February 4, 2019
October 1, 2018
Fall for Alpacas at Windrush Alpacas
Fall is a perfect time to visit Windrush Alpacas. Our alpacas enjoy the cooler temps just like us! And they love to have visitors too! You’ll fall for alpacas when you visit with Cinnamon, Espresso, Biscotti and all our herd on Open Farm Day, Saturday, October 13, 2018.
During your visit, you can tour the farm with owners Rosemary and Ric. They will answer your questions about raising alpacas and let you get close and personal with some of the herd. You can even see our newest addition at the farm, Newark, a 15-year-old Jersey cow.
A visit to Windrush Alpaca is not complete without stopping in at our Farm Store. It’s time to start stocking up on super warm alpaca socks and slippers, hats and gloves, scarves and shawls. We even have beautiful stuffed animals for young and old alike!! Make sure you stop by for refreshments too!
Do you wish you had an alpaca of your own? You can have a very special alpaca to visit whenever the farm is open if you become an Adopt-A-Paca© member. You’ll get an official certificate, a picture of your alpaca and occasional letters from them too! Learn more about our Adopt-a-Paca© program when you visit.
Open Farm Day is for all ages! Fun activities keep everyone busy on Open Farm Day! There is always something new to learn and see at the farm, so if you’ve been here before, please come again – and bring a friend! Stop by anytime on Saturday, October 13 between 10 am and 3 pm! Light refreshments will be served!
It’s always free admission and free parking. Windrush Alpacas farm is located just 1-1/4 miles south of Brady on CRM. Watch our Facebook page for updates www.facebook.com/WindrushAlpacas.
For more information, call us at 575-683-5177 or visit our website at www.windrushalpacas.com, shop online at http://www.windrushalpacas.net/store/ , or sign up for our newsletter at http://eepurl.com/xhiwn! Learn more about our Adopt-a-Program here http://www.windrushalpacas.com/pages/2087/adopt-a-paca.
August 27, 2018
Open Farm Day is Back!
After a long, hot summer without our regular visitors, we are excited to open our gates again for Open Farm Day! Join us on Saturday, September 8, 2018 from 10 am to 3 pm. Admission and parking are free!
Open Farm Day is a fun, outdoor event for all ages. You will be invited into our alpaca pen to get an up-close experience with our herd. Ric and Rosemary, the alpaca farm owners, will share stories about raising these gentle, soft fleeced animals. They will tour you around the farm and explain to you the joys they have experienced as alpaca farmers.
You’ll even be able to feed the alpacas! And be ready to take pictures. We’ve got a couple of alpacas who are real hams and will pose for you!
Our Farm Store will be open and stocked with all types of alpaca products. Alpaca socks, scarves, hats and more! Treat yourself to an item made of soft and warm alpaca fiber. Some are made of fleece from Windrush Alpacas. And it’s never too early to start thinking about holiday gifts! Light refreshments will be served in the Farm Store too!
There is always something interesting to learn and see at Windrush Alpacas. Stop by anytime on Saturday, September 8 between 10 am and 3 pm!
Windrush Alpacas farm is located just 1-1/4 miles south of Brady on CRM. Watch our Facebook page for updates http://www.facebook.com/WindrushAlpacas.
For more information, call us at 575-683-5177 or visit our website at www.windrushalpacas.com, shop online at http://www.windrushalpacas.net/store/ , or sign up for our newsletter at http://eepurl.com/xhiwn! Learn more about our Adopt-a-Program here http://www.windrushalpacas.com/pages/2087/adopt-a-paca.
February 26, 2018
Spring on Over to Windrush Alpacas!
Spring is just around the corner, and our alpacas are ready for the warmer temps and grass that will begin to sprout up in the next few weeks. We bet you are too! Come outside and spend some time with the alpacas!
Join us for our next Open Farm Day on Saturday, March 10, 2018 , to learn about alpacas, see their full winter coats (shearing will take place in April and May) and take a tour of our farm. Visit us anytime between 10:00 a.m. and 3:00 p.m.
