Poop Scoop

Meeting Newest Family Member

Wed, 4 Jan 2012 12:08:31 -0800

Kissie meets the newest member of the family, our grandson Gaige. (Here with his Dad, Chris)

Maurio is very interested to meet little Gaige, who is barely 2 months old:

The persimmon tree laden with fruit. We made some yummy persimmon bread this year for holiday gifts.

Susannah enjoying a warm winter day.

The two alpaca/silk sweater/hat sets Debbie knit for new grandsons Nico and Gaige.

One of our best egg producers.

Mark and Dakota bond.

W E W I S H Y O U A L L
A
HAPPY NEW YEAR !

The Blessings of Christmas

Sun, 25 Dec 2011 22:46:16 -0800

Our family gathering with many of Debbie’s siblings the week before Christmas. Our grandson, little Gaige (6 weeks), meets his cousins Kiana, Malone, Cameron and Matisse.

The Brookfarm team sends you warm greetings of the holiday: Click this link for our greeting.

Our two new grandsons on Christmas morning:

Gaige Emery, 8 weeks Nicolas Barsun, 4 1/2 months
Each in their hats Grammie knit for them out of an alpaca/silk blend.

Alura, Nico and Stephan

Sarah, Gaige and Chris

W E W I S H Y O U A L L

T H E W O N D E R O F T H I S H O L I D A Y !

Guess Where We've Been?

Sat, 19 Nov 2011 12:56:59 -0800

Mark and Debbie with our first grandson, Nicolas, soon after birth August 2011.

You may have been wondering where we’ve been this year. To those that don’t know, the year started out on somewhat of a negative for us, but then turned around with a positive outlook towards the end of the year... THANK GOODNESS!
You see, Debbie was diagnosed with breast cancer in January 2011. Not only did this take the wind out of her sails, and the entire family. When she wasn’t napping, getting tests, seeing doctors, having chemo then surgery then radiation, she was blogging about it at her site of Deb’s Breast Cancer Journey. The blogging provided a global way to keep family and friends up to date on what was going on in our lives, and it was also very helpful and healing for her to journal her experience and connect with others who are living with cancer in their lives or a loved one’s life.
Not soon after Debbie’s diagnosis on January 10, 2011 (those dates sure do stick in your head), Mark and Debbie received wonderful news first from daughter Alura, and then a couple of months later from daughter Sarah, that they would soon each be blessed with a child -- two grandbabies in their lives, the first grandchildren for Mark and Debbie. Not only was this such wonderful news, but somewhat surprising from Alura and Stephan who had been married 10 years, so their momma and daddy had decided to stop asking if children were in their future. Talk about pleasant surprises.
Alura and Stephan decided to be surprised with the sex of their baby, due to arrive late August. Sarah and Chris, on the other hand, soon found out that their bundle of joy to arrive in late October would be a boy. As you can imagine, the knitting began. What better way to while away long chemo infusions and days of fatigue and napping than with knitting something so very joyful as a baby sweater, hat, booties, blanket... :-)
Well, the two joyous occasions have now arrived and we are blessed with two very handsome young men in our lives; Nicolas F. Barsun (8/11), and Gaige M. Emery (10/11). As hard as any labor can be, both boys arrived safe and sound.
Nicolas (aka Nico) arrived two weeks early when Debbie was winding down with her radiation treatment, and thankfully arrived on a weekend so she and Auntie Sarah could witness his arrival. Nico entered this world at 8 lbs, 4 oz and 19.5 inches long.

Nico arrives. An outing to downtown Davis.

Grammie gets one-on-one with Nico. An outing to Davis Arboretum before Sarah’s bundle of joy arrives.

Gaige arrived 1 week late at the end of October. This little one weighed in at 6 lbs, 10 oz, and 19 inches long. Both Debbie and Mark felt so privileged to witness Gaige’s arrival into the world.

Gaige is welcomed into the family and introduced to cousin Nico.

Now Grammie Debbie and Grandpa Mark have two grandsons to cuddle.

Sarah with her sweet boy, Gaige.

