 |
| (Click on photos to enlarge) |
We have an alpaca farm nearby and they were holding an open house this past weekend. I've been wanting to visit for a long time and guess that was the incentive that I needed. What a fun couple of hours. And the DH was even glad he went with me.
There were a couple temporary pens set up in front of their shop with a few alpacas that we could admire. The owner greeted us and explained a few things about alpacas to us. She and her husband have been in the alpaca business for about 15 years, breeding, selling, shearing, knitting, the whole gamut. They don't do their own spinning but send it off to local fiber mills to do the processing. It was hard to tear myself away from the animals, so beautiful and with faces to fall in love with. She said that as cute as they look, alpacas aren't cuddlers. They have personalities much like a cat, enjoy their antics and wait for them to come around for attention.
They had several babies this spring altho they looked almost full sized to me. It was very windy when we visited and the young ones were kind of skiddish about the unfamiliar sounds and people like us roaming around.
This big boy is one of their award winning herd sires. He was one that enjoyed being touched and petted.
Here is one of their breeding females and she kept an eagle eye on us the whole time we were there. Isn't she a sweetie?
These are a pair of youngsters. The one on the right was born with a recessive gene that gave him blue eyes and left him deaf. He will never be able to be a breeding sire but is very tame and would make a nice companion to a herd. The owner said that alpacas aren't loners as they get lonely just like we do, so they try to sell in pairs or to already established herds.
OK, enough of the animals. So we go inside to the shop and find lots of tempting goodies. Just look at the socks! Who can resist a pair of socks? They are so soft and comfy. Note the ribbons and awards under their counter.Look at the gorgeous alpaca items, yarns and roving. It was a joy doing the touchy feely thing.
can you tell how cold the winter is going to be by the thickness of their coats?
ReplyDeleteThey have such sweet faces.
The owner didn't say anything about their coats and predicting the weather. Their animals are bred for the quality of their fur and I don't think the weather has much to do with it. They do like the cold weather tho and have an intolerance to heat. In the summertime, she sets up a big kids' swimming pool and lets the hose run for them and they all just come running when she sets it up. They get sheared in the spring so their coats aren't real heavy during the awful summer heat.
DeleteCute faces and attitudes to match. It'd be fun to spend a few days with them.