Our Farm Store will be open for you to enjoy refreshments and browse the alpaca products we have for sale. Who wouldn’t like a new pair of soft, alpaca socks or a bright new scarf for spring?
On an Open Farm Day tour, you will get to personally meet our owners and many of our alpacas. You will learn a bit about each one. (They all have different personalities, you know!) We will explain how we care for them and how their soft fleece is turned into the beautiful yarns, garments and toys that are sold in our Farm Store.
After spending time with our friendly animals, you might even Adopt-a-Paca while you are there! No need to take it home, we’ll care for it. You can visit on Open Farm Day or by appointment. We’ll tell you all about our program when you visit!
Bring your family, your friends, your co-workers and anyone who needs to get outside in the sunshine and join us for this informative and fun day! And don’t forget your camera! Our alpacas love to take selfies with you!
We have ample free parking, it’s free admission for everyone, and we even offer hot and cold refreshments to our visitors. Windrush Alpacas farm is located us 1-1/4 miles south of Brady on CRM. Watch our Facebook page for updates http://www.facebook.com/WindrushAlpacas.
For more information, call us at 575-683-5177 or visit our website at www.windrushalpacas.com, shop online at http://www.windrushalpacas.net/store/ , or sign up for our newsletter at http://eepurl.com/xhiwn! Learn more about our Adopt-a-Program here http://www.windrushalpacas.com/pages/2087/adopt-a-paca .
January 2, 2018
Beat the Post-Holiday Blues with a Visit Windrush Alpacas
After a busy holiday season, some of us feel a letdown in January. We’ve got the cure! Visit with our alpacas at Open Farm Day, Saturday, January 13, 10 am to 3 pm.
When you visit with the alpacas, you can’t help but smile. Their gentle demeanor, soft fleece and eagerness to eat grain from your hand will change your mood instantly. Take a tour of the farm to learn why we chose to raise alpacas, how we care for them, and what we do with their fleece in the spring. Our alpacas each have a name and very different personalities. A visit to the farm is a unique experience.
While here, stop in our Farm Store. We sell toasty, warm alpaca products. Warmer than wool and softer than cashmere, we have luxuriously soft alpaca scarves, gloves, mittens, and hats… and everyone’s favorite, socks and slippers.
Admission is free, and refreshments will be served at the Farm Store. If it’s a little too cold, we’ll bring one of the alpacas inside too for you to visit with and feed.
Start your new year in a new way. And if you’ve been here before, come again! There is always something interesting to learn and see at Windrush Alpacas. Stop by anytime on Saturday, January 13 between 10 am and 3 pm! Be ready for plenty of picture taking too!
Windrush Alpacas farm is located just 1-1/4 miles south of Brady on CRM. Watch our Facebook page for updates http://www.facebook.com/WindrushAlpacas.
For more information, call us at 575-683-5177 or visit our website at www.windrushalpacas.com, shop online at http://www.windrushalpacas.net/store/ , or sign up for our newsletter at http://eepurl.com/xhiwn! Learn more about our Adopt-a-Program here http://www.windrushalpacas.com/pages/2087/adopt-a-paca .
October 18, 2017
Unexpected Treasures
Sometimes we can try so hard to make things happen, yet our plans don’t work out as expected. Then at other times we discover acts of serendipity, when things just happen without any effort on our part.
Our gardening efforts at the farm have been historically hit and miss. A shortage of water on the farm, dry desert heat and drying winds, lack of time to dedicate to care of the plants, and a distinct lack of green fingers on my part have meant that any crop production has been low.
So imagine my surprise when I recently discovered a bumper crop of pumpkins and sunflowers in the area where we compost the alpaca poop! I’ve tried for years to grow sunflowers on the farm but experienced total failure, pumpkins had never really crossed my mind as I knew that they needed quite a bit of water. Yet here they were happily growing side by side, and in the case of the pumpkins very happily growing.
