As you can see from our farm visitor map (below and to the left), we have been overwhelmingly lucky to have lots of company here on the farm. Now with a slight summer lull I am back on-track with some blogging.

Since our arrival, it has been a priority to improve our pasture situation. Having adequate and properly laid out pasture space improves and maintains not only herd health, but also eases farm management and maintenance (i.e. saves my labor!). A first consideration is how many alpacas you expect to have on your farm.

Animal Density

Many of the resources and breeders I have researched and spoken with suggest that one can house 5-10 animals per acre. In my opinion, ten animals is not a reasonable expectation unless you live in an area where your forage is very fast growing, have enough pastures to rotate frequently, and have an adequate means to irrigate to ensure forage regrowth.

Rotational grazing poses additional work and upfront expense to the farm owner. Not only is it time consuming to constantly move your animals, but it is also expensive to put in. Rotational grazing requires the use of interior fence lines and multiple gates to allow you to move the herd from one pasture to another so the previous pasture can be allowed to grow without grazing. A more reasonable estimate may be on the low end at five alpaca per acre, and even this may be too many if you live in an area that the forage doesn’t grow year round due to either winter weather, or summer heat and dryness.

Layout

How many separate pastures does one need? Most say least two -- one pasture for males - and - one for females. However, we have been doing breedings on our farm for next season, and I can attest to the need for at least three. I have found that having at least one pasture (or at a bare minimum a runway) between the sexes alleviates squabbles between the breeding males vying for attention from the females. It also provides space for said breedings and any needed animal care work. An additional two pastures would be ideal to separate out the male and female weanlings so they do not have to compete with the adults for food and rotational fields are available for pasture maintenance and forage regrowth

Having just put in additional fences for my farm, I still have upfront costs strongly on my mind! One solution we have found to temporarily remedy this challenge is to use portable fencing to break up larger pastures into smaller units which can be used for rotation or weanling separation.

Keep in mind that catch pens are also necessary for breeding, herd health, and training. I will include and entry in the near future about what layout we have found to work for us and share layouts that I have observed at other farms.

Stay tuned for more articles on this subject coming up!

Pendragon & Valentino Grazing on a Summer's Eve.

Maybe we should drop the "at heart" part? Jen has been hard at work in our 20'x 30' garden plot. When we arrived it was full of three-foot tall grass -- now here's the real deal, and I don't just mean the garden!

We have had such a wonderful time with our first several guests, even as we've had to wade through the sea of boxes! Won't you visit our on-line guestbook? Maybe you will want to visit too -- we'd love to have you!

A tornado ripping through Chicagoland and nearly missing the van was our going away present as we headed west only a couple weeks ago. Our journey took us through the Badlands, the Black Hills, Yellowstone, the Idaho Panhandle, and finally the Cascade Range. It was absolutely beautiful in spite of some unexpected snow in the Rockies! When we finally arrived, the look on the boys' faces was precious!

It was bound to happen -- and here it is -- my first guest post as the "Farmer-at-Heart" husband.

Earlier this month our capable herd manager, Janet Franklin, made plans for the annual shearing with Jason Black from San Juan Island. It was unseasonably cold and wet this year, and many farms apparently put off their shearing, but we were fortunate to have a clear, beautiful day for the job.

Jason is a super person to work with, knows his animals well, and was incredibly patient with me: the novice. He is a skilled pro and I was glad it was him holding the shears and not me!

My job was to hold the animals as upright and steady as possible. Generally this was accomplished by wrapping one arm around a neck and twisting an ear to release calming endorphins with the opposite palm above the front shoulders, all along "speaking" to them softly. However, I often found myself resting an animal that wanted to go down on my knee, shoved against the run-in wall, or otherwise in all manner of contortion.

Some shearers/farms prefer to work with animals on their side and tied down. This takes quite a bit longer, but can be safer for jittery animals, and we resorted to this method at least twice. The third person's job is to gather, sort and mark the fleece. Janet and I occasionally traded this job.

Shearing is hard work lasting about twenty minutes per animal including corralling and haltering the next-up, the actual shearing, gathering samples, firsts and seconds, and sweeping up the thirds. In spite of the foul smelling spit and bodily bruises I tended to later in the day, it was undoubtedly one of the more satisfying span of six hours I have spent in a long time. In fact, Jen wanted me to entitle this post "Shear Delight" -- well there you have it, Dear.

Thank you also to my brother and aunt for coming up to help out and take these terrific pictures. Here is their photographic vignette:

On Orcas Moon's show day I spent most of the morning attending a series of educational seminars on marketing, disease control, neonatal care and the like. Then -- finally -- it was time to show Manhattan!

Manhattan was registered in the Full-Fleece-Huacaya-Yearling-Female-White division. There were ten other animals in her class. In the adjacent ring, the show was having an agility contest featuring balloons and streamers among other distractions -- from the get-go Manhattan was not calm.

We ended up doing the "walk of shame" from the ring after the first go ‘round. Not the blue ribbon I was hoping for, but the experience was outstanding. I learned about how to calm her down a little too late, but it was a pulse raising experience all the same -- a real thrill I won't soon forget. I was a little upset because she is a really pretty girl with nice fleece and conformation; maybe we'll do better next year when I have bit more experience under my belt.

Brooklyn wouldn't show until Sunday on the final day of the show when I would already be back on the plane to Chicago so Albert kindly offered to show her. Up early to feed and water the girls and break-down the stall set-up; I said a temporary goodbye to my new friends and left for the airport. Sitting in the airport waiting for my flight I received a call from Albert. He was beyond excited for Brooklyn had won a ribbon!!!

Brooky placed fourth in the Full-Fleece-Huacaya-Yearling-Female-Fawn division, where the judge apparently loved her. The only reason she didn't place higher was because of slight crimp variation from shoulder, blanket to hip. Not something we can fix in her per se, but something we can shoot for in her cria.

On the trip home I am not sure who was flying higher -- me or the plane! What a great trip: I learned alot, made new friends, and won a ribbon! And I'll be back for good in only a few short months.