Friday, December 19, 2008

Fibre Co-Op

During our visit to Alberta we stopped at the Fibre Co-Op in Innisfail. Diane greeted us, provided a thorough tour of the facilities and demonstrated some of the products available. We will join the Co-Op and send the clip there before too long.

A close call

This fall we had a close call with one of our girls, "Kiana".

We had flights booked to visit family in Alberta for a Thursday morning in late November.

While doing morning chores on the Wednesday morning, I noticed Kiana had a bit of a cough. It didn't seem bad, so I didn't think much about it.

We arrived home late that evening from the city (10:30 pm is late for us) and while doing the chores noticed that Kiana's condition had worsened. She was drooling, coughing, foaming at the mouth and appeared to be choking. Not at all in a good way.

What to do??? It's now 11 pm and too late to call another breeder in our area, so we called the breeder whom we purchased her from in Alberta. With the time difference in the west it was early enough there.

They had not had experience with alpacas choking, however had known someone who had in the past, but the outcome was not good. This was not encouraging news, and he offered to call his vet for a solution.

In the meantime, Kiana and baby had left the confines of the barn and had trudged through about a foot of wet snow in the black of night to the far side of the 5 acre pasture. Now, alpacas have very strong attachments to the herd, and when one goes off along it can mean bad things.

While I am conferring on the phone, Rob is busy trying to get Kiana on her feet and back to the barn. No go, she is not having any part of this idea.

At about midnight, I place a call to the vet, whom it turns out I have woken up. He had returned from a call about an hour previously, and had just fallen asleep. I apologize profusely and he agrees to come out.

On the news that the vet would soon arrive, I went to assist Rob with Kiana who is still not willing to move. We get the tractor and with the snow blower, clear a path across the pasture. It takes the two of us to lift Kiana onto a small utility trailer and transport her unceremoniously back to the barn, with baby walking behind and humming all the way.

The vet arrived during the parade to the barn and helped us get her out of the trailer.

Step one was to give her a sedative, after which she stopped breathing altogether. We moved her around a bit, and the breath came back.

Step two was to gently insert a tube down the throat all the way to the stomach, a long way in an alpaca.

Step three was to run some water down the throat to try to clear any blockage, remove the tube and see what happens.

It wasn't too long before Kiana came around enough that we were able to get her into a stall and resting comfortably for the night.

Timeline: 1:00 am. We decide we have done all we can for the night, thanked the vet and returned to the house. We now realize we have some additional chores to do before our morning departure.

We collapse into bed at about 2 am, knowing that we must rise at 5 to get to the airport on time. Five came around very quickly, and on my way to the barn for morning chores I steeled myself for the possibility of a dead alpaca. Fortunately all was fine, Kiana was tired but resting well.

Over to the boy's side, only to find Pirelli was missing! After a few minutes I found him on the back side of the fence, (he had gone under it) wondering how to get back. I had to detach the fence and open it up for him to return to the barn.

Whew! chores are complete.

I return to the house at about the time we should be in the car and leaving for the airport. A quick check on the flight revealed that it will be about 20 minutes late departing. Thankfully time for a fast shower.

We did make the flight on time, and Kiana has fully recovered from her adventure.

Water in the barn

We finally have a steady supply of water to the barn and what a project that was. In November a crew (plumber, electrician, excavator) arrived to work on the water.

The excavator had to dig a trench 3 feet deep from the bungalow we rent out to the barn, and then into the barn to the location of the waterers, a distance of a hundred feet or so. When he finished the trench, we realized that he was a few feet out at the starting point, so he had to then dig some more.

Once the trench was dug, the plumber laid pipe in the bottom of the trench all the way into the barn and to the electric waterers.

The next step was to wrap the pipes that rise from underground to the water bowls in heat tape, and then connect the pipes to the well head inside the bungalow.

The electrician & plumber hooked it all up (along with badly needed additional lighting) and got the system working.

We backfilled the trench ourselves.

