of mowing, fertilizer and lime.  We’re moving forward on new pasture spaces and better access roads to the barns.  In the 5 years that we’ve been at it, we have transformed the land from a brushy wasteland to productive grazing space.

I’ve been away from this duty for too long. No excuses. Suffice it to say that I had a very busy fall. Fortunately for us, it has been a mild winter. Currently the fields are almost totally devoid of snow. Of course, I’ve probably triggered a blizzard by saying that.

We’re making plans for the spring show season. Our first trip off the farm will be for the North American in West Springfield, MA on the first weekend in April (yes, that’s Easter weekend). We’re doing a joint promotion with Clark Summit Alpacas, the owner of Semper Fideles, to create Semper Lane featuring our own Semper Paratus and two other Semper F cria. We are thrilled with what Semper is producing and we anticipate a strong showing in the ring.

We’re also bringing GHA Allie, Hannah’s girl from Nautilus Nexxus. She is adorable…medium brown with black tips and long, dense fiber. She’s a inquisitive and friendly girl. She meets us at the gate every day and reaches up to rub noses. Hannah has done herself proud once again. She’s given us Malena, light fawn, Rusoro, true black, and now Allie. All of them are friendly, intelligent social animals with exceptional fleece. We’re featuring Hannah in our sales program. She’s given us to phenomenal daughters. We need the space so we’re offering her for sale in her peak production years at a great price.

I won’t even start to tell you about our little medium fawn boy, Semper Paratus. I don’t have time nor enough superlatives to describe him. I’m going to let the show results speak for themselves. Our last two cria from 2009 are also show-ready. I’m having a tough time deciding which to bring on the road because I can’t bring all four. Hopefully I’ll be able to make that decision next week. It will be tough.

We reserved two breedings last week with a couple of tremendous young males in Vermont, Magnum at Summerhill Alpacas and Aristides at Snowshow Alpacas. That rounds out the plans for 2010 with repeat breedings to Semper Fideles and our own Bronz-son. Thatwill be another four cria in 2011. The barns are going to be too crowded. Make sure you go to our Alpaca Nation website and check out our deals. We are going to be making space and are willing to sell at “fire sale” prices to avoid building a new barn.

Our big open house (farm?) is in 4 days. There’s a million little details that need to be remembered but I think we’re on top of everything. But that’s the nature of forgetting something, isn’t it? Everyone is participating. Nancy is running a crafts table for the kids. Dave is doing talks on invasive plant species , indigenous pasture grasses, fencing and land use. Rose is helping with posters and presentations. I’ll be doing presentations on caring for alpacas, showing alpacas and starting an alpaca farm. We’ll have information on the history of alpacas, where they come from and how they’re raised in the Andes. And anything else that someone might ask…

Our new shipment of merchandise is in for PacaStop.  The farm sign is up.  We’ve already had people by and say they’re definitely coming that weekend. We’ve got refreshments planned.  The extended forecast is looking good.  I’m looking forward to it. It should be lots of fun.

We attended the pen sale on September 5th in NH.  We didn’t sell anything that day but that wasn’t unexpected.  We had fun re-connecting with our peers and made several contacts with people who are considering starting their own alpaca farms.  It’s exciting to see our business through their eyes.  It wasn’t so long ago that we were were going through the same decision process.

Back home we raced around getting the farm ready for opening day on Monday, Labor Day, of “PacaStop”, our alpaca farmstand.  Our little farm has attracted quite a bit of attention from passersby who commute during the week and who bicycle or drive by recreationally on the weekends.  It seemed only natural that we should give them a reason to stop.  In the first afternoon we probably entertained 10 visitors, half of them leaving with some alpaca merchandise.  I don’t think that’s bad for a first day with no advertising…just signs along the road.  We’ve got a list of enhancements and improvements to make for the future.

Opening PacaStop now is giving us a chance to work out the bugs and learn how to “do” retail before National Alpaca Farm Days the last weekend in September.  It’s a bit overwhelming to think of inviting people to come to the farm for tours and activities for 2 full days.  What if nobody comes?  Almost worse, what if everyone comes and we’re overwhelmed?  Come back in a few days and we’ll have finalized our list of activities for the weekend.

The last couple of weeks have been particularly gratifying.  Of course there’s the usual activities on the farm…the never ending and always repeating list of things to do.  Then there’s been the new events like the pen sale and PacaStop.  We perceive the farm in a certain way which is unique to our perspective.  We’re embedded, if you will.  But talking to new visitors has given us a different perspective.  People are going out of their way to drive by the farm.  They have made our road their bicycle route of choice to see the alpacas.  This past Sunday at sunset, after we had left the farm, there were 5 cars parked along the road watching the cria running and playing in the field.  People are literally thanking us for raising alpacas.

