I mentioned yesterday how alpacas are nothing if not curious. What occurred to me today is that alpacas also get into a routine like most pets and livestock.

What this means is that if you feed them in the barn at 3.30 every afternoon then most days they will be there waiting for you...unless something has captured their curiosity which as I said yesterday overrides just about everything.



A rare picture of myself in action with the alpacas. As I take just about all the photographs its not often that I make it onto any of the photographs.

The ground is still too wet to start work on the pastures using the tractor so its a case of getting some other tasks out of the way.

The bee hives are now all painted and ready to go back outside.

In the winter I let the alpacas graze in the hay field but now that spring is just around the corner its time to move the electric fence away and keep them out.

Only two months now until shearing and the fleeces are really starting to fill out.

The local affiliate is having a fibre seminar in the near future and we will be donating some of last years fleeces as samples to be used in the workshop part of the seminar.

Adrian Stewart

Alpacas are one of the most curious creatures I have ever come across.

Just today I sold some of the rocks from our fields to a guy who builds stone walls.

He arrived in his truck to collect the rocks and within seconds the girls were out of the barn, leaving behind their pellets, to race down to the other end of the field and watch the rocks get loaded.



You can of course use this behavior to your advantage and simply go sit in their pasture and read a book...they will be unable to resist coming over to sniff your hair and maybe even tug at your clothes.

So don't chase alpacas all over the place in order to get close....all you have to do is play hard to get and they will come to you. I am sure they would enjoy watching paint dry the first time they saw it.


Adrian Stewart

We just received this e-mail update on the alpaca socks to Iraq campaign.

Mike Coleman wanted to thank everyone who has contributed so generously to his simple request for "some warm alpaca socks"!!

Mikes proud mother Barbara says

"As of today, he has received and distributed to fellow soldiers,
over 2,000 pairs of alpaca socks!!!

THANK YOU, THANK YOU, THANK YOU!!! The
response from our alpaca community has been tremendous, unselfish and very
caring. We know that a lot of you have family or friends or maybe just
know of someone who has family or friends, deployed right now."




Adrian Stewart

We are still below where we need to be for irrigation water reserves. So although I hate saying it "We really do need some more water".



Emigrant Lake is our main source of irrigation water and right now a quick check on the Internet shows the lake to be about 64% full. So just a shade under 2/3rds of full capacity. Full capacity is about 39 million gallons.

We also need more snow on the mountain to keep the skiing going and to provide enough melt to make the spring rafting exciting. But that's another story and nothing to do with alpaca farming.

Adrian Stewart

The day started fairly well the temperature had stayed high overnight and as a result the valley was full of dense fog, up on the hill where we live we are above the fog and in the sunshine..



I had been working on converting an open porch into an enclosed boot/mud room and finally completed the insulation below the decking today. Tis is the last stage of the project so I was very pleased to be able to tick off another project from the list of chores to be done around the farm.

The alpacas are doing well browsing around the short winter grass and dipping into the hay whenever they get the inclination.

Our Valentines day promotion is attracting plenty of traffic but no takers so far....we really need a nice piece of editorial in an up market magazine or maybe one of those concierge services that wealthy people turn to when they don't have the time to book holidays or buy gifts themselves.

Click here for details of the Valentines day project.

Adrian Stewart

The Ideal Alpaca Community has started a regular Newsletter called imaginatively the" IAC Newsletter".....for my sins I volunteered to be the guest editor. Well it can only help raise the profile of our ranch as it goes to about 25,000 subscribers which is pretty impressive in this industry.

Last night was time for the IAC Newsletter to be sent out. But by some dreadful error my e-mail address became the address where any spam filter bounce backs were sent....so you can imagine what happened to my in box.....

Sometimes things are so bad you just can't talk about them because it will not do any good or change anything. This event falls into that category....

But I digress there were three good articles in the newsletter:

• Customer Service in the Alpaca Industry – Robert Yancey
• Elements of a Successful Alpaca Website – Lisa Banks
• Effectively Utilizing and Optimizing Your IAC Web Space and Your
Farm’s Site – Pat Reuning


The newsletter will get posted onto the IAC site very soon so if you are interested you can find it there.

IAC website click here

It looks like Gifford my Australian Shepherd may have a food allergy.

He develped a skin rash last summer and scratched himself crazy, but then it healed up.

At the time I blamed it on playing in the irrigation water.

But now Gifford is showing severe signs of an allergic reaction and its only just February so I have to ssume its his diet.

I was delighted to discover that you can take a blood sample from your dog and send it away where it will be tested against 92 known causes of allergic reaction. The test panels have been developed for cats, dogs and horses so far.

