May 6, 2013
April 29, 2013
Friendly Farm Fun at Windrush Alpacas!
Bring your family, your 4-H or scout group, or even your classmates to our next monthly Open Farm Day Event and Farm Store Shopping Experience!
On Saturday, May 11, 2013 between 10 a.m. and 3 p.m. Windrush Alpacas will be open to the public. Spend some time meeting our friendly alpaca, participating in some educational demonstrations, and shopping for fun alpaca fiber products in our store.
For crafters we offer yarns, roving and needle felting kits. We have toys for children and pets, too, as well as alpaca fiber bird-nesting balls which are a great way to supply our feathered friends with great nest-building material!
Learn why alpaca fleece is highly sought after and the process the raw fibers go through to become a usable product to be made into luxurious items.
One trip here and you’ll be hooked!
We always offer free admission, free parking and free refreshments.
For more information, call us at 575-683-5177 or visit our website at http://www.windrushalpacas.com. Also, you can Like us on Facebook at www.facebook.com/WindrushAlpacas and shop online at http://www.windrushalpacas.com/store/ and sign up for our newsletter!
April 8, 2013
April 1, 2013
There’s nothing cuter than an alpaca in full fleece!
Windrush Alpacas are wearing a year’s worth of fluffy fleece…but not for long! This Open Farm Day Event will be your last chance to see them in their winter coats before they get sheared for the warm months of summer!
On Saturday, April 13, 2013 between 10 a.m. and 3 p.m. will be the Windrush Alpacas Open Farm Day Event and Farm Store Shopping Experience. Come out to our farm — bring your kids and bring your parents — and spend a couple of hours meeting our friendly alpaca!
Learn why alpaca fleece is super soft, warmer than wool and highly sought after. We’ll explain the shearing procedure and the process the raw fibers go through to become a usable product to be made into luxurious items for human (and pet) comfort.
We’ll also take you on a guided pasture tour and perform some demonstrations to educate you on the wonderful world of alpaca farming. Then you can browse our Farm Store collection of alpaca products–some items made from our very own alpacas–including alpaca fiber bird-nesting balls which are great for spring birds! And if you’re a crafter, we also offer yarns, roving, batting and needle felting kits.
We always offer free admission, free parking and free refreshments.
For more information, call us at 575-683-5177 or visit our website at http://www.windrushalpacas.com. Also, you can Like us on Facebook at www.facebook.com/WindrushAlpacas and shop online at http://www.windrushalpacas.com/store/ and sign up for our newsletter!
March 27, 2013
Athena turns 6!
Join us in celebrating Athena’s 6th birthday! She celebrates her big day on March 28th!
March 21, 2013
Asteroid’s 9th Birthday!
Everybody who has ever come to Windrush Alpacas, has met and adores Asteroid! He’s a friendly fellow and likes to give kisses and doesn’t mind being touched if he isn’t wearing a halter. Well, March 22nd is his 9th birthday and we hope you’ll send some birthday wishes his way!
Happy Birthday Asteroid!
February 25, 2013
March Open Farm Day…coming soon!
Spring is such a beautiful time of year as new grass and buds begin popping. To celebrate the season, Windrush Alpacas is offering a Breath of Spring yarn with soft green tones for sale and invites you and your family to come out to our farm to meet the alpacas who made it.
Visit Windrush Alpacas on Saturday, March 9, 2013 between 10 a.m. and 3 p.m. during our monthly Open Farm Day Event and Farm Store Shopping Experience. Glance through our inventory of other alpaca fiber yarn items such as the most comfortable socks and slippers you could ever put on your feet as well as soft scarves and wraps, mittens, and hats. Alpaca fiber is warmer than wool yet lighter in weight and has a softness that’s comparable to cashmere. It’s naturally lanolin free and does not feel prickly against your skin so that people who are sensitive to wool can usually wear alpaca. That’s wonderful!
If you want to take home more than a piece of fashionable clothing, sign up for our Adopt-a-Paca Program and sponsor an alpaca for a year! Receive a glossy photo, pen pal letters, and other goodies all year long!
Then take a tour of our Alpaca Farm and learn about alpacas and what they’re really like. This is an event that can be enjoyed by your whole family… from toddlers to teens to great-grandparents!
We always offer free admission, free parking and free refreshments. Come join us! We look forward to meeting you.