During the first real cold snap, we found that the heat tape was trying to heat the whole barn, and of course wasn't up to the job so the above ground stretches of the pipes froze. Back the plumber comes to thaw things out, and wrap the heat tapes in insulation and plastic.

His instructions to us are to box in the above ground water lines and fill the boxes with insulation.

This weekend's project.

Online store open

We have ventured into the world of e-commerce with the opening of our e-store for alpaca products.

Be sure to visit it via the website www.rocaroalpacas.ca

Naming conventions

We recently learned a bit when attempting to register our herd identifier. It will soon be mandatory for all farms to have a herd identifier name or code.

We had selected a name, and had registered it with the Canadian registry. Then when we were registering a cria on the ARI site, we found that our herd name was already in use in the US.

So, starting over, we checked our herd name on the ARI site first, and then registered it in Canada.

Tuesday, November 4, 2008

Fall well in hand

November has arrived and things around the farm are settling down. All the fruits and vegatables are harvested and only the apples, beets and last of the carrots need to be set up for long-term storage. Finally got a good sweet crop on our red grapes this year.

Gardens have been manured and tilled for soil improvement and most of the firewood has been cut and stack. Probably one or two cord togo so we have enough for this season.

There is still a little barn work to do. Have to still remove the large stones and concrete slabs from when the plumbing was put in. Unfortunately the truck is in the shop again. Still would like to get two more leantoos built at the entrance ways, improve the doors and make some hay feeders as the pasture grass will soon come to an end and we will have to start the hay feeding.

The alpacas are fine which is great. They primarily stay outdoors 24/7 only coming in for sweetmash and water. The cria are all healthy and growing steadily. Some of the young boys are almost as big as Nikki, our smallest female. Wyonna and Sweetdreams sound like they have been successfully bred at their visit to Alpaca House Farms. They will not return until Christmas.

Monday, October 27, 2008

Breeding frustration

At the beginning of October we rebred Kiana, When we tested her a week later she spat and sent the male away. Unfortunately yesterday she was down, letting one of this years cria mount her, did not get up when approached, and one of the other females was chasing everybody else away. Not a good sign that she is still pregnant. It is now to late in the season to rebreed her as only a month before winter would be here so would be tough on a young cria next season.

Monday, October 20, 2008

Website is now up

Our Website is now up.

www.rocaroalpacas.ca

Our shopping cart should be up in the next month or so.

Friday, October 3, 2008

Other pictures from Pacafiesta





The last picture is the parade of Male champions competing for the overall Male champion for the show. (not us this year)

Icelander wins first in class

We showed Icelander at Pacafiesta and he won first place in the Senior White Male class.


The pictures below are pictures from the show ring area.






PACAFIESTA

September 26 - 28 was Pacafiesta Alpaca and fibre show and the Alpaca Canada conference. Both were held at the Exhibition Grounds in Halifax. Friday was filled with seminars while Saturday and Sunday the exhibition was open to the public and the fleece and animal show event was competed.
Caroline and I both learn a lot during the day and at the evening social events.


Sunday, September 28, 2008

Artic Blizzard & SweetNS


These two animals we have named using part of their fathers name plus sort of maintain our chocolate theme for this year. Artic Blizzard is son of Artic Ice and a Blizzard is a chocolate icecream treat at the Dairy Queen fastfood chain. SweetNS (pron. sweetness) is son of Sweet William and well chocolate is usually sweet (I know this is pushing it).

Cadence and Artic Blizzard



Our last two our from Aztec Alpacas near Okotoks/High River Alberta.
SweetNS is also at the right in the second picture. Cadence is intently watching our dogs on the other side of the fence.

Sedona and Oreo



Our final alpacas arrived on Thursday.


Wednesday, September 10, 2008

Take them in a Minivan they say

When we were researching alpacas one of the things we were told is that breeders often will take one or two alpacas in a minivan. Since we have not bought our trailer yet and had not been having any luck arranging a trailer we borrowed the neighbours van, took out the back seat and covered the floor with tarps.