You can check it out at their website www.vetallergy.com

It takes around two weeks to get the results and then you have to hope you get a clear indication of what the problem is. Lets hope it solves his irritation.

The weather has turned wet again so we were stuck indoors doing various bits and pieces while the we waited for the rain to pass.

Adrian Stewart

The kick-off meeting for AlpacaMania 2007 is today in Medford. This is when the various chairs get together for the first time and start to plan out the show.

AlpacaMania is the local Alpaca show organised by the local AOBA affiliate State of Jefferson Alpaca Association. (SoJAA). I am currently the president of SoJAA so am heavily involved in the planning and execution of what is now a level III alpaca show.



Hope to see you in our next
Level III Show
October 19-21, 2007


Adrian Stewart

When we designed the farm we created a roadway, which we call the Gallops, that runs through the property and connects all the pastures. This is handy for getting around without having to pass through one field to get to another and also for moving alpacas from one field to another.

Today we finally completed the last section by laying degenerated granite (DG) on the last section.

The Gallops are quite wide and we designed it that way so that you can actually turn a tractor around in one movement, which helps make life easier and saves on damage to the fences which tends to occur when there is a lot of reversing to and fro in order to turnaround.

Transporting the DG using the gator and the front bucket on the tractor feels like it is going to take forever, but after acouple of hours it feels like we are slowly but surely making progress.

Evenbtually we have enough DG on te ground and I use the chain harrow rather than the landscape rake to level everything out.

Its not Interstate smooth but its pretty good.

Adrian Stewart

Being on the west coast means that our start time for Super Bowl is approximately 3.30pm so there is very little excuse not to get out on the alpacas for at least a few hours and do some chores.

I don't intend to make farming sounds like its a chore. But when you farm 24/7 its always good to get some time off now and again.

The female alpacas and cria are all well and no matter how poor the grass they always find something to chew on.

The male alpacas need less food given that they aren't providing milk or developing a healthy cria....whereas as most of the female alpacas are doing all three for 6 months or so.

Gifford has developed a spirited chasing game with on of our gelded boys. It gives Gifford great pleasure to slow down as though he is about to caught then at the very last minute he gives a quick glance over his shoulder and applies just a fraction more speed...

If you have perfect alpaca pastures then this will be of little interest to you. If on the other hand your alpaca pastures are like mine then you will be pleased to hear that now is the perfect time to start grooming them.

The grass and all other growth should be at something of an all time low so this is an ideal time to walk through the pasture and pull up any rocks that would either damage the mower or twist an ankle. How big is big? Well I don't rightly know, but if the rock would fit in your mouth then its too small to worry about. (Do not try to put rocks in your mouth, its just to help you visualise).

This is also a great time to pull weeds that have totally dried out over the winter and which will stick to your alpacas fleece.

At this time of year we create burn piles for all the weeds and brambles which we can light on the 1st of March providing there is enough air flow through the valley to maintain the air quality index...



Adrian Stewart

You will recall that in a previous Blog entry I mentioned that the local alpaca farmers had grouped together and were sending a consignment of alpaca socks to the US troops in Iraq.

Well in less time than it takes to get a letter to the UK from Oregon almost 700 pairs of alpaca socks arrived in Iraq.






Adrian Stewart

I have been working on the idea of an alpaca based product for Valentines Day for some time and today we "launched " the idea unto an unsuspecting press. So read on, here is what was sent to almost 2000 "lifestyle journalists".

A Unique and Exclusive, Hand Crafted, All Natural Valentines Gift

For the first time ever you can adopt a beautiful American alpaca and for each of the next three years the alpaca fleece from your adopted alpaca will be spun into a beautiful soft yarn. Then one of our talented fibre artists will transform that yarn into a “one of a kind” alpaca garments just for you.

After shearing each summer your valentine will be sent pictures of the adopted alpaca, together with a sample of the exquisite alpaca fleece and yarn.

They can then select a design of their choice or simply send an image of a knitted garment which they would like made.

One of our fibre artists will hand knit the garment of their choice using the yarn produced from their very own alpaca fleece.

Their adopted alpaca will be fully cared for at all times by experienced alpaca farmers. The alpacas are resident in Southern Oregon so you can even call by and say hello.

Alpacas
Alpacas produce one of the world's finest and most luxurious natural fibers. It is clipped from the animal without causing it injury. Soft as cashmere and warmer, lighter and stronger than wool, it comes in more colors than any other fiber producing animal (approximately 22 basic colors with many variations and blends).This cashmere-like fleece, once reserved for Incan royalty, is now grown in North America and is much sought after.

For more information on this unique gift contact
Adrian Stewart on 1-541-944-8895 or
e-mail at Adrian@mulberryalpacas.com
Or visit www.mulberryalpacas.com/carewear.php