When Not To Make Black Bean Soup

 

Living on a farm you get used to seeing odd things in all sorts of places, pockets tend to be good places to store things such as baling twine, a found alpaca tooth, syringes etc.  Ric once had a moment of relief after driving away from a random security check on the local air force base, as he felt his shirt pocket he realized he had a hypodermic needle and syringe in his pocket.  That may have needed a little explanation had the security guards found it.

 

Fridges and freezers are other likely storage places for odd things.  My friend Regina Dart of Llano Soleado Alpacas and I joke about a game for alpaca owners called “What’s in your freezer” You just have to be prepared to cope with some of the answers!  Currently my freezer contents are not too outrageous unless you consider the alpaca milk and six frozen placentas a little odd (the frozen placentas are being stored for use in a neonatal clinic, and who knows when one might need some alpaca milk for a cria).

 

After being in the alpaca business for 10 years Ric has learned to expect the unexpected from me.   This was illustrated the other day when I was preparing to run some fecal checks on the alpacas.

 

I was going to see a friend for afternoon tea that day, so having collected the poop samples from the alpaca pastures during morning chores I needed to store them until I could run the tests later that day.  I double bagged and sealed each sample and then wrapped them all in a larger bag and stored them in a section of our refrigerator that holds alpaca medicines and supplies.  As I was leaving Ric was coming into the house and so I warned him that the bag I had just placed in the fridge did not contain any tasty snacks, but rather contained poop samples.

 

We run our own alpaca fecal tests on a regular basis.  As part of the process I have to smash up the alpaca poop in a heavy sugar water solution, which results in a soupy mess of alpaca poop.

 

That evening was a cold one and I decided to make a pot of black bean soup for dinner.  The recipe calls for some of the black beans to be pureed and others to be left whole and stirred into the soup.

 

Ric went out that evening and when he came home I was working in the office.  When he came into the house he headed for the kitchen and shortly afterward came to the office with a worried expression on his face.  “What have you been cooking in the kitchen?” he asked.  I told him I had made black bean soup and that it was very tasty, he started to look a little relieved and I asked him if there was a problem with the soup.  He then told me that he had taken a look at the pot of black bean soup on the stove and had a horrible suspicion that it had something to do with the fecal tests I was running – well I guess the soup did bear a bit of a resemblance to the prepared alpaca poop samples, but even I don’t use our kitchen utensils for anything to do with fecal samples!  We actually have a separate kitchen where I do all of the alpaca related kitchen chores, and all things used from that kitchen receive a good cleaning with beach once I am finished.  Still the situation gave me a chuckle and even funnier still is that Ric refuses to eat any of that black bean soup!

 

(On a side note running your own alpaca fecal tests is quite a simple process, it does require a little bit of an investment in equipment such as a microscope and a centrifuge and it is best to work with your vet to learn how to identify the various parasite eggs.  I did come across a very informative web page on alpaca parasites the other day at the website of The Alpaca Hacienda just click on http://www.thealpacahacienda.com/journal/alpaca_parasites.html and you will be taken to that page)

 

Rosemary

More Teff Please!

Teff Grass (right) Wheat Hay (Left)

 

The alpacas have eaten their way through the large bale of Tiffany Teff grass we purchased a couple of weeks ago.  We didn’t let them have free access to the bale but rather rationed some out at each feeding.  One thing is for certain they love the taste of it.

 

I still have not been able to find anything hugely worrying about the Teff grass, but part of the problem is the lack of information on it.  I just hope that there isn’t something about it such as a mineral tie up that will cause problems several months down the road.

 

Just from observing the alpacas we have not seen any bad reactions to the Teff grass such as diarrhea or bloating and they seem very content with it.  With the little bit of alfalfa we were feeding with the wheat hay prior to getting the Teff grass I did notice that the alpacas seemed a more aggressive when they saw the alfalfa bucket.  There would be much pushing and shoving, grumbling and spitting.  With the Teff hay they are certainly excited to see it but are less aggressive than with the alfalfa.

