Alpaca Western Extravaganza

Once again another great alpaca show has come and gone. It was an exciting weekend at the Alpaca Western Extravagana in Ridgefield, WA.

The show was held at the Clark County Event Center. Many large well established breeders were there which made for an exciting and competetive show. AWE is a difficult show to ribbon in due to the number of outstanding alpacas present. You're always up against stiff competition in the ring.

So enough of that.. how'd we do? We decided to only show 3 of our younger suris at AWE this year as well as 2 fleeces in the fleece show. Here are the alpacas and the results:

LCA Zurie - 1st place, Best Luster, Best Lock - Fleece Show

Ricaro - 3rd place fleece show

Cortez - 3rd place halter show

Vallejo - 3rd place halter show





There it is... next stop.. CABA!


cheers,

Newaukum Creek Alpacas

Sold our Tuco Today

Tuco gets a new home. Congratulations to Kaylee Davidson!

Tuco has been a very nice alpaca to have around our farm. Very calm personality and good with the other alpacas. Tuco is a very nice Peruvian Glacial Storm son.

I'm sure he'll make a great addition to his new owners herd and we wish him and his new owners all the best.

cheers,

Newaukum Creek Alpacas

... halter training continues and hopefully I'll be able to get some pictures and update my previous post soon!

Halter Training Young Alpacas

Show season is upon us!

Normally alpaca breeders will begin halter training quite some time before an upcoming show which they plan on attending. However as we all know, time slips away!

We've found that halter training can actually be lots of fun and doesn't have to be overly stressful on the young alpacas. It's really all about how you approach it. Make it fun! Some important factors in halter training are...

1. Reinforce good behaviour with a reward. We keep a handful of treats (orchard grass pellets or grain) in the pocket and give them a small nibble everytime they take a step in the right direction. It's really amazing how fast they learn.

2. Keep the training sessions short. We never work with any one alpaca more than 5 to 10 minutes.

3. Work in an aisleway not out in an open pasture. If you have a large enough barn, plan on walking them up and down the barns aisleway.

4. Make sure their halter is fitted correctly. This is very important! They won't behave if it isn't.

5. Be patient! Dont' get mad and when they misbehave, just give them plenty of lead and wait till they calm down, then begin again. You might even end up with one that takes off vertically like a bottle rocket the first time the halter is put on him. Dont' get discouraged, just be calm and let them bounce around until they calm down which they will. Remember, with some you might not see any real progress until after several sessions.
Also remember to keep them away from posts or other things which they can hurt themselves on while they're jumping about.

For the most part alpacas are very intelligent and will get it pretty quickly.

How about some halter training pix? I'll try to get some during upcoming sessions and add them to this post. Stay tuned!

cheers,

Newaukum Creek Alpacas

Raising Alpacas On A Budget

Alpaca breeding is a high dollar industry and unfortunately many small to medium sized farms are having a difficult time given the current economic difficulties. So, we're thinking.. what can we do to help out. Why would we want to help? Does the success of other farms affect us? Of course it does.

Everyone in this industry is relying on it's continued growth. When I say growth I mean primarily as a fiber industry (which it is) and also growth in terms of new breeders coming on board.

Beside the purchase of breeding males and females, the next big ticket item are breedings themselves. This is where cost sometimes affects good judgement. Good high quality breedings are not cheap but trying to save a few bucks and breeding to inferior males will be far more costly to a breeder in the long run! If you can't afford a high quality breeding then you're better off leaving your dam open for the season until next year.

As a breeder with focus on quality and improvement, we have only ever bred our dams to males with the genetics you expect for the several thousand dollars the breedings cost. The results have been very positive indeed!

So back to the original questions. We've answered 2 of them but how can we help. As a new direction to our breeding business we've decided to make 2 for 1 breedings a permanent  facet of our business. This will significantly reduce the costs for small farms on a budget and at the same time give them the quality they must have. We're still working out the details but basically: buy a breeding and get a "paid in full" receipt for a second breeding to the same or different male. The second breeding can be used immediately or any time within the next 12 months.

This year we've added 3 outstanding males to our herdsire program. These are males we will be breeding our own dams to as well. We also have several junior herdsires in our lineup for next season.

These are males with Accoyo genetics and have been sired by some of the best in the country! More to come...

cheers,

Newaukum Creek Alpacas

Ricaro - Accoyo America Triumph son (14 microns)

Pere Ubu - MSA Hemingway's Tequila son

LCA Kharuso - Snowmass Grand Marnier son

Alpaca Birthing Pictures Sequence

I've re-added the alpaca birthing pictures sequence. This is a sequence showing a textbook birth. It's good for new owners to have a good idea what to expect during an alpaca birth. Check it out HERE!

Oh, remember it's also a good idea to have a vet handy in case of complications.

cheers,

Newaukum Creek Alpacas

Alpaca Show Season and More

Show season is upon us again and the excitement is starting to build.
Our first show this season will be Alpacapalooza, first weekend in April, and we're still in the planning stages of which other shows to attend. Almost definitely AWE and CABA. We'll see what others.

Spring will be here soon and the busy time of year for all alpaca farms will begin. There's so much to do, but hey it's fun!

Alpaca shows, pasture maintainance, shearing and other odd jobs around the alpaca farm. Oh, don't forget about the best part, new alpaca cria arrivals. Yes, alpaca birthing season will also be upon us soon!

This is where the real rewards of raising alpacas comes from. Watching the new little alpacas getting to know one another and playing together. Nope, never moving back to the city!!!
 
cheers,

Newaukum Creek Alpacas