We bought our alpacas in Oct 2007 but didn't get them delivered to the farm until Friday Nov 30th 2007. They arrived about noon, in the back of a pick up truck.
Our alpacas are called Sumac and Chopaka. Both are un-neutered males.
Sumac was born in June 2000 and Chopaka in June 2001. They are both named after places and are both Canadian registered breeding stock.
Sumac is the smaller of the two alpacas and seems to be the leader. Chopaka is more timid and shy.
Sumac and Chopaka have the same mother "keremeos" but different fathers.
We kept the dogs in the house when the alpacas arrived so that they (the alpacas)wouldn't get stressed.
Sumac was the first out of the pick-up-truck. The truck was backed up to our gravel heap that was covered in snow. That way the alpacas could walk out onto the heap quite happily without having a long way down. Chopaka was reluctant to get out and needed to be coaxed. Once out they were halter led into the barn/stable area and then into the paddock.
The paddock has a shelter for them that hubby made at the end of the summer. Alpacas need shelter especially from the sun in the summer months. They don't mind the cold and we heard they would rarely use the shelter.
They eat hay that is less than 20% alfalfa. Too rich food would give them colic; it would be too difficult to digest. They eat about a third of what a horse would eat.
Bosun loves to be near the alpacas and will sit or run beside the fence to see them. Bosun is 1 year and nine months old now. At first he jsut wanted to bark to let them and us know about his presence. However a gentle tap on the nose and a firm "NO" seems to have worked as he doesn't now bark at them (unless we are nowhere to be seen!!). The alpacas don't seem to mind Bosun and will go up to the fence to see him. In fact Sumac and Bosun seem to almost rub noses! On Sunday we took Bo into the paddock with the alpacas. He didn't bark at them or annoy them. He sniffed them and was wary of their legs. On Monday Bosun was in the area in front of the stable and we opened the gate so the alpacas could come in as well. They did and they looked around and went beside the fence so they could see Buddy and Sparky. Then Bo herded them back into their paddock!
Jaxx likes to go to see the alpacas and given the chance will bark at them. We discourage that by a gentle tap on his nose and a firm "NO".
Here is a video of our alpacas.... Sumac is the one that is nearest the camera:
The alpacas are settled now and we are able to leave Bo in the paddock with the alpacas. He doesn't seem to mind them and they don't seem to mind him. He will even settle himself down beside them. Sometimes when he goes in to the paddock the two alpacas are settled down on their haunches with their heads held high. Bo will go up to them but they won't get up, just stay there settled and contented on the ground!
On the few occasions we have let Jaxx into the paddock or he has got in there without us knowing, we regret it! Jaxx likes to chase the alpacas and run at their heels. They don't seem to like him barking at them and run away from him, which makes Jaxx chase them more! We usually end up catching Jaxx and picking him up and bodily removing him!
Today the alpacas got sheared. We had to walk them down to the nearby farm where there are over 20 alpacas. We did try to entice the two alpacas into a trailer over the last few weeks but to no avail. So we walked them the thirty minute walk.
The weather is cold today and snow has been forecast. We start to walk the alpacas at about 7-20 am and arrive at the farm about ten minutes before eight o'clock. There they are put into a little holding paddock until it is time for them to be sheared. They look over excitedly at where the female alpacas are being kept today!
At about 8 am the person who is doing the shearing, Dave, arrives. He lives in Alberta and goes the rounds shearing alpacas, llamas and sheep. He brings his shearing table with him and sets up his gear in the stable in the dry.
two people arrive to help with the shearing.. one will put the wool into plastic bin bags complete with the name of the alpaca.; the other will help to put the alpacas legs in harnesses after they ahve been attached to the table. My hubby ends up helping to hold the heads of each of the alpacas as they are being sheared. The owner of the farm we have taken our alpacas to is the one who brings each alapaca to the table.
Before nine am all is set up and the first alpaca is broought in to be sheared. It is interesting to watch. The alpaca is placed next to the table; a belt is put around the alpaca's belly and the table is tipped voer slightly; the back legs of the alpaca are placed in a harness and pulled tight and then the same is done for the front legs. Then the shearing begins. One side is clipped and then the table is moved; the "headman" who holds the alpacas' head at all times and has been at the back of the table now moves to the front to hold the head. Then the table is tipped back and the "headman" goes back to the original position, replaces any harnesses the alpaca was originally wearing and then the table is tilted and the alpaca released from his leg harness and is ready to be led away.Sumac and Chopak were the second and third alpaca to be sheared. This was mainly due to the weather conditions as they were the only two alpacas outside and liable to get wet. If they became wet then they would not be able to be sheared. We did not know this previous to having them sheared and count ourselves lucky that the snow held off until just after they were sheared!
By noon all alpacas had been sheared and we were able to walk them back home.
The folowing night it got really cold and snowed heavily (unusual for this time of year in Grand Forks) and so we put them in the stable for the night where they coudl keep warm and dry.
We bought Frankie home about one month after shearing. He is white, has blue eyes, and is deaf or partly deaf. (apparently a lot of Blue-eyed White male alpacas wil be deaf.)Sumac and Chopaka seem to get on well with Frankie, and Chopaka has taken on the "mothering" of Frankie. Frankie seems to like being near to Chopaka and is usually to be foudn beside or very near Chopaka.
We are excited as our girl alpaca arrives tomorrow! Sasha is the new girl. She is about 15 months old and is the sister of Chopaka (male, single registered) and the half sister of Sumac (male,single registered). They all share the same mother, Keremeos (single registered), and she will be coming too along with a baby of hers so that Sasha (siingle registered) will not be lonely. Alpacas need to have company. One on their own is no good as they get lonely. And since we can’t have our boys in with any female in case they mate, and particularly with Sasha who is a close relative, then we have done the next best thing to buying a couple of girls, and that is borrowing them!
Female alpacas are expensive to buy, more expensive than male alpacas. Double registered alpacas (those registered in Canada and the USA) are more expensive than single registered (those registered in just one country). Sasha should be pregnant. Sasha is dark brown in color and Caesar, the male she was mated with, is a light brown color so we are hoping that the offspring will have brown fleece. We thi8nk she is pregnant as she spits and kicks at the male once she has “taken”. The cria, or baby,shoul dbe due about 11 months after mating, which means sometime around about September she should give birth!
We (the Royal “we” here…meaning mainly my husband!) have cleaned up the paddock where the horses used to be, fenced a new area off and made the shelter more suitable for the alpacas. Plus we have a heated bucket for the water for the females and more hay coming tomorrow to make sure they all have enough to eat over the winter.
Chopaka should be pleased to see the females. We took our males down to the neighbours alpaca farm (Sunshine Valley Alpacas) while we went to England and they stayed there for three weeks. (this is the farm that has Sasha and Keremeos and her baby, plus many other females,most of them double registered and the farm where we got our male, white, blue eyed (unregistered) Frankie.) When we got our alpacas back and walked them down the road back to our farm all but Chopaka were pleased to be home. Chopaka however spent many days looking over the gate to see if he could escape back down the road!! I wonder what he will make of having females around?!