So had did this bounty happen? Well every fall we ask people to bring us their leftover pumpkins to feed to the alpacas. We feed the pumpkins to the alpacas and the alpacas are very happy. Every day we feed black oil sunflower seeds to the alpacas and the alpacas enjoy eating the seeds. As part of the feeding process some of the sunflower seeds and pumpkin seeds are left on the ground and get raked up when we are raking up the poop piles and off they go to the compost area. In addition to this process last year we had a whole bag of sunflower seeds that got moisture in the bag and molded, so off they went to the compost pile as well.
The seeds have been sitting there for a while, the alpaca poop has been breaking down into what alpaca breeders like to refer to as black gold, then this year we have been blessed with some rain and poof! Low and behold our bountiful crop appeared!
How cool is that! That Mother Nature did her own thing and created a much better result than all my efforts could produce!
The pumpkins are about ready to harvest. To start with we will use some to decorate the farm. Once their decoration duties are done we will use some of them to feed to the alpacas, llamas, chickens and guineas. Some of the pumpkins appear to be sugar pumpkins so will be cooked and used for pumpkin pies and cookies, with some cooked pumpkin being reserved in case we need it for a sick animal (pumpkin is an excellent soother of the digestive tract). I was hoping to be able to harvest some sunflower seeds from our sunflowers but our horses Savannah and Saber decided to eat the heads off most of the sunflowers. No wonder their coats are looking so glossy! Hopefully they will leave me at least a few sunflower heads to harvest for next year.
So where do we go from here. Well my plan for next year, provided we have a chance of rain, is to take a random assortment of vegetable seeds, toss them on the alpaca compost area and let them grow if they wish to. Why toil for vegetables when they apparently do better without me? (Although I probably should consider a horse fence!).
Until next time,
Rosemary
August 29, 2017
Tributes to Echo, Queen, and Moonie
Fond tributes to our beloved alpacas:
ECHO
Echo was born on our farm on October 15, 2006 to our alpaca Bjorn. Echo’s sire was an alpaca out of Colorado called Spanish Peaks Alpha Centauri (known as A.C.). We had bred Bjorn to A.C. previously which resulted in a beautiful white female alpaca Windrush Anya. We liked Anya so much we took Bjorn back to Colorado to be bred to A.C. again. This time we got a beautiful white male alpaca who looked so much like his sire we called him Windrush Echo of Alpha Centauri – and so Echo’s life began.
Echo was, for the most part, a quiet alpaca, but as a cria he used to get up to mischief with his buddy Rascal who was born a couple of months later. When they were younger, they loved to tear around the pasture together at sundown having “cria races”. Echo and Rascal were great buddies from the moment Rascal was born until Echo’s passing.
Echo was not the biggest of alpacas, but if he didn’t want to do something he sure could put up some resistance! Echo grew beautiful, shiny, long, white fleece and also grew long toenails very quickly too! Having his toenails trimmed was not on Echo’s list of favorite things to do.
As Echo matured he became a quiet alpaca who mainly kept himself to himself, with the occasional wrestling match with Rascal and some of the other boys for good measure. We miss Echo’s quiet presence around the farm. He loved to lie by the big bale of grass hay and stake his claim for his spot at the “dinner table”. I am sure that Rascal misses his friend Echo too.
QUEEN
Queen came to our farm at age seven along with her daughter TeQueely. We purchased Queen because she was holding her fleece fineness despite her age. When Queen and TeQueely arrived at our farm we soon learned we had purchased two alpacas who had personality plus.
Queen lived up to her name, she was dignified, independent and strong. Queen loved her crias but they soon learned not to nurse from her when she was eating and when Queen decided to wean her crias there was no going back! We try not to have favorite alpacas but Queen was definitely very special. We are heartbroken at our loss.
MOONIE
Moonie arrived at our farm about seven years ago along with her friend Betty. Moonie and Betty had been together in one herd for several years, their owner then became unable to care for them and gave them to our friends Bob and Regina Dart.
