Let it Snow Farm Day Event!

The weather outside is frightful… but alpaca socks are so delightful! So join us on Saturday, January 10, 2015 from 10:00-3:00 for our monthly Open Farm Day Event and Farm Store Shopping Experience! Get yourself a pair of paca socks and then take a tour of our working alpaca farm, participate in educational demonstrations and meet our friendly alpacas… all while staying toasty warm!

Did you know that alpaca fiber is warmer than wool yet lighter in weight? It’s also naturally lanolin free and does not feel prickly against your skin. It has a softness that’s comparable to cashmere, too. Plus, people who are sensitive to wool can usually wear alpaca! What’s not to love!?

While you’re here you’ll learn first-hand about alpacas, how they live, and how we harvest their lovely fleece to use in products to keep people warm. Of course we welcome you to browse our Farm Store and the multitude of other merchandise we offer — rugs, toys, household items, and accessories — and sip on some warm beverages.

If it happens to be too chilly or windy, we will also bring one of our star alpacas into the Farm Store to visit folks so you won’t miss out on any 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. We have easy access and ample parking to accommodate even large groups. 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!

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.

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!

Alpacas are more than cute faces!

Sure alpacas are cute and entertaining to watch, but their fleece has kept people warm for centuries. Give a story with your gifts this holiday season; select a unique and interesting item from our Farm Store and personally meet the friendly alpaca who produced the fleece. 

Yes, it’s that time of the year again! The holidays are upon us and we always enjoy giving gifts that make people say ohhhh and ahhhh. We can help you with that! Come on out to our Farm Store and shop for some of the most distinctive and charming gifts you’ve ever seen! From socks and hats to dryer balls and rugs to cat toys and kid toys, you’re sure to find something for everyone on your shopping list.

Then take a tour of our Alpaca Farm and meet the alpacas who produced the fleece for the items you bought. Wouldn’t it be a blast to give Aunt Emma a knitted alpaca shawl, or give dad a pair of alpaca socks, and be able to tell them that you personally met and pet the very alpaca that donated the fleece to keep them cozy warm? Sure it would!

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

Join us on Saturday, November 8th between 10 a.m. and 3 p.m. for our monthly Open Farm Day Event and Farm Store Shopping Experience. Bring your whole family – maybe you can even drop hints about what you what them to buy you – and enjoy a day on our alpaca farm. We’ll have guided pasture tours, educational demonstrations and supervised interaction with our 70 alpaca. It’s never too early to start shopping and there’s always time for fun!

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 .

Dress warmly! Wear alpaca!

 

Now that winter is officially here, are you looking for ways to stay warm? Alpaca fiber is warmer than wool yet lighter in weight.  It’s naturally lanolin free and does not feel prickly against your skin with a softness that’s comparable to cashmere.  Plus, people who are sensitive to wool can usually wear alpaca!

Alpaca fiber is used for many cold-weather products like luxuriously soft scarves, gloves, mittens, hats and the most comfortable socks and slippers you could ever put on your feet!

 

So come on out to Windrush Alpacas on Saturday, January 14, 2012 between 10 a.m. and 3 p.m. for our monthly Open Farm Day Event and Farm Store Shopping Experience. Learn first-hand about alpacas, how they live, and how we harvest their lovely fleece to use in products to keep people warm. Of course we welcome you to browse our Farm Store and the multitude of other merchandize we offer — rugs, toys, household items, and accessories — and sip on some special Alpaca Themed coffee.

This is an experience that can be enjoyed by your entire family… from toddlers to great-grandparents!

 

We always offer free admission, free parking and free refreshments.

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

Oh Where Oh Where Has My Show Fleece Gone?

 Sometimes it just doesn’t pay to be organized.  Back in the spring when we were shearing the alpacas, I decided that with the slower pace of shearing it would be good to skirt the fleeces as they came off the alpacas.  By skirting as we sheared it would make a things a lot quicker later on when it came to sending the fleeces off for processing or showing.

One of the fleeces I had prepared was that of our white suri alpaca Christobal.  Christobal is 16 years old and his fleece is holding up well despite his years.  I thought it would be neat to show Cristobal’s fleece and have entered it in the TxOLAN Alpaca Spectacular Fleece Show, along with fleeces from TeQueely and Treasure.

With the entry paper submitted I went out to the studio to pull the three fleeces and make sure they didn’t need re-skirting before the show.  TeQueely and Treasure’s fleeces I found without a problem, but no sign of Cristobal’s fleece!

