Today was cold but dry so Mac and I started work building the first alpaca loafing shed. This is basically a metal frame kit to which you attach plywood walls and a metal roof. The whole thing fastens together rather like scaffolding.

The key to success is to ensure the six concrete pads on which the structure rests are level and in the correct position. I know it sound obvious but even a fraction of an inch here causes problems of a bigger nature later on. A laser sighting level is very useful.

Putting in the pads and erecting the frame took the two of us about 5 hours.



Most of the work is pretty obvious and the instructions come on one piece of paper so I think that probably says it all.

Tomorrow we will cut the ply wood and attach the walls. Then we need to anchor the building before putting on the sheet metal roof.

The final stage is to then create a level floor in the loafing shed by adding degenerated granite.

Click here to visit the Noble Site and see their range of products.

As always the John Deere Gator did a sterling job of hauling parts around.



So another month comes to an end and the end of the year is all but upon us. My list of farm project appears just as long now as it did this time last year....I must resolve to stop adding new projects in the New Year.

Adrian Stewart

Well it certainly was cold this morning and the outside thermometer was showing minus 8 degrees Celsius at 6am (which is about 18 degrees Fahrenheit).
Every alpaca watering point was frozen apart from those with heaters. So I shipped warm water down to the pastures that needed it. I always consider putting in electricity and heated watering troughs to be an extravagance but if the Nelson salesman arrived right now he could probably sign me up no trouble at all .

The landscaping rake is already proving very useful and I think after a mowing deck it is probably my favourite piece of kit. You can get so much done so quickly a massive productivity aide to any small farm.



Noble delivered the new alpaca loafing sheds in kit form today. They look pretty impressive and it will apparently take a couple of days to assemble both sheds. Everything looks straight forward apart from the anchoring system, which is of course critical.

Next week I am heading north to collect one of our star alpaca girls Navidad from a breeding to Snowmass Perfection. While I am up north I will call in to see Mike Safely at NWA and catch up on the IAC and his recent trip to Peru.

Adrian Stewart

Despite having a dry wind free barn the alpacas prefer the seasonal snow...don't ask me why? Because I don't know.

The tree house is laid bare by autumn winds then wrapped in a snow white blanket.



John Deere called to say the landscaping rake will be here later today.

There isn't a cloud in the sky right now so the temperature is sure to fall pretty low tonight. Why did I get into alpaca farming? Can anyone remember?

Adrian Stewart

Proper Preparation Prevents Poor Performance

The 5 P's apply to many situations but on this occasion the preparation I have in mind today is for a party to be held in the alpaca barn next Saturday when we will hold a Barn Dance..... "old school" as people say these days.



Its going to be an afternoon and evening event so don't worry, the alpacas will get their place back before bedtime..

The forecast is now for cold weather including snow....... time to batten down the hatches.


Adrian Stewart

All quiet on the farm today and there is snow forecast for early in the week. I check over all the waterpipes one last time and make sure the few water heaters that we have are all working fine.

If it gets really cold then most of the water pipes will freeze outside. Then the fun and games can really start.

I did evenually find a landscaping rake at the local John Deere dealer and it will be delivered on Tuesday.

This quiet time is agood opportunity to get all the paperwork in order especially the ARI registrations that are still outstanding.

Adrian Stewart

Dr Richardson called to say that the smear sample she took from our female alpaca on Tuesday of last week is negative which is reassuring. Now we just have to wait for the blood work to come back from the lab at the end of next week.

Mac and I have installed guttering along the side of the old hay barn and as a result the stable is now much drier and as we piped the rain water into the irrigation pond we now have a pond all year round and not just in the summer when the irrigation canal is in use.

Installing the guttering was an interesting challenge as the old roof wandered up and down along its edge. So by the time we had the guttering in place and sloping correctly there were some big gaps, which caused water to overshoot the gutter as it came off the roof. So I fastened a roll of aluminium to the edge of the gutter as a splash back and it works really well.

I wonder if we could keep ducks on the pond?

I guess if I built a small island in the middle of the pond then providing the ducks went back there each night they would be safe from predators. Wel its an idea....

The new guttering with additional aluminium splash back.

Good news today from Jude Anderson at Pucara our girl Navidad is pregnant to Snowmass Perfection and I have very high hopes for the cria when it arrives.

Navidad hasn’t the friendliest of personalities but she nearly always catches on the first breeding each time and produces some stunning offspring. Now I must schedule a trip up to Pucara to collect our girl before Christmas and while the weather is still quite mild for the time of year.

Today in our local community, it is the festival of Light and we have a Santa Clause parade followed by the turning on of the Christmas lights in town. This is a big celebration each year and people come from miles around. I am sure there is scope for having an alpaca or two in the parade without upstaging the reindeer. Maybe next year...

Adrian Stewart

Being an alpaca farmer brings you into contact with not only alpaca farmers but other farmers in your area.

Perhaps the most obvious humans to whom we might give thanks to when we eat would be the farmers responsible for providing us with the food we eat.

Although massive corporations have taken over significant aspects of food production and distribution, small farmers continue to play an important role in growing, raising, and providing what we eat every day.

Most people are far removed from food production and forget what’s involved; maybe Thanksgiving is a good day to stop to think about this.

The weather is pretty foul today and keeps raining in between brighter periods. It never appears to phase the alpacas who are completely indifferent to the rain . It makes me wonder why I am bothering with the loafing sheds to be honest. My local construction friend Jim Shannon calls to say he is taking out a car park and has to remove some Degenerated Granite from underneath which he can deliver free of charge to help with the building of the road between the pastures. This is a great help and while it requires some effort to get it spread and levelled it really is a very cheap way to build a road through your property and I recommend tracking down your local construction companies and telling them what you need. What I really need, other than more granite, is a landscape rake so I can groom the pastures while the ground is soft and the grass is short. I usually borrow one from my neighbour but I now need it so often I feel bad about always going round to borrow his. So the search is on for a used landscape rake.



