Homespun Alpacas

This blog has moved

noreply@blogger.com (Roxanne) — Thu, 01 Apr 2010 22:39:00 +0000

This blog is now located at http://homespunalpacas.blogspot.com/.
You will be automatically redirected in 30 seconds, or you may click here.

For feed subscribers, please update your feed subscriptions to
http://homespunalpacas.blogspot.com/feeds/posts/default.

Effective Advertising - Deconstruction

noreply@blogger.com (Roxanne) — Mon, 01 Feb 2010 15:57:00 +0000

This is by far the best advertising I have seen for alpaca fiber. I asked Vanity Apparel if I could write about it and they kindly said "Go ahead".

So what makes this effective?

1. The documentation in plain numbers of how many fiber producing animals there are in the world. Not just the United States, but the whole world. When you look at the numbers, it brings the idea home that there just aren't that many alpacas out there.

Those of us who live in Washington and Ohio tend to lose sight of that fact. These two states have the lions share of alpacas in the US and that makes it difficult to point out there just aren't that many to the local buyers of product.

2. The micron report. Out of all the alpacas out there, how many have the micron that the alpaca that provided its fleece has? This tidbit adds a sense of exclusive luxury.

3. The soft yet targeted rebuttal to mass production. I like how the individual alpacas whose fiber is included in the product are listed along with their micon. This lets the consumer know just how special their product/item is. A pride point to be talked about.

4. A website to verify the statistics that were quoted if one is in doubt.

5. All the statements are positive. No bashing of other fibers or other ways of processing. Just the positive aspects of this fiber, processed this way.

Weaning, or what happened to the milk bar?

noreply@blogger.com (Roxanne) — Fri, 29 Jan 2010 19:13:00 +0000

Tank got an extra month with his mom because I did not want to put him in with the big boys all by him self and Pinon was too little to wean.

So the day came like any other day. We took the little boys for a walk, practicing their halter training skills, and their picking up their feet tolerance, as well as being poked and prodded and fiber looked at.

But wait! They were let out in the big boy pen. What a blast. Running and jumping and looking at all the new things. It did not hit home that they were separated from their mommies until night fall. Then, then we had whining. Poor things. I would have been more sympathetic, but the one doing the whining was Tank. The older, much bigger cria. Little Pinon was somewhat upset, but took it in stride.

The mothers did not look back. They would occasionally come to the fence to touch noses with their cria, but for the most part, it was peaceful on the girl's side.

Now it is a week later and everyone has adjusted. Now on to the new crias, the first one is due late March.

Triangle loom weaving

noreply@blogger.com (Roxanne) — Tue, 26 Jan 2010 21:59:00 +0000

I am working on a shawl on the tri loom using my homespun black alpaca yarn and some pretty blue wool with some shiny beads.

I love the contrast. I am using two two ply strands of yarn. I found that the two strands work better than a single large strand when using alpaca.

It is slow going at the moment because the black is hard to see without good light. The window side is great, the other, not so much. Will have to figure out another way to light the loom. It is 7 foot across the top, so it a mite big to be lugging around, expecially with the shawl already started on it.

Washing Alpaca

noreply@blogger.com (Roxanne) — Thu, 17 Dec 2009 23:54:00 +0000

The way I wash alpaca fiber is simplicity itself.

1) Fill the container of your choice, bucket, sink or tub with warm water.

2) Add a small amount of dish liquid or shampoo, swish around.

3) Add fiber and swish it around. I find it is easier to put it in a lingerie bag before putting it in the water, but have done it without just fine.

4) When you think the water could not get more disgusting, drain the water, take out the fiber, and refill the container with the same temperature water. Swish the fiber around. This is a rinse. There will be many.

5) Repeat the rinse step until the water looks clearish after you have swished the fiber around. This is a matter of taste. I like my fiber super clean so keep going until I get that clear water.

See? Now wasn't that easy?

Alpaca Fiber 101

noreply@blogger.com (Roxanne) — Wed, 16 Dec 2009 21:57:00 +0000

There has been talk on some of the email lists about what alpaca fiber is, what it does, and what it is used for.

First, let's start with what it is. Alpaca fiber comes in two different varieties as defined by the breed. There are huacayas, they are the fluffy ones and suris, these have the dreadlocks.

Huacayas have crimp. There are a many different styles of crimp within the huacaya. Think of all the different kinds of crimp with sheep breeds.

non-existent crimp,
low amplitude, low frequency crimp,
low amplitude, high frequency crimp,
high amplitude, low frequency crimp
high amplitude, high frequency crimp

The take home message is that if you want a certain style of crimp, ask the Shepherd what kind the alpaca fleece in question has.

The suri has no crimp, and is slick. It should also be shiny. Work with suri like you would silk or mohair. It has great drape.