Nico looking all grown up already at 3 months.

So even though the year got off to a really rough start, we are pleased to say that yarn is out to the mill and some will be back in stock and ready for our CSA orders real soon. Debbie is feeling much better and we are getting things back to normal here at Brookfarm in between the wonderful time spent with the grandsons. We have so very much to be thankful for right now and are looking forward to a wonderful Thanksgiving gathering at sister and husband’s Tina and Ken’s this week.

L I F E I S S O G O O D R I G H T N O W ! !

W E W I S H Y O U A L L A

W O N D E R F U L T H A N K S G I V I N G.

Creep Feeder & Rosina Thriving

Sat, 12 Nov 2011 13:23:24 -0800

Rosina taking a bottle.

You may recall the blog post back in August about Rosina, who had been nearly orphaned by her dam. I say “nearly”, because she did still nurse some from Shocka (her dam), but required bottles every 2 hours or so throughout the day to thrive. It was a long tiresome ordeal from a few weeks after birth mid-July through the end of October, when she began to refuse bottles on occasion. Up until the end of August we were weighing her daily and were down to offering her 4 bottles throughout the day regularly.
We continue to offer her a daily bottle now, and sometimes she takes it. Sometimes she does not. But she is thriving and doing quite well, considering the very slow start those first few weeks after her birth. Her thriving is now in part to this beautiful creep feeder that Mark designed and installed for Rosina and her two cria pen mates.

Rosina peeking through the door of the cria creep feed area

Above you can see Rosina’s head through the door to the feeder. You can see the entryway is very narrow and low. This prevents the more mature alpacas from entering this area.

Rosina in the cria creep feed area

The dams are excluded from this area because there is free choice hay, alfalfa pellets, and alpaca mineral pellets. If the dams were allowed to enter, they would over eat, and there would be nothing left for the crias.
It took a few days of forcing the crias into this area before they were comfortable entering on their own. But now we find them in their quite often, chowing down on all the goodies set out for them.

Rosina and Susanna, the brown cria in the creep feeder with Rosina, belong to our agistors/boarders, Good Vibes Alpacas. The owner, Edna, boards her alpacas with us because she does not have her own farm, and does not wish to. During the time when one cria had just arrived, and the other was soon to be birthed, Edna and her friend would come out to the farm for visits. They would sit out on a blanket up on the hillside to enjoy watching the mom’s and babies play and hope to catch the next one when it was born. Tessa became their friend during this time, and Kissie was their buddy as well. It was quite fun for all.

Gerhard & Kissie share a secret.

Gerhard & Tessa having fun.

Kissie making herself at home.

Be sure to leave a comment so we know you have visited.
Hope to see you here again soon!!

September “Open Farm” Cancelled for 2011.

Wed, 3 Aug 2011 01:58:02 -0700

~ Due to certain circumstances, we are unable to hold the annual open farm in September ~

Our apologies for this change in schedule. Please check back later in the year.

Thank you,

Debbie & Mark Emery

Saga of the Orphaned Cria, Rosina

Tue, 2 Aug 2011 08:24:22 -0700

Rosina taking her bottle at 1 month old

Little miss Rosina entered the world on July 18, 2011. She is a product of one of our boarders dam, Shocka, and our herdsire, Rock of Gibraltar, aka Rocky. Rosina is a beautiful fawn cria, crimpy as all get out, active, perky and doing quite well, considering what she has been through in her mere few weeks on this earth.