Our first problem was that Wyonna did not want to go in the van. It took us an hour to get her inside despite the fact that her cria and Sweet Dreams were already inside. Finally in we then headoff on the hour and half drive to Berwick to another breeder where we were going to have Wyonna and Sweet Dreams bred. Wyonna not thrilled with this prospect decided that she was going to spit. And spit she did. The windows and the ceiling all got sprayed in the van. As we left at 730pm and now did not get home until midnight we still had the van to clean. So out came the steam cleaner, buckets and rags and we cleaned the back half of the van until 2am. I then returned the van at 6am before we left for work that day.

So bewarned, while the alpacas fit in the van, they may not behave.

Tuesday, September 2, 2008

Cria at 8 weeks old


Here are the first 3 born at our property just before Canada Day. All pushing 45 - 50 pounds. Sweet Dreams and Karmelita are also in the picture.

Wyonna Peaking


While Wyonna is not our most attractive alpaca she is our herd mother and sometimes does create a fun shot like this one.

Alpacas using the pool




SweetNS - the newest cria

One Day old
About a week old.

About an hour old and on his feet.

Hummingbirds


Just for a change of pictures. Here are a bunch of Ruby throated hummingbirds at one of our feeders. My best onetime count this summer was 16 between two feeders. Expect there were a few more around.

Mating Process


One of the biggest challanges of breeding alpacas is recognizing the reactions of the female to a male. Based on her reactions when you tease her with a stud she is still open and ready to be impregnated or she spits off the male indicating she is already pregnant. So far we have not had much spitting going on so we will send to of our females to be bred by another breeder. Attached is Perilli have some fun with Karmelita.


Wednesday, August 20, 2008

Posts slowing down

As harvest season is now well upon us and the Alpacas have settled in our number of posts have declined. Outside of breeding and our most recent birth the Alpacas have taken second fiddle to other activities. Most of our weekends and evenings has been harvesting and perserving fruits and vegatables. Peas, beans, snowpeas, currents, raspberries, blackberries, carrots, summer apples, zuchini, cucumbers have gone through major pickings and either been frozen, canned, jammed, juiced, pickled or in some cases sold. We also have added strawberries and peaches which we have bought in flats from farmers markets to be preserved for the winter. This will still continue for another month or two as beets, corn, broccoli, cauliflower, squash and pumpkins come ready and other items continue.

Non gardening tasks that need to be done before end of November include:

  • bucking and splitting another 4 - 6 cords or wood for winter
  • fixing the barn roof as there are a few small leaks,
  • building two more entrance ways,
  • aranging for water in the barn besides the hose from the house,
  • improving the door and gate system in the barn
  • getting the official website completed
  • buy a trailer to move the alpacas around (possibly saturday)
  • and if money permits, regravel the driveway which gets washed out in every big storm now.

I am sure that if I let Caroline at this list it would grow even longer. ; )

Nikki has her cria

Our final Cria of the season has been born. We have another male whom we have named Sweetnss. We wanted to use sweet in the name as his father is Sweet William in BC. Unlike the others, Sweetnss was born on a very rainy day in the barn but we were able to witness the entire event. This was fortunate as on of the legs was bent backwards so Caroline and our dairy farmer neighbour Bill, who happened to be over at the time were able to assist while I ran up to the house to put a call into the vet, just in case he was needed. Luckily he was not. Pictures to follow.

Monday, July 28, 2008

Bathing beauties

The extended period of hot, humid weather has been hard on the Alpacas. The recommended way to cool them is to provide a child's wading pool for the animals to bathe in.

The hardware store clerk wanted to know where the party was when we purchased 3 pools at once.

The males have not figured them out yet (they each have their own private pool), and the girls have been splashing their feet in the water.

Separation...

The 2 males, Icelander and Pirelli have not been able to work out their dominance issues. So we have made the decision to modify their pasture and portion of the barn.

Over the past 2 days we have run a fence along a tree line conveniently located in the middle of the pasture, creating 2 smaller paddocks one for each guy. We did have to add boards along the top of the wire, Icelander stood on his side of the fence making taunting noises at Pirelli which of course Pirelli could not ignore, and went crashing over the fence to put Icelander back in his place.

