Well the last cria fo the 2010 breeding season was born this morning! Isabel had her little boy (13.8#) this morning shortly after we got to the barn for morning chores. He is a very strong little guy and was up, nursing (at 25 min) and running behind his mom within 45 min. By the evening he had already joined the rest of the cria and joined in the nightly dusk pronk…albeit a bit slower and not as long as the older ones.

Shania gave birth to her first cria today.  It is a gorgeous light fawn girl.  She hit the ground at 15.6 lbs.

Joy had her 2010 cria today.  It is a full brother to KFF Java. He is light fawn also.  Delivery was uneventful and Joy handled everything by herself.  He weighed in at 15.8 lbs. and was up and nursing within 45 min.

Well it took some time, a lot of work, and countless hours with tech support but FINALLY our new website is up and running.  While the basics are there, we will continue to add info as we find time so check back often.

We are pleased to announced that Addie had her cria today at 3:15 pm.  She is a gorgeous solid black, weighing in at 17.2 lbs.  Since her sire is our, Popi’s Accoyo Killian, this little girl is 1/2 Accoyo.  Killian is light fawn and Addie is dark brown so we now have proof that Killian can darken the dam’s color!

Addie and her cria are consigned to the Midwest Breeders Select Pen Sale Aug 14-15, 2010 at KFF Alpacas in La Porte, IN.

It is with a heavy heart that we share the news that Viking has died due to heat exhaustion suffered after wrestling with two of the other herdsires. This despite efforts to keep all the alpacas cool during the recent heatwave. Viking was found on his side and unresponsive.  Despite our efforts to cool him down his temp was still above 106.  Our vet was certain that he’s already suffered a seizure and was in a vegetative state and as such not savable.

Viking had a wonderful personality.  He stood up tall and was always  anxious to catch the ladies’ eyes.  He was handsome and so very correct.  And yet he was so easy to work with!  We will miss him forever.

Today we received a call from our partners in OH. Chip was in distress and coughing up blood. They had already called their vet but things weren’t looking good. The vet was able to stabilize Chip and get an IV going. The vet was looking him over looking for an external cause of what looked to be a collapsed/punctured lung. Before he could finish his assessment and get Chip on his way to OSU for treatment, Chip died.

Chip had just begun his breeding career, and yet by some crazy fluke, he does have his first offspring on the ground.  On our farm, only have one confirmed pregnancy to one of our girls and possibly two for a client.  If all goes well, these cria will be the extremely rare offspring of this awesome male.

Chip…may you find greener pastures.

On Wed, July 7th we received a call informing of us of the death of a friend and fellow alpaca breeder’s 11-yr old son, Chase Niemeier, due to an accidental electrocution in their barn while taking care of the horses and alpacas. His memorial service was held on Sat afternoon at Lincoln-Way West High School due to the family being so heavily involved in the local sports teams and was probably the hardest ceremony I have attended. The stands were filled, with another 200+ people on the track and the family on the edge of the field. Several other alpaca breeders were in attendance and all were devastated by this tragic event.

Donations may be made to the Chase Niemeier Memorial Fund at Old Plank Trail Bank.

Our hearts, thoughts and prayers are with the Niemeier family.

So after an awesome 3 day salmon trip, I came home to 50 acres of orchard grass that is in prime condition. So let’s make hay. Problem is, Emi is out of town for the entire week so I am left with only my mom, who is also watching our four kids, to help. On top of that, I have a 5 day window to get this done since the weather man says we have a bog storm front coming in Mon. SO the big question is, do I dare take all 50 acres down or not??!?!?! Well, I go for broke and mow 20 acres on Wed afternoon and the remaining 30 acres on Wed afternoon. All is drying well and it looks like this will no problem. Start to bale on Fri late morning without issue. As I am driving up to the front 10 acre field around at 5:30 pm, the baler emits an ear-splitting CLUNK-BANG!!! Turns out a large bar that is used to center the teeth that feed the hay into the baling chamber has broken off and became wedged into the baler. SO much for getting the 20 acres baled! I call everyone I know that may have a welder (since I had just given our old one to Emi’s uncle)…no one has one or isn;t answering their phones…it’s Fri leading into the 4th of July weekend afterall. I finally track down a welder and torch but it’s not available until morning. So first thing Sat morning, I’m cutting and welding this piece back into the baler. By 11 am, I’m up and running. Finish the front 10 acres, rake the 30 acre field and bale it all by 5 pm. I manage to get the front and rear fields stacked onto wagons and pulled up to the barn by 9:30 pm. Sun morning rolls around. I have to unload the 3 wagons into the barn and now I have the last of the bales all over the 30 acre field that need to be picked up. We get the hay stacked in the barn and head out to get the last 855 bales. We fill the three wagons and I take off to pick Emi up from the airport while my mom takes the kids to the 4th of July parade in town. Emi and I spend the rest of the afternoon and early evening stacking the rest of the hay into the barn and getting the first load ready for delivery. SO I ask again…why do we do this again?!?!

What is a “Hemiaccoyo™”? Timberland Alpacas classifies an alpaca as a Hemiaccoyo if a minimum of 75% of the bloodline is derived from a combination of Accoyo and Hemingway. What are the characteristics of the Hemiaccoyos? Fineness of fleece, wonderful crimp, luster, colors ranging from white, fawn, brown to black, and an ability to hold those characteristics of fleece throughout their productive lives.

via Timberland Alpacas – Accoyo &Hemiaccoyo.