Posted by roo on May 25th, 2007 — Posted in Farm Entry
Today I met with John and Letti and followed them to Monetta, where some customers of theirs set up their own farm about a year ago. The reason I wanted to visit this farm was firstly to take a look around and make sure that I feel comfortable sending Dominic and Penelope there for boarding in the event that John is no longer able to look after them, and secondly, to take a peek at Penelope’s one and only offspring. John initially bought Penelope from the farm in Ohio merely for the cria she was carrying. He was hoping for a herd sire and had very high hopes for this baby that Penelope would present him with. When a female gives birth you always hope it’s another female because males are not worth much unless they can prove themselves as worthy sires. In this one and only case, John madly hoped for a male (apparently the cria’s father, Merlin, is very desirable as a sire), and he got him.
Sergeant Major is his name, and he had not been shorn yet, so when we arrived we lent a helping hand to shed his blanket of fleece. He had very long fleece, and it was very heavy. A very fine example of what Penelope is capable of giving us!
Sgt. Major
Jesse sat in the backpack throughout the entire process, head on my shoulder to peer down on what was happening. Afterwards I let him down and he ran to meet the farm’s Great Pyrenees dog ‘Buster’, who he fell in love with. Buster’s breed is bred specifically for guarding herds of sheep, but they are incredibly kind and gentle with children and cats. We had initially decided to get Jesse a golden retriever once we got our own farm, but I think I like the Pyrenees better seeing he will be a working dog. Coyotes and packs of dogs are an alpaca’s greatest threat… a Pyrenees will fight to the death to protect his herd. He thought he had to guard Jesse and he patiently walked around with him, sitting down and waiting next to him. I know that with a dog like that, Jesse will be safe!
Jesse and Buster
All the papers are signed, we’ve taken insurance out on Dominic and Penelope, and all is well.
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Posted by roo on May 20th, 2007 — Posted in Penelope, Dominic
Today we had a meeting with John and Letti at the Buena Vista Alpaca farm. I had spoken with John the day before and told him that we were interested in buying two alpacas from him… how we would do that I had no idea.
We turned up this morning and played with Dominic and Jazzabella, our two chosen animals. I was a little nervous because Jason and I had decided on an offer, but I was afraid that it would not be enough. After much negotiation and John making some suggestions, we decided upon Dominic… and Penelope. Jazzabella, you see, was a little more expensive and would not be ready for her first sire service until this time next year, after which she had to carry her cria for 11 and a half months. From an investor’s point of view this was not a good investment. Penelope, who is 4, is already pregnant with her second cria. Her baby is due this coming March, after which John will breed her again to the sire of our choice, at no extra cost. So in other words, we will get Penelope AND her two babies for one price. Here’s hoping she will give birth to females!
As you can see, Penelope is blue eyed and white… beautiful to look at, but in alpaca breeders language these two traits translate to ’she’s deaf’. And no, the deafness is not passed down to the offspring.
John has offered to let us pay the animals off in installments and we’re going over on Wednesday evening to sign the papers. Dominic and Penelope will remain as boarders on the farm until we are ready to take them home.
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Posted by roo on May 15th, 2007 — Posted in Farm Entry
We’ve been spending a bit of time at the alpaca farm. We were there for the shearing right before easter and I met a lady who had a farm in Ohio. She was a homeschooling mother of 4 and I found her very pleasant. Rachel and her family were there to help with the shearing and they had brought their alpacas from Ohio to be sheared at the same time. She imparted a lot of alpaca knowledge to me and we stayed in contact via email here and there after they returned home. We returned to the farm originally to see how Dominic had grown up (refresh: he was born on the same day, at the same time, as Jesse) and Jason fell in love with a young alpaca female called Jazzabella on shearing day.
I went to the farm a week ago today to photograph a baby alpaca (called a cria) that had just been born. John, the owner, asked me jokingly how many alpacas Jason and I had decided to buy. ‘Well,’ I told him, ‘Jason really likes Jazzabella.’
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