 

One of the drawbacks of the Teff hay is the seed heads.  The seeds are tiny and many.  This second bale seems to have less seed heads than the first but I wonder if those tiny seeds will work their way into the alpacas fleeces.  From what I have seen so far the seeds seem to stay on top of the fleece rather than work their way into the fleece and brush off quite easily.  Lets hope it stays that way.  The picture at the top of this post shows Teff grass to the right of the picture with a piece of wheat hay to the left to give a comparison of size.  The picture below this paragraph shows a wheat head on the left of the ruler and a Teff head on the right of the ruler.  You can see just how tiny the Teff grass seeds are.

Wheat Hay Seed Head (Left) Teff Grass Seed Head (Right)

 

So far we are happy with the Teff hay.  I really feel our herd needs that bit of extra protein.  I was not happy with how they were looking when we fed them the wheat hay alone.  We have had wheat hay in the past and our alpacas and fleeces have always looked good, but this year’s wheat hay was not giving the same results despite its good figures on the hay analysis.  Since we started feeding the Teff hay along with the wheat hay we have already seen an improvement in the herd.  If our alpacas were usually on lush green pastures the Teff hay might not be a good choice for them, but for our situation it seems to be working well.

 

Rosemary

You know it’s really cold when …

 

The alpaca poop piles are frozen!  Yes, they were frozen solid this morning, hardly surprising as the temperature was only 15 degrees when we first went out.  The prospect of the frozen poop piles made me wonder what other alpaca breeders do who live in areas where the cold stays around for longer.  Our temperature is supposed to get up in the fifties today, but I know in some of the northern states the cold temperatures linger for days or even weeks.  I suppose their farms are designed more to cope with the cold weather than farms in the Southwest are, but still there must be some weeks when daily poop clean up is impossible due to the poop piles being frozen.

 

Apart from the frozen poop piles our herd fared well during the cold night.  Sunrise found most of the herd cushed in the shelters with a couple of brave souls venturing out to eat hay from one of the outside hay feeders.  I am always concerned that the small crias might feel the cold.  Our fall crias are too big for cria coats and are still quite vulnerable, but they didn’t seem to be bothered by the cold.  Their fleece is now reaching a length where it gives them better protection and insulation.

 

As I looked at the girl’s pasture I could see our resident American Hawk huddled up on the fence line with his feathers puffed out.  Usually he perches higher up in the trees on the north side of the property, perhaps the house was providing some protection from the wind and a warmer area for him to perch in.

 

All of the alpacas were glad to receive their morning feed and fresh hay followed by some warm soaked beet shreds.  Fresh water all round was a welcome provision, even though it is cold the alpacas still need to have a good supply of fresh water to keep them properly hydrated and functioning well.

 

Even the dogs were not too bothered by the cold on their morning walk, chasing the scent of rabbits over the property and sniffing out evidence of other visitors to the farm overnight.  The cold must have started to get to them though as they voluntarily cut short their walk and headed home before I told them to do so.

 

The joy of living in New Mexico is that cold weather does not usually last long, by yesterday afternoon we had sunny blue skies and the temperature had climbed to 32 degrees.  Warm enough to thaw out those poop piles and send me back outside for another round of poop scooping.  The down side of living in New Mexico is the lack of moisture, yet again the promised moisture passed us by with not a drop falling from the sky.  Let’s hope that spring brings us some much needed rain.

 

Today is supposed to reach the mid fifties so the chore routine will be closer to normal, no more frozen poop piles and icy water buckets I hope!

 

Rosemary

Winter Pays a Visit

Guess what's under here

Well we knew the warm sunny weather had to end at some time and yesterday it did.  From having temperatures close to 70 degree Fahrenheit (21 degrees Celsius for those of you in areas where Celsius is used) on Sunday we plunged down to 18 F (-7 C) overnight and then achieved daytime high of (-2 C).  Brrrr!!!

 

(You might be asking what relevance the picture of the upturned trash can has to do with all of this – keep reading and you will find out!)

