The North American Alpaca Show will be held in Springfield, MA this coming weekend. This show always kicks off the season for us. Getting ready for the first show is a bit of a challenge. Our show supplies have been packed away since fall and it’s time to drag them … Read More
Taking good fiber pics is not one of my strengths, but I couldn’t resist snapping a shot of this fleece today. The alpacas look pretty ratty during mud season and I had to open up this fleece to remind myself how nicely this guy is coming along. This fleece belongs … Read More
The first day of spring and it feels more like summer! This stretch of warm weather is so unusual for northern Vermont. We are generally sitting in a sea of snow and mud at this time of year. But most of the snow is gone, the roads are nowhere near … Read More
After the craziness of fall alpaca shows and fiber festivals, we always have big plans for all the “free” time we’ll have during the winter. Well, March is here, the first spring show is in just three weeks, then shearing starts start soon after. And all those big plans for … Read More
We have a number of husbandry tasks that are done on a regular basis. Today we took advantage of the relatively mild weather and weighed and body scored our 2011 crias and weanlings. We weigh young alpacas more often than adults as a way to keep track of their growth. … Read More
Yep – it’s that time already. Has been for a while, actually. I finally sat down at the computer and entered our spring show string for two shows: North American Alpaca Show and Northeast Alpaca Expo. Those are the only two alpaca shows we’ll do this spring due to the … Read More
We received a new batch of alpaca yarn back from the mill. This is yarn is spun from our finest white fleeces and we have both laceweight and fingering weight. Today’s task is to reorganize my fiber studio so I can get some dyeing done soon. I’ll get that yarn … Read More
The forecast for tomorrow and Friday is sunny and 30’s. Perfect weather for skirting alpaca fiber in the barn. The south facing window warms the space up nicely when the weather is above freezing. I still have a fair amount of fiber to skirt and move before alpaca shearing starts … Read More
Visitors to Snowshoe Farm often ask how the alpacas handle winter. As you can see, at least on days when there’s not a cold wind blowing, the alpacas are quite comfortable. Unless the weather is very windy or it’s snowing or raining hard, our alpacas generally are free to come … Read More
On Saturday we delivered three young male alpacas to their new home at Fantom Farm in Mass. The farm had two older alpacas and when one died recently, they were left with one alpaca who was looking for his companion and not happy with just his goat and sheep herdmates. … Read More