Now softness is another question. Alpacas have quite the micron range, everything from 15 microns or less, to brillo pad. Again, ask the shepherd if you cannot get a sample or pet the fiber.

I have been spinning and knitting with alpaca for over 9 years. I have made socks, hats, scarves and a felted it. It has memory if you choose the correct fleece. You would no more expect silk to have memory, so why would you use suri and expect it to. If you are buying yarn, ask what kind of alpaca it came from. It does make a difference.

Alpaca Business Plan, Part 9 Executive Summary and other parts

noreply@blogger.com (Roxanne) — Tue, 20 Oct 2009 14:19:00 +0000

The executive summary is quite easy now that you have finished the document. Keep the summary to a page. It is okay to go over and it is okay to just have one paragraph. What is important is to include the important bits. Let the person who is reading it know that you have done your homework, but don't give them minutiae. This is where the elevator speech comes into play. If you can tell the person what you are doing, why you are doing it, and how you will succeed in the time you have on an elevator, then you have done a great job.

Now add a table of contents. Most word processors will do this for you.

If you have a very long document, add an index in the back. Most word processors will help you with this.

The final piece is the cover page. This can be as elaborate or as simple as you wish. I put a picture of a cria, my logo, my name, address, phone number and the date of completion.

If there is a item that you think is important and I have not covered it, please add it to your business plan. I have tried to give you the framework on which to start. Good luck and I hope this helped.

She was knitting her life back together

noreply@blogger.com (Roxanne) — Mon, 19 Oct 2009 17:14:00 +0000

She was knitting her life back together

Each stitch

Each knit

Each purl was pulling her back together

Except she was just knitting

She didn’t like to purl

Just to be obstinate and perverse

She kept knitting

Feeling different

Not knowing, or caring, that is called the garter stitch

A quite respectable stitch

She was knitting her life back together

Figured she had knit enough to cover her legs

Now working towards the head

How much to knit, to ravel what had become unraveled?

To know, one must keep knitting

Until it is done

In the meantime,

She was knitting her life back together

It started out clutching to reality

It became something stronger as it grew

As it grew, it became an epiphany

Beautiful

As it became beautiful, reality grew

Soon, the knitting was done,

She was done

She had knitted her life back together

The Birthday Party

noreply@blogger.com (Roxanne) — Mon, 19 Oct 2009 16:55:00 +0000

And now, some short fiction!

Polly wanted a new collar according to Mom. One which Polly could wear to her birthday party. I suppose if Polly had been a child she would have asked for a party dress, but I had never heard of a party collar before. Most families don’t have birthday parties for their dogs. My family, on the other hand, celebrates all the dog’s birthdays. There were nine dogs at our house to celebrate Polly’s birthday. Most had even brought presents, although I think their owners thought Mom was a little off too.

Polly’s birthday party had been in the planning stage for weeks. Mom had been on the prowl in the pet stores looking for and buying treats: Prizes for the games and such. She had even gone on the Internet to check out Petopia in the hopes of getting a treat so novel and new that all of Polly’s friends would be in awe.

Polly’s present was a big surprise. Mom wouldn’t even tell me because she thought I might tell. Sometimes it is hard living with a mom who thinks dogs are people.

Well, Mom doesn’t actually think dogs are people, she just treats them that way. Take for instance this birthday party. All the dogs we knew, along with their human parents, are invited. Games are planned and there are treats to give out. Mom did buy Polly a new collar, not a dress, so I guess she hasn’t totally lost it. Yet, it takes a bit of explaining when my friends come over for the first time.

Let me introduce you to my family. My name is Amy, and I live with my parents and Polly and Pepper. Polly and Pepper are dogs. Both of them came from the pound and are of an indeterminate small breed. Unlike most dog lovers with childreen I had met, I was not considered one of the puppies, but rather, the dogs are just little furry people. These are my siblings, so to speak. My parents are human, I think. Dad is an engineer and is quite adept at playing along with Mom’s schemes with the dogs. He also tends to really get into the whole thing and play it up. Mom stays at home and takes care of me and her babies (that would be Polly and Pepper). Mom has several degrees which means that when she translated for Polly and Pepper, they tend to sound very erudite. It can make for a really funny sight.

Polly is long legged and blonde, Pepper is back and white with short stubby legs and slightly roly-poly. Mom thinks Pepper aspires to be a Navy seal or an otter. The only thing holding her back is her intense dislike of water. It is funny because Polly is the thin athletic looking one who mostly likes to sleep, while the short roly-poly Pepper likes to go for loooong walks. Go figure.

But I digress, I was describing Polly’s birthday party…Polly wore her new rhinestone collar, pink of course, on the big day. Pepper was decked out in a nifty new blue collar for her “sister’s” birthday. Mom spent the entire morning in the kitchen making liver pate cake. She was stymied on one thing though, how to get Polly to blow out the candles, so she got Dad to engineer trick candles that blew themselves out. He, needless to say, spent all morning in his work shop, murmuring calculus equations. I think that he does this to keep Mom out of his workshop. She tends to hold her head and start moaning in horror when Dad starts on his math explanations.