 

The cold weather made the animals a little frisky.  The adult girls were pronging around the pasture on Monday morning as I carried over their feed.  They certainly were not lacking in energy and were more than ready to eat.  Maya one of our llamas was a little shivery as I fed her, cushing in the straw as she ate.  At 11 years of age Maya is starting to feel the cold more in winter, but she is smart and on colder days she stays in the big blue shelter where she is protected from the wind and can cush in deep straw if she needs to.  I made sure I let Maya out of her pen as soon as she had finished eating so that she could return to the comfort of the shelter.

 

The cold also makes the boys frisky, they are apt to wrestle and chase each other more, a natural way of turning up their internal temperature.

 

Today is forecast to be even colder with a chance of freezing fog, freezing rain and even snow.  The weatherman is not promising a lot of moisture, but it is moisture all the same and so we will take it in whatever form it comes.  I might have a slippery time doing chores in the morning, but at least I don’t have to drive anywhere and it always feels so good to come into the warm house when it is cold outside.

 

No doubt my thermal coveralls and fleece-lined jeans will be making an appearance today, along with my alpaca socks and alpaca headband to keep my ears warm.  Chores tend to take a little longer in the cold and so it is best to be prepared to stay outside for a while.

 

Of course our preparations for the cold start as soon as we hear it is coming.  We make sure that the alpacas have a good layer of straw in their shelters, we turn on the heater for the boys’ large water tub and we plan to feed the herd extra warm soaked beet shreds and some extra hay including a little alfalfa.

 

So with regards to the trash can.  Look carefully at the picture and you will see a glow coming from the bottom of the trashcan.  It’s a simple way to keep our outside faucets from freezing!

 

Our outside faucets are supposed to be frost free, but some are quite old and the faucet heads tend to freeze up when the temperature gets really cold.  To make life easier we hang a worklight with a 40-Watt bulb on the faucet, turn the light on, cover with a trash can to keep the heat in and the alpacas and llamas out and voila – a working faucet in the morning.  The things we will do to keep from carrying water buckets!

A simple faucet head defroster (I turned the light off to take the picture, usually it would be on)

 

Rosemary

Weanling Update

 

Our spring crias are just about weaned, I say just about because we tried putting the female weanlings back in with the main female group this weekend and Annochia still wanted to nurse from Anya.  Annochia’s behavior was not a complete surprise to us; Annochia comes from the close Bjorn family who don’t like to be weaned.  Anya did kick Annochia off but we decided that we would put the weanlings back in their own pasture for a while longer just to make sure that no one brings their dam back into milk.

 

The dams really have taken the weaning process in their stride.  What was interesting with this group of weanlings was that the boys weaned with more ease than the girls.  Usually the boy crias are the most reluctant to wean, not so with this group though.

 

We have now graduated Pride and Atlas into the junior male pen.  After their move they did spend a couple of days hanging around the gate wondering how they could get back to the female herd, but now are starting to integrate well.  Something that was unexpected was that our orphan young male Mags has really settled down since the arrival of Pride and Atlas in the junior male pen.  Mags went over to that pen a few weeks before Pride and Atlas and was still actively seeking human interaction, but with the arrival of Pride and Atlas young Mags is acting much more like an alpaca.  Perhaps he feels he now has some seniority in the herd pecking order and that has given him the reassurance he needed.

 

Stormy has now gone to live with his new owner Abby Dart and we got a lovely report yesterday from Abby and her mother Regina on Stormy’s progress.  Abby already has Stormy going over bridges, jumping over jumps and going through a maze – good job Abby!

 

So now in the weanling pen we have only girls – Annochia, Dream, Serenity, Song, Zianna, Kaneka, Velvet and Carissima.   Kaneka, Velvet and Carissima are yearlings and are already weaned but have provided a good stabilizing influence on the weanlings.  We now take the weanlings (both boys and girls) for walks on their halters several times a week to help them become relaxed at being on a halter and they are all doing well.