Shocka (dam) & Rosina (cria) just moments after birth 7/18/11

Typically an alpaca weighs in around 15 to 20 lbs at birth, and Rosina weighed in at a very average weight of 16.8 lbs. Delivery was very normal as well and she was up and nursing within an hour. Everything seemed to be going very smoothly by day 3, except Rosina had just regained her birth weight back, but was not gaining. She was nursing frequently, and maybe a bit too frequently.
A cria will typically go around the four teats of the dam, nudging each one briefly and suckling for a second or two and then go on to the next teat. She will do this around and around for a bit as a way to get the milk to let down and then will settle into nursing and stay on one teat for a few seconds or more. But they never seem to latch on to one teat and stay there for a long time. I started to notice that Rosina did not appear to nurse from the back teats of Shocka. It also seemed as though Shocka would not stand still for long when Rosina started to nurse, and would often times cush in a laying position before the little cria had much of a chance to get enough milk. There were times when Shocka would almost drop to a cush even when little Rosina was right underneath her.
Mark and I had caught up Shocka once we noticed something seemed off and Rosina wasn’t gaining a normal amount of weight at about four days old. Shocka appeared to have milk in all four teats, so we took to catching her up and holding her for periods of time so Rosina could nurse as long as she wished.
On Sunday at 6 days old we called the vet in. He checked mom and baby and said all looked good with the dams milk, and that the baby and mom needed to figure it all out. He tubed Rosina with two ounces of milk. This is when the vet inserts a tube into the crias mouth down into the first stomach where the milk needs to go. It is a quick and efficient way to get a specified amount of milk into a cria who is not yet familiar with a bottle, and especially one that you hope will stay nursing mom and will not take to the bottle too easily, hence possibly not wanting to nurse from the dam. If Rosina’s weight did not increase, we were to start 2 ounces two times a day by tube or bottle to see what happened.
At first Rosina was resistent to the bottle and we tried a couple of different nipples until settling on the Pritchard nipple. Even this took some time for Rosina to get the hang of. At this point we continued to hold Shocka steady from time to time for Rosina to nurse steadily from her, even to the point of doing this throughout the entire night.
On Thursday morning we checked Shocka again and noticed that the milk from one of her back teats seemed thicker than the rest, almost creamy. By that afternoon it was observed that Shocka’s breathing seemed elevated and sure enough, her temperature was elevated as well. After another call into the vet, we started Shocka on an anti-inflamatory and antibiotic with a diagnosis of mastitis in the one teat and mammary gland. The vet indicated that the cria could still get enough milk from the dam, but we should milk out that teat when we could to release the toxin build up. It became more and more apparent over time as Rosina’s weight did not increase, and Shocka would move away from her as she nursed, that the discomfort Shocka was feeling was impairing the quality of nursing time. We gradually increased our bottles and continued to weigh Rosina morning and night.
With the medications Shocka was on, and after making two antibiotic changes over the next week to keep her temperature at a normal range, it became apparent that what little milk Rosina was getting from nursing from her mom was not enough to sustain her.
As much as we hoped that eventually the cria would go back to getting all her nourishment from nursing from her mom, it didn’t take much time to realize that we would need to do bottle feeding every two hours to keep this little cria thriving. So far she was alert, active and appeared healthy. But if she didn’t start putting on some weight real soon, trouble was sure to follow. After some research and calculations, Mark came up with the computations so that Rosina would receive approximately 15% of her body weight in goat milk so that she would begin to gain weight.
So here we are at a month of age and Rosina is now getting a regular bottle every 2.5 hours beginning at 7:00 AM each morning until 11:00 PM each night. She eagerly comes over to greet us when she sees us carrying the bottle, but we restrain from any extra handling to prevent over socializing her to people. She is now at a healthy 25 lbs and we are still weighing her morning and night to see that she is continuing to grow.
The vet informs us that Shocka’s mammary gland with the mastitis will most likely not produce milk in the future, but that the remaining three will and a cria will grow and thrive quite well with just three teats to nurse from. For now, though, there appears to be very little milk in any of her teats, and three of them are quite crusty as though they may be drying up. Shocka still does not seem very responsive to her cria’s desires to nurse, although they are very much still bonded and lay together and hang out together when the three crias are not romping and playing with each other.
As I have mentioned, Rosina belongs to another alpaca breeder who is boarding her alpacas here at Brookfarm. This owner and her partner have been very involved with this entire process from the moment we knew things were not getting off to a normal start. They’ve spent days here where they’ve done repeated bottle feedings those first couple of weeks, have sourced and delivered all the goat milk, and continue to be available to help us out with bottle feedings when we need to be away for more than a couple of hours. They have been wonderful.
And all through this ordeal, Mark has been so strong and positive with each day’s needs concerning Shocka and Rosina, doing nearly all the feedings, even the ones throughout the night when we first started the bottle feeding. We are both so pleased that things have worked out as well as they have, but it sure was touch and go for some time.

