The Alpaca Lure

Long before we knew we would raise alpacas, we purchased a parcel of vacant land in far northeastern Oklahoma where it is green and beautiful. We did not know why we bought it except that I come from an old Irish family and the thought of owning land was drummed into my very soul from the time I was very young. Add some friends who also bought land in the area and a rancher who would pay to use the property until I knew why I had wanted it so much and it was a done deal.

Flash forward five years to the present and we’ll cover everything else eventually. We, my husband and I have 10 suri alpacas agisted near Salt Lake City, Utah. Oh, yes, and the 11th is in utero and due in November. As our herd has grown from the initial purchase–three because you can’t just have one and while two was nice, there was a price break at three–we have come to realize we find alpacas to be cute, sweet, and a great source of fiber and prize ribbons.

We did the math and realized agisting (boarding) was going to become prohibitive by the end of next year. Our mentors have been wonderful but sooner or later, if you want to have first-hand contact with your alpacas, you need your own place to keep them and your own knowledge of how to care for them. If you have an urge to buy an alpaca, find someone you can talk with easily, who raises alpacas of their own, who is willing to teach (and a good teacher). They will sell you one or more and be your mentor.

So then we decided to build a shed on the property for storage, then a house. Some time this winter we hope to be able to take our alpacas to Utah and move into the house. (They, of course, will move into the barn.)

Wish us luck, we’ll keep you posted.

Alpacas and I in Utah

I’m packing and packing. What is this deal? There’s not a dog, a cat, an alpaca or a person in sight. It looks like 32 degrees will be the high for the week–if the thermometer makes that. I have eleventy-two thousand boxes to pack, a realtor to hire, clean-up, and a trailer to haul to Oklahoma. What’s wrong with this picture? I think I’ll order a truck and take as much as I can this trip.

They tell me the big west-facing windows should be put in this week and I’m missing it. Our little Demi has lost four pounds from the cold and there are single digit temperatures predicted for the next couple of nights. If it’s that cold here, it can only be worse up in the mountains. There is no green grass. I need to get to work and spring us all.

Meanwhile, Tom’s in OK fiddling with warm sensibilities–satellite TV and teaching. He’s eating breakfast out while I’m dining on what’s left in the cabinets so I won’t have to move as much. He’s complaining that it’ll only be 40 today in Grove while we’re working with 27 here. Grumble, grumble, grumble.

ZsaZsa’s little boots are such a hoot and she was born with enough fleece that it swings back and forth when she walks–it  even did on the day she was born. The word is that she’s a pronking instigator.

Look at that sweet little face! I guess I’m in love all over again.

Well, I’d better get packing.

Moving Day Minus 2, Minus Alpacas

“…and they loaded up their truck and they moved to Beverly, Hills that is…”

And some of us are moving to Zena, OK and the trailer will be loaded on Tuesday. I just wish we were taking everything, but not enough is finished in Oklahoma to move it all, so we have settled for moving several large pieces of furniture and a lot of boxes.

Actually the biggest and most important things we will be moving are our three cats, Madeline, Bristol and Antonia. We took Bristol to the vet to learn about sedation since he is a screamer. He was all upset just going to the vet. Imagine 1500 miles!

The alpacas aren’t going with us immediately since the fences aren’t up yet and we have finishing to do on the inside of the barn. So this time we’ll have to settle for getting the apartment into reasonable order, setting up the barn and figuring out where those all-important fences go.

Tom has an appointment on December 3, hence the trip down now. Of course it won’t hurt a thing to have these infernal boxes moved. There are 20 boxes of books right now and probably another 20 to go and we won’t even go into the clocks (my father worked on clocks in his later years), and I am into crafts, spinning, knitting (fledgling) and of course, alpacas.

Speaking of alpacas, here is a photo:

Tika is actually an appaloosa.

While Tika looks like she’s a solid color, she has more than a dozen spots in her blanket alone, so I guess she should have been included in the photos of multis, but it’s easy to glance at her and forget she’s not a solid color.

Since I don’t have much time this morning, this will have to do. …And I know I own you photos of the cats too.

House and Barn, Just Add Alpacas

I am taking a break from packing and fuming (in a very nice way) because my friends won’t send me any pictures of my house and barn and the apartment over the barn. I think they want to see my jaw drop. I am in Utah and we will be going to Oklahoma around Thanksgiving. My friend the computer genius who sends the photos has been traveling for work for over a month and hence, no pictures for me

Henry, the contractor has been photographing everything but sending pictures is not his thing. I hear little snippets when I ask specific questions, but that is all. Once the trailer is loaded we’re hitting the road and we’ll see everything for ourselves. Until then, the suspense is killing me.

