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

Holiday Alpaca Bazaar a Great Success!

This years annual Alpaca Bazaar was a great success! Thank you to everyone who participated! We held this years event at our farm, Enchanted Acres Ranch Alpacas in Benton City, Washington.
We couldn't have done it without the help of several surrounding ranches, and Ken & Lisa Larson who drove all the way down from their ranch in Sandpoint, Idaho! Ken & Lisa of Pedros Pride Alpacas have a wide variety of beautiful alpaca products. They make our bazaar special every year!
Thanks Ken & Lisa!!
Here is a great picture of some of the fun we had. Join us next year!
Brenda

Congratulations Myles--Your New Llama

We just brought home Princess Pumpernickle. She is a Llama who is now trying to figure out what an alpaca is as she and the 17 alpacas have a stare down from opposite sides of their pasture.

This fine-looking girl is a gift to our college-student son, Myles, who plans to re-name her. Good idea, I think.

Ms. P is from Susan Sasher's Llama Rescue in North Idaho. Susan has some other really nice females up for adoption. Send us an e-mail at pedrospride@hughes.net and we will put you in touch with her.

I was all nervous about this move since I have no Llama experience and they are so big compared to an Alpaca. Don and Renee' Bluhm, Spitting in the Wind Llama Ranch near us, gave us a pep talk and some sound advice and the delivery of Ms. P went flawlessly. I walked up to her in the pasture at Susan's, offered a small treat and put my arm around her neck. Simple as that.

Incidentally, Lisa bought some gorgeous gray and also black rovings from Renee'. We had no idea Llama fleece could be so fine and so lustrous. If you are interested in some, send Lisa an e-mail at pedrospride@hughes.net and she can put you in touch.


We are hoping that this Llama will provide herd protection from coyotes and dogs. Not long ago we saw a "coyote" who looked so big and healthy our thought was Wolf! Maybe it was. Fortunately, we have not had a problem, but decided to take some more precautions before we do. We have good fencing, motion-dector lights and on one side we have two strands of electric fence. The entire pasture area also has a strand of barbed wire hard against the ground on the outside of the fence posts to prevent digging under.


We are getting close to the holidays and Lisa just got a new shipment of fabulous products in from Peru. She now has a neat small blanket made of baby alpaca and silk which is a perfect doggie blanket for that special small pet (doesn't have to be a dog) who deserves the finest. Seriously, these are neat little pet blankets and our Chihuahua loves his.

Sweaters! Lisa just received some 100 % Alpaca sweaters, hand-made in Peru. Some are crew neck, some are hooded with zipper and pockets. All are fantastic and she is running a great sale price. You also can e-mail pedrospride@hughes.net or fax (208) 263-0326.

Check out the New Cria

Pedro's Pride Ranch, September 10, 2006:

Newborn cria and he is a doll. This little boy does not have a name yet, but he deserves a magnificant one. His dam is a mom for the first time and she is taking on the role extremely well. She is a silver gray. The little one's sire is also a gray and the baby is a spectacular rose gray with very unusal and distinctive markings.

His ears are so light colored, they appear white. His legs are a light gray at feet, blending beautifully into an almost pink color, then darker rose gray along his sides and topline. His tail is a lighter shade of gray than his back, making it stand out in a very attractive way.

He weighed in at 14 lbs and was born on day 322. The sire, dam and this cria are owned by 007 Ranch, Roland and Dianne Carlill who reside in Fairbanks, Alaska. They report that the leaves there have changed to brilliant colors, but that snow can't be far behind. They are both very happy about the birth of this healthy little boy.








Getting ready for the holidays? Buy early and get quality alpaca products at Pedro's Pride Fashions on line.

All our best to all of you out here. Time to submit your entries for the Fiber Odyssey.

Ken & Lisa

Llama Rescue -- New Cria born

Athol, Idaho. August 2006: Sue Sasher, who operates a wonderful Llama rescue at her Idaho ranch, sent me this photo of a fantastic Llama Cria. If you look closely at the little one's nose and face, it looks like it was hand painted.

Sue's Llama rescue has achieved fabulous results and her professional attitude is helping animals who otherwise would be under a great deal of stress or risk. We should all thank Sue for her tireless efforts in making this a better world.

If you are looking for a Llama for your alpaca ranch, this is an excellent place to start. Sue will provide you an honest evaluation of any Llama she has and I am confident that she will direct you toward an animal that will be compatible and meet your needs.

Contact Sue at susansasher@yahoo.com.