Understanding Micron Reports

Mon, 18 Jul 2011 12:53:20 -0700

Kobalt’s blanket fleece, above, tested at a lovely 22 microns.
Kobalt is one of our newest herdsires, out of Iceman's Jagermeister X Skyeview’s Peruvian Cordelia.

We just got our fiber stats back and are so thrilled with the micron counts on all of our crias and yearlings. They are all in the teens with the lowest at 14 microns. And most of these are from our own herdsires.
This is great confirmation of our breeding program.
To learn more about microns and fiber statistics, the following is provided by
Yocom McColl Fiber Testing Laboratories, Inc.
540 West Elk Place * Denver, CO
80216-1823 USA

http://www.ymccoll.com/
ymccoll@ix.netcom.com

Understanding Micron Reports
Integrity of Sampling and Use of Micron Results

By Angus McColl

The integrity of sampling, the careful and proper selection of a sample, is the most critical factor involved in measurement of fiber diameter in individual animals. The samples must be taken at the middle of the side in the blanket location. The sample should be uniformly cut at the skin level, which is the base of the staple, and should be no smaller than a two-inch square in size. The sample should be kept in the staple configuration, which is its natural growth state. It should not be brushed out, cleaned up, or folded. Flat bladed shears or clippers are recommended as the safest tools to use in the taking of samples.

Length of Fiber Sample
Maintaining the staple formation of the sample submitted to the laboratory is important for a practical reason: The two-millimeter sample used for measurement in the Laserscan is cut close to the base of the staple to measure fiber that has grown side by side under the same environmental conditions.
These conditions include level of nutrition, pregnancy, lactation, and stress caused by sickness or trauma. Recently shorn animals with shorter staple lengths generally have not been exposed to highly variable environmental conditions, so the variability of their fiber diameter may be limited. Working with staple lengths shorter than one and a half inches is problematic because the staple configuration breaks down and we are unable to take an even cut across the base during sample preparation.
Major Factors Influencing Fiber Diameter

Three factors have a primary impact on fiber diameter: age, sex, and level of nutrition. As the animal matures, the fiber tends to have a higher or coarser micron value. Males frequently possess a higher micron value than females. The level of nutrition affects fiber diameter results as overfed animals produce higher micron values than those on a maintenance diet. This does not mean that animals should be underfed to produce finer fiber. Underfeeding causes significant negative side effects, such as lowered fertility, smaller birth weights, and higher infant mortality rates.
Fiber animals should be maintained on a thrifty diet to produce animals that live up to their genetic fiber potential. The safest guidelines to follow are those which follow animal husbandry practices suitable for your farm's location and the advice of a veterinarian familiar with your stock. An unsound or unhealthy animal is a poor risk in a breeding program regardless of its fiber diameter results.
Genetics and selection are fundamental to producing sound animals with fine fiber. The fiber samples for individual animals included in our Laserscan database since June of 1994 appear to represent a broad genetic base in the U.S. A diverse genetic base creates opportunities for selection of desirable traits, including fiber fineness. A word of caution in animal selection, focusing on one trait increases the risk of negative traits which might be linked to the one being selected. Selecting for fiber fineness decreases the body size and fleece weights.
Understanding Laserscan Micron Test Results