We then divided the inside of the barn into 2 stalls and added another exit to the outside.

Miraculously things have quieted down considerable although the fellas are still within spitting distance.

Monday, July 21, 2008

Bought the farm truck

We are now the proud owners of a 1999 Ford F150 4x4 long box. Just what we need to move stuff around the farm and tow the stock trailer (still to be bought). Tried the cooperators for truck insurance but the customer service was not any better. Took 3 days and still did not have a policy and they wanted to inspect the vehicle (used or brand new). Phoned Monnex an old provider from our city days and had a policy in 10 minutes plus we ported our sedan over as well for additional savings. Glad to be back with Monnex as we had such great service with them in the past. Best rates, no surcharge on monthly payments, and very efficient claims dept when we were hit by Hurricane Juan. Only problem is they do not insure loghomes. I would not mind going throught all the hoops Cooperators wanted if the rates would be better as time is money but the rates were not their.

Insurance issue solved

We finally got the insurance issue solved. The Co-0perators came through with reasonable rates and the type of coverage we were looking for. Unfortuneately there vehicle insurance is not as competive even with multiline discounts. While the cooperators have the coverage it took to the end of June to get firm quotes and all the details on the coverage. If I have a claim I sure hope the customer service is better. One of the biggest issues with the Co-operators is that they have divided up the province into regions. Unfortuneately our region is lumped in with Halifax and all the city agents have no clue about farms. They also over inspect everything.

Monday, July 14, 2008

Cadence has a boy

The seventh female we purchase for our start up herd is Cadence. She is a white female with Aztec Alpacas in Okotoks Alberta. She was bred to Artic Ice and a boy was born on June 30th. M Mother and son are healthy. This is the 4th male out 5 births with one more, Nikki, still to give birth. While nature is 50/50 we are currently at 80/20 when being 20/80 would be much better to allow our herd to grow to a more productive size. Cadence and cria will arrive in September with Sedona and Oreo. Pictures to follow.

Thoughts on breeding

Good fences are important, and have a chair because it takes a while.

Five acres of sweet freedom

We finished the task of collecting old fence posts and barbed wire from the back portion of the main pasture, making it safe for the females. We altered the temporary fencing to allow the smaller pasture to rest and rejuvenate, and herded the ladies into the new larger area.

We had anticipated they might take a while to acclimatize to the new surroundings, but we were quite mistaken. The Cria took off at a gallop across the filed, with the Moms in hot pursuit. The gang surveyed the whole pasture and spread out to enjoy the new fresh grass.

Friday, July 4, 2008

The current family



Left to right: Callebaut, Kiana with daughter, Wyonna, Sweet Dreams, Toblerone, Nikki in front of Karmelita.

Thursday, July 3, 2008

Males showing dominence

Came home the other day and now most days since, our two males are regularily battling. They are chasing each other around the pasture, spitting at one another, biting at each other (canines have been ground down), and sometimes wresting each other to the ground. This in course insites our dogs which start barking and chasing spurring on the Alpacas like a crowd at a good fight.

This all started about 4 days after we bred Icelander to Sweet Dreams. One mistake we did make upon rereading the breeding sections of the alpaca books was we forgot to have the breeding take place on neutral ground and instead it took place in the male section of the barn. So this problably was the initial stimulus for the fighting. Hopefully the two males will soon establish the new pecking order and peace will ensue.

Callebaut - update


Here is a headshot of Callebaut. He is thriving at 24 pounds.

Tuesday, July 1, 2008

Its a Girl!!! Finally.



Came home last night to a pleasant surprise. Kiana had a baby girl (yet to be named) about two weeks earlier than expected. She is all white except for one brown spot. Sire is Ceaser.

Monday, June 30, 2008

Callibaut - update


Callibaut is doing well - he is up 6 pounds already. He already is tricky to catch so we can weigh him. Hopefully the ground level scale will arrive this week.