So, if you are wondering why I have not put any pictures on the internet, there is the answer.

In other news, nothing from Betty yet. She was due yesterday.

So here are photos of our three multis to amuse you while we pull our hair out.

Fox Run Suri Alpacas took Caramel Sundae to many shows and her awards are legion.

Caramel Sundae with previous ownersSonnet is a wonderful mother & produces absolutely adorable crias.

Madrigal is due with her first cria in the spring by WRSR Razor’s Diamond Rio.

Fox Run's Peruvian Sonnet, mother to Madrigal and Cavatina

Sonnet is a fantastic mother and her cria are gorgeous. Madrigal’s fleece is even better than Sonnet’s and Cavatina not only has wonderful fleece, but also must be one of the most photogenic alpacas.

For more information on any of our alpacas, visit Zena Suri Alpacas on openherd.com

Photos of Black Alpacas while we wait

Drusilla--2009 cria

One of the things I’ll be working on once we get to Oklahoma is photographing our black alpacas, especially the true black girls. Does anyone know a secret for capturing the beautiful locks without turning them brown?

We have some stunning true blacks like Jezebel.

We are very proud of our black suris and we are not the only people who appreciate their elegance. Check them out on openherd.com along with our other alpacas.

Laguna is a bay black.

We adore black suris and true black Mia rounds out the selection with one exception.

Mia is a good mother as well as a good looker.

Our Demelza is our darling, born only two days after we purchased her mother. She is a spunky girl, absolutely full of herself. She has trained us to do many tricks, like giving her an extra portion of grain.

Demelza surprised us by arriving a full month early.

Moving Day Approaches–Zena Alpacas

I haven’t been on here in just about forever since I have been occupied with our new ranch and herd. In case anyone hasn’t heard, we now have 30 suri alpacas courtesy of another purchase (17) girls. 10 of our girls are now pregnant with one due any day. The cria gave an enormous kick yesterday, so it’s in there, thinking about exiting.

Fantine gets ready for showing and moving

Don Llewellyn and I discuss haltering and shots while Fanny hides her face in my arm for comforting. All of the alpacas will go through herd health, receiving vitamins plus injections for worming since there are white-tailed deer (UT does not have this species) meningeal worm carriers in our area of Oklahoma. I am learning all I can before the actual move. On this day–subcutaneous injections, not so difficult since I once had a cat who needed IVs.

A large portion of our move happens in about a week when our three cats, Spot the dog, Tom and I head south over the Thanksgiving holiday. I will be back to finish up in Utah, but the house will be largely empty and Tom may remain in Oklahoma since he begins teaching in January.

The first load of girls and boys should arrive before the end of the year and the true story of Zena will start its next chapter.

Fall Fest Show for Owners and Alpacas

Before I continue entering info on our herd into openherd, I thought I would select a few unposed photos of the show process. Tom and I learned a lot about driving with alpacas–check on them every 100 miles or so. It’s good for them to stop bouncing, there is ample opportunity to make certain they are eating and that there is plenty of clean water. As an added bonus, the driver gets to make a pit stop and the gasoline and coffee levels are topped off.

Tom spreads the cardboard bedding at Fall Fest

The show venue provides a bedding material, which needs to be de-lumped and spread to withing six or so inches of the edge of the stall. We joined in with Fox Run Suri Alpacas and rented two stalls since they only had one alpaca they were showing and we didn’t need our boy Cantu mating with both of our nearly-ready-to breed girls on this occasion.

Tom and Don spread out the alpaca mats

Alpaca mats are loosely woven stall-sized coverings that keep undesirable liquid (yes, that’s exactly what I mean) away from your beautiful show animals. Having them also means you don’t need excess hay or straw and you can easily remove beans from the area. Remember to bring hay and that you have clean water. We often buy, or bring water that the alpacas are accustomed to drinking and we bring hay from home since changing hay can cause digestive troubles.

The alpacas are under enough stress without adding to it.

Keeping the fleece clean at home and on the road means that it will have the luster and cleanliness needed to show it off to its best advantage. It’s not so much the bits of hay that are on top, as Cantu is showing as it is ground in nastiness that judges (quite rightly) hate to touch. The white alpaca, Fox Run’s Solaris by Apocalypse and our dark brown boy Fox Run’s Cantu by Nomar took home blue ribbons in the Spinoff as well as in Halter judging.

Solaris, who is for sale and can also be seen on Fox Run’s website and on Alpacanation also snagged the Judges Choice ribbon.

Seven ribbons for four alpacas isn’t very discouraging at all. I guess we’ll be doing more shows.