The micron test report includes administrative information provided by the identification sent in with the individual sample. Depending on the height of the results, the histogram will be printed on a 12%, 24%, or 36% scale to fit our letter size report format. The bottom line (or horizontal scale) is measured either in one or two micron increments, with one micron equivalent to one thousandth of a millimeter or 1/25,400 of an inch.
To analyze the micron test report histogram, find the Average Fiber Diameter (AFD) on the horizontal scale showing fiber diameter in microns. Standard Deviation is a term representing an average of individual deviations (plus or minus micron values) from the mean or AFD. The smaller the Standard Deviation, the more uniform the population of fibers measured. It is the most stable of variability measures and is used in the computation of other fiber statistics such as the Coefficient of Variation (CV).
The Coefficient of Variation is the Standard Deviation divided by the Average Fiber Diameter multipled by 100 and reported as a percentage. The CV is used in the statistical analysis of different populations of fiber (different animals).
The percentage of fiber greater than 30 microns is also included in the report. In commercial application and breed selection, this data is of interest because it shows the coarse edge that determines the final use of the fiber. It has a relationship to the strength of the yarn processed from the raw fiber and influences "prickle" factor, the scratchy quality associated with coarser fibers.
The sample date is added to the report to identify the age of the animal at the time the sample was taken. A test report without a sample date is not as helpful as one confirming that the test results represent fiber taken when the animal was a specific age. The date of birth alone is insufficient to state that fact.

Equipment Used for Fiber Diameter Measurement

Yocom-McColl Testing Laboratory is equipped with the latest instrumentation technology for measuring average fiber diameter of animal fibers: Sirolan Laserscan, developed by CSIRO, and Optical Fibre Diameter Analyser, developed by BSC Electronics. Both companies are located in Australia. These instruments are calibrated using Interwoollabs tops, the only recognized supplier of calibration tops to the worldwide textile industry. A diagnostic and calibration check is performed each day on both instruments. The accuracy of measurement is plus or minus 0.3 microns and the tests are performed under standard conditions of 65% plus or minus 2% relative humidity (RH) and a temperature of 70 degrees plus or minus 2 degrees F.
A Marketing and Genetic Selection Tool

When utilized properly, objective fiber testing can be a powerful marketing and genetic selection tool. Objective measurement is an assessment made without the influence of personal feelings or prejudice. Visual appraisal and fiber handling are fundamental aspects of fiber judging, but very weak appraisal methods of accurately identifying fiber diameter.
Instrumentation can accomplish the measurement of fibers within a micron. Because the measurements are so tiny, the difference between a sample at 20.5 microns and one at 22.5 microns is small mathematically, but critical in commercial use and pricing structure.
Based on this factor alone, fiber-testing technology gives breeders a useful tool to analyze fiber and track the progress of their selection programs. The determination of average fiber diameter helps identify the best end use for fiber and is information that mills require before making their purchasing decisions.
The ability to provide information on fiber quality places natural animal fiber producers in a stronger position to receive what their fiber is worth. Very few people buy and sell commodities without knowing everything they can about them. Information is power in the marketing world, and objective fiber assessment provides it.
The micron test is as good as the sample and the information submitted for testing. The laboratory cannot jeopardize its integrity by providing results from improperly taken samples, either by location or size. Breeders have the same interest in maintaining their reputations with high quality animals and by keeping accurate records of their overall performance.
And More...

Yocom-McColl Testing Laboratories, Inc. was formed in 1963 by Angus McColl and Ira Yocom (retired). The company started operations as an independent wool and animal fiber testing laboratory in January, 1964. The lab utilizes ASTM (American Society for Testing and Materials) and IWTO (International Wool Textile Organization) procedures and methods when testing fibers.
Angus McColl graduated from the University of Wyoming with a Bachelor's degree in Animal Science and a minor in Agricultural Economics. He was a graduate assistant in Wool Technology when he took a post as Wool Specialist for United States Testing Company, located in Denver, Colorado. He left US Testing to form his own company and since has been actively involved in developing equipment for sampling, subsampling and scouring wool in a commercial testing laboratory environment. McColl is a native of Scotland.
McColl has promoted correlation testing in the textile industry and runs ongoing correlations with most quality control labs in domestic commercial mills and university wool science departments. He is currently a member of the ASTM D13.13 wool committee and is a representative for objective measurement in the American Sheep Industry Wool Council's Fiber Group. He actively supports activities within state wool grower associations in Colorado, Montana, South Dakota and Wyoming. McColl is the U.S. representative at the annual technical meeting of the International Wool Testing Organization in Nice, France. In 1995, McColl was added as a technical advisor to the Alpaca Registry Screening Committee (ARSC) in the fiber standards area.