Sunday, June 29, 2008

Pictures of our newest guy - Toblerone





These pictures were taken about an hour or two after birth. He had just had his first feeding after a couple of attempts. We have been lucky so far with problem free births but a little unlucky that we have three males for our first three births. We still have three more babies to come so hopefully mother nature will even things out. At these early stages you want more females to grow the herd and have more revenue potential.
Toblerone's mother is Karmelita and sire is Ceaser.

New cria

Our second cria arrived on the farm at about 9am today. Sadly it is another male, bringing the total count to 3 male crias this year. He was still wet when we found him in the pasture at 9:30. Mom is very protective, but allowed us to handle him enough to complete the basic cria care of taking weight and disinfecting the navel. He weighed in at a healthy 16 lbs.

The new wee guy is brown, lighter than Callibaut, almost the colour of milk chocolate, and is from a different sire. Should we call him Toblerone to continue the chocolate theme?

Time to order some females to help grow the herd. At least the males will provide stock to sell in a year or so.

Breakthrough!

Pirelli has made a huge breakthrough. He is the male that is very skittish around humans. If he thinks he is going to be caught he is gone in a flash.

Pirelli now will eat sweet feed from a pail if you stand verrry still, and don't dare look him in the eye.

I'm not sure if he will ever eat out of hand, so I am happy with the pail.

Haying, fencing and gates

We have found a bit of an issue with the access gates to the main pasture. The farmer down the road will hay for us, and has advised that our 12' gates are not wide enough for the haying equipment. Oh my, what to do...he wanted to cut the gate post and fence to get through.

On second look, we simply undid the brackets that held a section of the fence to a main post, and had the farmer roll back the fence with out cutting it. He was able to pull out one post that was in his way. Once the haying is finished we will likely have a 20' gate installed instead of re-securing the fence.

Yet another lesson learned: find out how big haying equipment is before you install the gates.

Sweet Dreams

We arranged for the first breeding of Sweet Dreams this past week to the unproven male Icelander. She was reluctant at first but eventually caught on to the whole thing. A second session is scheduled in 14 days, and if Sweet Dreams "spits off" Icelander the first breeding will be confirmed.

Callebaut part 2

Little Callebaut is doing well. running and jumping in the pasture. Surpisingly, the only maiden female in the herd, Sweet Dreams has taken on an "Auntie" role with him. She appears to be quite taken with the little one and can be found with him and his mother most of the time. We assume this is a sign that Sweet Dreams may be ready to breed.

Tuesday, June 24, 2008

Our newest cria - Callebaut




Our newest addition - Callebaut is a little brown boy. Wyonna and her son are doing well. The sire is Nevada.

Constructing the Barn storm porch


Building the frame. Lumber only landed on someones head once. No thumbs were broken.

Even the help are allowed a little fun.
Standing by our finished product. The entire project only took 2 half days. Now the test will be the next windstorm.

Saturday, June 21, 2008

More barn renovations & male bonding

Family has arrived to visit for a week. This affords a great opportunity for the guys to spend some quality time with each other and some power tools.



First up was strengthening and re-siding the cover to the barn entry on the "Girls" side. This consisted of digging half way to China to remove a shaft of concrete in order to remove a rotten post which was attached, replacing old wood, strengthening the structure and re-sheathing with steel siding. A solid afternoon's work.



The second job was a bit more involved, as an identical structure needed to be built from scratch on the "Boys" side of the barn. The project involved much thinking and planning.



At time we had all available bodies on the project, holding ladders, lumber and nailing.



Lessons learned: don't assume an old barn is square, and don't assume the ground you are standing on is level.

Sunday, June 15, 2008

Shearing lessons learned

You can read about it all you want, but nothing really prepares you for your first shearing day.



Lessons we have learned:


You can't have too much help. 3 guys to assist the shearer, and at least 3 more for fleece work.


The skirting table and shearing table are worth it.

Have everything ready well before you start.


Wrap the fleece in white paper because there is no way you can keep up with the shearer. When you prepare the paper, when you think you have more than enough, go get a lot more. There's no such thing as too much paper.