Happy ABR Fall Fest for Zena Suri Alpacas

Cantu wins double blue at Fall Fest

Our boy Cantu and our girls Fantine and Cavatina were shorn six months ago and we almost decided not to go to Alpaca Breeders of the Rockies’ Fall Festival. Then we realized that if we didn’t, we’d lose the invaluable experience of going to a second show with Don Llewellyn of Fox Run Suri Alpacas. Don and his wife Carla have been our mentors ever since (and a bit before) our entry into the alpaca world.

Cantu handily walked away with the Blue for Halter with the judge lavishly praising him–his conformation, his fleece, his presence, his lock, his luster. He didn’t get a second look for either of the championships, but shorn alpacas are just not as showy as those in full fleece and I might have awarded ribbons exactly the same way. Still, our guy is a good looker who hasa great stance and actually calms down when I stroke him under the chin.   Go Cantu! You’re not far from getting to strut your stuff in front of the girls. With all you have going for you, you should make an excellent herdsire.

I procrastinated entering the Spin-off until the very last day possible, taking Fox Run’s Solaris’ down the mountain from Wanship, UT and getting both mailed a few minutes before the post office closed–a smart move for all of us since both two ounce fleece samples won blue ribbons (and Solaris added a ribbon for Judges Choice.) I was worried that I would mess something up and ruin Cantu’s chances. I don’t know why since we have done exceptionally with our fleece–of five entries, we have four ribbons that are red or blue. (I do think I messed Cavatina up because she received nothing for one entry and I think it was because I included a couple of locks of her lighter fleece, thinking it was representative of her–not a good idea at all–and they said her fleece had color contamination.) Oh well, that’s how you learn.

Cavatina takes Third at ABR Fall Fest

Cavatina can be a pistol, but she put on her good behavior enough to show rather nicely and get her photo taken. She again wound up in a fawn category and maybe her fleece is now at a place where it is fawn. She finished a respectable third of four under Fantine. I think she is probably done showing and ready to breed. If we choose carefully, that little one could have fantastic fleece for hand spinning. I’ve been trying my hand at that and I may use hers up all by myself since it spins so easily.

 

Fantine Takes a Second at ABR Fall Festival

For some reason, normally docile Fantine took a disliking to having her photo taken a Fall Fest, so you will find us all in this photo at a rather odd angle, really close to the hay bale. I think she was looking for a lap to get into. (It could be she thought all of the props should be edible.) I was about to say that Fantine is my favorite alpaca so I put her last, but then I remembered Cantu, and Cavatina, and Cosette, and SkyKing, and ….  You get the idea, it goes on and on–29.5 now and any day Betty  will deliver and expand out little herd yet again.

Hopefully, I will get another chance to blog again tomorrow. I have a lot to say about going to shows–from a novice’s point of view still. There will be more photos and more of my thoughts on what I did wrong and what I did right. Of course the alpacas are perfect.

Alpacas to Fall Fest!

I don’t have much time to blog this morning, but I thought I’d get a few words in since the last couple of blogs have been almost totally pictures. We have been busy, not only with getting our three attendees ready for the show, but also with learning as much as we can and the ubiquitous packing.

There are 10 girls who must be bred before they can come to Oklahoma and Fox Run’s Fierce Allegiance wants to know why he can’t get in on the action. He is our unproven soon-to-become herdsire, an extremely pretty, half accoyo boy. He can’t wait to be called a macho.

There are so many things we need to get–scales, a chute, enough hay for the winter, fencing, more halters and leads, a vet kit and medications and on and on. We plan to latch onto a few things at this show, so we’ll be shopping and showing.

We don’t have a lot of time before we have to get on the road and I’m not fully packed yet, so until the next blog, wish us well.

Still trying to get alpacas ready for show–so a couple more photos

We bought everyone we could figure out how to buy.

I suggest to Tom that we probably NEED, the house, the barn, and 17 more alpacas. He actually took it rather well. If you’ve been reading this blog, you know what happened– and he STILL loves me!

Spot the Wonder Dog had surgery for suspected cancer (and you thought we had a lot on our plates) and had his teeth cleaned at the same time. I figured if he had to be out for one he should have both done. Today we got word that it was not cancer. He is celebrating by taking his antibiotics and pain medication. We alternate with treats and he gobbles them down. I think he’ll be disappointed when the pills are gone since he’s begging for them twice a day when he knows it’s time for them.

Tomorrow we are enroute to Loveland, Colorado for the Fall Fest with Cavatina, Fantine, and Cantu. Wish us luck.

Alpacas and Us Photos

Instead of a berserk tirade about all I have to do today, I thought I would put up a couple of photos and try the blog tomorrow.

A few of the dark suris congregate in the barn