In time Bob and Regina decided to leave the alpaca business. Moonie and Betty came to stay with us. Both Moonie and Betty had beautiful shiny black fleece despite their advancing years. Moonie was always a thin alpaca, no matter how much food you piled into her she never gained an ounce (and she was always ready to eat!). As thin as she was you might expect her to have health problems but she was strong, healthy and lively. After arriving at our farm, we bred Moonie to our herd sire, Enchantment’s Prince Regent.
Moonie had previously had a beautiful cria out of Regent making us want to repeat that breeding. We were not disappointed when out popped Amazin’ Aimee! Aimee literally came out running. On her feet within seconds of being born, looking around with an expression of “look at me”.
Despite Regent being a white alpaca, Aimee is true black like her mother Moonie. Her fleece is soft, fine and shiny. Moonie was an excellent mother who cared well for Aimee and provided lots of milk. Easy to handle and as sweet and gentle as can be, Moonie had a peaceful presence to her. On the day that we found her ill she nearly had us fooled. While the other alpacas were all up, trembling and staggering around Moonie was sitting peacefully in the pasture chewing her cud. At first, we thought that she was okay but then we realized she had gone completely blind. During her days at the vet clinic Moonie fought so hard to stay alive, but sadly eventually her body couldn’t cope with the effects of the PEM. We had to make the decision to let her go.
Enjoy Today
At one point when we thought Moonie was coming home, even though she was still blind, we went out and bought some wind chimes to hang around the girls’ pasture. The wind chimes were to help Moonie find her way to the feed bunks, water, and shelter. We never got to use the wind chimes for Moonie.
After Moonie had passed away we decided to keep the wind chimes. In various cultures, wind chimes are believed to ward away evil spirits. After the last couple of weeks, we could do with something to keep evil spirits away.
We have hung one of the wind chimes in a pasture overlooking the girls’ pen, the other two are on our back screened porch. One of them is inscribed with the words “Enjoy today” – a good reminder that whatever is going on, life is really short and each day should be enjoyed to the fullest. As the wind chimes sound we will forever be reminded of the alpacas we lost – Echo,
As the wind chimes sound we will forever be reminded of the alpacas we lost – Echo, Queen and Moonie – and will cling to the happier memories of their time at the farm. Farewell my sweet alpacas, until we meet again.
We received this gift from the very kind vets and staff at Clovis Veterinary Hospital. The disc contains an imprint of Moonie’s foot. As we were not able to bring Moonie’s body back to the farm for burial due to the need for tissue samples to be sent for testing, it is lovely to have a memento of her. I will probably hang the disc near one of the sets of Moonie’s wind chimes.
To learn the story about the illnesses that struck our beautiful alpacas, click here.
April 3, 2017
November 3, 2014
November 15, 2013
Farewell to a Faithful Guardian
A sad part of raising alpacas and llamas is that at some time in their life we have to let them go. As some of our herd ages this is a situation we will no doubt be encountering more often. It’s tough, but unavoidable.
This morning our guard llama Griffin passed away. At 13 years old Griffin was middle aged in llama terms, some llamas live well into their twenties but in Griffin’s case that was not to be.
We acquired Griffin through Southwest Llama Rescue along with our other two llamas Maya and Inca. Griffin’s registered name was Twilight’s Griffin Girl, her fleece was a beautiful rose grey. Griffin was always more aloof than Maya and Inca, she was a strong and proud girl and took her job of guarding the herd seriously unless someone started putting out hay and then she was quite easily distracted! Griffin loved to find a higher piece of ground to stand on so she could survey her “kingdom”. She also loved a really good roll in the dirt, and a nice “shower” with the hose during the hot days of summer. When we used to hose her legs Griffin would start a dance, spinning and twisting as she enjoyed the cool water on her skin. You had to make sure to stay out of her way unless you wanted to be showered from mud flinging up from under Griffins feet!
