Recent Posts
Now Christmas is out of the way, I have a shed full of alpaca fleece to deal with.
I sell some fleeces from the farm gate, but most goes on the website and I sell it via Paypal. This has worked out pretty well, but it's a bit cumbersome and time-consuming to set up, specially at this time, when the pacas have just been shorn, so there's a ton of fleece to sort out and list.
I'll get to it though. We have different coloured alpacas here, so it's a bit more complicated than if we only had white alpacas, or all blacks (which is quite a trendy thing to do at the moment). Each alpaca fleece has a different feel too. The commercial ideal is every alpaca identical as that makes more sense from a business point of view, but my alpacas are just very cool lawn mowers, so I'm happy that they're all different. If I had a 1000 of the critters it would be a very different story I'm sure.
It's not such a chore, diving into that big pile of lovely soft alpaca fibre
(or fiber if you're in America  . I wouldn't mind finding a better shopping cart program to use for selling the fleece though. Paypal is good and it works fine, but something that isn't so clunky and tedious to set up would be better. I've tried Zencart and Oscommerce but they're really overkill for what I need. Something in-between the two would be perfect. If you know of one (preferably free, as that's a good price), let me know.
Likewise, if you'd like any lovely alpaca fleece to spin up for your winter woollies, or even to make a quilt for the bed (I have one, very nice!), we have fleeces for sale from very cheap seconds to exquisitely soft cria fleece.
I've been designing some cool Chrissy ornaments with photos of my alpacas. I've done some round ones and also oval-shaped ones. They're working out really well too as I have lots of close-up shots and they look great on the ornaments.
Some of my alpacas won't stand still at a distance for a photo, but come up and stick their faces right into the lens.
If you're quick you can get some really nice close-ups. Of course,if you miss the moment, you have to step back really quick, or you just end up with a blurry pic of an alpaca nostril. You might also get a snotty smear on your lens too if they decide to check out your camera physically - which some of them will do - not so good for the lens.
Anyway, the ornaments are coming along nicely and they've proven very popular in my store too. They're something a bit different and inexpensive too, so you can slip them into Christmas stockings.
I've got a bunch of different ones now, so check them out at my store.
We have a small problem. Actually, I'm not sure that it is a problem, just something I haven't come across before and I guess the alpacas will sort it out themselves.
Ol' Bob nursing two weanlings
Ol' Bob is a wether. That's a male who has been castrated. Also known as a gelding in the horse world, or a capona to some alpaca people. Ol' Bob's approximately 20 years old. We don't know exactly how old he is. We got him nearly 13 years ago and the guy we bought him from said he was "about 8".
Anyway, Ol' Bob's always been a bit of an "auntie" around the crias and young alpacas, fussing about them like an old woman. These days, he usually hangs around in the boys paddock so doesn't have a whole lot to do with the babies.
We weaned this year's male crias off their mums a few months back and put the two of them in with Ol' Bob and the other boys. Since then, the little guys have been hanging around with Bob. He appeared not to mind having two extra shadows everywhere he went and as he's quite a laid back, placid kind of guy, we were hoping these traits would rub off onto the youngsters.
One day I noticed that one of the boys was trying to nurse from Ol' Bob and he was under there for quite a while. Normally, an older alpaca would kick the youngster away if they did that, but while Ol' Bob looked a bit surprised and uncomfortable about it, he didn't kick the boy away or spit at him, he just stood there, just as a mother would when nursing her cria.
I didn't think much of it at the time as I figured he'd sort it out, but then I started noticing both the young boys nursing from Ol' Bob and Ol' Bob looking quite pleased about it.
Now I'm not sure whether I should take the youngsters away from Ol' Bob or simply let them get on with it. Apart from this weird activity, all three alpacas seem healthy and well adjusted. I don't want to go anthropomorphizing, but it just doesn't seem right for an aged, castrated male to be letting two very young boys do that.
For now I think I'll give Ol' Bob the benefit of the doubt and assume he's just being the doting auntie and taking good care of his charges. If it keeps up for too long, I'll put the boys back in with their mums, they'll sort them out quick smart, with a massive spit to the back of the head.
Ol' Auntie Bob
So many people ask me about the weird noises that alpacas make that I thought it justifies another post on the subject.
People are taught animal sounds when they're growing up; cows moo, ducks quack and horses neigh etc. but until fairly recently, outside of South America, most people had never heard of alpacas, let alone heard the sounds they make
[ Click here to read more ]
It's wet! By Jove it - is - wet! Now, we're in a pretty lush area, there's no question about that, with plenty of all-year streams, dams and springs that never ever dry up. But this winter has been unbelievable.
The first rains were wonderful. They sprinkled water down which ran across the dry paddocks and down the creeks. They even started to fill the tanks
[ Click here to read more ]
Been away for a while, but I noticed that Alpaca Notes hasn't disappeared off the radar, so I thought I'd drop in with an update.
We lost our lovely Daizi. Not sure what happened, just went out one morning and found her lying dead in the paddock. Very sad, as she was an alpaca I really liked, I could cuddle her and she'd come up and cluck at me like she clucked at her crias
[ Click here to read more ]
Theres not much thats bad about having alpacas. OK, picking up alpaca poo is a bit of a chore, but that can all go on the garden and it grows lovely plants and veggies for you.
Shearing day is pretty arduous and can leave you feeling stiff and sore from man person handling pacas and sorting all that fleece (particularly if youre a bit of a sloth who doesnt do much exercise
[ Click here to read more ]
Ive decided to wean Emily off Alice. Emilys six months old now and shes a big girl, so well and truly able to survive without her mum now.
Emily
[ Click here to read more ]
Heres Magic. Hes now 4 months old but is already as big (or bigger) than a couple of the 6 month olds. Magic is from my beautiful girl Maralyn who is a lovely calm natured alpaca. Magic is a friendly little guy and hes soooooo soft! He may well be stud potential, hes already looking fantastic (and he knows it).
Alpaca - Magic
[ Click here to read more ]
|
|
|
Add Comments
Read More
Comments (1)
Comment by Rosemary
on The Green Dream . . . .
Alpaca Notes - Tasmania
It's the hardest decision ever and the day we dread.
She's up there in the stars. Take care and give yourself lots of time. R.