Tuesday saw more arrivals at the farm as the new alpacas we had purchased were delivered to our farm. We had purchased Ana Lynette from Theresa Reyes Tassel of Hagen Heights Alpaca Farm back in the summer. We left Ana Lynette at the farm where she was boarded until she had her cria – a pretty fawn male who we are calling Roadrunner for now. Not long after we purchased Ana Lynette we purchased our new black junior herdsire Alpaca Knights Challenger’s Champ from Carol Knights of Alpaca Knights.
Having purchased our new alpacas we then had to figure out how to get Ana Lynette and Roadrunner from New York to Clovis and Champ from Kentucky to Clovis. While we could have driven to pick them all up that would have been quite the road trip and so we started contacting a few trusted alpaca transporters to see who was available to transport them for us.
It is important to us to use a transporter who is careful in their care of the alpacas onboard their trailer, has a trailer that is well constructed and equipped for transporting alpacas and who practices good biosecurity. Alpacas being transported are under a little stress, they have been removed from the farm which they know as home and don’t know why they are in the trailer or where they are going. The additional stress could make them more susceptible to illness and so you want their journey to be as comfortable and safe as possible.
Not too long after we put out the word that we were looking for transport for our new alpacas we heard from Dick Hegeman of Alpacas in the Forest. Dick was making a transport run that could accommodate our alpacas. Having used “Captain Dick’s” transportation services in the past and knowing what an excellent transporter he is we made arrangements for him to bring our alpacas to us.
Originally we thought the alpacas would be with us the day after Thanksgiving, but Captain Dick’s trip went well and on Monday we learned that our new alpacas would be arriving on Tuesday evening. One thing always to bear in mind when working with an alpaca transporter is to be flexible about the arrival date of your alpacas. Typically the transporter is making many stops to collect and deliver alpacas and things can and do happen that can cause a change in the timing of the trip.
At 10:15 p.m. on Tuesday evening Captain Dick and the alpacas arrived. Dick made sure we got everyone settled in their pastures, including carrying Roadrunner to our female quarantine pen which gave Dick his workout for the day as Roadrunner is already over 30 lbs!, before heading off to his next stop.
So here they are our new arrivals – the beautiful, soft and dense Ana Lynette
Ana Lynette on her first day with her cria Roadrunner and Primera in the background
Her charming cria Roadrunner (who has that lovely soft buttery feel to his fleece and who greeted me with a kiss on the nose)
Roadrunner Standing Proud
And our handsome black junior herdsire Champ (who has a fleece you just want to sink your hands into – and he’s very sweet too!).
Champ
It’s great to have our new acquisitions on our farm at last and we look forward to getting to know them better over the next few weeks.
A Taste of Life at Windrush Alpacas 