Vegetable Garden Progressing

Thu, 7 Jul 2011 12:53:46 -0700

We are pleased with our vegetable garden this year, even though we got it in the ground much later than usual for us. It was such a wet year, and then we had other distractions going on as well.
The plot featured above is a new area down by the small chicken house. We planted sunflowers and a variety of pumpkins, which are all doing quite nicely there. With a bit of fencing staged around the beds, the chickens are prevented from scratching up the plants when they were newly planted.

The hens and their lovely eggs, which we sell.

Below you’ll see photos of the raised beds we’ve used for our vegetable garden for many years now. Mark spent a bit of time this year pounding the boxes back together and adding support to keep the corners from opening up, which they do every few years or so due to weather. He also added lots of lovely composted alpaca fertilizer.
Then he and I made a trip to the nursery for the veggies and seeds. It all laid out pretty good, considering we did little pre-planning. You can look back to this previous post to see the garden just after planting.

In this first photo, you see the carrots, beets, zucchini, and squash in the lower bed.
Just above, in the next raised bed, is a short row of green beans, some lettuce, eggplant and peppers, basil, chard and greens.

Here is one of the beautiful purple peppers ready to harvest.

In this top bed, just before the rose garden and door to the hen house, are tomatoes, cilantro, and rhubarb.
See the red tomato! :-)

Watering and talking.

Tillie, of Sonoma Yarn, donated this beautiful flag to Brookfarm. Thanks, Tillie!

Happy Gardening...

Birth of a Cria

Sun, 26 Jun 2011 09:29:06 -0700

Beyonce and her new little girl cria.

The following photo collage chronicles the birth of a cria. Beyonce’s cria to be exact. And the proud papa is our Herdsire, Memento. As usual, Memento brought strong bone, compact/square composition, and soft dense fleece.
Cria’s are generally born sometime from 8am until 2pm’ish. They do come at other times, but the norm is for a cria to be born during daylight hours and usually by mid afternoon. We did have one cria arrive at nearly 10pm. But other than that, they have all followed this schedule. So once you have hit mid afternoon, you can relax from all the watching and waiting -- most times!
Beyonce had been showing some signs of impending labor, but she was a sneaky one. There are so many things to watch for... overly vocal, rolling more than normal, frequent visits to the poop pile, milk coming in, softening of the cervix... but none of these are tried and true as to exactly when labor begins. That compounded with the bringing up stomache bile, and chewing of cud, which provides stomache movement which can also be misleading.
So we watch and wait, watch some more, wait some more; and this goes on.
Gestation for an alpaca is 11.5 months, or 345 days. Although they can deliver from 335 to 355 days and even considerably longer. We usually watch for signs, like above, and then keep check on the dams progress until it looks like things are getting closer. Often times we witness the birth, but sometimes the dam is sneaky and we miss it all together.
Most often, an alpaca births out without any assistance. But you do want to be on alert to intervene if it is necessary. We take a “step back, watch and let mother nature takes its course” approach. Unless, of course, there is any reason for concern.

The birthing begins

A quick moment to remove some of the sack and move the baby onto a cleaner area.

Of course there needs to be an audience.

Now momma is happy and getting a reward of some pellets.

And three weeks later Beyonce’s cria is happy, healthy, and waiting for the next two arrivals to show up soon.

Beyonce’s cria at 3 weeks of age

Visit again soon. Two more crias due real soon!!

Veggies & Spinning

Sun, 29 May 2011 16:38:23 -0700

Memorial Day Weekend --- warm weather, camping, barbeques, getting together with friends and family, just an all out fun time of year. Except when you live in rainy California. Yep, I said “rainy California”. Don’t get me wrong, I usually look for the bright side of things. But I, like oh so many other’s around here these days, am getting pretty sick of the rain. Yesterday we had a full day of rain again. Now the rain does keep the grass growing for the alpacas, but it also keeps the weeds growing.
But for once, finally, we got our raised beds planted with vegetables before the heat got so blazing hot that the seedlings were struggling. And yes, it is Memorial Day Weekend, which is kind of late for planting. Considering all the distractions we’ve had this year, we were glad to plant.
Mark spent the last week, in between yet another rain shower, working the beds -- turning all the soil, moving out enough so he could replace it with lovely composted alpaca fertilizer teaming with worms, and then mulching with a nice layer of straw until we planted.