Polly and Pepper bounced around and were hyper with the smells. Polly started shaking with anticipation, which meant that Mom would pick up Polly to comfort her trauma. Being picked up put her closer to the food which was probably her intention anyhow. Mom can figure out my nefarious schemes before I even get my whole story out, but was blind to Polly and Pepper’s.

The guests started arriving. Henry, a German shepherd mix from down the street was first. Henry went to obedience school, so he was failrly well behaved. He came in with his mom and sat. Sunny, a black lab, was next. It was a mess from then on because Sunny was a happy, yet really dumb dog. He ran around the living room wagging his tail knocking things down. When he knocked down a bowl of dog crackers, it was a mass of puppies on the floor. Bandit, a blue heeler, showed up during the free for all and gladly jumped into the melee. The all settled down when all the crackers were gone and luckily no one stared a fight.

Mom called “Games!” and Henry, Sunny, Bandit, Polly, and Pepper all came running. Mom always carried liver treats or cheese. If she called, all the dogs in the neighborhood would come running. Mom put them in line. “Sunny, you go first, then Henry, then Bandit, then Pepper, then the birthday girl.” The game was follow the leader. Mom was the leader. She went over a chair, under a saw horse, around a tree, then sat a the table. Sunny loved the game and followed mom quite closely, all the while smelling her pockets. Bandit took a short cut back to her mommy and took a nap. Henry followed Sunny on the off chance he was on to something good. Henry was still a rapidly growing puppy. Always hungry. Pepper bounded and leaped over every obstacle with great enthusiasm, remember Mom saying Pepper wanted to be a Navy Seal? Polly thought the whole thing was rather silly and had to be coaxed into participating. Mom gave them all treats for trying and made sure they were at their proper places at the table.

“Cake”, she said, ”is served” Which was Dad’s cue to bring out the cake.

The cake was a vision, at least to the dogs. It was a mound of liver pate with 3 candles on its top. There were dog bones placed all around the top and sides for decoration.

Mom placed the cake in front of Polly. Polly immediately leaped forward onto the table to eat the whole thing. Mom knew her baby, and had counted on this. She had timed the candles to go out about the time the cake hit the table. Mom had measured the rate of burn of the wicks and had cut them to the correct length. Dad’s method was way to complicated, it would have been Polly’s 30th birthday before he would have completed it. The lunge and the candles going out a the same time made it look like Polly was blowing out the candles. Mom also had her hand in Poll’s collar. This stopped Polly from eating the whole thing.

Pieces were distributed to all. Mom fed the parents coffee and cookies. Yuck! I got a coke and cookies. The dogs were all amazingly well behaved, although mom moved Pepper into the kitchen to eat her portion. Pepper eats very slowly and would give her cake away if asked.

This ended the party. It seemed everyone had a good time, no one got hurt, and there were no fights. The humans were amused. Dad wasn’t even pouting about Mom not letting him use his invention for the cake. All in all, a typical day at our house.

Looking forward

noreply@blogger.com (Roxanne) — Sat, 17 Oct 2009 14:51:00 +0000

I went to the New Mexico State Fair every year we lived there. One year as we were going through the goat barn, we stopped to see the 4H display. One child was raising pygmy goats that, unfortunately, kept dying. She documented all the goats she had raised to get to the one she went to the fair with. I am sure that must have been heartbreaking, but she started over with a new kid each time.

I think of that resolution and focus when I have deaths on the farm. Teddy died on Tuesday and it just about broke my heart. I have other alpacas that need me too, so can't let grief prostate me. We have hit our rainy season, the poop needs scooping or it becomes a health hazard, the hay needs to be in the feeders to make sure they eat. My alpacas are sissys and don't like to get wet to graze. Yet, I still look for him in the field. Intellectually, it is easy to tell one self that life goes on. Emotionally, it is quite another thing.

National Alpaca Farm Days

noreply@blogger.com (Roxanne) — Wed, 26 Aug 2009 20:23:00 +0000

HomeSpun Alpacas will be celebrating National Alpaca Farm Day September 26 and 27.

Join us to learn more about alpacas and how these lovable creatures can change your life.

Alpaca fiber and products will be available for purchase.

Details to follow.

Reflections on Tubing a Cria

noreply@blogger.com (Roxanne) — Fri, 21 Aug 2009 18:25:00 +0000

Teddy's mom does not produce enough milk which sometimes happens with first time moms. The predicament came when he refused a bottle. He not only refused, but was adamant in his expression of disgust of the whole thing. After trying for 4 days to get him to drink and waiting to see if his mother produced more milk, we went to the vet for help.

