The fencing project is coming along and we are now waiting for the various utility companies to come along and "locate" their cables before I start whacking in fence posts.

Meanwhile in the barn.....when its feeding time the females do not need much persuasion and while they are eating its always interesting to see what the cria do while mum tucks into the feed.

Usually its a great time to explore the barn and see what there is.



The gates into the area around the barn are eight feet high and just about predator proof. But a series of sharp wires around the ends meant that I covered them in insulation foam to protect fingers and curious alpacas....but someone has started eating the foam....now I know pregnant females can have cravings but this sudden passion for insulating foam is very strange.



I am going to have to keep an eye on things and discover who it is that has developed a taste for expanded foam....I must check the poo piles surely they can't actually digest the stuff..or can they?

Oh well last day of the month today so see you next month...

Adrian Stewart

When we started farming here in the summer of 2004 we had no plans to show any alpacas or their fleeces unless we had something really special to show...and that can take quite a while in the alpaca business.

But rules are there to be broken and I have decided to show one of our alpaca fleeces at the Monterey Pronk...great name and a great venue. John Cleese lives in Monterey (and has an alpaca or two) as he says "Monterey isn't heaven but it does share the same zip code."

So we all know that when showing fleeces skirting is time well spent and last summer I knocked together a skirting table with some old wood we had lying around and a piece of wire mesh.



You can probably see where I went wrong straight away...its way too small!

Oh well we can always learn from our mistakes.

The other daunting aspect about entering the Monterey Pronk is the amount of paperwork that has to be completed....you would think I would know about this having helped organise a couple of level II alpaca shows but there is no substitute for seeing another shows paperwork to realise just how daunting we make it for newcomers.

I think I may have discovered one reason why only 30% of breeders show their alpacas...


Adrian Stewart
l

We have stripped out one of the three fences which we will be replacing very shortly.



Rolling up the old fence is fairly easy and even the barbed wire can be done providing you wear leather gloves.

We used the tractor and a chain attached to the front bucket to pull the "T "posts...which came out so easily it was untrue.

Here is the second fence that we have to replace.



We are still in debate as to what we should replace these fences with, right now I am favouring high tensile wires as these two boundary fences just define a hay field but it is possible that the alpacas could get in there.

Adrian Stewart

Well it may be sound insignificant to some but getting this small fridge for our office next to the alpaca barn is going to make a big difference.

In winter the alpaca barn is freezing at night. During the summer its over 100 degrees sometimes.

So many of our alpaca medicines are kept in the house fridge along with the frozen colostrum.
All those items have now been transferred to our new compact fridge which cost slightly more tha $50.



So now we can store certain medicines such as CD & T , together with frozen colostrum and even fecal samples prior to testing. I used to think this would be a luxury but actually I now wonder how we survived without it for so long !

Adrian Stewart

While at the regional type conference in Eugene yesterday I had the opportunity to talk with Dr Chris Cebra from Oregon State University which is just down the road in Corvallis.

I wanted to talk with Dr Cebra about mites in alpacas and a study that I heard he was working on at OSU.

We talked about the various treatments that form the current accepted wisdom namely the Witches Brew, Frontline and Atroban. Dr Cebra remains of the view that Atroban is as effective as anything he has seen. He is also convinced that mites cannot be totally eradicated from alpacas and that our energies should instead be focused on trying to discover what causes the strong skin reaction in some alpacas and not in others.


I do have one female with a recurring problem so will be starting treatment with Atroban this week and will use the Blog to track progress.



Adrian Stewart<

The overnight option didn't happen so it was a starlit 4.30 start to get up to Grants Pass and collect Larry and Paula before heading off to the regional type conference in Eugene for an 8.30 start.

I am pleased to say that despite a smaller audience than was originally anticipated, the Regional Type Conference in Eugene was a truly great event.
Richard Gyuro had done a first class job organising the event and on the day was an equally great master of ceremonies.

The overall tone from the attendees was one of being open to a breed standard for alpacas and it was a shame we didn?t have more time to debate some of the issues.
Broadly speaking most people were happy with the existing Australian breed standard for alpacas.

Quite how the various regional type conference results will now be ?blended? into one document, which is then presented at the National Type Conference in Reno this November, isn?t clear at this time. So answers on a postcard to the AOBA board if you have any good ideas!

I eventually arrived back on the farm at 7pm so had a trouble free journey in both directions which is one of the beauties of living in Oregon...its the same physical size as the United Kingdom but with 3 million people rather than 60 million.

Adrian Stewart

Roger my father in-law arrived from England today so Jo (my wife) is very happy to have her father here even if it is only for a couple of weeks.

This afternoon I am working on the redrafting of some by laws for SOJAA the AOBA alpaca affiliate of which I am currently president. Like most not for profit organisations we don't tend to do some tasks until it is almost too late!

The whole session only takes a couple of hours and Larry Vellozzi another alpaca breeder who was a founding member of SOJAA comes down to my place to help with the drafting, which is much appreciated.

