Find Ms. P Contest - Win $100!

Ms. P is a great Llama who lives with her sister, Clara, at Pedro's Pride Alpaca Ranch in North Idaho. Ms. P, a rescued Llama, is a great guardian for the alpaca herd yet a gentle soul. Help us find her at Pedro's Online. Ms. P is hidden in one or more images at the new storefront. Click Here to go to Pedro's Pride Alpaca Ranch and then click on "Shop Pedro's Online Here" link. Search around on the online store's various pages and then E-mail us at Pedro@imaxmail.net the description of the image or images in which you found Ms. P. There may or may not be more than one. Be sure to include your E-mail address with your entry. All of the correct E-mail replies will be placed in a bowl and a single winner drawn on May 1st. In time for Mothers Day (May 8th). One winner only. Prize: $100 on any item(s) at Pedro's Online or Pedro's Store

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One-Hour Auction

Wednesday, March 30th at 6:05 Pacific Daylight Time, two great dams from Pedro's Pride Alpaca Ranch, LLC will be featured at the online auction from Alpaca Street.

To see photo and information, go to www.alpaca-usa.com/Sales.htm and click on the package "Two Great Dams.

Alpaca Show, Fleece Show, Handcrafter Spin Off

Pacific Northwest Alpaca Association annual show will be held at Pasco, Washington's fantastic venue - TRAC - April 22 and 23 (Friday and Saturday). There will be about 400 alpacas from nearly 200 of the region's greatest alpaca breeders.

The show also features a fleece show and a handcrafters spin off competition.

Pedro's Pride and Fiber Haven will have a vendor booth of interest to fiber artists. We will have roving and raw fleece for spinners and lots of great yarn for weavers, knitters and crochet artists.

Our close friend Genie will have a chair massage set up to work out those kinks and strains that come with the stress and work of a show -- $15 for 15 minutes or professional care.

Mostly, we are there to have fun and we hope you all join us.

Pedro's Pride Alpaca Ranch, LLC and Pedro's store in Sandpoint, Idaho have joined to create a new website with store front selling natural fiber fashions (mostly alpaca), great gifts, jewelry and yarn. Link to this new store at www.pedrospride.com or at www.alpaca-usa.com/Sales.htm. You can get there directly at www.rugyarn.co

New Products for Pedro's are shown at the new store front website, but we also are working on a new design of rug loom, which may be introduced at the Pasco show. Watch for it.

Take care. Enjoy Spring where ever you are.

Ken Larson
Pedro@imaxmail.net

AMG Members -- Links and events

The Alpaca Marketing Group

Foothills Suri Alpacas

Hangman Creek Ranch Alpacas

Snowline Alpacas

Hilltop Alpacas

SuperSuris Alpacas

Pedro's Pride Alpaca Ranch, LLC

Up Coming Alpaca Events:

April 10 & 11, Alpaca Western Extravaganza, Vancouver, Washington

April 24 & 25, Northwest Alpaca Showcase, Pasco, Washington

May 14, 15, & 16, International Alpaca Odyssey, Redmond, Oregon

The Alpaca Marketing Group

Six alpaca ranches in eastern Washington and North Idaho have joined efforts as The Alpaca Marketing Group - AMG - www.alpacamg.com

Our members include breeders of both huacaya and suri alpacas, which provides prospective buyers with an unprecedented choice. Prices range from pet quality to championship quality, making it likely that there is an alpaca available from AMG for every need and desire.

We will be adding more information and more detail, and I promise, I will do better at keeping up on this blog.

All my best,

Ken Larson
pedro@imaxmail.net
Pedro's at the Panida Theatre -- for natural fashions, exotic yarn, fine jewelry and great gifts.

Back

My last post here was almost exactly one year ago. How slovenly of me to let this go.

The Alpaca Info blog is back and will be updated weekly. I ask other like-minded small farm people to join in posting stories, photos and information.

Our male, Kenai of Pend Oreille has some outstanding crias of every color. You can see more photos of them at www.alpaca-usa.com/kenai.htm.

We are offering free breedings with several of our young males, just to help them get "proven" status. They are all fine quality and are for sale -- buy or breed.