The vet watched the mother and cria interact and came to the same conclusion we had. They were both doing their part, but there was a shortage of milk. Sometimes the cria will only nurse on a teat or two instead of all 4 cutting its own milk consumption. Or the mother may not stand for the cria to nurse his fill. Teddy was going to all 4 teats and his mother was standing for as long as he nursed. So a bottle was attempted and refused with much fanfare.

I went home after a brief class on tubing and a weight/ounces to feed chart. And two warnings:

Make sure it goes in the esophagus and not the lungs: the wrong one will cause death.
Be sure to crimp the tube as it comes out so that the cria does not breathe in milk. This can cause pneumonia and possibly death. Every time I tube the poor guy, I am super aware of it going down the left.

So here we are 2 1/2 months later and I can tube a wiggly cria by myself. I can pour 12 ounces into the tube and not spill much. Teddy is healthy and growing. It is such a relief and joy to see him playing with the other crias.

A feeding every three hours 6 am until 9pm sounds okay until you realize that, unlike a human baby, you can't take this one with you. So I plan outings around his feedings.

Teddy is weighed every day to ensure that he is getting enough milk. While the chart is handy, it is not always on the mark. Right now, for instance, he is drinking 84 ounces at 29 pounds and only making a gain of 0.2 or 0.3 a day. The chart says he would be 35 pounds to get this much milk. When he stalls, I add more milk in small amounts, or if it looks to be a large amount, I add an extra feeding. If you feed too much, the excess can cause problems and make the cria ill. You don't want to fill the stomach more than half full. This week he is getting fed every two hours in the morning and every three in the afternoon/evening.

I used the feeding syringes when I first started. That was great when he only had 4 ounces at a feeding. Now I pour into the feeding syringe (sans plunger) with a drinking bottle. Makes it easier to control the flow and wiggle factor. I am looking for an empty mustard/condiment container to feed with. I had purchased these for fiber dyeing, but can't find them right now. The tip fits into the feeding tube directly making the whole process easier.

I have a skill I never wanted to learn, but it is a valuable one. If a cria needs colostrum, I can tube it, if the cria refuses the bottle.

Alpaca Business Plan Part 8 - Financials

noreply@blogger.com (Roxanne) — Wed, 19 Aug 2009 14:23:00 +0000

Here is the hard part. What do you want to count for and against your alpaca business? That is completely up to you and your accountant. However, I would like to suggest some areas to discuss.

Animal expenses:

Vet visits
CDT
worming
pellets
minerals
hay
fiber testing
ARI registration
Stud fees
Microchips
Tools ( shovels, rakes, etc)
Supplies (1st aid, feed and water buckets etc)
halters and leads
sharpening service
membership in associations
books, videos, and seminars
alpaca purchases
alpaca insurance

If you look at the IRS publication 225 ( Farmer's Tax Guide) you get a feel for the sections.

Income from a purely alpaca standpoint would be from breeding, and selling of animals. If you branch out, then there are many income ideas: fiber, seminars, books, herd sitting, agistment are just a few.

Alpaca Business Plan Part 7, Farm Information

noreply@blogger.com (Roxanne) — Fri, 14 Aug 2009 02:10:00 +0000

The farm information section is where you detail the accomodations you have made for the alpacas.

Where do you buy your hay?
Who is your vet?
What kind of pastures do you have? What kind of grass is in the pastures?
What kind of fencing do the pastures have?
What kind of shelter is available?
What is their water source?
How will you manage the manure?
Who will do the daily labor?
Do you need insurance?
What kind of pellet/mineral mix are you using?

These are the same kind of questions that people ask new buyers to ensure a good home. I am sure there are more I could ask, but that covers the basics. If you think I left one out, please let me know.

HomeSpun Alpacas has ~3 acres in pasture. It is currently divided into 4 pastures, but we rearrange as needed. The pastures are fenced in with 2x4 horse fence, woven. The pasture provides the majority of feed, but we buy about 2 ton Orchard grass hay for 16 alpaca from the local feed store.

We provide 3 sided shelters in each pasture for the alpacas. There are trough feeders in the shelters to feed pellets in. The pellets are provided by Puget Sound Nutrition Group. Dr Waltner provides the makeup for our area. The water is provided in buckets in the pasture from a well on the propery.

We have 2 vets, husband and wife. Puget Sound Vet Clinic. They have a nice hospital facility and do make farm calls.

I do all the daily labor. My husband and son help on the weekends and nights as needed.

The manure is composted and used in our garden. We have not outgrown the compost output yet.

Alpaca Business Plan Part 6 - Herd Growth

noreply@blogger.com (Roxanne) — Fri, 31 Jul 2009 15:58:00 +0000

Herd growth has many facets:
How many alpacas do you want?
How many are you planning on breeding every year?
How many will you keep?
How many will you sell?
What is your expected production rate?