Adrian Stewart

Dr Richardson and vet assistant Anita were on the farm today to do a series of tasks. Firstly we checked the umbilical hernia on one of the little boys and that is healing fine as expected and should be totally closed within the next few days. Which is good news.
We also did an ultrasound scan on the pregnant girls and all is well on that front.
Finally our female that was exposed to toxoplasmosis some weeks ago is still in quarantine and we drew blood in order that we might check that the titer is stabilizing. The lab won’t be able to process and get back to us until the end of the month owing to the holiday. Dr Richardson also took a smear sample.
The alpaca herd as a whole is looking pretty healthy at the moment and Dr Richardson and I have just completed putting together a comprehensive list of vaccines and other protocols that we will be using from now on. I wil post this as an article to the web site library rather than put onto the web Blog.

Adrian Stewart

As the new alpaca loafing sheds will be here any day now we need to increase the number of feeding troughs we have. The previous design has worked so well that I am simply going to follow that again with no modification. Essentially, it is a 20 foot length of 8 inch culvert cut in half and then cut into 5 foot lengths, each attached to a wooden frame.
While I am at the lumberyard, I intend to buy some other wood to build small lids over the hay feeders just to keep off the worst of the rain. But I first need to design something simple.
The alpaca market is now slowing down for the winter months and everyone appears to be focusing on getting their tax position optimised so there is little activity in the market place.

Adrian Stewart

Having replaced all the rubber hoses that feed the alpaca water troughs with vinyl hoses I am now struggling to get them insulated the black colored insulation appears to be a tasty snack for alpacas and much of what I installed earlier in the year was nibbled away.
I switched to the type of insulation that is used on copper pipe it’s a different color and I am not at all sure if it’s a different compound. Anyway for now I am using a deer repellent spray to keep the alpacas off the foam insulation.
The longer term solution will involve using the plastic tree wraps that the local vineyards put on young vines to protect them. These are very inexpensive at about 80 cents each easy to install and easy to remove if we need to.
In deepest winter this insulation will help keep the water flowing but if the water in the pipe does freeze then the insulation works against you and holds the cold in, which means the pipes take much longer to thaw.

(pictures to follow)


Adrian Stewart

Today is the annual general meeting of the State of Jefferson Alpaca Association.
That means the result of the members ballot which I am delighted to say sees me starting a second term as president. I guess I must be doing something right!

In the general meeting we talked about what would happen in an emergency. So for example if your farm is flooded and you have to evacuate all your animals to a neighbouring farm. Or a wild fire where you and your neighbours have to be evacuated.

At the meeting we started to build a roster of farms that could keep animals and how many plus a list of members with trailers and how many animals they can carry. In a short space of time we had put together a simple plan that would be of real benefit.

There is still plenty of work to be done but it is growing into a real benefit of SoJAA membership that you can tap into this network. All credit to member Diana Schultz who prepared and gave the talk. Something each affiliate should be thinking about.

Adrian Stewart

You can always tell when Thanksgiving is almost upon us. Firstly the radio and TV are awash with features on how to cook turkey without giving your in-laws food poisoning, an irrational fear that apparently grips most American wives it according to the media.

And the second indicator that Thanksgiving is almost here is the arrival of the AOBA paperwork for the Farm and Ranch Guide.



The Farm and Ranch Guide is the definitive list of alpaca farms in North America. So new people to the industry use it to locate and plan farm visits which we know usually end in the buying of some alpacas.
Experienced alpaca breeders also carry a copy in their car at all times either so that they can swing by an alpaca farm anywhere they may happen to be and turn the trip into a tax deductible business trip.
Or should they have the misfortune to breakdown while towing a trailer full of alpacas they can locate the nearest alpaca farm who might just be able to help them out.

Being in the guide is just about essential in my view and costs around $500. However, having a full page color ad is optional and at $2000 or more a little expensive for my tastes.

Personally I would sooner spend the $2000 buying the AOBA sales leads. That's the names and addresses of all those people who have expressed an interest in alpacas and been mailed a copy of the Farm and Ranch Guide.

Well no risk of turkey poisoning at our house. I put the range on auto clean today and the glass door on the oven imploded....I call it divine intervention and we will now be dining out for Thanksgiving.

Adrian Stewart

As you may know I have been debating what to do about building some three sided shelters so that the alpacas can have some protection from the worst of the winter and summer weather.

I was on the brink of buying what are called animal hutches which are constructed from a metal frame and synthetic sheeting. They looked fairly good value but coming from the east coast meant that the shipping was enormous. Which is kind of what made me hesitate.

This morning I was sat in the vets reception room with one of our cats (don't ask!) and started to read a horse owners magazine and saw an advert by a company called Noble Panels.

A quick search on the Internet followed by a phone call had me talking to my local agent about 45 minutes away and agreeing a price for two loafing sheds and all the other relevant materials.



The sheds are supplied as a frame with no sides or roof. However the local agent priced up the supply of the wooden sides and metal roof plus concrete pads for the base and agreed to deliver the whole lot next week. All of which was very impressive and I bought two over the phone.

Now selling sheds isn't exactly like selling alpacas but I learnt a timely reminder from Vern about the power of going that extra mile to make the whole deal bigger, better and easier. Maybe for alpaca breeders that means building in more services around the sale of the animal.

Anyway food for thought while I build the loafing sheds.

Adrian Stewart