KL

At his insistence, we are offering the first breeding for your ranch to Pedro for FREE. We are starting our alpaca economic stimulus program and Pedro thought I said "stimulation" and insisted on free breedings. He shears 12 lbs per year and when bred with a female with strong crimp, it works well. Great chance for a fiber farm to get his density and coverage.




Kenai of Pend Oreille, below, didn't want to be left out, so we are offering a special. Would a $500 breeding with Premier's Absolute's son help you? Kenai has several fine crias from his first year as a herdsire. See them at www.alpaca-usa.com/kenai.htm.

















We have a gal, Paloma, who is pregnant with twins. Here is a photo of her first ultrasound.
We will do another in a few weeks and post the photo here.
This week, our vet ultrasounded her and while he was doing
so, he said, "Yep, two heartbeats and eight legs." The twins
are close together in the left horn. CL is very large, so that's
a good sign. Odds are still against us, but we will let nature
decide the outcome.

All my best,

Ken Larson

Winners

Sagle, Idaho, December 2007: Pedro's Pride Alpaca Ranch announces that three of its alpacas took honors at the Alpaca Mania show in Central Point, Oregon, held in October 2007.

Pepper & Paloma

Paloma of Pend Oreille, a white yearling female took third in the Bred and Owned Yearling Female class of nine alpacas. The two alpacas placing above her took first in their color classes.

Paloma of Pend Oreille also placed third in the Yearling White Female class of 13 alpacas. She should have placed second, but was moved down because of a showmanship error by her handler. The judge stated this at the end of the class. The alpaca placing above her was Reserve Color Champion. These awards combine with Paloma's First Place at the Pacific Northwest Alpaca Showcae and her first plane in conformation class at Alpaca Affaire.

Paloma

Pepper of Pend Oreille, whose grandsire is Patagonia's Neruda who sold for $205,000 this year, placed third in the true black juvenile female class. The judge stated that her fleece was as fine as the first place winner. This was Pepper's first show.

Pepper

Kodiak is owned by Pedro's Pride Alpaca Ranch and Alpacas of Briarwood Farm (Anne & Merl Foss). Merl showed Kodiak at the Alpaca Mania show, taking second in a very competitive class. Kodiak also took second in his class in the Fleece Show. Congratulations. These awards join Kodiak's record of also taking second at the Alpaca Affaire this fall.

Kodiak

For great shopping, be sure to check Pedro's on the Bridge at www.pedrospride.com. There are plenty of excellent deals on new items. Natural fiber fashions, exotic yarns and gifts are available for Christmas.

Arkady

Right now in Colorado there is small alpaca fighting for his life. His name is Arkady. He is suffering from a blocked urethra, which is normally fatal for male alpacas. But, Arkady is lucky, you see, because he has some humans who are willing to fight right along side him. His owners are committed to helping the little guy and their vet is willing to take a chance and try something new. She showed empathy for the alpaca and was there to go beyond the boundaries of current thought.




Here is Arkady's photo from a few months ago taken shortly after he was born:





The good news for this Thanksgiving Day is that after 60 hours of painful straining and trying and suffering and tireless effort by his people, he pee'd. We can give thanks for that and we sure hope that his recovery continues.

Thanksgiving evening I got an update and the Colorado Kid is peeing frequently now and seems to be thriving. Yipppeeee!!!!



In North Idaho, three alpacas survived this ordeal, each using a similar protocol of drugs. And, each survived because their owners and their vet were willing to go beyond the normal limits and try something different. None of us was willing to quit. Like Arkady's owners, the Idaho alpaca breeders cared and refused to give up. When told to euthanize her cria, one owner said, "He'll have to die. I'm not going to kill him." Today, he is a strong, active male alpaca.



Each of us in Idaho had the same experience: The university vet school people said to euthanize them. Our vet (at first) said, "I will give him a shot to make him comfortable then come back tomorrow and put him down. You will be asking me to do it tomorrow."







Arkady is a cria, weighing only 35 lbs, or so. Two of the alpacas in Idaho were youngsters, as well, weighing 50 and 80 lbs. The only adult, is Pedro Armendariz, a big herdsire tipping the scale at near 200 lbs. As far as we can find out, Pedro is the only adult male to survive a completely blocked urethra. Here is a photo--

Pedro shears 12 lbs of fleece yearly--

So, for any of you out there who encounters this problem, don't give up. Call me and we can talk about what we did that worked for the three in Idaho and looks like is working for the Colorado Kid. The key, however, is that you must catch the problem early and take immediate, aggressive action. To wait or to be timid will most likely be fatal for your alpaca.

