How the weeks and months come around.
Today it was time to go collect our share of the latest batch of feed from the Grange Coop.
We had 27 bags to collect, about a 14 week supply, so I was planning to take the pick up truck but the weather was foul and it was raining cats and dogs.
So to keep the feed dry we took the Ford Expedition (as used by Jack Bauer in 24)




Once the grain was unloaded we started to get ready the burn piles. Burn season starts on the 1st of March.

Adrian Stewart

Today was spent travelling home via Salt Lake City.
I arrived home to a series of e-mails about missing ARI certificates and lost paperwork.....oh well back to the reality of alpaca breeding after the glamour of the auction......c'est la vie !

Adrian Stewart

Snowmass are a legend in the alpaca business. Snowmass Alpacas is located on a beautiful 400-acre ranch in Sandpoint, which is in the Northern Panhandle of Idaho, just 90 minutes from Spokane, Washington. This is the home of the Skinner family --- Julie and Don, and four young children, Nicholas, Maree, David James and Heidi --- and home to more than 150 alpacas, (as well as cattle, horses and various other livestock).





The Snowmass Alpacas Making of Champions Private Selection Sale is held on a ranch just outside Phoenix Arizona. So this event is an opportunity for many breeders to enjoy some sunshine and relax in the company of fellow breeders.



The Snowmass alpaca auction had 67 lots. Friday and Saturday were spent looking at and examining the alpacas and listening to the guest speakers.



The auction itself started at 4pm on Saturday and lasted the best part of four hours.

These events are really interesting and the "usual suspects" were in attendance to bid for the high value alpacas. These families are all on first name terms with each other and the auctioneers. But there are plenty of other medium and small farms looking for a bargain. In total I would say there were well over 300 alpaca people there for the two days.

Prices were very unpredictable in my humble opinion. Some alpacas went for way more than I expected and others looked like bargains.

The star of the show was Snowmass Legacy Gold which sold for $500,000.



Snowmass Sabrina a grand daughter of one of our female alpacas Peruvian Navidad sold for $33,000 which was kind of interesting.

A couple of the successful bidders were new to the industry and buying their first animals...talk about in at the deep end...

One of the bargains of the night was Snowmass Perfection a lovely male that was a "steal" at $155,000 and promptly snapped up by our good friends Al Cousill and Jude Andersen from Pucara International.

The surprise of the night was a ten year old female called 6Peruvian Hallmark who went for a new world record figure of $305,000.




Meanwhile a lovely looking rose grey boy with super fine fleece went for $27,000.....


At the end of the evening the sale had grossed about $3.96 million which is a great deal of money in anyone's language.

Thanks go to the hosts Don and Julie Skinner for a very informative and enjoyable two days. Sorry I came home empty handed Julie...maybe next year!



Adrian Stewart

Spent today travelling to the Snowmass Alpacas - Making of Champions Private Selection Sale in Phoenix Arizona.

Adrian Stewart

After the rains of January and early February the last couple of weeks have been warm and dry. But the underlying ground remains we and even water logged in places.
Today our son Jamie and his friend Morgan decided to take the short cut into town.....

The first I knew was when they called to say they were now stuck up to the axles and needed a tow.



It didn't take long to haul them out and the only damage was to their teenage egos...


Adrian Stewart

We are building a retaining wall and need to have a decent foundation in the ground to support the wall against the weight of earth. We usually mix concrete by hand but this time there was so much we used a mixer and pump......luxury it isn't cheap but this is the way to pour concrete....





Adrian Stewart

There is nothing Like a sunny day to inspire our chickens into laying some eggs. So now the sun is shining once more egg production has increased.




Adrian Stewart

I saw on the web today that county planners in Larimer County near Denver Colorado are starting to put limits on the number of animals people can keep on smaller farms or "ranchettes " as they are sometimes callled.

The proposal would restrict landowners from two horses per acre to one horse per acre, as well as place limits on bison, mules, ostriches, emus, goats and alpacas. Too often, county officials say, property owners allow horses, pigs and cattle to overgraze small parcels, destroying prime grassland.

Interesting to see alpacas are in there but when he was pushed the local planning guy had to admit if someone asked about alpacas he wouldn't know the answer...

The county's existing livestock regulation was written in 1963 and essentially only covered riding horses and feedlots, said senior planner Al Kadera.

"If someone called me today and asked me how many alpacas he could have on his land, I couldn't tell him," Kadera said.

The county planning commission approved the proposed regulations 4-3 last week and sent them to the county commission for consideration next month.



Adrian Stewart

Today we had a visit from a Peruvian who now lives in Ashland. He wasn't an alpaca farmer in Peru but he says that living in southern Oregon gets more like Peru every year as the number of alpacas and alpaca farms continues to increase.