 

For us weaning is a process that needs to be handled with care and consideration.  True it takes more time to go through day weaning before final weaning, but it makes for a gentler separation for the alpacas.  It is a stressful time for the weanlings and sometimes for the dams too and it is worth putting extra effort into the process to make it as easy as possible for all involved. 

 

Rosemary

And The Result Of The Paternity Test Is…

Little Man - looking a little grumpy as I take his picture!

 

This sounds like a line from the Jerry Springer show doesn’t it!  Of course life at Windrush Alpacas is nothing like the lives of the participants on the Jerry Springer show, but we did recently send in blood work to The Alpaca Registry, Inc. (ARI) to determine who was the sire of our cria Windrush Peruvian Tonka (or, as we prefer to call him Little Man).

 

All alpacas registered with ARI have their parentage determined by DNA.  A small drop of blood is placed on a blood card and sent in to ARI along with details of the sire and dam of the alpaca.  A DNA test is then run on the cria’s blood sample and compared to the DNA of the sire and dam (which will be held on file with ARI provided the sire and dam are ARI registered alpacas).  Until fairly recently you usually sent in the details of just one sire and if that did not match ARI would contact you and you would then give them the details of any other potential sires.  Now you can put two sires on your original registration application and ARI will compare those two sires with the DNA of your cria.

 

I like the two sire option.  Usually we are certain who the sire of a cria is, but once in a while you will get a female alpaca who, for various reasons, may be bred to more than one male alpaca.  To be able to submit the information of both the potential sires is helpful and a time saver.

 

Little Man’s dam Clarissa Dawn was one of those female alpacas who was bred to more than one male alpaca.  We started off by breeding her to our junior herdsire Travesura’s Altiplano Treasure, but Clarissa did not seem to get pregnant.  As Treasure was an unproven herdsire we decided that perhaps he wasn’t quite ready for breeding and so switched to breeding Clarissa to one of our proven herdsires Windrush Moonlight Surprise.  After that breeding Clarissa behaved as if she were pregnant and so we did not breed Clarissa again.

 

Now the real fun came when Clarissa delivered Little Man around the time that would coincide with her breeding to Treasure.  However Little Man was very small and so we felt it was possible that perhaps he was a very premature cria from Clarissa’s breeding to Moonie.   Apart from being very small and slow to gain weight Little Man did not show any other signs of being premature.    His lungs were fine, he was lively, he was not weak and he had good muscle tone.  So we really couldn’t decide if he was an on time Treasure cria or a premature Moonie cria.  To complicate things further Little Man bore no resemblance to either Moonie or Treasure.

 

As Little Man has grown we have started to think he must be a Treasure cria.  His body style is compact and sturdy like Treasure’s and his fleece is exceptionally bright like Treasure’s. As Little Man’s fleece grew the crimp style of his fleece was closer to Treasure’s than Moonies.   When we recently sent in Little Man’s blood sample to ARI for DNA testing we felt fairly certain that the results would confirm that Treasure was Little Man’s sire.

 

Two days ago I finally received an email from ARI informing me that Little Man’s registration had been completed.  This indicated to me that Little Man’s sire must have been determined.  So with flying fingers I logged into my ARI online account to find out who Little Man’s sire was – and discovered that surprise, surprise (get the hint here?)  Little Man’s sire is Moonie (Windrush Moonlight Surprise).  So Moonie now has another cria on the ground. 

 

The more I think about Little Man the more remarkable it is to me that he showed very little sign of being premature.  We have had very premature crias born on the farm before and they were certainly not as strong and sturdy as Little Man was when he was born.  So while Little Man may be small he must also be made of some stern stuff to survive his premature delivery.  Just imagine how strong he would have been if he had been a full term cria.

 

So congratulations go to Moonie and Clarissa.  Little Man still doesn’t look really look like either of them, but that could change as he ages of course.  What is interesting though is that he bears such a stronger resemblance to Treasure, because Treasure and Moonie share the same grandsire, Peruvian Presidio – just goes to show you how powerful good genetics can be.