It’s been awhile since I added a post to this blog.  Summertime on the farm is always busy.   But then, so is winter. 

 Since my last post, we’ve added a new cria to our herd.  Hannah had a girl!  We’re so excited.  She is light brown with a reddish hue.  Her muzzle and tips have a hint of gray.  I’m told that her father, Nautilus’ Nexxus, has the same features.  She was born on August 15th, the same day that we brought in our supply of hay for the year.  It was a busy day.

On July 8th I drove Malena to Vermont Alpaca to breed to their champion herdsire, Beethoven.  What a magnificent couple they make!  We can’t wait until next June to see what they will produce.  They are both exceptionally beautiful animals. 

We achieved another first on the farm yesterday.  We bred one of our girls, Siobhan, to our very own herdsire, Bronz-son.  It was the first time for both of them, which can sometimes be frustrating.  But they “got ‘er done” without any fuss.  What a cute couple!  Now we sit and wait 11 months to see what we might be able to show in our first “Bred and Owned” class in the spring, 2011.  It seems so far away but it will be here before you know it.

We will be experiencing another first for the farm next month.  We were invited to participate in the Pronkin’ Pen Sale in Swanzey, NH on September 5th.  It is an event designed for small farms with top quality animals.  There will be over 50 animals featured for sale along with seminars and alpaca products.  We attended last year as visitors and it was relaxing and fun.  We’re looking forward to participating this year.

The last couple of weeks have seen quite a few changes on the farm. First, Pink Champagne had her baby. He was born early in the morning on Monday, June 29th. He weighed a healthy 21.5# at birth and is already up over 25#. His fleece, either beige or light fawn, is a mass of tight, crimpy bundles. We’re liking him alot!

We breathed a sigh of relief in mid June when we sold two of our black males to Two-by-Two Alpacas as it made room in our male barn for the weanlings who would be coming over during the winter months. But that didn’t last long. We couldn’t help ourselves. We bought two prize-winning herdsires from Spring Pond Farm! The first was Bronz-son, a dark fawn Legacy grandson with fine, crimpy, and very uniform fiber. He has the classic Legacy head and presence. We couldn’t bear to take him away from his life-long buddy, Quasar, so we took him, too. He is another Legacy grandson with long, dense white fleece. We’re excited about what the two of them are going to contribute to our program.

This week we head up to Vermont Alpacas to introduce our Malena to their super-sire, Beethoven. We purchased this breeding over a year ago when he was just starting to make waves on the show circuit.  We knew he was special the first time we sunk our fingers into that fleece. We can’t wait until next summer to see what the two of them will create.

It’s been awhile.  I apologize to those who have been looking for news.  Where to start…..let’s start with births.  Midnight had a female cria on Memorial Day….shearing day.  Nobody was home to witness the wondrous event.  Gram called Nancy’s cellphone to report that there was a new baby.  Fortunately, alpacas are very competent when left to their own devices.  Mom was fine and so was her little girl, now named GHA Comanita.  She is a lustrous true black, no great surprise since both Midnight and the sire, Commander, are black.  We’re excited about the potential for color in our herd now that we have another top quality black female.  Our next birth will be from Pink Champagne.  When I left the farm this morning she looked as if she was in labor.  Maybe I’ll have more news on that shortly.

The other big news is our latest acquisition.  We decided, rather spontaneously, to buy a herdsire.  Deb Cilley of Spring Pond Farm convinced us that we couldn’t live without having her Bronz-son on our farm.  He is a handsome dark fawn 2-year old who is just getting ready to breed.  He has done very well in the both halter shows and fiber spin-off competition.  He will be moving onto the farm Friday, 7/3.  For our “neighbors”, give us a call or stop by to meet him.

It was a good weekend…busy but good. First, the triumphs. Rusoro walked without a fuss all weekend. He was a perfect gem in the ring. What a relief. That was the triumph. The disappointment was that he didn’t win a ribbon. His fleece is fine and lustrous but lacks the density and architecture to place in this very competitive show.

Another triumph….Nash won a 3rd in his white juvenile class. There were nearly 50 white juvenile males! Extremely competitive. He looked good up there and was a real pro. We’re excited and anxious to see how well he’ll do in three weeks at MAPACA.

We had a great time this weekend with all of our alpaca friends.  There are so many good people in this business. We’re all competing yet we’re all friends.   It is the best kind of company.    The nice thing about the North American show is that it is only 25 miles from home.  We get the best of both worlds.   Our local friends and family join with our alpaca friends.  I can’t think of a more pleasant way to spend a weekend.