Dutch Hollow Acres » Caring For Alpacas AlpacaBytes : Profit from breeding quality alpaca fiber.

Tip: EZ way to stuff a hay net

admin — Mon, 19 Sep 2011 11:57:22 +0000

Sometimes I like to “fork out” hay from my round bale instead of letting the animals free graze on it. Unfortunately if I just fork off some hay and toss it on the ground surely a lot of it will go to waste which is where a hay net comes in handy. If you’ve [...]

FAF: Why is Alpaca Fiber So Warm?

admin — Fri, 12 Aug 2011 12:13:59 +0000

Hello Fiber Arts Friday Fans! It’s been a while since I’ve done a science behind alpaca fiber so here we go. Today’s question, why is alpaca warmer than wool?

What is Alpaca Fiber?

Well all know that fiber from a sheep is called wool and the stuff that we wash and comb on our [...]

Understanding Cost to Sell Alpaca Fiber at a Profit

admin — Wed, 01 Jun 2011 12:13:30 +0000

Whether you’re thinking starting an alpaca farm or are a seasoned rancher the question is always the same. What do you do with all that fleece?! I’m surprised to find that many folks shear it, bag it, and store it without doing anything at all. (FYI Fiber does have a shelf life).

Since many folks [...]

Creating a Pasture or Paddock Paradise

admin — Tue, 21 Dec 2010 19:24:38 +0000

The concept of a Paddock Paradise is the brain child of Jaime Jackson who wrote a wonderful book on it. (buy book here). The general idea of a paddock paradise is to create an environment for your horse that as closely mimics their natural habitat allowing them to travel distance and obstacles throughout the day [...]

New Alpaca Run-In Shed/Barn

admin — Tue, 31 Aug 2010 12:34:29 +0000

The sight was cleared in time with just 2 days to spare. I got a call last night that our new shed was on it’s way up from PA and scheduled to be delivered at 8am Tuesday morning. Here is is 8:29am and I’m already writing to say I have my shed! It still needs [...]

Fiber Arts Friday – Alpaca Fur Blanket

admin — Fri, 18 Jun 2010 14:08:21 +0000

Hello Fiber Arts Friday followers!

A while back I told you about the unfortunate passing of my alpaca Miracle. We ended up processing her hide and sent it off to be tanned and made into a lap robe. Well the good news is our Miracle Blanket is finished! I picked it up from Sivko Furs, [...]

Shredded Straw Bedding

admin — Mon, 17 May 2010 14:28:44 +0000

Recently we purchased a Wallenstein BXM Chipper Shredder to help with chipping all the trees and scrub brush we took down in our soon to be new orchard area. When considering buying a chipper we thought about going all out and getting the shredder to see if we could make our own livestock bedding.

If [...]

Preparing for Alpaca Shearing Season

admin — Thu, 01 Apr 2010 09:00:03 +0000

Welcome Fiber Arts Friday Folks! This weeks article has been brought to you by guest writers Chris and Jody Hatch of Salmon River Alpacas .

LOCATION OF SHEARING Clean, dry and out of the wind, rain, and sun Garages or work areas in the barn work great for shearing. Shearing in the hot sun or in [...]

Alpaca Death – Preserve an alpaca hide into a fur

admin — Sun, 28 Mar 2010 22:20:35 +0000

Warning: If you’re a vegetarian, vegan, or think that the killing of Bambi’s mom was cruel you do not want to read this post.

The beautiful alpaca in the photo above is named Miracle. She was a sterile female and a huge one at that. Unfortunately a combination of her age and [...]

Miracle Alpaca

admin — Thu, 25 Mar 2010 10:49:46 +0000

Unexpected Loss

I have a love hate relationship with my barn cameras. I love the fact I can watch the alpacas from my “day job” and see what they are up to. I hate that I can see when they are in trouble and am helpless to do anything about it.

Tuesday I noticed my [...]

Human vs. Alpaca Round 1

admin — Tue, 16 Mar 2010 21:04:27 +0000

This past Sunday evening we decided to give the alpacas their monthly Ivermec shot and to trim toenails. Monthly shots are hardly exciting anymore and usually none of the alpacas put up much of a fight. Clipping toenails turned out to be a totally different story.

It turns out alpacas are fully aware of [...]

How to Build Alpaca Creep Feeder

admin — Tue, 02 Feb 2010 19:04:31 +0000

With cria comes the need to find away to let them get away from the adults and have their own private little space to rest or get some extra grain or hay. Hence the invention of the creep feeder.

A creep feeder is a simple concept of a space wide enough for a cria to [...]

Dealing With Mud

admin — Mon, 25 Jan 2010 15:53:40 +0000

They call it the January Thaw. To me it’s a pain in the $(@*#. The snow pack by January has usually built up higher than the step up into the run-in sheds which means when a thaw comes all that snow melt runs right into the barn! It doesn’t help that our farm is also [...]

Coyote Alarm Call

admin — Mon, 25 Jan 2010 14:57:53 +0000

Finally the weekend! I was so excited about being able to sleep in to 7am on Saturday morning. The week was busy with long days and short nights and all I wanted was to catch up on some sleep.

All that hope turned to panic with M. jabbing me in the side at 5:15am Saturday [...]

Preparing Shots for Alpacas

admin — Fri, 01 Jan 2010 14:49:46 +0000

Today is the day of the month I feel like a junkie. Since I live in a region that has the meningeal worm my alpaca chores the first weekend of each month involves giving our alpacas a shot of Ivormec. My little cria Albina also got a booster of [...]

Feeding and Weaning a Bottle Fed Cria

admin — Mon, 30 Nov 2009 17:28:53 +0000

Well I must say that our first experience with birthing and raising a cria has been an exciting one. I wasn’t expecting to be so involved though. I thought I’d share with you our hands on 2 month timeline for raising our little Albina.

When I first got into alpacas I moved them around in my 2 horse bumper pull trailer. After all I was a horse person first and it’s what I had. However it became apparent that a different mode of transporting alpacas was needed with the crazy gas prices now [...]