All quiet on the alpaca front and the grass is now growing much more slowly even though we are irrigating on an almost continuous basis.



Adrian Stewart

Gifford had another trip to the vet today to get a shot for his allergies.
Its not something he particularly enjoys but he becomes so sore from scratching he can hardly sleep.
I have searched Google but to no avail, If anyone knows anything about allergies in Australian Shepherds please let me know or point me in the right direction.




All quiet on the farm today our new arrival is doing fine and the vet has reported a negative test for BVD and great IgG levels which is all excelent news.

While we were on the coast two of our males Mr Tambourine Man and Mr Bo Jangles went off to their new home. We heard from their new owners that they have arrived safely and are now settling in nicely....even if they are virtually joined at the hip!

Adrian Stewart

Following on from my picture of Camels the other day a fellow alpaca breeder sent me this article about how in Mauritania they are milking camels.

Camels only release their milk when their young are present
"They tolerate humans in exchange for food, but they can control whether they let down their milk or not." says Mrs Abeiderrahmane.

But these temperamental animals are becoming a cornerstone of the local economy in Mauritania, thanks to a project that English-born Mrs Abeiderrahmane has set up to pasteurise and market their milk.

Camels used to be milked next to the road "on demand", with the risk of spreading disease in a desert country where temperatures soar as high as 50 C.

Although this is a long-established tradition, in the sweltering heat the milk quickly went off and was wasted.
Unlike cows, female camels need their young around them if they are to give a steady supply of milk.
So every mother camel wears a sort of bra to prevent the baby feeding whenever it wants.
Herds usually consist of about 100 female camels and each produces about 10 litres a day.
The semi-nomadic herdsmen bring the camel milk to one of the collection points that have been set up close to where they graze their camels.
Demand has grown over the years because we deliver it to thousands of corner shops and it has caught on as a refreshing and convenient drink with the public

The milk is measured and tested for cleanliness and quality, and the herdsmen receive an agreed amount per litre.

"Herdsmen now have a steady source of income throughout the year. They don't feel the financial necessity to move into town."

But it is in the capital, Nouakchott, that the milk is pasteurised and packaged.

It is brought to a state-of-the art aluminium factory by tankers, and in the course of a few hours is turned into a tetra-packed modern product.

Adrian Stewart

A busy week lies ahead culminating in the regional type conference in Eugene on Saturday the 26th.

Gaia our friend from Italy who we met through alpacas and who helped get our farm up and running last summer is now heading home after a month or so in Oregon. During that time she has visited several farms and worked with Marty McGee for a week successfully completing the highest level camelid dynamics training Marty provides.

Gaia will be going home to Tuscany with happy memories and a genuine pair of cowboy boots!
Thanks to all those Oegonian breeders that welcomed Gaia to their farm and shared there knowledge so freely she was very grateful.



Adrian Stewart

Still on holiday and bumping into camelids of various types.
This is of course a dromedary, I think!
Now this boy has a very messy set of teeth.



Feeding time at this small animal park on the Oregon coast really made me smile. The hay went into the feeder and then depending whether you are a small deer, goat or llama. You either stand by the feeder, jump onto the feeder or dive over the top..... which well known camelid vet said every alpaca needs 18 inches of trough space?



Adrian Stewart

Well it doesn't matter where you are in Oregon you are never far from camelids of one sort or another.

Here are a couple of Llamas hanging out with a duck...... which is kind of interesting if you have ever heard the Llama Song by Burton Earny.

Click here to listen to the Llama song its very silly but was the most popular llama search term on Google last month so plenty of people enjoy it.
The chorus is basically "llama, llama, duck" and the whole thing is set to a series of changing images, anyway knowing all of that trivia will now help you ( I hope) to understand why I like this shot...



Adrian Stewart

Just enjoying a few well earned days holiday on the Oregon Coast near a small town called Port Orford.



Adrian Stewart

The sun is shining and all the animals are well and enjoying life.

A rather bizarre e-mail came my way yesterday from someone in Canada looking to butcher alpacas and wanting to know if a friend of mine would buy the skins....

My name is Michael Lutz and I am looking into butchering alpaca's for restaurants here in Canada. We will of course have the skins left over and we would need to find a place for this accessory.
My friend in Vancouver has bought 2 teddy bears conveniently made out of alpaca skins with a tag with all your contact information. I am not looking to get into your idea but rather team up with you and supply you with skins if I can get this idea of lifted off. Tell me what you think? If you think this is a good idea we can discuss the inner details later on.
Thank you for you time and hope to hear from you soon?

Alpaca Venture,

Michael

Needless to say my friend had sold slippers imported from Peru and has no intention of processing alpaca skins....

Yesterday I traded a black alpaca fleece for pie and today the first pie arrived.



With six people in the house and three of those teenagers there is now very little pie left. But it tasted really good. Apparently the lady who traded with me has a bakery near Monterrey so I must find out exactly where for my Californian friends.

I am going to the coast for a few days now so the Blog won't be updated until Tuesday next week. Enjoy the weekend and your alpacas.

Adrian Stewart