Wow, it's November already! We've been very busy the last couple of months. John has been to 3 shows already and I've been really busy with the Lexington Farmer's Market. We totally emptied out the Draper farm and listed it with a new realtor. I'm so ready for it to be gone!

We have had one cria born since moving here - a boy, born September 20, just 6 days before our National Alplaca Farm Days open house. He's gorgeous, and growing like a weed!!

Hi all!!

Long time, no posts, right?? Well, I plan to post regularly, beginning next week.  We are busy, busy, busy moving our household, 45 alpacas, 3 lgd's, 2 barn cats, 1 house dog, and 1 house cat to our new digs! The logistics have been almost overwhelming!! John is at the new farm with all of our girls and crias. I'm still here with our males, cats, and dogs.  The young boys go up tomorrow. The truck comes on Tuesday for the household goodies. (We've moved a good bit of the stuff ourselves, but there are limits...)

I will add some photos in a few days. I will be without internet until Wednesday.

Venus at 30 minutes old

Our princess doesn't feel right... She's in early labor!!

Venus at 3 days old.

Opal and Venus resting in the barn

YEAH!!!! Our last cria has arrived! We had another girl.  Opal, our princess, went into labor on Sunday afternoon, just a few hours after my last posting.  She didn't make things easy on herself.  She laid down for most of her labor.  Venus was born just before 4 pm on Sunday, June 3.  She is white with lots of curls and crimp.  Her fiber looks like berber carpet.  She is very small: 12 lbs 6 oz at birth.  Her mama is our smallest female.  Our vet came out the next day to check on her.  She was not premature.    She has spent the first week being very passive but now that she is 10 days old, she runs and plays with Mocha.

Our first girl!

We have finally had a female cria!  Bubbles delivered Mandoline (Mandy, for short) on Friday, May 25 at 10:15 am.  I didn't have to assist with this birth either but was able to see most of the delivery.  She is a beautiful little thing with berber carpet fiber!! We're very excited about her overall appearance.

We have one more preggie on the farm to deliver still.  Opal is due within the next week.  I think she'll have deliver in the next few days.  She was our little PR gal before she got pregnant but she's been pretty aloof since she's been bred.  Just in the last couple of days though she has come back around for attention.  She's following in the same pattern as Ginger.  Anyone want to take bets on whether I'll be proven right?

Today, Sunday June 3 has been pretty busy for us so far.  We bred our junior herdsire, Zamboni, to Ruby.  He wasn't too interested at first, with this being his first breeding.  We brought Ace in to the pen to show him the way and after that he was fine!  Ruby is a dark brown  and Zamboni is a light rose grey so they will make a really nice cria!  We'll find out next year!

Surprise! We have another cria! Ruby delivered a little boy yesterday afternoon around 2 pm.  He appears to be a rose grey.  He weighed 18 pounds at birth.  He was up and around 45 minutes and was nursing within an hour!  He's beautiful!  Her delivery was quick and easy.  I saw the whole thing but didn't have to help at all, so I took photos! Yeah for I-Phones!

We haven't named him yet.  We do have a name for Ginger's cria now.  Officially, his name is NRVA El Corazon's Don Quixote.  His farm name is Quixote. I call him cutie Quixote!. He is growing by leaps and bounds. By yesterday he was 35 pounds!

We have named Ruby's cria. His name is Mocha Latte.   Here is another photo of him.

Welcome our newest addition to New River Valley Alpacas!!!  Our first cria of the season was born on Tuesday, April 17 at 1:45 pm.  It's a boy!  Ginger is the proud mama.  I even saw him born this time, and, in fact, assisted in his delivery.  One of his front legs was not extended out at the elbow so I garbed up in ob gloves and lots of lubricating gel and manipulated his other leg so that is was straight out and then Ginger pushed one more time and out he came! He is mostly white with some beige coloring on his neck and head.  At the moment we are calling him baby.  We are still trying to decide on his official name.  Here are some photos of the little guy.

I was suspicious of Ginger's behavior last weekend and into Monday.  She is very hormonal when pregnant!  We would simply touch her neck or back and she would turn and threaten to spit at us.  However, the last 2 days before delivery, she was giving us kisses! It was a total personality change!

Happy Easter to everyone!  It's already April 10, and way past time to update my blog.  So, here I go...

We had herd health last weekend and everyone is doing fine.  Ginger will be having her baby by the end of this month.  Bubbles and Ruby are due in mid-May, and lastly, but not least, Opal will be delivering in early June, hopefully.  We've had everyone out in pasture for 2 weeks now.  They are so happy to be out there again!

We moved the babies over with the teenagers on the boy's side so now Banjo, Wyatt , and Zamboni have 2 new friends.  Everyone is getting along very nicely!!

We'll be breeding the open girls in mid-May.  They are all going to other farms this spring to be bred.  The logistics might be a bit tricky to get 2 of them to their respective studs, but I'm sure it will all go smoothly.

Burgundy wool blend

Angora bunny/alpaca blend 

Wool blend plyed with angora/alpaca blend

I've kept busy knitting and spinning this winter.  I'm attaching a few photos of my newest handspun yarns. I have also woven one shawl on my triangle loom and have another one in progress. Shown below are 2 photos of my first shawl.