What is the ideal number of alpacas for your farm? This could be the maximun number the land will support or the number of females necessary to produce the amount of alpacas you want to sell or the number of fiber boys you need to make product.

I first figured out how many alpacas I could reasonably support on the land. From that number, I worked on the number of females and males that would be ideal for my sales goals. Remember goals are just that, goals, so have a fall back plan if you don't make the sales you were expecting.

Northwest alpacas has a great herd growth calculator. You type in the number of alpacas you have now and it estimates the number you will have in future years.

You can see that the cria add up faster than you think. So have a plan in place to sell as you are growing. This does two things, it puts you in the marketplace and makes you practice marketing and selling. You learn what works and what doesn't before you find yourself in a position of having to make a sale. It also brings in new bloodlines if you buy to replace what you sell. If you don't plan on that, then it puts money in the farm budget.

Now is the time to think about what to do with the boys you will be getting. Will you show them, sell them as fiber boys, or keep a fiber herd? Just something to think about.

I would like a herd of 10 breeding females. If I get 50% boys, then I will need to sell 5 boys a year. I also need to sell 5 females to keep the herd at the ideal size. The females sold could be yearlings, pregnant maidens, and/or the production females. I also have some older females, so am planning on when they will retire to have a replacement in place.

As I am growing to that size, I am selling the females that don't fit my business plan and most of the boys. The number can't be written in stone because while statistics say there will be a 50/50 spilt, I have had years with all girls and ones with all boys. It works out in the long run, but to plan year to year for it is tricky.

An update on the crias at HomeSpun Alpacas

noreply@blogger.com (Roxanne) — Fri, 24 Jul 2009 18:48:00 +0000

Tank is our middle child. He has been putting on about a pound a day and is a strapping male. Tank is 4 weeks old in this picture.

Teddy was very ill and had to go to the hospital. They inserted an IV - I got to help - and after he came home we took it out too. This is the result. A happy, healthy cria. Thank you Puget Sound Veterinary Group! Drs Scott and Jackie worked hard on stopping this little guy's diarrhea. Everyone there was very patient with me calling and wanting updates.

This is the newest cria. He does not have a name yet, but we are working on it! He is a cutie too.

Alpaca Business Plan Part 5 - Business Products & Services

noreply@blogger.com (Roxanne) — Mon, 06 Jul 2009 18:13:00 +0000

The business products and services section is where you talk about what you are going to sell. First identify what your products and services are going to be. This may be repeated in the section on marketing, but it is a different slant than what we are focusing on here. Are you in the business to sell and promote fiber boys, fiber products, raw fiber, breeding females, herdsire services, or future herdsires? Huacayas or Suris?

Tell about your criteria for each one. What do you consider a herdsire? What would you consider to be prime blanket? Not all blankets are created equal, the 17 micron fleece will bring more per pound than the 35 micron fleece. What are your standards for an acceptable X?

Address anything unique about your services or products. Think of the people who raise organic vegetables, they detail what is unique about their product and show how it fits into a healthy lifestle.

The following is what I put down as my business products and services:

HomeSpun Alpacas will sell huacaya alpacas for the breeding market. We will also sell fiber and products made from their fiber such as yarn and blankets. We will focus on black.

Our fiber goals for fineness are detailed in the long term goal section.

Breeding Females
Breeding females should be the ones with fine crimpy fiber and correct conformation. They have easy births and plenty of milk. Their crias are healthy and strong.

Breeding Males
The breeding male alpacas also have the fine crimpy fiber and correct conformation. They produce crias that are consistently better than the dam and themselves. They come from a line of alpacas that produce healthy crias. Their fiber stays fine even with the onset of breeding and age.

Fiber Products
The fiber that the alpacas produce is warmer than sheep wool and generally considered stronger. It has been marketed as rivaling cashmere, and the truly fine fleeces do with a micron under 20. There is a wide range of fiber produced by an alpaca. The blanket is the prime and the most marketable. The neck is second. The leg and belly are thirds. Each of these kinds of fibers has their use in the market place.

Prime The prime fiber is used for blankets, sweaters, scarves and hats. It is soft and able to be worn next to the skin.
Seconds This fiber is used for socks and things that are not worn next to the skin. It is also used as felt.
Thirds Thirds are used for rugs, insulation, and as weed barrier.

Alpaca Business Plan Part 4 - Goals

noreply@blogger.com (Roxanne) — Tue, 30 Jun 2009 14:07:00 +0000

Short term goals are goals you want to achieve in a short period of time. I usually choose a year for this, but choose a time period that makes sense to you and your business.

What are you going to do this year to bring your alpaca business forward? Outside breedings, buy a herdsire, sell females or fiber boys, make business agreements with others for trading are just a few ideas. What do you need or want to avoid?