Sue tells us that she can use help purchasing hay to get them through the winter. If you want to help, send her an e-mail. Sue has the following Llamas available now:

2 year old female who is an excellent guard, but easy to work with
4 year old female (mother of the one above), who is a sweetie
Three male crias
Sue has more available. For information, e-mail susan.

All our best from North Idaho. It is not too early to start shopping for Christmas at Pedro's Pride Fashions.

Ken Larson

Enchanted Acres New Cria

Benton City, WA: Pictured here are Jeff and Brenda Trammell with a new-born alpaca cria who was born at their ranch.

Around the Pacific Northwest there are some outstanding small alpaca ranches whose owners have a keen understanding of the industry, the animals and who are wonderful in dealing with other people. Jeff and Brenda Trammell's ranch, Enchanted Acres Ranch, is such a place.

I first met Brenda at the Alpaca Showcase Northwest alpaca show. I had no idea how to show an alpaca in the ring because I had never done this before. Even though we were in the same class, Brenda took me aside and demonstrated what I needed to know so that I wouldn't make a total fool of myself. She was patient, friendly and obviously quite experienced. Her alpaca, Star Lily, with Brenda's lead, did extremely well in the show ring. Our girl, Lilly, placed fourth and I don't think I did too badly, either -- thanks to Brenda's coaching.

Since then, Lisa and I have visited Enchanted Acres Ranch, which is a very impressive alpaca operation. We have communicated often with the Trammells and we have heard many people speaking highly of them. So, our congratulations go out to Jeff and Brenda and we highly recommend that anyone who is interested in alpacas get in touch with Enchanted Acres Ranch. You will find some high-quality animals there, as well as some very positive, friendly and knowledgeable people. You can't go wrong working with this ranch.

Enchanted Acres Ranch also brokers the sale of alpacas for other owners, provides herdsire services, boarding and agisting alpacas and sales of their own beautiful stock.

All our best to Jeff and Brenda

Feed Back from Clients

Periodically, we ask our clients for comments on "how we can make things work better for them." Here is a letter we just got from a client (and friends) in Alaska for whom we care for their alpacas. It feels good to hear that our hard work is making a difference. And, remember to visit us and other quality ranches who support this blog--Enchanted Acres Ranch --Yakima River Alpacas --Pedro's Pride Ranch --Pedro's Pride Fashions --Alpaca Products (Wholesale to Ranch Stores).

"We really do not have anything more to suggest—you have a very tidy operation. It is obvious by how you have done your barn and your pastures and your fan system, that you are meeting the needs of the animals, whether it has to do with their comfort, ie heat issues in the summer, or their proper separation, in terms of separating males from females, aggressive animals from those who are less aggressive, etc. You have done a nice job of expanding your pastures to meet those needs.

The animals themselves are well cared for—you can just tell by looking at them, their demeanor, etc. One way that I could always tell how much alpaca owners cared for their animals was the nail situation. It was amazing to me how many did not pay attention to this detail!! You folks are now to the point where you can walk out into the pasture and pick up on stuff that just does not look right, and that means that you can really read the animals.

We are very appreciative of how you take care of the animals—we often say, Ken and Lisa take care of them as we would take care of them—we are very pleased that our animals are in such good hands. "

Keep in touch and start thinking about next year's breedings. There are some great herdsires out there whom you have never heard about. More on that topic later.

All my best, Ken

Fiber facts, Fiber testing, Fiber evaluations

Most of you ranchers probably have such a program going, but we at Pedro's Pride Ranch have finally gotten our act a bit better together and we are now engaged in testing fleeces and getting professional advice on developing our breeding program further. Let me explain:

Our breeding program is simple--
1. Strong, healthy alpacas with a guaranteed genetic diversity
2. Fineness and handle in fleeces
3. Added staple length and density for more weight
4. Brightness and color
5. Crimp, crinkle and character as defined by the textile industry (as opposed to AOBA show judges)

To further these goals, we have bred Pedro Armendariz, whose fleeces have won several ribbons and produces about 12 pounds of brilliant fiber per year, with award-winning 007's Leila and Lois Maxwell, both white with fine fleece characteristics. The resulting four crias (3 girls, one boy) have carried forward the best qualities of each parent. They all exhibit Pedro's brilliant fleece and extreme density. All four also show exquisite fleece character with high curvature numbers and wonderful scores on "spin fineness" and "comfort factor."

Pedro and Leila's 2006 cria, Paloma of Pend Oreille was born April 20th. We tipped her entire fleece two weeks later. Today (August 12th) her fleece is a solid four inches long and formed in gorgeous locks with crimp evident from skin to tip. This fleece was evaluated as exceptionally fine, silky fleece with a fantastic commercial value. We will show her in the Spring 2007.

