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We heard from different people,
who enjoy theses beautiful animals, that they wished
the alpacas would be more approachable; no cornering
in the barn to put on a halter; no shying away from
the hand, - just tamer! We did a lot of research and
changed our training program!
We want to be sure a new owner will be able
to handle their alpacas and include a
training workshop in our sales package.
I remember how overwhelmed I felt sometimes
in our first year as alpaca owner. Therefore we include the first year shearing
for any new owner
within a reasonable distance from our farm and
assistance with nails, teeth and shots.
We are very fond of our boys and girls and maybe a
little overprotective. It is more like putting them up
for adoption. Therefore it is very important to us
that they find good homes and we have certain
requirements that have to be met before we
let them go. We want to keep them safe and
healthy, even after they left our care.
Alpacas ready for Adoption
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Skye was born July 1, 2009, a real Canadian
girl. She came to our farm as a cria on the
side with her mother
Luise and her brother
Browny in the fall of 2009. Luise and
Browny had not
been sheared in the spring or had any shots or
toe nail trimming. We were glad to able to
give them the proper care they needed.
When we started Skye's training in the
summer of 2010 we were amazed how quickly she
learned. She is not the leader in the field,
but the leader of her class.
She stayed close to her mother even after
her baby sister
Rosy
was born. At first I was worried that she
might be jealous of her sister, but she was
very gentle with Rosy and helped looking after
her.
She has no papers, but is definitely 100%
Canadian alpaca.
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Daisy is quite a character. She was the
ring leader of the 2009 crias and pestered any
alpaca she possibly could. Very independent
and spoiled rotten. Maybe her birth had
something to do with it. Here the entry from
our farm log:
Tuesday, June 2nd 2009
Lots of excitement today. I was on a day long field trip
with Michael's class and we were scheduled back at the school for
5:00 pm. 3:30 I get a phone call from Shirely Miller, our real
estate agent, that she had gotten a page that our alpacas are out
and running. I am able to get a ride back to the school, hope in
the car and fly back to the farm. Anna beat me home by 5 minutes,
there is big truck parked down the road, the driver standing
on the road, Anna racing back from the barn, hollering Mummy,
Mummy the alpacas are in the field and there is a new born cria in
the ditch! Took us a while to sort everything out. Mum and cria
are fine. I am ever so greatfull to the truck driver that alarmed
us. Totally missed to ask for his name. If you ever read this -
thank your for you help and kindness from the bottom of my heart.
Lucky for this cria that it was a girl,
otherwise I would have called it Ditch. But
this beautiful white girl deserved a beautiful
name.
Daisy is on the shy but very curious. If
there is an open gate or something left behind
in the pasture, she is the first one to check
it out. Usually she startles about her own
courage and hides behind who ever followed her
into this adventure. She learns at a steady
paste and will be a wonderful companion to any
owner who can gain her trust.
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Lizzy, or Beth as Anna insists on calling
her, comes from our main breeding line on
our farm,
Sheena and
Black Star. Her confirmation is perfect
and the fiber from her first shearing in May
2010 was wonderful soft, long and lots; as it
was expected. Lizzy can be registered easily,
as both her parents are registered.
Lizzy is the 4th alpaca born from this line
and most interestingly they all show similar
behaviours. They are all strong willed and
don't like to do what they are told! I assume
that comes from both sides, as Sheena is the
matriarch of the female herd and Black Star
was the herd leader for the last 5 years.
However, with lots of patience and a very
gentle approach she is learning steadily.
She is wonderful and I have no doubt has
the trades of a future matriarch in her. She
is not registered yet, but can be if required.
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Joe is the first cria from
Sleets line. Sleet is a white male and we
had hoped at the time that this would
influence the crias colour, because all the
crias born before had
Sheena's colour. But Sheena came through
again and he was brown.
Joe is a quiet and gentle male. He has the
stubbornness of Sheena's line and taught us a
major lesson about training alpacas. When we
started to train him, he decided to live up to
his name's sake "G.I. Joe" and threw himself
into the air and landed heavy on his back. He
was ok but he sure scared the heck out of me.
This triggered a back to the books for us and
learn much, much more of how to train alpacas.
He is learning well now and my vision is to have
him and his brother, Jack, who looks almost
identical, pull a little cart together.
He is not registered yet, but can be if
required.
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Dawn comes also from our main breeding line on
our farm,
Sheena and
Black Star. She got her name because she
was born outside the usual birthing time from
9:00 am this 4:00 pm. She was born probably
around 6:00 am.
Dawn herself is a mother of three,
Ruby,
Jack
and Mac. She learned very well from her mother
Sheena and is very attentive to her crias. And
like her mother she tries to hide the birthing
from me. Her tactic is to get if over fast.
She delivered Jack and Mac within 15 minutes.
The time it took me to run back to the house,
alarm the family, grab the camera and get back
to the pasture. Ruby we just found sitting
beside her one sunny afternoon.
She is not registered yet, but can be if
required.
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Ruby was a surprise cria. We did not know that
her mother
Dawn
was pregnant. I call her Ruby Fencejumper, as
I don't know who her sire is. I have some
ideas, but did not do a paternity test.
She has a beautiful reddish tint to her brown,
which she had from Sheena's line. She was very
scared when I started training her but is
progressing steadily from "sitting down, I
don't want any part of it" to following on the
lead.
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Jack's dame is
Dawn
and sire is
Sleet and he looks like a twin to his
older brother
Joe
who was also sired by Sleet.
Jack is part of the first group we started
to train following our new structured
training program.
He was a wonderful "guinea pig" and we learned
ourselves along side him. He passed his level
1 without problems and is working on his level
2.
My vision is to have him and his brother,
Joe, pull a little cart together, level 3 of
the training program.
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We are not all decided yet if Rusty is for
sale or not. We bought him at an exotic
Livestock exchange because we felt sorry for
him. They claimed he was six month old but he
sure did not look look taller then any of our
3 months old crias. I don't think he should
have been weaned and away from his mother yet.
However, he developed excellent and is fun to train. He jumps over the
little creek and hopes into the trailer with such grace. He is not daring, overly shy or
stubborn. He is developing into a very down to earth, normal alpaca. His cria fibre was
excellent and the second year fibre is already long and thick. I am looking forward
to get my hands on his next fleece.
So, if we ever sold him
we would have to make sure that we have his blood line in our herd, even so he is not registered.
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Browny is another one where we are not sure if we can let him go to another place. He came from a hobby farm
and had not been properly taken care of. Also by now he is two years old, he is the same size as the
yearlings. His mother and sisters are regular size and therefore I am not sure if he is so small because
of lack of care or if he is just a small fellow.
His training went perfect and he is learning quickly. He does behave like a fully grown alpaca and maybe
his smaller size makes him double adorable. I was thinking of maybe looking for a small female as well
and see if we can raise miniature alpacas.
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