What do you want to achieve with your alpacas? Lower micron, higher shear weight, easy births, milk production, crimp style, color are examples. Also include things you would like to get rid of.

What marketing are you planning? Will it help you achieve your goals? Is marketing one of your goals? What do you want marketing to do for you?

What profits would you like to see? How might you go about producing a profit?

Brainstorm and see what comes up. Don't worry about reality just yet. Dream.

Goals are your destination, worry about getting there after you figure out where you want to go!

Now take all of your great ideas and write them up in a couple of paragraphs. It can help to make concrete, active statements like "We are selling three alpacas in 2010" rather than "We plan to sell three alpacas next year."

Long term goals just take that information a bit farther. Think 5 or 10 years down the line.

What would you like to see then?

What steps do you need to take to get there? What do you need to focus on?

HomeSpun Alpacas Short Term Goals

The initial business focus will be on quality (fleece and conformation) tame, halter trained alpacas. During the first two to three years, we will strive to improve the herd’s fiber.

During this time, we will also be breeding for black. To complement this objective, we will search out the most appropriate black herdsires to breed to our black females. We will also use finely fleeced and crimpy alpacas to bring down the micron and compliment the crimp in our brown females. They will be bred to the most appropriate male, regardless of color.

We will use males that dramatically improve upon the female’s crimp and decrease any guardhair.

Long Term Goals

It is the intent of the owners of HomeSpun Alpacas to build a fiber business selling yarn and products made from our own alpacas as well as building the herd of females to around 10 head.

Our breeding goals are:

Soundness of body and limb
Uniformity of fineness and extension of blanket fiber throughout the brisket, shoulder,
hip, head, neck, and leg.
Lack of medulation (low percentage over 30 microns)
Luster or brightness
Staple length (minimum of 3 inches a year, preferably 4 to 6 inches)
Volume (the more finer fiber the better)
Crimp
Easy births and plentiful milk supply
Good mothers (females)
Settles females quickly (males)
Mellow temperament

The fiber goals for micron counts are as follows:

Age Micron
Up to 12 months 16
1 - 2 years 18
2 - 3 years 20
3 - 4 years 21
4 - 6 years 22
6 - 8 years 23
8 - 14 years 26

To achieve our goals we need to:

Make smart breeding decisions to produce the high quality fiber that is most marketable.
The males chosen for breeding will have cria on the ground that are an improvement over either parent. The conformation will be correct and the crias will have the same correct conformation and be healthy.
For the strong fiber, we will find a salable product to produce. Rugs, felt pads, and teddy bears are one of the options on the table as are quilt batts.
Raise the herd numbers to be able to produce a quantity of fiber that can be made into enough product to not only support the alpacas, but make a profit.
Refine a product line that will sell on the high end market. Currently focus is on yarn kits, blankets, shawls, and vests.

This focus will allow us to make a profit out of our poorest quality fiber as well as the high quality fiber ensuring there is no waste.

To be continued

noreply@blogger.com (Roxanne) — Thu, 25 Jun 2009 21:04:00 +0000

I am sick, but will get the short term goals piece done soon. We did have a cria this morning! Light fawn male. Pictures to come.

Alpaca Business Plan Part 3 - Mission Statement

noreply@blogger.com (Roxanne) — Tue, 23 Jun 2009 15:38:00 +0000

A mission statement is a concise statement about your business' reason for being. Why did you start raising alpacas? What made you think that raising alpacas would be a good business to get into? What are you doing differently from the other farms? What makes your alpacas the "ones"? What are the values or beliefs that guide you raising alpacas? What kind of relationship do you want with your customers and alpacas?

Answer any, all or none of these questions as it suits you.

It should be short and memorable. If you can spell it out in that infamous elevator speech, then you have done well. If you can print it on the back of your business cards, you get the gold star.

Think of it as a tag line with some explanation. Leave out buzz words and fluff. State your goal and what makes you unique. Tell the world why they should do business with you.

I have listed some websites that have good ideas on how to write mission statements if you are stuck.

http://nonprofit.about.com/od/nonprofitbasics/a/mission.htm

http://www.tgci.com/magazine/How%20to%20Write%20a%20Mission%20Statement.pdf

http://www.entrepreneur.com/management/leadership/businessstrategies/article65230.html

Here is the first draft of my mission statement. I think it lacks some pizazz, so will be working on it as we go through the other steps

HomeSpun Alpacas' Mission Statement

HomeSpun Alpacas provides well-rounded support to its customers, from herd health to shearing to business plans, we are there for the customer. Our goal is to breed healthy, quality alpacas and develop a practical program of alpaca education.

For Thursday, think about your short term goals and next Tuesday we will work on long term goals.

