The Best Things--

The best things about this time of year for the Alpaca person are crias (babies) and shearing. I love both.

At Pedro's Pride Ranch, we started shearing by taking just a few per day, starting with the easy ones. We did the two new crias. The boy, Pablo, we actually sheared. His sister, Paloma, we just tipped her fleece--cut off just the tips which are undesirable as amneotic fleece. Then, we went to yearlings. We wanted three show-quality fleeces, so we brought in the expert--Carrie Hull from Timber Basin Ranch near Sagle, Idaho. She is an expert on fleeces and fiber issues and does a wonderful, patient, cautious job with the shears. She prepared three wonderful fleeces: one each from Pedro, Leila and Kenai. Here is a photo of Carrie, my wife, Lisa, and their friend Leila. Carrie is just putting the finishing touches on the "do."





Keep in mind, that Carrie also is a certified Fleece Sorter who can be very valuable to you even if you have someone else (or yourself) doing the shearing. Carrie is a wealth of information and a pleasant companion with whom to spend some time. I also enjoyed very much listening to her talk to the Alpacas as she worked on them. What a nice experience for me. And, special thanks to Carrie. To reach Carrie, use email at timber_basin@hotmail.com (there is an underline _ between timber and basin)



If I had not been there for a few of these shearings, I would not have recognized our own Alpacas. For example, here are a "before" and "after" photo of Kenai, standing pretty close to exactly the same postion for each photo. Dr. Seuss would be proud of the "after" photo, don't you think?



















I received some photos of great crias from Sandy at Yakima River Alpacas and Brenda at Enchanted Acres Ranch. In a day or so, I will put those together with a couple of mine and write a bit about crias. Not much in the world cuter that a baby Alpaca.

I just thought about something else that's great about this time of year--you can get your Christmas shopping done early with alpaca products. You will score some big points if you do because fashions and accessories (and stuffed animals, of course) made from the "Fiber of the Gods" shows you care and that you know luxury.

Alpacas, breeding, herdsires, boarding at
www.alpaca-usa.com
www.enchantedacresranch.com
www.yakimariveralpacas.com

Shearing, Fleece Sorting and Fiber Expertise-- timber_basin@hotmail.com

And, boy did it rain last night! More lightning and thunder than I have heard in a very long time. Our pastures sure needed the moisture and hopefully the new seeds will not grow. And, quickly, I hope.

All my best,
Ken Larson