News and Blog
Well, here it is mid-September and the site is long overdue for an update. Where does the time go? There are 5 more cria on the ground since I last checked in! Not sure if you recall, but I was trying to make sure my Panama Jack offspring were all named with reference to him. In May Jack Be Nimble arrived, and early June brought us Panama Hattie. The wee hours of July 4th marked the arrival of Panamanian Pandemonium, a hot little number out of my foundation female Belle. Check her out!
I love how she looks like she's grinning! What a card!
Whew! Things have been hopping around here. Just yesterday our fourth cria of the year arrived, so I need to go back and fill you in on the arrivals of numbers two and three!
On June 5th Moxie decided to bring her first cria into the world, a lovely little lady sired by none other than Panama Jack. If you recall from my last blog entry, I had decided that all of Jack's kids would have some form of the name "Jack" in their name. And, I found that it's hard to name a GIRL using that convention. SO, now his kids will have either "Jack" or "Panama" in their names (dodged that bullet!). Thus, I'd like to introduce you to Panama Hattie! She was only 3 days old when we had a staggering heat wave, so she was shorn and is all nekked in her picture.
On June 8th our girl Biscuit gave birth to a handsome young man sired by Our Peruvian Bentley. Buster Brown burst onto the scene and almost immediately a fearsome threesome formed, three little monkeys racing around and tormenting all the pregger girls!
And finally, on June 30th Mermaid actually had her cria ON HER DUE DATE! Amazing! Mermaid was bred to El Chono, a stunning Neruda son, and together they produced a very lovely brown/black little girl named Cha Cha Cha Girl. She keeps Mermaid on her toes, as she's very curious about everything that's going on, and dashes from here to there and everywhere.
The first cria of the season arrived yesterday afternoon! Honalee had a sweet little fawn guy and though he's only a day old, I think he's going to be niiiiiiice! He's the first offspring of my herdsire, Whispering Winds Panama Jack, and if he's any indication of what Jack's capable of producing, I'm really looking forward to the rest of his cria due this year (and next year, and the year after!). I've decided to try to name all of Jack's offspring something with some form of "Jack" in it, so this little guy is "Jack Be Nimble."
He is eagerly awaiting his first playmate, who is currently 4 days late. Hopefully there will be another photo of another new cria up here soon!
May 10-11: Catch up with us at the New England Alpaca Festival at the New Hampshire Sheep and Wool Festival in Contoocook, NH. We'll be there with various alpaca fibers and yarns, and lots of answers to any questions you might have about raising alpacas!
May 15: Ibiwisi Honalee's due date. Honie is bred to Whispering Winds Panama Jack, and if she births reasonably on time, this will be Jack's first cria. We're pretty fired up to see what he's going to produce.
May 17: See you at the 4th Annual Jamaica Fiber Festival!
May 23: Ibiwisi Moxie's due date. Moxie, Honalee's full sister, is also bred to Whispering Winds Panama Jack. Maybe the sisters will have a race to see who pops Jack's first cria out the soonest.
May 30: Biscuit's due date. Biscuit is bred to Our Peruvian Bentley for a full Peruvian offspring (she's going to have a GIRL, of course!).
This year's MAPACA Jubilee was apparently the largest alpaca show in the world with 1700 alpacas entered in the various classes. Wow! I was thrilled that both animals I took to the show did extremely well in their classes, each taking a very strong second place.
Ibiwisi Giggles presented herself very well at her final show and now she is retiring from the show circuit and will be bred this summer. Over the course of four shows Giggles brought home three halter class 2nds and two halter class 3rds (including a Bred & Owned third), as well as a 4th & 5th in two fleece competitions. She is going to make someone an exceptional foundation breeding female!
Starry's Berkeley in this, his second show, again impressed the judge enough to take home a 2nd place ribbon after doing the same just a few weeks ago at the NAAS. Watch his progress as he matures, this boy is definitely going to be siring some amazing cria in the future.
Phew! Not sure what it is about the shows, but they tucker me right out. The NAAS was once again an excellent show. The first show of the year is always fun, you get to see everyone after a long winter and hear what's been going on at their farms. AND you get to see lots of new alpacas and watch some real nail-biter competitions. If you're lucky, sometimes you get to be IN a nail-biter competition! I bit my nails while Kim showed Berkeley, and he did us proud by taking 2nd place in a hard-fought competition against an Archangel son named Malachi. Congrats to Berkeley AND Malachi, who are both well on their way to growing into amazing studs!
I am so very pleased to announce that we have entered into a junior herdsire co-ownership with our good friends Kim and John Frigault at Starry Mountain Alpacas in Grafton, Vermont.
Starry's Berkeley is a full Peruvian, almost full Alianza fawn boy with fantastic density and startling brightness. His lineage contains both Hemingway and Bueno, but it's his fleece that really excites me.
I think he's going to do some wonderful things to my herd when he begins breeding. In the meantime, I'm looking forward to watching Kim and John show him at the upcoming North American Alpaca Show. Hooray for Berkeley!