In a future blog, we'll get into the details and name the drugs and offer our unscientific advice on what to do. For now, let's all send our positive vibes out to Colorado and wish for Arkady's continued and full recovery. What a trooper. I can't imagine the pain of suffering with a blockage like that for 60 hours.

All my best,



Ken

Captain Jack Sparrow

We call him Captain Jack because he needed a strong name, a name that reflected his mental strength and will to live. You see, Captain Jack came into our lives in a very unusual and disarming way. Here is his story.

If you know Anne and Merl Foss, then you know two people who genuinely care about and care for animals. They have a long history of helping, including Llama rescues and taking in strays of various species. Fosses have Emus, dogs, cats, Llamas, alpacas and parrots at their place near Athol, Idaho. The tranquility is evident by the way all of those animals and their humans live together.

Anne saw a little alpaca one day and just couldn't get him out of her mind. He was small and very sad looking with a badly damaged right eye. Anne contacted me and we talked about it, looking for ways to get this poor creature away from his situation. We finally decided to just offer to buy him, knowing we were not spending money for a valuable male alpaca; rather, this was just the starting cost of the rescue. We offered and we got the little bugger.

I was a little nervous driving out to pick up the injured boy. After all, I had never seen him, but knew from Anne's and Merl's descriptions that it would difficult to see him and control my emotions. When I first laid eyes on him, it was worse than I imagined, but in one way I was insulated a bit from reality because I didn't know anything about him.

When I first saw the alpaca stand, I thought he was a cria, maybe about seven months old. He was so weak, he couldn't hold his neck and head up straight and he had no spirit at all. There was no sparkle in his eye. He didn't fight, he didn't try to run and he didn't seem to have enough strength to even walk very well. And, he was 14-month old. He was not a cria at all. He was a yearling and when I got him home and weighed him, he was only 57 lbs. We had a small male cria at the time who weighed more.

The little guy had been kicked in the side of the head, just behind his right ear and it caused facial paralysis. He could not blink his right eye, move his right ear or use the upper and lower lips on the right side of his face. His right eye was a distressing color of red with yellow puss and mucus. The right side of his badly damaged face was caked and matted with what appeared to be old fluids that had leaked out.

Here is a photo of the boy on the third day we had him. We were simply too busy keeping

him alive before that to take photos.

Note his right nostril is collapsed from paralysis.

We started calling him Captain Jack because we figured he would lose his right eye (bringing to mind pirates) and we could see that even having been nearly starved to death, he was willing to fight. So, Captain Jack went to the vet. Bob Stoll is our local vet and we are lucky to have him for three reasons, among others: First, he has tons of camelid experience; second, he's not a quitter and genuinely cares about the animals; and third (probably most important), Bob's wife Heidi who is his scheduler, assistant, x-ray tech, vet tech, bookkeeper and a very caring woman.

Bob's first question was whether we had called the Sheriff: "This alpaca," he said, "is starving to death." Bob examined him and spent a great deal of time with the right eye. He drew blood for a blood test and I had provided a fecal sample. We put Captain Jack on a strict diet to get him used to good food of grass, grass hay and 1 lb of Equine Senior per day, fed in small increments. And, we did a triple-antibiotic treatment to his right eye three times daily, plus I had given him vitamin A, D and E injections the first day.

Our friend Renee came over and we examined the Captain together. He was so starved that we could feel where his ribs attached to his spine. His shoulders and thighs had so little muscle that we could feel the curve of the bone. And, poor Captain Jack, just couldn't fight us or run away. He could barely hold his head up.

Our friend Genie is a massage therapist and she came over (she even cancelled a human, paying patient to see Captain Jack) and did therapuetic massages on his face, neck and spine. Then, she taught Anne and me how to keep this going. The theory, which we had seen work before, is to keep stimulating the damages nerves in his face, hoping that they will repair themselves and allow him to gain use of his eyelids, ear and facial muscles. Anne and Merl do these massages daily.

