A handful of days at sub zero temperatures finally took their toll and fractured a couple of joints on the alpaca watering system.



This fracture occurred in the night and the water covered the fence and the drinking trough in a spectacular display of ice....quite amazing.
Once everything thaws I am sure we will discover yet more damage.

Meanwhile we are keeping the water troughs stocked with tepid water both to help prevent freezing and to stop any alpacas going too long without having a drink. You see alpacas much prefer tepid drinking water to ice cold water. But I bet you knew that anyway, didn't you?

Adrian Stewart

I was very surprised and disappointed to hear from one of our fellow alpaca farmers in the UK that two cria had been stolen from a farm in the county of Hampshire, England.
The seven-month-old cria were taken from Tunworth Farm, sometime between Wednesday afternoon and Thursday morning.

Police fear the thieves may plan to sell the pair as alpacas with pedigree documents can be worth anything up to £1,000 each.

Graham Reed, a director of The British Alpaca Society told reporters: "They are at a wean-able age but at this time of year when the weather is horrible they do tend to shut down and will pine for their mother.

If I hear any more news I will post it in the Blog.

I have to believe its a one off crime as I can't imagine anyone who would buy alpacas without the correct documentation. Lets hope the thieves return the cria once they realise there is no ready market for theses animals.

Adrian Stewart

Travelling in California back on Monday.

Adrian Stewart

Travelling in California back on Monday.

Adrian Stewart

Macario who helps me out in the mornings is a real star. Always here come rain or shine and never stops working from the moment he arrives until the moment he leaves.

When he first started working with me I explained about scooping the poop and why this was so important. As a result he is almost religious about picking up the poop.

Now this morning it was about minus 12 degrees F and Macario was out there scooping frozen poop and making sure the alpaca water troughs were free from ice.

I was of course still hiding inside with a hot cup of tea...being the coward I am when it comes to sub zero temperatures....

Which is when I saw him deftly pick up the poop rake, turn it upside down and break the ice with the handle then carefully flip it back and scoop out the ice with the poop covered rake!!



Adrian Stewart

A freezing temperature overnight meant that the schools all started two hours later this morning.

Mac brought up the male alpacas and we did the usual toenails weighing and health check.

Most of the boys were overweight even though there is virtually no goodness in the grass at the moment and they are hardly eating any hay. Alpacas can survive on thin air they really can. Dr Chris Cebra from OSU said that they took a group of geldings and put them onto 25% of their normal nutritional requirements and after 28 days they had only lost 3% of their body weight....



The boys toenails were much longer than the girls toe nails and the only ifference is that the girls use a barn that has a concrete floo. Another great benefit of having a concrete floor in your barn....for alpacas its like walking on a giant emery board.

Adrian Stewart

As you can see from the picture the color camera is really small but well protected from alpaca spit as it is designed for outdoor use.



Still need to test in the heat of battle but so far it looks pretty good.

This morning we weighed the females who are all overweight and checked their toe nails. It was snowing so the girls were really wet and cold so my timing couldn't have been worse.

Adrian Stewart

We don't have any goats on the alpaca farm but for some reason we named a strip of land that we don't use Goat Alley.

I think we were always planning to throw some goats in there one day and get them to eat the various bushes and brambles that are thriving.

While I was away Macario decided that Goat Alley was now a priority and has set to work with machete and chain saw to clear it all out. We have some Maple trees in there that we planted many months ago but apart from that I am not certain what we will do with this sort of no-mans land that we call Goat Alley!

I am still in debate about whether to give CDT or an 8 way injection this spring I was coming down on the side of the eight way when I read Norm Evans book and that has put me right off the 8 way.....hopefully Dr Richardson the vet will be able to talk me through the issues so that I can make a decision.

No rain today but the ground is still water logged and more rain and even snow are forecast for later in the week...oh Joy!!

Adrian Stewart

The alpaca symposium at UC Davis was excellent and at $110 for two days it must be the best value around by miles.

This year there where approximately 250 in attendance, including 45 from UC Davis (faculty and vet students). But more impressive there were 25 practicing Vets there to learn more about Camelids.
There were folks in attendance from AZ, UT, ID, WA, OR, NV, and of course California. They were all offered a chance to tour the facilities at Davis, and some were even able to observe Dr. Bravo doing a little procedure. At the closing vet panel there was Standing Room Only. So next year when the announcement goes out, be sure to get your registration in early, or you just may miss out. It is not often that you get the opportunity to present questions to 7 experienced Camilid Vets and listen to their responses.