Well composted alpaca fertilizer.

I did the supervising. You know.... the one standing there leaning on the shovel and bringing refreshments when needed. After all, this is a very important job too! :-)
So the other day we made the trip to Sonoma Mission Gardens, the premiere local nursery to purchase our seedlings. Mark is one who likes to plan, and think, and plan some more. So when we arrived he got out a piece of paper and started to draw the beds. I looked at him and said, “Can’t we just wing it?” He looked at me kind of disgusted, but we persevered and got the job done. And once we got home, we both agreed we made good purchases and just the right amount of plants for the size of beds.
There is still one bed to plant with a few more seedlings and some seeds, but that should happen soon. Meanwhile all the seedlings are getting a nice start in this cool 70 degree weather we are having today!
Today was the monthly spinning meet up of our local group of spinners and Brookfarm was scheduled to host the May meeting. I made up a pot of pureed potato squash soup and served it with bread and beverages. We do pot luck, so everyone brought other yummy dishes to compliment the soup. We typically begin around 11am and go until late afternoon. There were 12 of us and most everyone stayed until about 3pm; spinning, knitting, talking about spinning and knitting, having lunch, and then doing it all over again. It was a lovely sunny day and everyone seemed to have a wonderful time. Several people purchased eggs, fiber, and spinning wheel oil, which was a wonderful surprise. Next month Sharon hosts, and we may be meeting at Ragle Park.

Thanks girls for a fun day: Jen, Moz, Deborah Tillie, Susan, Cathy, Paula, Larae, Sharon, and Phyllis (& friend from the UK)! It was a great day.

Wishing you a wonderful Memorial Day Weekend and
remembering all those who have died in service to our Nation.

How We Survived Shearing 2011

Tue, 26 Apr 2011 21:06:26 -0700

Take my dear, ever hard working husband, Mark. Add shearer extraordinaire, Steve Murray. Mix in daughter and son-in-law, Sarah and Chris. And stir in some dedicated hard working volunteer helpers/fiber afficianados Kristine and Adrienne and fellow alpaca owners, Edna, Gerhard, Bonnie & Chet. What do you have? TEAM BROOKFARM at the ready to shear 54 alpacas over an 11 hour stretch all in one day. To do that you start promptly after 8am and work through all the girls until you are exhausted and famished and take a short lunch break around 1pm. Then you work through all the boys and finish up just minutes before 7pm.
Your results...
54 alpacas, 251 lbs of fiber, average 10.4 minutes per alpaca over the course of the 11 hour day!

Our shearer, Steve Murray Rocks.
Our work crew, TEAM BROOKFARM, totally rocks!!!
Huge thanks and hugs to each of you!!

Here is a photo recap of our day.

The first alpaca of the day.
We start with all the white girls and then move on to the next darker group to help prevent any color contamination of fleeces.

The girls have a moment to catch their breath while Chris and Steve finish up Libby.
Kissie was next and she was not too thrilled with the process.
The alpacas are gently stretched out on their side with a handler holding their head steady all the while. Then the fiber crew bags the fiber as the shearer does his work, into bags of first (finest blanket area), second (next finest rump and lower neck), and thirds, rest of neck, belly and legs. The animal is then released to stand on lead and the shearer touches up the head, tail, and anything else needed.

Kristine did a great job of wrangling up alpacas to have them weighed and ready for their turn. Here she is with Beyonce.

Kissie’s cria was the last of the day.

We all slept in the next morning and enjoyed a wonderful farm fresh breakfast to refuel after the long shearing day.

The following day I was able to get some photos of everyone with their new beautiful summer look.

Thunderbolt and Rochelle still think they look pretty darn cute even with their new hair cuts.
And what’s not cute about crias?