We stuck with the feeding plan and treatment. On a return visit to the vet, Bob said he was amazed at how well the alpaca was recovering. He ended up suturing the right eye closed to allow it heal better and gave us a new regime for applying eye ointment. Then, Jack (that's Captain Jack) moved to Anne and Merl's place where he would get more consistent daily care and someone would be there to watch him during the day.

I stopped by their place to visit the Captain on the 21st day after we got him. He had been getting good food, some medication, massage stimulation and lots of personal care for only three weeks. He pronked around his pasture. Then, he ran from us and when we tricked him with an offer of food, he put up a good fight trying to break away and run. He was a different animal.

I was amazed at the difference and I offer you photos to show the change. The first photo below is him on the third day. The other two photos are Captain Jack on Day 21.

Below: at Day 3: Weak and stressed

And, so, this is really the beginning of Captain Jack's story. More will follow.

Anne with Captain Jack, day 21--

One of the biggest differences in Captain Jack is his spirit has returned, with a sparkle in his good eye. He will not only make it, he will thrive. I will probably never get him back to my place. Anne has fallen in love again.

All my best,

Ken

Cria Video--First 48 hours of life, 2 min 29 sec

Here is our first video. Click below on "VIDEO."

It is of the first 48 hours of our cria's life. Pepper of Pend Oreille. Her dam is Patagonia's Cilantro and her sire is Patagonia's Guevara, a stately all black herdsire. See more videos as we learn how to do this at our ranch site.

VIDEO

Aspen Alpaca Company

Stan and Mary Miller sent us some cria photos (baby pictures). They operate a very up-scale, positive alpaca ranch in North Idaho, north of Sandpoint a bit. One cannot find more concern or better care for alpacas. And, they have a really cool watch dog. Call and visit Aspen Alpaca Company, where they have some gorgeous animals for sale.

Here is short blurb on the Aspen Alpaca Company. Please visit their website at:

http://www.aspenalpacas.com/lpacas.com/ 208-255-4935

Welcome to Aspen Alpaca Company. Our goal is to provide high quality stock to breeders, both new and experienced, as we selectively breed for soundness and softness. We work to achieve the ideal balance of exceptional fineness, abundant density and first-rate conformation.








Mary Miller
208-610-1841 cell
mmiller@thecreek.com


Here are some photos of this season's crias. What a wonderful sight:

























Morning Glory









New Moon's Cria

















Rodeo

Trillium with Morning Glory

***

Baby Photos / Store / And Another Ribbon

We have neglected the blog for the summer. Sorry, but the time just got away and the summer was really busy at the ranch.



Lisa opened a store in downtown Sandpoint, Idaho--Pedro's on the Bridge-- featuring natural fiber fashions, gifts, home furnishings (like alpaca comforters and pillows) and antiques. Her gorgeous store is in the historic, unique Cedar Street Bridge Public Market at 334 N. 1st Avenue, Sandpoint, ID 83864. Telephone (208) 263-6200.









Here is a photo of the store window. We are changing her website from an online store to a catalogue from which one can order by e-mail, phone or fax. That will take awhile, but here is the web address: http://www.pedrospride.com/ or http://www.pedrosonthebridge.com/ .



[notice the wooden "rocking alpaca" out front]


Below are some baby photos from this summer's crias and a photo of award-winner, Paloma:


Savannah of Pend Oreille:

Sire, multiple-champion Kaspa. Dam, Patagonia's Sage. Savannah's fleece is so rich and soft, that in sunlight it looks like thick velvet, inviting you to touch it. She is a sweetheart with fantastic conformation and a personality bringing together curiosity and confidence. All of this in a beautiful package.








Our latest cria is spectacular. He is ten days old in this photo from Aug 23rd and already has a herdsire's confident attitude. We call him Striker for now (we need a permanent name) because he has a pattern on his left front leg which is the shape of a lightning bolt (look carefully and you can see it here).





Striker represents a major step in the breeding plan at Pedro's Pride Ranch, combining the dense, crimpy fleece of Pedro Armendariz's award-winning daughter Lilly and Alpacas de la Pagagonia's famous rose gray herdsire, Kaspa. The results are wonderful and we are thrilled with the outcome of our planning.





Many thanks to Karen and Hugo at Alpacas de la Patagonia in Washington for all of their help and counsel.