Alpaca Business Plan Part 2- Farm Overview

noreply@blogger.com (Roxanne) — Fri, 19 Jun 2009 15:34:00 +0000

Having taught Freshman English, I know starting is the hard part for most. So today we will start in the middle with the easy part: Your farm overview. This is a snapshot in time of what you own and where you are in the business. We will later put this information in the main body of the document and in the assets portion. It feeds into the financials too, but don't worry about any of that yet, that will be a later topic.

The first step is to list the resources you dedicate to alpacas, assuming you are raising alpacas on your own land. If you aren't, but would like to, skip to the next paragraph. If you plan to continue agisting, there are still some manner of alpaca accessories you own--these are important too. If you would like to go down the jungle trail, please turn to page 394. To the point: How many acres do you have total? How many are fenced for the alpacas? Do you have room to expand? What buildings are you using for the alpacas? If you are storing alpaca stuff in your garage, list that too.

Next, let's do a little prognostication. Are the land and pasture adequate for the present and next year? If not, what do you need to accomplish to make it so? If they are fine now, how about in 5 years? What would you like to see on your property in 5 years? More alpacas, a bigger barn, somewhere to put the hay - make a list. This is not a list of to-do items, but things you would like in an ideal world.

What alpaca accessories do you own? Halters, buckets, chute, scale - make a list of this too, with how much you paid for it. These are assets.

How many alpacas do you own? Do not include the upcoming cria in this section. Alpacas are also assets, so put a price on each one.

This information can be in list form or in a nice narrative. Remember, this is your business plan, make it work for you. Only include that information that helps you make decisions. Everything else is noise.

Next time, we'll talk about mission statements.

Note: As I work on the whole, I will be editing all sections. When this is finished, I will put the whole thing together in a PDF for anyone interested.

In the meantime, here is what I have come up with for my Farm Overview section:

Farm Overview

Property

Our current property is just over 5 acres. The alpacas have 3 pastures consisting of about 1.5 acres. We are in the process of fencing another acre to bring the total to 2.5 acres available for the alpacas. Each pasture has a shelter, water and a hay bin. There are interconnecting gates between the pastures which enables us to increase pasture size as needed.

One third of the garage is used to store alpaca items and hay.

Current Operations

I have been raising alpacas for 9 years. Over that span I have sold 12 alpacas, plus 5 consignment alpacas. We have 9 females and 5 males with 2 cria expected this year.

halters
leads
buckets
shelters
hay bins
chute
shearing table
shearing equipment
tooth-a-matic
emergency kit
horse trailer
trailer hitch (mine is special - worthy of its own blog post)
herdease software
camera
photo printer
Green panel pen w/creep gate
heated buckets

Cappuccino Chip
Millennium Jubilee
Cinnamon Kiss
Mary Pitcher (Mollie)
Raven
Rheia
Andante
Andantina
Sweetart
Bond James Bond
Ink Jet
Apollo
Heart's Afire
Baby - unnamed cria by Mollie

Improvements Needed

The current capacity is ~20. Our fields are very productive and we supplement with hay/pellets. The existing facilities (including the new pastures) will keep up with herd growth as long as the projected sales happen.

Pictorial update on Mollie's Cria

noreply@blogger.com (Roxanne) — Tue, 16 Jun 2009 22:23:00 +0000

The baby is doing well. He is gaining slowly and taking lots of naps.

His mom keeps him close, she is especially bonded to this baby.

He loves to pose for the camera. Doesn't hurt he is just so darned cute.

From front to back, baby, Mollie, Mollie's grandmother Cappuccino Chip, and Mollie's sister aunt Cinnamon Kiss.

Baby doesn't seem to take it personally that he is getting tubed. Still interested in people.

What a ham!

How to Write an Alpaca Business Plan - Part 1

noreply@blogger.com (Roxanne) — Tue, 16 Jun 2009 15:51:00 +0000

Given that every business needs a business plan, how do you write one for alpacas? We don't want to manufacture millions of widgets or raise thousands of cattle no matter how well these business models are documented. There are some books and web sites that give you the outline of an alpaca business plan, but I found them lacking. I am a technical writer by trade, so I dived into those dry books on how to write business plans and applied it to my alpaca business.

I took home the message that you need goals. What gets managed, gets tracked. What gets tracked, gets done.

I acknowledged the need for a financial plan, if not actual financials. Not only answering the question of am I making money, but how will I make money.

Detailing where my alpaca business is today and where I want it to be in the future opened my mind to more possibilities. How many acres do I want, how many alpacas, do I want machinery or material goods to help . In an ideal world, what do I see as my end goal? Now how do I get there?! What are the risks?

Business Plans are the roadmap to success. Once you have the goals set for your one year and 5 year plans, it is easy to make day to day decisions. Should I put in the new pasture, or buy a new alpaca is transformed into the question "Does buying this new alpaca fit into my business plan, does putting in a new pasture fit into my business plan?" I have passed up many alpacas because they do not fit into my business plan. I raise black alpacas, with some brown and fawn sprinkled in. Fawn does not always cover black... But I digress. Even though the alpacas were quality and were well priced, I saved my money for the new pasture because my 5 year goal is to have 10 production black females. To do that, I need more room. Fencing is the priority.