 

Rosemary

A Bright Little Project Completed

One of the completed Nordic headbandsThe second Nordic Head band. Both headbands are made from 100% alpaca yarn

 

Fresh off the knitting needles come these two Nordic headbands, both made, of course, from alpaca yarn.

 

The yarn is some that I had in stock for a while; it was spun and dyed for us at Royal Fiber Spinnery in Ruidoso, New Mexico.  The yarn comprised of a group of single skeins in brightly dyed colors and I decided rather than let it languish on the shelf any longer I would make it into something that I could sell.  When I came across the patterns for the Nordic headbands I knew they would work well for those single skeins of yarn.

 

It was lovely to work with some brightly colored yarn for a change.  It seems that all of my recent requests for knitted goods have been for black colored items.  Now I know that black is always a chic color, but I have to admit that things become a bit monotonous when every project you work on is black.  So it was definitely time to put some color into my life – literally.

 

The headbands work really well in our wind blown climate, they keep your ears warm and also help keep your hair in place.  I will take them down to our booth at the Crafters Mall this weekend and see if they sell.

 

Now having made the headbands I am left with several partial skeins of brightly colored yarn left, so I will need to research a new project or two for the remaining yarn.  In the meantime I have a request for me to knit an alpaca balaclava in – yes, you’ve guessed it, black.

 

Rosemary

Getting the young folks involved

 

The Alpaca Breeders and Owners Association recently announced the formation of the AOBA Youth Association.

 

Years ago when we first joined AOBA the Paca Pac Club was in existence.  I must admit we didn’t pay too much attention to the Paca Pac Club, as we didn’t have small children to keep entertained at shows.  It seemed as if the Paca Pac Club mainly went into action at the Annual Conference and its purpose was to provide something for children to do while their parents showed alpacas and attended seminars.

 

Not too long after we had joined AOBA the Paca Pac Club was fazed out.  The exhibitors did not utilize it, perhaps because at that time the majority of alpaca owners were past the age of having small children around (I’m trying to be diplomatic here about the average age of alpaca owners in the 1990’s)

 

Looking back at the Spring 1999 edition of Alpacas Magazine, I see there was an announcement of the 1^st Annual Writing Contest for Children.  I’m not aware that there was ever a 2^nd Annual Writing Contest for Children so I am not sure what happened to that venture.  (I have always told Ric that I would need to refer to those old magazines one day, today’s the day and how interesting to look back on how things were then!)

 

These days we have younger families owning alpacas and joining AOBA.  Some of the families already have children, others still have that part of their lives to come (maybe) but there are definitely more young faces at alpaca shows and events these days.  There are also children who do not own alpacas but are very interested in learning about them.

 

Hence the time seems right for the formation of a Youth Division.

 

The AOBA Youth Division (AYA) website states:

 

“The AYA will work with all youth organizations such as 4H, FFA, scouts to form AOBA’s premier youth association.

 

Components of AYA will provide opportunities to learn more about alpacas, participate in youth shows; learn to become our future alpaca breeders, leadership training and development and top notch education.”

 

 

To learn more about AYA then check out their website at http://www.aobayouthassociation.com   There you can register your child to be a member, learn more about the initial focus of the group and read about member benefits (did someone mention scholarships?).  Bear in mind that the AYA is still in the development stage, if you are already an AOBA member you should receive emails regarding the progress of AYA, if you are not an AOBA member it will be worth checking back to the website on a regular basis to keep updated with the activities of AYA.

 

It will be interesting to see the AYA develop, the alpaca industry has always professed to be very much family oriented and so to create more youth involvement in the world of alpacas is a good thing.

 

Rosemary

Choosing a Mentor Is As Important As Choosing Your Alpaca

 

Jenny and Clarissa

When it comes to getting started in the alpaca business, whether you are buying breeding stock, fiber alpacas or performance and obstacle alpacas a good mentor is invaluable.

 

I cannot say enough good things about our mentors who have helped us on our journey into the world of alpacas.  They were always willing to share information and provided us with guidance along the way, they were also good judges of when to stand back and let us figure things out for ourselves.  Without them we would have undoubtedly had a much harder route on the way to success in our alpaca business.