Label every package of fleece right away. You will never remember what came from each animal, or what area it is from.

The more space for shearing the better, we were a bit tight. The sheraer recommended 10 X 20 minimum. He was right.

Alpacas can spit while laying on their sides....

What are they? Aliens?





Well here are our results from a morning of shearing. They are certainly gangly looking with out their thick coats.

Shearing day June 8th



Wow this was a lot of fun and hard work. Another local farmer named Bill came to help us out and later another neighbour Mike also showed up for the last 4 shearings. Lucas our shearer had been shearing for 5 years and used an overhead kit. He was also able to trim nails and teeth. While these are two pictures from when we sheared the males on the floor, we used the shearing table for the girls. Much prefer the table as it is much easier on our body. Definitely need more people next year. 3 guys plus the shearer is good for the shearing of the alpaca but Caroline would like help collecting and organizing the fleece. With the potential of 15 animals next year we will have our work cut out for us. Learned lots and will use Lucas again .

Day before shearing - Saturday June 7th



Saturday morning and the shearer called. Said he could come Sunday at 730am. Going to be an early start. Even more so for him as he has a 2 hour drive from Luneburg. Our challenge for the day is to herd the alpacas into the barn so they do not get wet from any rain plus put on their halters for ease of handling tommorrow. Also need to find some additional assistants which could be a challenge given the time and a Sunday with many of our neighbours going to church. Here are a couple of preshearing pictures.





Our first Cria - Oreo


This little Black boy was born on May 31. He is pictured here with his mother Sedona. His Father is Technicolour. Sedona and Oreo will arrive in Nova Scotia in September as both are currently on the Benuiks Farm near Sherwood Park Alberta. Karmelita is the first female we are expecting to give birth which according to our math should probably be this week. Wyonna will not be far behind.

Saturday, June 7, 2008

Icelander gets friendly

So far both males, Icelander and Pirelli have been skittish when we approach them. In their new quarters they seem to have relaxed a bit. For the first time, Icelander enjoyed some Alpaca ration offered from a frisbee. This is the first step in getting them to eat from the hand.

Shearing challenges

We have learned that it is hard to get a shearer in this area and is he ever busy. We have exchanged messages and brief conversations over the past 3-4 weeks, but the shearing is still not done. When he does arrive I will book him for next year.

As the days become warmer the animals remain in the barn where it is cooler during the day. They will feel better once the fleece is off.

We sprung for a shearing table to reduce stress on the animals and are anxious to put it to use.

Thursday, June 5, 2008

Switching pastures

Now that the fencing is done and things are becoming routine we decided it was time to put the girls in the proper pasture and the boys in their section. The males paddock is only about an acre and the girls were really starting to mow it down so by switching it will give the area time to recover and still keep the boys satisfied. Moving the boys was quite easy. Herd them into the barn and close the door behind them. Then move the girls through the connecting gate and then lead the boys accross the barn to the other side. These first step went seamlessly as planned. The problem came in that the connecting area I am trying to keep the animals off so that the seed put down over the recently landscaped area could grow. Getting the girls off of this half acre proved the challenge as they were not in the mood to be herded or led and with the now poring rain we end up leaving to openings for the girls so they could get in the barn at their own leisure and discovery. Caroline and I must work on our communication for the herding the animals although the girls are very food motivated so the often come quite easily.

Thursday, May 29, 2008

False Labour??

Karmelita is expected to give birth first. While her early date is this Friday she really is not expected to give birth until the middle of June. On tuesday though her morning behavier was noticably different. She was cushing (sitting down) more, did not follow the other females around, and seemed to go the manure pile but not have any activity. All these can be signs of giving birth. We hemmed and hawed on whether is was actually happening or not (being the first for us) and decided that it really was too early. We did have the local dairy farmer though pop in about 10am just to double check to make sure things were not happening as the prelabour period is upto 6 hours.

Of course nothing was happening but got us thinking about the natal process more. While karmelita is still showing this different behavier, we are assuming that is because it is close and not actually there yet. But it is things to start to watch for.