Deciding on which breedings to do is easier with a business plan. Which male will drive my business forward towards my goals? If you have the 20/20 goal of 20 pounds of fiber at 20 microns, then you would want to look at the males that will add density and fineness to your females instead of say color.

The business plan is the way to tell the IRS you are serious and not a hobby. It is one of the criteria for a business, along with stationary, and a bank account. :)

A business plan helps you budget your expenses and income.

Given the scarcity of business plans amongst alpaca breeders, I think there must be a reluctance about writing them. They can be a long or short as you want. They can include financials or just a general goal. The can be involved or simple. It really is up to you. I thought it might help for me to walk you through the steps of a business plan with an alpaca slant on the information. Many of the books that are out there are thinking along different lines of manufacturing or production of one item. Farming and ranching have their own unique issues.

Follow along with me for the next couple of weeks as I rewrite my business plan and talk about the steps involved.

Mollie's Cria Finally Arrived!

noreply@blogger.com (Roxanne) — Wed, 10 Jun 2009 15:58:00 +0000

The cria I have been waiting so impatiently for finally arrived last Thursday. 15.6 pounds of bouncing baby boy.

Day 1

Mollie delivered him like a champ and other than a bit of misunderstanding on nursing, things went smoothly. Oh, it was my misunderstanding. I am supposed to stand waaaaay back and observe. Not participate. Was worried when she would not let him nurse, so got more involved which made things more bungled. Left them alone in a small pen - and low and behold, nursing. Get close, stops nursing. Got it, she is shy:) Or, she doesn't want the silly humans meddling with her precious cria. She is the most nurturing of any alpaca mother I have seen, actually licking his face and nuzzling him.

Day 2 - 4

He lost weight - not a big surprise, most lose about 1/2 pound, but he lost a little over a pound. That is worrisome. The second day he lost weight too. Not as much, but I tried him on a bottle and he spit it out. He tongued it out. He protested quite vigorously. So, I got a 3 cc syringe (minus needle) and filled it with yummy whole milk. He would take about an ounce that way, then would dramatically choke and spit out the milk. He stayed the same weight , on the 3rd, and 4th day.

Day 5

Off to the vet we go. He is a vigorous drinker, says Dr Jackie. And sometimes those are the ones that are difficult to supplement because they want mom's milk. He drinks from all 4 teats and is stripping her dry. She stands patiently while he nurses. The two of them have it figured out, but still no weight gain, because Mollie is not producing as much milk as he needs. We are approaching this from a couple of angles. Baby is getting tubed with milk 3 xs/day with 4 ounces each time to make up the difference between maintaining weight and gaining. Herbs and medicine are on order to stimulate milk production.

The crazy thing is that Mollie will sometimes bring him to us when we come in the field to tube and sometimes not. At least she has decided I am not going to do unmentionable things to him. She accompanies him on each weigh in and we tube in the field with her.

Day 6

No weight gain. He doesn't like it when we get to the end of the third ounce. We are working on technique to make it more comfortable for us and him. He takes the tube well and stands still for the first 2 ounces just fine. He needs all 4 ounces though, so it is a conundrum.

Today, Day 7, we finally have a weight gain. A very modest 0.1 pound. However, he is more active and feisty now, so I think the supplement is doing its job.

Oh, by the way, that shyness she had, it is all gone. At the vet's office she stood and nursed while everyone was wandering around admiring the baby.

The take home message from this would be to weigh each cria for the first 10 days. See, I was listening Dr Scott.

Easy Like Sunday Morning

noreply@blogger.com (Mr. Lewis) — Wed, 03 Jun 2009 22:23:00 +0000

Summer is upon us. We've been advised that the weather may reach as high as 90 degrees today, and all of the alpacas are taking the day off. It's their humorous (and sometimes concerning) tendency to lay like death itself when they're napping in the sun. About the only thing that can interrupt their lazing is the promise of being hosed down. Being very formal animals, they don't submit to being indiscriminately sprayed, but rather stand patiently while you wet their legs. If they're feeling particularly warm they love to have their belly sprayed with water, and will submit to awkward positions to make it easier for the hose to get under them.

Buttercups have displaced the spring-time dandelions, and the grass grows so quickly I think if you looked closely you could see it happening before your eyes. Cottonwood hangs lazily in the air, and I can't imagine doing hard work of any sort. The alpacas need tending, true, but at this point that is an excuse to experience the weather, then retreat back to the air-conditioned house.

Things will pick up soon. We are due for a baby, and once the first comes they will all no doubt be popping out like popcorn in a kettle, and there will be much work to be done. But today, today is to be savoured.