Leila's Mischief of Pend Oreille is a fantastic, rowdy boy with dense fleece and crimp so tight it is ringlets. We call him Corky because he is so friendly, active and energetic it is as if he is wound up like a corkscrew. His sire, Pedro Armendariz is well-known for density and his dam, Leila has won several fleece shows with tight crimpy, briliant white fleece. Corky got both traits, plus a brown spot on his right shoulder and a wonderful, fun personality. He, like Striker, was born with "attitude."

Pepper of Pend Oreille is a gorgeous true black cria. She is perfect size and has the softest fleece we have ever felt. This soft fleece is a trait passed on from her dam, Patagonia's Cilantro. Her rich, dense fleece is so black that in direct sunlight it looks navy blue. Her sire, Patagonia's Guevara is a stately, tall, true black male. Watch a short video of Pepper's first 48 hours.

Pepper's grandsire is the famous herdsire from Alpacas de la Patagonia, Neruda who recently sold at auction for $205,000. Pepper shares those fine traits.

Paloma of Pend Oreille took first in her class at the Pacific Northwest Alpaca Showcase in Coeur d'Alene, Idaho at the end of April 2007. Paloma was the youngest yearling in a big class. She also took second behind a much older, larger brown female in the Bred and Owned Yearling Female class. Here is a photo of Paloma at that show. Her next show will be Alpaca Affaire in September.

Sire: Pedro Armendariz, well-known for brilliant white, extremely dense fleece. He shears 12 lbs per year.

Dam: Leila, who has won several awards for her crimpy fleece.

SPECIAL BREEDING OPPORTUNITY: We still have four slots available to breed your female with Kenai of Pend Oreille for only $900. His normal fee is $2500. He has now bred with Cilantro, Sage, Lois and some outside females. All have been confirmed pregnant by ultrasound. Call or e-mail pedrospride@hughes.net for details and to make an appointment. Pregnancy guaranteed.

Kenai is the son of Premier's Absolute, who sold in 2006 auction for $150,000.00. His dam is Dark Silver Gray and his sire, Absolute, is Medium Silver Gray and White.

***

We are asking for some baby pictures from other alpaca ranches to post on the blog. Send yours to pedrospride@hughes.net and we will put them up a soon as we can. Watch for them soon on this blog. And, we will do better keeping this current. Promise........

Another Winter baby

Our girl, Patagonia's Cilantro had her first cria on March 9th. The girl is tall, strong and full of fun. She is a solid true black (at this point), with one white sock and a white patch on her apron. I was hoping the white mark would be the shape of the Virgin Mary so I could get her on CNN, but the patch is kind of a crescent shape. She is a doll. I posted a 2 min 39 sec video of her on our website. Take a look and let me know if it worked okay. It will take several seconds to load the first time you view it. Click on the video "Cria's First 48 Hours" at http://www.alpaca-usa.com/Videos.htm

I will post a photo of her in next few days.

We have three males here who are for sale.

All our best. See you at Alpacapalooza and the Pacific Northwest Showcase.

Lisa is working hard to get ready to open her store at Cedar Street Bridge Public Market, in Sandpoint, ID. Meanwhile, we will be changing the website at http://www.pedrospride.com to work as a catalog for her store, which will be called Pedro's on the Bridge.

Winter Baby / New Store

We had a winter cria born two weeks ago when the weather in North Idaho was extremely cold. Our thorough preparation and the dam's good timing (sunny day) made it work out okay and the baby made it through extremely well.

Lisa, whose website has been very successful, is opening a reatil store in Sandpoint, Idaho. The opening is scheduled for May. Her store will be in the Cedar Street Bridge Public Market, a high-end, fully remodeled facility where Coldwater Creek was formerly located.

Lisa's store, Pedro's on the Bridge, will specialize in natural fiber fashions, including those made from Alpaca, Llama, wool, Pima cotton, yak, muskox (Qiviut), cashmere, angora and other exotic fibers. She will have a very elegant selection of exotic yarns and she is making a serious effort to include products from local area ranches and fiber artists. Watch for announcements for the grand opening. If you have products you sell or make which you might want to offer for sale, contact Lisa about including them in her store.

Here's wishing you all the best,

Ken