We had three sets of lectures running concurrently delivered by 7 veterinarians.
Adamson, Mora, Bravo, Fowler, Cebra, Poppenga and Ing

Dr Chris Cebra from OSU in Oregon was amazing and a very popular speaker. Dr Walter Bravo from Ohio was equally impressive and must be one of the top experts on Camelid Reproduction. He must have been good as I spent $50 on his book which is packed with results from studies he has conducted in Peru, highly informative and dispels many of the alpaca myths that circulate around the industry.

My own vet Dr Leslie Richardson and the Vet Tech Anita went with me so I had company on the long drive and it was so good to be able to talk to my vet as the course went on.... so useful.

Back at the farm all is well and Jo has been very busy keeping everything going while I was away.

My mother is 88 today and my daughter Camilla passed her driving test aged 16 so we had plenty to celebrate.

Gifford the Australian sheep dog missed me - but thats to be expected !

Adian Stewart

I am away from the farm today back tomorrow.

Adrian Stewart

I am away from the farm today and tomorrow back on Monday.

Adrian Stewart

Today I am driving to UC Davis in California for the alpaca symposium. Back on Monday.

Adrian Stewart

I was browsing around Cost Co collecting various essential items the other day when I came across a great little product. A tiny color camera to mount on the back of your suv that transmits a picture (wireless) to a small color screen which plugs into the cigarette lighter. It was being sold as a safety product for when you are reversing.

The whole thing was only $80 - It was just what I had been looking for to put in the alpaca trailer so that I can keep an eye on the alpacas while driving, but everything I had seen up to this point was much more expensive.

My only doubt was would it be powerful enough to transmit a picture from the trailer to the front of the car? Slightly further than when everything is in the same vehicle.

The system is now installed in the alpaca trailer and works quite well. I haven't tested the system on the move yet so can't report back but I expect it will be fine having been designed for in-car installation.

Adrian Stewart

Hopefully, you have sent off all your receipts and bank statements to your accountant who is now beavering away compiling your tax return. Suddenly, you have time on your hands...well maybe not masses of time but lets just assume you have some time.

This is a great time to plan the year ahead assuming of course that you haven't already done so .

If you are still thinking about buying alpacas get yourself an up to date copy of the Alpaca Farm and Ranch Guide and plan some visits to alpaca farms....remember to keep the receipts for your accountant as these trips are like the alpacas themselves - tax deductible !

Click here and this link will take you to a web page on the AOBA site where you can order a copy of the Alpaca Farm and Ranch Guide.

If you want to look at some alpacas this weekend then click on this link and you can find a series of alpaca ranches near you simply by clicking on a map of the USA.

If you want to visit my farm then drop me a line adrian@mulberryalpacas.com

The Internet is so useful, don't you agree?

Only this morning I was swapping e-mails with one of my old colleagues Rob McComb who was working in the City of London, while I was working in Oregon - quite amazing. Of course my children assume there has always been an Internet.



Which leads me into the sort of planning you should be doing if you already own and breed alpacas. Having sorted out all your own breedings for 2007 (I know that you haven't) now is a great time to go through all those clients who bought pregnant alpacas from you in 2006.

Hopefully you will have a list somewhere on your PC of the alpacas, their expected due dates and the new owners. Now you have a list of prospective breed back dates...agreed?

Make sure your alpaca stud details are all up to date on your web site, availability, prices, ribbons, fibre stats and so forth then send those e-mails, two days later hit the phone and see how many breedings you sell for the coming year. I guarantee you will be pleasantly surprised.



Adrian Stewart

A few people have e-mailed following the piece I wrote about the Alpaca Owners and Breeders Association - Affiliates, asking who their nearest AOBA affiliate is:
Well if you click here it will take you to a list of all the affiliates with links to their various websites.

As I said previously its well worth joining an AOBA affiliate, the presidents of all the affiliates are part of the National Affiliate Congress which meets two times each year and represents the views of the affiliate members to the AOBA board on a continuous basis. Not all alpaca breeders are members of an affiliate and that of course means they will miss out on this "fast path" to the industries governing body.

I guess it depends whether you want to be passive or pro-active. If you want to be passive then join AOBA and enjoy the ride. If you want to be pro-active then join an affiliate and help crew the ship.

As I said before if there isn't an AOBA Affiliate near you then get together with some other farms and get one going.

Adrian Stewart