 

Compared to when we first purchased alpacas there are many more alpaca farms to choose from these days.  Some have been in the business for many years, others are relatively new to the business and each farm will have its own “personality” so as to say.  It is very easy for someone to set up an impressive website and create a certain impression of them or their business, but when it comes to your needs a website probably will not be able to help you as much as a good alpaca mentor can.

 

While a lot of alpaca sales are made over the Internet I strongly advise new alpaca owners to physically go to the farms that they are considering purchasing from.  By doing so you will get a much better idea of the quality of the alpacas on the farm, the level of care of the alpacas, the knowledge of the farm owners and whether your personalities gel or clash.   There is a lot to learn about raising alpacas and I always maintain that you should purchase from a farm who not only has alpacas that suit your needs but who you feel you can communicate with freely and well.

 

I still remember when we were first looking to purchase alpacas, we received a very impressive video and brochure from one farm, the alpacas in the farm brochure looked beautiful, the description of the farm and its owners sounded great, but when I telephoned the farm to ask a question the response I got from the owner was not a good one.  He sounded irritated by my question and seemed to imply that it was something that everyone should know (I later learned that it was something quite specific to his farm).  The response to my communication with that farm was enough for me to decide that I did not want to do business with them.   How could I learn about alpacas from them when they were not responsive to a simple question?  To this day I still have not done business with that farm, they have some spectacular alpacas but I just cannot bring myself to do business with someone who was condescending and rude to a potential customer.

 

So when you are looking to buy alpacas, take a close look at the owners too.  Are they approachable?  Are they willing to share information freely?  Do they have a good reputation within the alpaca community (you can always ask for references from their customers or other breeders)?   What is their knowledge base?  Have they only been in the business a short while and have little knowledge themselves or have they years of experience that they can share with you?

 

Take the time to get to know the farm you are purchasing from, you will soon get a feel for how they do business and whether they are a good fit for you.  I have often said that you need to feel comfortable enough that should you have an alpaca emergency at 2 a.m. and need to call them then you would do so.  You would hope not to have that situation, but it might happen and you might need to talk to someone who can share their experience and guide you in what to do, or direct you to someone who can help you.

 

Going back to the subject of selecting performance and obstacle alpacas, a good alpaca breeder will know which alpacas in their herd have good potential as performance and obstacle alpacas.  They will guide you through your selection rather than just sell you an alpaca that maybe looks cute but is not really a good choice for showing in performance and obstacle.  A good alpaca breeder will want you to be successful in your endeavor and will work with you to help make that happen.

 

There are many wonderful alpaca breeders who are more than happy to mentor their clients, whether the client is spending several thousand dollars or a thousand dollars.    If you choose your alpaca mentor with care and consideration you will most likely discover that not only do they teach you and help you in whatever aspect of alpaca ownership you choose they will also become firm friends in the process.

 

Rosemary

And Here’s a Good Example!

I subscribe to the “Google Alert” service and have my alerts set so that whenever a piece of news includes the word alpaca I receive an email notification from Google. Yesterday I received a Google Alert that fits in with the subject of selecting and training alpacas for performance and obstacle classes.

Here is a great example of an alpaca owner exposing one of his alpacas to a different environment. Now the alpaca farmer in this clip is taking his alpaca out more to get the people in his community familiar with alpacas and maybe to raise awareness about alpacas in the United Kingdom, but just watch how this alpaca reacts to his visit to the local pub – he’s pretty calm and relaxed, perhaps a little uncertain about being stroked by the people in the pub, but all in all the alpaca does really well. It is a good example though of how you can take alpacas out in public and get them used to different environments (and do some great marketing at the same time)

Click through to this link (from the good old BBC) and enjoy!

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/england/7833623.stm

(I have to say though that you can tell this alpaca is not a Yorkshireman, there is no way he would turn down a pint of good bitter if he was!)

Rosemary