Lilly (Pedro and Leila) and Lola (Pedro and Lois) were tested at 18 months of age. These recent histograms prove what we suspected--they have incredible fleeces. Not only are these girls' fleeces "brilliant throughout" (as the judge at Alpacapalooza noted for Lilly), but they are dense, fine and have unheard-of curvature and comfort factor scores.

Here is Lilly's histogram, with key factors to note being, mean diameter at 18.98, comfort factor 98.2% and curve at 69 deg/mm.

Lola scores even higher with mean of 17.19, comfort factor at an outstanding 98.7 % and curve at a remarkable 82.8 deg/mm.

Pedro's histogram (I can't scan it because I don't have a scanner) shows the traits we are seeking, with mean diameter below the national average at 25.87 microns, confort factor of 84.5 % and an excellent curve of 51.3 deg/mm. His fleece quality shows excellent uniformity with a low CV and with 5 % of fibers= 9.0 microns above mean. These traits, combined with 12 pounds per year production and several judges' evaluations of the fineness and handle of his fleece, make Pedro an excellent choice for us to continue our program and for other ranchers looking for fineness, handle and weight.

Pedro would be happly cooperate with a breeding for you and we will be happy to provide 100 % financing and free care of your dam (and her cria) while visiting with Pedro.

Enough commericalization. Back to my point. As the next step in our breeding program we will put Kenai of Pend Oreille in service in 2007. He carries some wonderful genetics and his fleece shows definate signs of throwing gray. Kenai is the son of Premier's Absolute, whose record speaks for itself-- Oh, yeah, and he recently sold at auction for $150,000!

Also, adding to this breeding program is the introduction of the award-winning qualities of Alpacas de la Patagonia. While at that website, look at herdsires, Guevara, Lennox and Kaspa. We have purchased two pregnant females from them and our two girls -- Lilly and Lola -- are now bred to two of Patagonia's most famous herdsires.

Lilly is bred to Patagonia's Kaspa, the 2003 AOBA Gray Male Champion. He is a rose gray and looks almost pink. He is a striking-looking male with fine fiber and wonderful fleece characteristics in addition to his gorgeous color.

Lola is now bred to Patagonia's reknown herdsire, Patagonia's Lennox. He sports a rich, brown fleece with fabulous, high amplitude, tight crimp. Like Kaspa, he has a remarkable show record and a string of offspring that have carried on the winning tradition, including the fineness, handle and low-micron fiber diameters we all expect from this professional ranch.

Finally, to the point I wanted to make-- I am thinking that part of any fleece development program or breeding program for that matter, should include the consultation of experts. Thus, we have been relying heavily on the advice and positive approach of Carrie Hull at Timber_Basin Ranch. timber_basin@hotmail.com. [there is an underscore _ between timber and basin]. Carrie is vastly experienced and has formal training in analyzing fleeces. Her approch is very valuable because she understands both alpaca breeding and the textile industries' needs. Carrie will take your fleece and for a very reasonable fee, provide you with a written analysis. The last one she did for us including the following components, each of which is useful and dependable:

Fleece stats--weight, average staple length, grade (our last one was Grade 2, which is not too shabby) and crimps per inch.

She then gives a written explanation of her findings in the following categories:

Crimp style and character

Density

Handle

Color (including uniformity and variations)

Other -- which might include things like health or conditioning issues (Carrie was herd health person for Snowmass, after all)

Strengths -- those qualities that make the fleece more valuable or usable in the textile industry, for example

Improvement Areas -- here is where you get Carrie's expertise and recommendation for future breedings

DID YOU KNOW-- Angus McColl from Yokum-McColl fiber testing labs averaged all of the alpaca fleece histograms done for a full year and found that the AVERAGE MICRON WAS 28. And, did you know that the benchmark (according to Carrie Hull) for uniformity of a fleece is 20 microns, 4.4 SD, 20 CV. [Carrie told me these things, so it is not my research].

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And, here's a good idea. Before school starts and you all get busy with other things, take a family outing and visit an Alpaca Ranch near you. Pedro's Pride Ranch is in north Idaho, a short, scenic drive from Spokane and CdA. Yakima River Alpacas and Enchanted Acres Ranch are located in the Tri-Cities area of eastern Washington and would make a wonderful day trip.

If you want to visit an Alpaca Ranch, but are not close to those I listed, please e-mail me at pedrospride@hughes.net and we can find one near you.

All our best,

Ken & Lisa Larson