April Open Farm Day!

Alpaca will solve your winter woes!

Get warm and stay toasty with alpaca socks, gloves, scarves and more!

It’s that time again for gift shopping for your loved ones and friends, so for the holiday season (and your convenience), Windrush Alpacas Farm Store will be open every Saturday through the end of December from 10:00-3:00. We have ready-to-wear, super warm garments and accessories as well as toys, bedding, crafting supplies and more. We stock a wide variety of gifts to accommodate men, women, children, and pets. You’ll find something for everyone!

Our two most popular gift items are the Extreme socks and our Adopt-a-Paca Program: one will keep your toes warm and the other will warm your heart. Come by to find out more or shop online if you wish!

On Saturday, December 6th from 10:00-3:00 we’ll also be open for our monthly Open Farm Day Event during which we offer tours of our working alpaca farm, give educational demonstrations and let visitors interact with our friendly alpacas. If it happens to be chilly or windy, we’ll bring one of our star alpacas into the Farm Store to visit folks so there’s no excuse for missing the fun!

As usual, we offer free admission, free parking and free (hot) refreshments. Come join us 1-1/4 miles south of Brady on CRM… see you soon!

Stay in touch with us on our Facebook page, through our newsletter, or better yet you can Adopt-a-Paca and get special treatment for a whole year!

We have easy access and ample parking to accommodate even large groups. Free admission and parking, Windrush Alpacas is just 1-1/4 miles south of Brady on CRM. See you soon!

For more information, call us at 575-683-5177 or visit our website at www.windrushalpacas.com. Also, you can Like us on Facebook at www.facebook.com/WindrushAlpacas, shop online at http://www.windrushalpacas.net/store/ , and 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 .

November Open Farm Day!

Open Farm Day is October 11th!

Feelin’ Chilly? Alpaca Will Warm You Up!

Have you heard the predications for another cold winter (colder than usual, that is)? Stock up now on alpaca products for you and your loved ones during our next Open Farm Day Event on Saturday, October 11, 2014.

Take a tour of our fully-functional alpaca farm to meet our friendly alpaca, see how such a facility is run, and to learn why we love alpacas so much! Pacas are our passion and we enjoy teaching visitors everything we can.

After the tour, warm up with a hot beverage (or cool off with a cold one depending on the temps that day) and relax in our Farm Store. Think about stocking up on super warm alpaca socks and slippers, hats and gloves, scarves and shawls, or pick up a cozy pet bed for your dog (they need to stay warm, too!)

So come on out to Windrush Alpacas on Saturday, October 11, 2014 between 10 a.m. and 3 p.m. when we are open to the public for our Open Farm Day Event and Farm Store Shopping Experience.

We encourage you to bring your whole family… everyone will enjoy the experience! We also welcome 4-H and scout groups, class outings, or any other group who would like to experience something a little different. We have easy access and ample parking to accommodate even large groups.

Stay in touch with us on our Facebook page, through our newsletter, or better yet you can Adopt-a-Paca and get special treatment for a whole year!

Free admission and parking, Windrush Alpacas is just 1-1/4 miles south of Brady on CRM. See you soon!

For more information, call us at 575-683-5177 or visit our website at www.windrushalpacas.com. Also, you can Like us on Facebook at www.facebook.com/WindrushAlpacas, shop online at http://www.windrushalpacas.net/store/ , and 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 .

September 13th Open Farm Day

Windrush Alpacas Open Farm Day… We’re Back!

Summer break is over and the alpacas really miss having visitors. Show them some love and come out on Saturday, September 13, 2014 for our next Open Farm Day Event!

We love inviting the public to tour our working alpaca farm and to meet our friendly alpaca. We always have fun showing off our pacas, answering lots of questions, and teaching visitors the fun facts about alpacas. Our visitors have lots of fun too and build a lifetime of memories in just a few hours!

You can too!

Come out to Windrush Alpacas on Saturday, September 13, 2014 between 10 a.m. and 3 p.m. when we are open to the public for our Open Farm Day Event and Farm Store Shopping Experience. We offer tours of the farm, share some free refreshments, and open our modest farm store which features alpaca fiber products for sale (some from our very own alpacas!)

You’re welcome to bring your family, your 4-H or scout group, or even your classmates to any of our Open Farm Day events. The more the merrier!

If you’ve been here once… come again!

Stay in touch with us on our Facebook page, through our newsletter, or better yet you can Adopt-a-Paca and get special treatment for a whole year!

We have free admission and plenty of free parking. Come join us 1-1/4 miles south of Brady on CRM for a unique and fun day.

See you soon!

For more information, call us at 575-683-5177 or visit our website at www.windrushalpacas.com. Also, you can Like us on Facebook at www.facebook.com/WindrushAlpacas, shop online at http://www.windrushalpacas.net/store/ , and 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 .

 

Family Fun Day at Windrush Alpacas!

Bring your whole 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 10, 2014 between 10 a.m. and 3 p.m. Windrush Alpacas will be open to the public. Spend some time meeting our curious alpaca, participating in some interactive educational demonstrations, and shopping for interesting and unique alpaca fiber products in our store.

Everyone is welcome to take a guided tour of our Alpaca Farm and learn about alpacas, what they’re really like, and how we care for them. Discover 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.

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 have toys for children, toys for pets and bedding for pets, too.

If you’ve been here before, you’re welcome to come again! Visit your favorite alpacas and make new friends.

Join our very popular Adopt-a-Paca Program! You can sponsor a real, live alpaca for one full year. You’ll receive a glossy photo and other goodies. Pick out your paca while you’re on the farm tour!

We always offer free admission, free parking and free refreshments. Come join us 1-1/4 miles south of Brady on CRM for a unique and fun day.

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 http://www.facebook.com/WindrushAlpacas, shop online at http://www.windrushalpacas.net/store/ , and sign up for our newsletter at http://eepurl.com/xhiwn!

 

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 🙂

Rosemary