I know of at least a couple of occasions when we were pulling fleeces for other purposes and Ric had placed Cristobals fleece out for processing or display.    Ric is used to seeing show fleeces still wrapped in a sheet from shearing day, and so with Cristobal’s fleece not being in a sheet it looked to Ric as if it was ready to be processed.  I had told Ric that it was a show fleece and needed to be kept until after the show season was over.  I know we put that fleece somewhere safe to stop it from being sent off or used, but where is that somewhere safe?

The other night we both went through the fleeces in the studio with no joy.  We have searched high and low and still cannot find that fleece.  So today it is back to the studio to re-examine every bag of fleece in the hope of finding Cristobal’s show fleece.

I’ve never had this happen before, but then again this was the first time I had been so advanced in my preparations.  I think this year we will go back to “Plan A” of skirting the fleeces just before we show them – at least that we seem to be able to find them!

Rosemary

The Wonders of a Wagon

A couple of our favorite pieces of equipment on the farm are our green wagon and our yellow wagon.  We started off with a green wagon a few years ago and then liked it so much we bought another one, but could only find a yellow one.  The yellow one is slightly lighter in weight but still works just as well.

So what do we do with these wagons, well for most of the year we use them as portable hay feeders.  They are great during morning chores, I can load up all of the girls hay and feed bowls, wheel the wagon over to the pasture and when I have finished feeding leave the wagon filled with hay in the pasture.  If it should rain we can quickly move the wagon inside one of the shelters, if we have young cria just starting to eat hay we can drop down one of the sides on the wagon to give them easier access to the hay.

We have also used our wagon for hauling feed bags (it can take quite a bit of weight), hauling a whole small bale of hay, moving bags of fleece from the shearing area to the studio and even giving small children rides (a great workout, and yes on once occasion the small children were not so small but rather adults who were feeling young at heart!).

The wagons are reasonably priced ($70 – $80) and really are a great asset to the farm.  You can get them at most large hardware stores (Lowes, Home Depot, Ace Hardware etc.)  and if you look at this time of the year you may find a good sale deal as the stores try and reduce their garden center inventory for the fall and winter. 

While on the subject of wagons if ever you get a chance to see the movie “All We Need Is A Little Red Wagon” then take it.  The movie only lasts for 5 minutes and will make you want to go out and find your wagon – then you will understand how two alpaca owners were once sighted at dusk taking rides in a wagon.  It wasn’t a red one, but it was just as much fun!

Rosemary

AOBA Judges Training

Rosemary is still away on her training course and volunteering for the first ever AOBA Judges training course held in Oklahoma.  The much-anticipated judges training event is an absolute must for AOBA to ensure the high quality of certified judges.  The training each judge completes to become certified as an AOBA judge is extremely comprehensive.  The applicants are normally screened and must have been in the alpaca industry for a specified length of time.  The judges in training then go through a solid three days of textbook and hands-on practical experience.  The judges are trained in fleece, conformation, comments, minor faults major faults, and serious faults, and many other areas of observation as they systematically single out the best animal from second, second from third and so on.  The training also includes hands on with the fleece as well as with the animals themselves.  The judges in training must pass this course with a fairly accuracy score.

 

            Before the judges can be certified as AOBA judges each apprentice must then attend a specified number of level II, level III, level IV or level V shows working in the ring alongside a certified training judge.  The apprentice may discuss different aspects of each animal but the certified judge makes the final decision on animal placement in the show ring.  The training judge will then write a lengthy report on the apprentice performance in the ring and that is turned and evaluated by the AOBA show division.  Once the apprentice has satisfactorily completed all aspects of show apprenticing both in halter and in fleece then the show committee can award the new judge his or her certification as an AOBA judge.  This entire process can take up to three years or longer to complete.

 

            The next time you’re in the show ring feel confident that the judge has taken a lot of time and effort on his or her part to be there judging your animals with confidence.

 

            Life here at Windrush has gotten back into routine of getting chores completed fixing fence and completing the multiple jobs that seem to pop up every day on any farm.

 

            Today I will be challenged to get all the chores completed, check on all the animals to make sure everything is OK and get ready to go to my other job by 8:45.  I sometimes accept opportunities to substitute teach in our local school district and I accepted the challenge of teaching a high school class today so I will let you know how it goes tomorrow.

 

            Just a quick note to let everyone know little Zeus gained weight again yesterday, not as much as I would have liked but every gain is a good sign.  Last night when I checked on the animals before going to bed Zeus was playing King of the Hill and standing on the mound as he frolicked around the pasture.  I think he must take after Rosemary and is turning into a night owl, as all the rest of the animals were settled in for the night.

  

Ric