Griffin looking proud after shearing
Griffin gets up close and personal
From her records we knew that Griffin had once had a cria, but sadly he did not live long. When crias were born on our farm Griffin would often nuzzle them and follow them around, and it was on more than one occasion that Griffin joined in the evening cria pronk. It was so funny to see the little alpaca crias pronking around accompanied by a pretty hefty llama!
Griffin checks out one of our crias Kaneka
We had known something was not right with Griffin since July. While I was away visiting family in England Ric called me to tell me Griffin was not eating. I was due to return a couple of days later and by that time Ric had managed to get Griffin eating again but something was not right with our girl. We consulted our vet and he felt that Griffin might have congestive heart failure and warned us that it would only be a matter of time before we had to say goodbye to her.
Amazingly Griffin perked up and seemed to be doing better, she was back to eating again and eagerly staking her claim on the morning and evening hay as she loved to do. The alpacas all knew not to mess with Griffin at feeding time. We were optimistic. Perhaps the vet’s diagnosis was wrong. Griffin seemed good and we were happy to see her looking like her usual self. But then we noticed that once again Griffin was not right. She seemed to be losing muscle in her rear end, she stood awkwardly and getting up and down seemed more difficult for her than normal. We again consulted our vet. When he examined her he said that her heart sounded good and that the symptoms she had displayed earlier in the summer were all gone, but he was a little baffled as to what was causing Griffin’s discomfort and muscle wasting. Tests were done to see if perhaps there was a neurological problem or perhaps an issue with Griffin’s spine, blood tests were run to see if there was anything abnormal, but nothing showed up in any of the tests to give us a clue.
We tried various treatments from probiotics to antibiotics, we treated for parasites and ear ticks, we put Griffin on some arthritis medicine in case that was the problem. I used my photonic red light on her and gave her gentle massages. Griffin would respond for a while and start eating again and then stop eating and start to lose muscle again. Neither our vet nor we could come up with any clues to help us figure out what on earth was plaguing Griffin.
Last week Griffin again went off her feed. We managed to get her eating again, but within a couple of days she would not eat anything we offered to her. Ric and I were both very concerned about Griffin and what we should do for her.
Last night when I did chores I walked Griffin over to the pen where she liked to eat. As I walked behind her I noticed she was tripping over even the smallest of rocks in the pasture, she just didn’t look good. I offered her food and stroked her neck. I talked to her and told her that if she felt it was time to leave us then I understood. I told her how much we loved her and what a great job she had done for us guarding the herd. I told her we would miss her but that we would be okay.
This morning when I got up I looked for Griffin and found her standing by the fence in front of the house. The nights have been cold recently and Griffin had been spending them in the big blue shelter at the other side of the pasture, staying in there until the hay was put out. But this morning she had already made her way across the pasture. I watched Griffin walk around a little and then cush down.
When our helper Leigh Ann arrived I asked her to keep an eye on Griffin and told her that I was very worried about her. Not too long after Leigh Ann went out to feed the alpacas she came back in and told me that I needed to come to Griffin. Leigh Ann had seen Griffin’s legs suddenly thrash and Griffin had gone onto her side.
Leigh Ann and I went out and I when I looked at Griffin I knew her time to leave us had come. Griffin was still conscious. I put a blanket and a towel under her head and sat with her, stroking her and talking to her until she took her last breath. Leigh Ann stayed with Griffin and me too, giving us both comfort during a difficult time.
Maya, Inca and Griffin, the three girls always worked as a team
Our Griffin will be buried in one of the grass pastures that the alpacas and llamas like to visit when we let them out for a day of grazing. From that point you can see all three alpaca pastures and the hay barn so Griffin can continue to guard over us night and day. I would like to think that she now has been reunited with her cria and is pronking around with him free of pain and full of joy.
To our faithful guardian Griffin, farewell dear one, you served us well and gave us many years of joy. We will miss you. May you now rest in peace.
A Taste of Life at Windrush Alpacas 