Just about everyone will tell you that barbed wire and alpacas do not mix. Well today our Australian Shepherd was digging away and managed to hit barbed wire, in one single stroke he almost ripped off one pad on his foot and sliced another in two..that stuff is vicious.
Gifford spent the afternoon in the local small animal clinic having stitches and is now home and feeling pretty sorry for himself.



By Adrian Stewart

A few people want to know exactly what we are feeding, so here is our custom mix and for comparison a standard Camelid mix by Profile Nutrition.

Ingredient	Custom Mix%	Standard Mix%
Crude Protein	13.0	14.0
Crude fat	2.5	2.5
Crude Fibre	15.0	15.0
Crude ADF	15.8	19.0
Calcium (min)	2.6	2.0
Calcium (max)	3.1	3.0
Phosphorous	1.6	2.25
Salt (min)	.10	.50
Salt (max)	.60	1.0
Ash	15.52	?
Copper	9.0ppm	15.5
Selenium	5.5ppm	4.0ppm
Vitamin A	24,000IU/lb	24,500IU/lb
Vitamin D3	7,000IU/lb	8,000IU/lb
Vitamin E	550IU/lb	415IU/lb

By Adrian Stewart

Following on from the postings on nutrition several people have e-mailed asking me how to go about weighing alpacas....well obviously the first step is to buy a scale that will weigh an alpaca. The second step is then to integrate that scale into your farm operation in such a way as to make weighing your alpacas as easy as possible.

In terms of alpaca weighing scales there are several choices, here are three that I know of:

Arlynscales have a model 22" x 44" for $699 or 22" x 60" for $799.

Befour have a model 22" x 44" for $699

Salter Brecknell have amodel 22" x 42" for $700


If you can afford it go for the longer models, it makes life so much easier. There are few things more frustrating than trying to get an alpaca to balance on a scale that was designed for pygmy goats!

Below you can see pictures of where our scale is located in the barn and where the display panel is positioned.







We have built a raised floor in front of the scale and covered that area and the scale with rot proof carpet. This way the alpacas sense no change of surface texture or height when walking onto the scale. Not essential but highly desirable.

Marty McGee Bennett helped design our barn layout and has worked and taught classes in the barn so it comes highly recommended.
On Marty's site you will find advice on barn design and layout. Marty, if you don't already know, is something of an expert on the behaviour of alpacas.



As always any questions or suggestions drop me a line.









By Adrian Stewart

Two or three people have asked me where they can read more about alpaca nutrition. The answer is in Norman Evans DVM - Alpaca Field Manual a new version of which has just been published. Norman devotes a whole section to nutrition and while not a nutritionist himself he has a vast amount of experience with camelids.

Norman has eight main points when it comes to alpaca nutrition:

*Know the alpaca's use and needs.
*Know where the nutrients come from (water, pasture, hay, vitamins, minerals supplements).
*Balance the nutrients deficient in the tested forage.
*Frame score and body score all adults and supplement accordingly.
*Weigh, keep records, and be aware of seasonal gains and losses.
*Remove human error. Weigh the animals feed intake for 7 - 10 days.
*Always supplement per feed tag directions to avoid toxic levels of copper and selenium.
*Always let new hay cure for 4 - 6 weeks prior to feeding.

I look on these as the 8 Commandments, follow these guiding principles and you won't go far wrong.

I will locate a source and price for Norman Evans latest latest field manual and post it here shortly.

Useful Items now have the book for $105.00

By Adrian Stewart

Alpacas are very efficient at utilizing available feed, making them relatively inexpensive animals to maintain. Water is the most important nutrient and alpacas need access to fresh clean water at all times. They will drink up to 3 pints a day (and more when exercising, lactating or if the temperature is high).

A mature alpaca will eat about 2 pounds of dry matter each day depending on size and activity. The alpaca that is pregnant will need to eat more during the last three months of pregnancy, which is when most of the foetal growth takes place. Lactating animals have greatly increased requirements as they are eating literally for two. Nearly all owners feed a food supplement to ensure their animals receive the correct amounts of minerals and vitamins that are essential for a healthy herd. These supplements are readily available and inexpensive - their exact formulation varies across North America and from farm to farm.

Here at Mulberry we are part of a local group of farms that have a custom feed milled to our own formula. The exact formula was developed with Dr Tara Timpson of Crater Animal Clinic. The formula is created by knowing the intake from other sources such as grass and hay then by doing blood work on the animals to confirm everything we feed is being digested and absorbed as expected.