Almost needless to say he was staggered at the prices of animals in America but very impressed at the good condition and thick fleeces of our alpacas. Which we take as a compliment.

After the farm visit we brought all the alpacas inside the barn to check toe nails condition score the females and weigh them. One or two are underweight and one overweight.

A recent fecal test shows that we have strongiles so worming is in order.

Its now time to ween one of last years cria so we need to split the herd up to do this.

Adrian Stewart

Today was the second meeting of the year for SOJAA and Dr Tara Timpson from Crater Animal Clinic was our guest speaker and addressed the group on the topic of BVDV in alpacas and then handled a lively questions and answer session from the members.

It was a really useful session and its a great shame that several members from down south were prevented from attending by freezing road conditions.

Dr Timpsons handout can be found in the Library of the SOJAA web site.



Adrian Stewart

We have masses of rocks in our land so I decided to use some new rock free earth to protect the pipes.

The earth is being dumped on one of our pastures as a long term plan to simple bury every rock in that pasture. In the other areas we have pulled the rocks out to create land that we can then fertilize then seed.



Adrian Stewart

There used to be one irrigation riser for every two pastures. This had been my idea of saving money! But just one season of trying to make that system work convinced me to extend the pipework into each of the pastures.

So having dug the trenches, which promptly filled with rain water, today we put in the new pipework.








A few more weeks before the irrigation canal is filled and we get to test the system.

By Adrian Stewart

Quite a few people have asked me what I think about the mega prices that some alpacas are now achieving.

So here are my thoughts - first lets keep this "Gold Rush" in perspective we are talking about a handful of alpacas and a handful of big players. At first, I thought we might see some sort of "ripple down? effect on the price of other stud males but this hasn't happened so far.

This tells us that these deals really are one offs and we are not seeing a change in the market as a whole. But tell me if you know otherwise.

The business model that appears to be evolving goes along these lines:

First, you need an outstanding alpaca. Almost certainly a proven stud and one with all the right attributes plus a good spread of blue ribbon winning offspring.

Then you need someone with deep pockets to buy a significant stake or even all of the boy in question for a very high price.

This guarantees instant recognition and awareness in the market place.

Next step is to stop all outside breedings. Because of course the way to maximise your income is by selling the offspring not taking stud fees.

You have now created a monopoly in the genetics of that male. Monopolies nearly always allow for what economists call super normal sprofits.

The final step is to now find sufficient punters willing to form an orderly queue at your farm gates to purchase the cria as they arrive.

This may be the part you do not like to read. Nevertheless, this whole business model relies on people like you being prepared to pay over the odds for the cria. I guess it is the final sting in the tail of a closed registry.

It is well accepted in marketing circles that when consumers cannot tell the difference between two similar products then they will often times use price as a guide. Yes, even with alpacas people will go for the more expensive of two animals simply because it is the most expensive.

This happens even when the more expensive alpaca is the inferior of the two?its just human nature where the buyer isn?t expert enough to tell the difference.

Caveat Emptor as the Romans used to say (Let the buyer beware)

Adrian Stewart

Sharon Brown and Jim Webb of Virginia Alpaca Farm & Breeding Co., have purchased a 50% Interest in 4Peruvian Legacy 6016, Crescent Moon's Rayo del Sol and Crescent Moon's Kryptonite!

The ? Interest in Legacy sold for $750,000, making Legacy's market driven price worth 1.5 million dollars... and therefore (in theory at least) the first Million Dollar Alpaca!




His record and his excellence are undeniable. He single handedly transformed the Crescent Moon Ranch breeding program, rounded out the Alpacas of Maple Lane breeding program, and made hugely significant contributions to the Snowmass Alpacas breeding program.

His progeny includes some of the most visible alpacas in the North American Alpaca industry. Names such as Crescent Moon's Kryptonite, Crescent Moon's Romeo, Crescent Moon's Fiber Optic, Crescent Moon's Pinnacle, Snowmass Legacy Gold, Snowmass Perfection, Snowmass Legacy's Lustroso, Snowmass Millennium and many, many others.

His name, on any certificate, adds immediate value and recognition, and his name is now one of legend.

Needless to say there are no outside breedings to Accoyo Peruvian Legacy.


Adrian Stewart

The weather is colder today but still dry.

I was epecting to hear the results of two PCR tests from the lab at OSU but when I called the vet I discovered that turnaround times have gone from 72 hours to almost 7 days due to the large volume of (BVDV) testing being requested.

I guess this is a pain for me but good news for the industry as it clearly indicates the message is getting out there..education is happening and some people are clearly testing animals. All good signs.


Adrian Stewart