For more information, call us at 575-683-5177 or visit our website at http://www.windrushalpacas.com. Also, you can Like us on Facebook at www.facebook.com/WindrushAlpacas and shop online at http://www.windrushalpacas.com/store/ and sign up for our newsletter!
Even alpacas like to have friends
A question was posted recently on one of the online alpaca groups I belong to:
“Do alpacas make friends and if so do they remember those friends if they are separated and meet up again?”
The answer from alpaca owners was a resounding “Yes”. There were many mentions of alpacas who bonded with other alpacas, some were related others not. Stories of alpacas recognizing past friends at shows or when they met up at farms were also recounted.
Over the years we have witnessed the strong bonds that alpacas form with each other. Certainly alpacas recognize their own family groups and seem to have stronger bonds with those alpacas (except for our alpaca Queen, for as far as Queen is concerned once those crias are weaned they are on their own!). But it is not only family ties that bind alpacas together, they definitely also make friends.
We recently witnessed an example of this when we moved the two boys in our current weaning group, Patton and Leo, over to the Junior Males pen. Patton and Leo were part of a group that consisted of five boys and seven girls. Three of the boys Sentry, MacArthur and Espresso were moved over to the Junior Males pen a few months ago, but we decided to keep Leo and Patton back in the weanling pen for a little longer. Patton was small for his age and we were concerned he would receive too much rough housing attention from the other males. Leo was a tough boy to wean, at our first attempt he became distraught at being separated from his dam Velvet and tried to break through fences to get to her so we put Leo back with Velvet for a little longer until we felt he was able to better handle the separation. Over time we could tell that Leo had matured more and was ready to be weaned so he soon joined the other weanlings. This time Leo handled the separation from Velvet much better. When Leo started to show too much interest in the weanling females (when he matured he really matured!) we decided that it was time to move him and Patton into the Junior Males pen.
Our process for introducing males to a new group is to create a smaller pen within the pen the males are being moved to. We then put the new boys plus a couple of mellow boys from the existing group in that pen too. The smaller group can have nose to nose contact with the other boys and will remain in that pen for a week to two weeks. Usually by that time the novelty of the new arrivals wears off and when we let everyone get together we typically have very few problems. We also make that final introduction at feeding time so that there is an additional distraction.
When the time came for Leo and Patton to meet the other junior males all went well. Soon they were wandering around, checking out their new surroundings and new pen mates. It was then we noticed something else, that Sentry was almost glued to Patton’s side! Sentry was so happy to meet his buddy Patton again!
When the weanling boys had all been together prior to weaning they all got along well, but we hadn’t realized how much Sentry liked Patton until we saw them together again. Sentry would not let the other boys mess with Patton and Patton was pleased to have his buddy by his side, even though Sentry is now considerably bigger than Patton.
Patton with his buddy Sentry (Sentry is the brown alpaca taking it easy in the background)
Alpacas are most definitely a herd animal, which is why we tell people that you should never have a lone alpaca. We have been fortunate to witness alpacas in our herd group over a considerable period of time and know that they do form bonds. When they are with their families or their buddies they are happy, separate them and it definitely causes them some stress.
Sometimes though it is inevitable that those bonds are going to be broken. Male and female crias that grow up together are not going to be pastured together, alpacas that are sold to other breeders will often be sold without their friends (unless we can work out a great deal with the new owners and we will try and do that when possible) and of course at times an alpaca will pass away leaving a buddy behind. Any time there is going to be a separation we do our best to manage it well; probiotics to keep the alpacas rumen functioning well and to supply B vitamins to help them handle the stress of separation, Rescue Remedy to help them deal with the loss, over time the alpacas do adjust. It is sometimes a fine balancing act to keep the herd happy and run a successful alpaca business, but we do our best to respect the alpacas while also keeping our business functioning. Then of course there are the happy reunions we sometimes see, such as Patton and Sentry or a female who comes back to the farm for a breeding and is happily reunited with her dam or her sister for the duration of her stay.
So yes, alpacas do make friends and do remember those friends – and sometimes those friends can also be humans, but that’s a subject for another time 
February 20, 2013
Today is Chamerino’s Birthday
Chamberino’s 13th birthday!
Join us in wishing Chamberino a very happy day. People always comment on his coloring and he likes to give kisses. He’s also part of our Adopt-A-Paca Program, so if you’d like to sponsor him for one year, please look into it. We’re sure he would love to have a sponsorship!
January 29, 2013
Cosmo’s Special Day
Cosmo