It can be time consuming and frustrating at times but well worth the effort in the long term. Far better to get nutrients in through diet than with a series of injections.

By Adrian Stewart

Today we are all recovering from a mild overdose of Turkey.
Thanksgiving is a new holiday for us, but one we really enjoy.
In Ashland on the day after Thanksgiving we have a parade which includes Mr and Mrs Santa Clause and culminates in Santa turning on over a million Christmas lights in the down town area...quite spectacular. Not much happens on the farm today other than the usual alpaca chores.






By Adrian Stewart

It's been an amazing year with much to be thankful for.











By Adrian Stewart

The well known quarterly magazine Hobby Farms was all set to launch two new alpaca publications.
Their parent company, BowTie, Inc., was planning to launch two new publications in 2006 dedicated to raising alpacas, and geared toward the prospective or new alpaca owner. "Alpacas USA" was to be an annual news stand publication; "Alpaca Talk" was to be a supplement to Hobby Farms and sent out with the May/June 2006 issue of Hobby Farms, which is received by approximately 50,000 subscribers.

I had been commissioned to write an 1,800 word article on purchasing alpacas. But I heard today from the editor that Bow Tie publications have cancelled the production of both publications.

Much of the research on the article is now complete so I will complete the article and load it into the Mulberry Alpacas Library sometime during December. Watch this space.......

By Adrian Stewart

The long running saga about hay analysis and safe nitrate levels for alpacas looked like it was over...but the local extension agent in southern oregon, Shelby Filley looks like she is going to have the final word.
Here for your information are the web references she very kindly sent through and their conclusions with regard to Nitrates NO3 in ruminants. NONE of these apply specifically to alpacas.

Nitrate Ion (NO3-) Levels in Forage

Penn State 4400 ppm or less is safe. 4500 - 7500 gradually introduce feed, feed concentrates, dilute to .40%

Nebraska potential toxic amounts when feed is over 9,300 ppm

Oregon State University 4400 ppm or less is safe, 4500 to 8800 Generally safe when fed in balanced ration. Caution: dilute in half for pregnant animals...

North Dakota State Univ. 6500 or lower is safe, 6500 to 20,000 Caution,

...
WBRC
4400 or lower is safe, 4400 to 6600 caution.


There is a great deal of conflicting information on this topic and it would be of great benefit to the whole alpaca community if one of the big name universities decided to take this on and come up with some firm conclusions and recommendations. Any takers?

By Adrian Stewart

As Winston Churchill once said:

"This is not the end. It is not even the beginning of the end. But it is, perhaps, the end of the beginning."

During December and most of next year there will be a series of long overdue "Regional Type Conferences" to start the process of discussing what a North American Alpaca breed standard should look like. As President of SOJAA the local AOBA affiliate I can tell you we are planning to partner with one or two other AOBA affiliates in order to host a breed type conference in Oregon.

AOBA affiliate organizations are encouraged and requested by AOBA to invite everyone within their region, whether they belong to an affiliate or not. Type conferences are an important
and critical means of education on the subject of alpaca breed standards. So we will be inviting all the breeders in this neck of the woods.

Click here to go to the Mulberry Alpaca Library and read a A COMPARATIVE ANALYSIS OF ALPACA BREED TYPES AND STANDARDS By Jude Anderson, Maggie Krieger, and Mike Safley.


Regardless of the total number of affiliates that ultimately host a regional type conference, the
position papers will be collected by ARI and AOBA to form an aggregate document. Once an
aggregate document is compiled, the final, jointly hosted Type Conference can be performed.
Currently, the final conference is scheduled for November 1 and 2, 2006 with the location to be determined.

The first regional Type Conference scheduled for Dec 10, 2005 in Springfield Massachusetts. The conference is sponsored by the Empire Alpaca Association, NEAOBA and PAOBO. Steve Purdy, DVM, University of Massachusetts, Susan Johnson, DVM, Private practice in VT, Brett Kaysen, Jude Anderson and Mike Safely will be among the presenters. The cost is $50 and includes breakfast and lunch. For more details click here.

By Adrian Stewart

Two of our star alpaca girls are unlikely to catch your attention out in the paddock. But their offspring are truly superb alpacas. Here is what Mike Safely had to say in 2005 after we acquired them from Al Cousill and Jude Andersen:


"MSA Sorpresa, is a stunning white female out of Hemingway and Peruvian Navidad.
Peruvian Navidad is the female equivalent of Hemingway. Every one of her offspring has been a champion. Her daughter, Sorpresa, a foundation female for Morning Sun Alpacas, has produced more show winners than any other dam in their breeding program."