Note: must gather the recommended items for a neo-natal kit.

Monday, May 26, 2008

Return to normality

This weekend things started to become a little more normal. While Saturday still being wet we ran to town and purchased a few things like a manure rake (and it does work better than a shovel), well pump, chicken wire (to cover a few holes the dogs try to get through, etc.

On Sunday, Caroline and I ignored the alpacas and related activities and concentrated on yard work like we would most normal May weekends. Spent the morning setting up mowing deck on the tractor and then three hours to do the first cut of the season. Caroline in the mean time planted the snow peas and beans (vegatable garden is now half in) and then collected the grass trimmings and layed it in between the rows as weed control. Tried to get the gas powered trimmer to work but was completely unsuccessful. Had to hand trim with the shears. Gas motors were my bain this weekend as I also could not get my chain saws to start either.

Saturday, May 24, 2008

The fence is done!!!!!

At long last the fence is finished. The fencers finished back filling and capping today. The yard is cleaned up, and we are looking forward to not having a crew show up in the yard before we are up on Saturday mornings.

Getting friendly

Well, as friendly as alpacas get. The gals will now approach and eat alpaca ration from a frisbee, and some will eat right out of the hand. We can move about the barn and pasture without them bolting, they tend to hang around to see what we are doing. The males, well they are going to take some time. Pirelli takes off if he even thinks you are going to catch him.

The cats have quickly turned into barn cats but need to do a better job getting rid of the pigeons.

The dogs are becoming accustomed to the alpacas but every now and then instinct takes over and a bark-fest begins. We can now have them in the barn as long as they are supervised.

Scales and shearing tables

Administration stuff can be so time consuming. Had a day at home on Friday, and as it was wet, it was a great opportunity to arrange for some equipment purchases.

Between the internet and the phone, it took most of the day to source an appropriate scale at a reasonable price. I did learn that the cheaper scales cannot be left in the barn year round because the sensors are not sealed well enough. Good to know. Also have to make sure the scale can be calibrated to 1/10th of a pound, essential for weighing cria.

Shearing tables are some expensive! They do make the shearing process less stressful for humans and alpacas alike and is an investment well worth the money. The alternative is to convince (wrestle) the alpaca to the ground, stretch her out and tie the legs.

I did manage to find a table out of New York and with the strong dollar even with shipping it will be less than the Canadian source. It's closer too than having one sent from the west. I did have to engage a customs broker and fortunately we have an acquaintance who is one.

A couple of useful links: www.lightlivestockequipment.com and www.coleinternational.com.

Wednesday, May 21, 2008

Farm Insurance

One of biggest challenges has been getting farm insurance...still not in place although we have been working on it for 2 months.



Our existing broker has been trying his best and found a company that provided farm insurance but did not cover livestock to the values that we would require. Alpacas are worth a lot more than most sheep and cattle. While he has finally found some additional coverage the cost is very prohibitive.

Most other companies we have contacted will not provide us with insurance because our home is a custom loghome which scares everyone away.





While I do not mind paying a little more for the loghome insurance policy it should still be offered so that you can get the other coverages required. And of course everybody wants to have all the coverages under one house. You cant get livestock insurance unless you have farm insurance with the same company. We have one more company we are waiting on who said that they can cover us but we want to see the price. Their livestock insurance is half the price of what our current guy is providing.


Like many, I find the insurance business a racket that we have to use but the public does seem to have any rights or ways to fight back. Our existing company that does cover the house won't cover us any longer because we have become a farm. The operations in the house have not changed so why does the home policy have to change. Why can we not get farm coverage that covers only the liability and fire/theft/act of god coverage that we need and leave the house policy alone. Other companies have said they will not insure alpacas cause they do not recognize them as livestock. What else are alpacas but domesticated fleece bearing livestock. Some insurance inspectors say our fireplaces are fine, some do not. Note: I have had only one hurricane related claim in the 10+ years I have had home insurance so that is not an issue either.


Buying insurance is becoming worse than buying a car (my other least favorite thing to shop for).