A classic case of looking at the phenotype then taking time to look at parentage and offspring in order to dettermine the true value of the alpaca.

By Adrian Stewart

Good news our cria that was being "snitched" by his big sister is now getting all the milk he needs and is once again piling on weight. See Blog for November 14th for more detail on "snitching".

The air volume continues to be low so no open or barrel burning today. The weather remains mild for the time of year, which is probably why the six chickens are laying super stars, today I collect 22 fresh eggs...I think someone forgot the eggs yesterday!

Today is also a SOJAA meeting day. About 28 local farms show up for the meeting, which lasts about 5 hours and includes lunch. We discuss the financial results of our alpaca show and after expenses; early indications are that we have made about $18,000, which is great news for the membership. New directors are appointed and others step-down after honourable service to our community. Quite a few people come up to me and compliment me on the Sir Titus Salt article in Alpacas Magazine which is nice.

Some of the land we have cross fenced into alpaca pastures is littered with rocks..and I mean littered! We have used several different approaches to tackle this problem.

Firstly, the largest moss covered rocks were all hauled away by local landscape companies and we got a few hundred dollars which was a welcome windfall. I recommend this approach.

Secondly, we employed the local high school football team to move rocks they were raising money for a football trip to Japan at the time. This did not work very well the boys lacked motivation and did not want to get their hands dirty! Subsequently they went to Japan and lost, no surprises there! I do not recommend this approach.

Thirdly, we hauled them ourselves, ton after ton, until we ran out of places to put rocks. I do not recommend this approach.

My latest solution is to bury the worst pasture in new dirt. The dirt is delivered free of charge from local building sites and once we have enough we will use a blade to level everything out before seeding. Now it has come as quite a shock to discover just how much dirt you need to cover a field.... Our rocky field is about 4 acres which is over 19,000 square yards. If we spread the dirt 6 inches deep then we will need 3,227 cubic yards or about 500 truckloads...
With my latest approach, I recommend patience...lots of patience.

By Adrian Stewart

Today the latest edition of Alpacas Magazine, the official journal of AOBA, the Alpaca Owners and Breeders Association arrives. This issue features a story I wrote about Sir Titus Salt, the Victorian who made a fortune out of alpaca in the 1800's then built a wonderful mill and village for his employees. You can also read the article on this web site just click here

During the day I receive several e-mails and calls from appreciative readers which is very gratifying. I pass on the feedback to Dave Belt the Editor, he and his team have done a great job of laying out the article and finding additional pictures to support the story.

I have two more articles to write in the next month one for the UK alpaca magazine and one for a new magazine coming out in the US next summer.

The alpaca articles can be time consuming to research and write but they are our contribution to the alpaca industry at large and they do help raise the profile of the farm. Much more effective than display advertising in my opinion.

Winter is definitely here but the sun shines and the temperature stays in the mid 50's for most of the day.

By Adrian Stewart

Accepted wisdom is that when it comes to alpaca feeding each animal needs roughly 18" of trough space. Less than this and the animals will jockey for position at the trough. In that situation, the weaker ones end up eating last, if at all. If this situation is allowed to continue, the stronger ones will eventually become overweight, which in turn can lead to birthing complications and the weaker ones miss out not only on calories but the essential trace elements which we take great care to ensure are included in our special alpaca feed mix. In addition, alpacas have different dietary needs depending on their role, a pregnant dam still making milk for her last cria needs significantly more feed than a gelded male whose only role is to produce fleece.

With this in mind and the much larger size of our alpaca herd, since the initial troughs were installed we clearly needed to increase trough space. Fortunately, we have a large enough barn to feed the alpacass inside. The main advantage of doing this, is that the feed stays dry and there is less wastage. Its absolutely fine to feed outside you just need a feeding trough that keeps the feed dry when it rains...not that it lies around for long!

There are ready-made troughs you can buy for sheep and goats that will work fine. However, I had in my head a simple design. An 8-inch plastic conduit pipe cut in half and fastened to a wooden support to add strength and weight, as I did not want the lightweight conduit blowing away in a the first strong wind.

The design worked out well as you can judge from the pictures. A 20-foot length of conduit cost about $60 and from that I made eight troughs each one five foot in length, enough feeding space for almost 30 alpacas. The whole project took about 2 hours, it is simple, cheap and I recommend it.




By Adrian Stewart