At first I couldn’t identify sweet little Leonore. And Coraline, well she is not her puffy self, but with those markings, who could miss.

Beatrice still has such a beautiful face with dark haunting eyes.

And Dakota still knows he’s the star of the young boys pasture, especially with his new do!

Amber Rose lost all her brown locks to a much darker brown undercoat, but it’s hard to tell after she took a good roll in the dust.

It took the mom’s a moment to recognize their month old crias, but by the next day everyone new.

You can also check us out on Facebook at the Brookfarm Alpacas Page.

Thanks for stopping by!

Hoppy Easter

Sun, 24 Apr 2011 11:21:35 -0700

We spent a lovely Easter Sunday with Alura and Stephan and they fixed a lovely mid-day meal for us. We had a very nice visit and traffic to and from was not bad at all. They are gearing up for the new baby to arrive in August and we hauled away a nice mattress and box spring to replace an old one on one of our guest beds. This will make room for a crib in the baby's room.

Their garden is so beautiful this time of year. Alura certainly has a green thumb and has created quite the oasis of color and green both at their front door and in their sweet little back yard. Here she is standing in the front yard. Isn't she adorable? :-
So now we are gearing up for our big shearing day on Tuesday. Luckily the sun just broke after a night of rain, and we are hopeful it will remain throughout the day as a wet alpaca cannot be shorn. We have a great crew of helpers coming in for the day to help us get through all of our animals, our agistors alpacas, and a few others that are coming in just for shearing. Mark and I expect to be exhausted come Wednesday.

Here is my latest project; a lace shawl from my handspun yarn. If you are on Ravelry, click the photo to link to my BrookfarmAlpaca project link for more details.

Hoppy Easter!

It’s a Girl

Mon, 4 Apr 2011 07:20:07 -0700

Legolas X Carmen
And our last cria of the Spring arrived Sunday night. I have to watch what I wish for because I shared with Deb that afternoon how crias usually come by early afternoon and we've only had one night time birth so far. She commented how hard it would be to have a cria arrive in the wee hours of the morning with everything else we have going on in our lives right now. Low and behold, Mark goes out Sunday night to close up the chicken houses as is done later these days with the long daylight hours, and he decides to take a peak at the two latest crias (one week old, and two days old). He returned to the house to peak inside as I was trying to find something to watch on TV and said, "Carmen is in labor and it doesn't look good. Come on out!" So I did. This was at 8:30 PM mind you. Carmen was struggling and had delivered the head and neck of her cria. Normal presentation is for two little front feet to arrive along with the nose, and then the front legs, head and neck progress together. Thankfully the cria was breathing as we had no idea how long this had been going on. So we gathered our wits together, made a plan, and got out the lube jelly. After we got Carmen into a pen of her own and calmed her down, Mark went in to retrieve the two legs. He could get only one out. But with a little pressure, he and Carmen delivered a healthy dark brown female cria. Whew! That was a scary moment. So by 11 PM all was well at Brookfarm, cria dried off with a warm cria coat on for the night, she was walking around and trying to find the milk, so we turned in for the night.

By morning, mom and cria were doing fine and little girl was nursing well and continues to thrive! :-)

Stay Tuned!

2nd Cria of 2011

Fri, 1 Apr 2011 07:12:27 -0700

SRRA Memento X Miski
A handsome male cria arrived yesterday, April 1st. Shall we call him Tom Foolery. He is out of our stud, Memento, and Miski. This was a repeat breeding from last year and for those who remember what Coraline looks like, this is a complete turn around. Coraline is a dark brown, with white front boots from the knees down, a funny little white blaze on the face and neck. It always fun to try to predict a color in breeding choices and then be totally surprised. Actually, this white boy was totally predictable. It was Coraline’s coloring last year that was a big surprise from a silver grey male and a white mom.
Carmen is about two weeks overdue now and looks so uncomfortable and ready to deliver.

Stay Tuned!

First Cria of 2011

Thu, 31 Mar 2011 07:47:00 -0700

P. Rock of Gibraltar X Kissie Face
A handsome male cria arrived on Saturday, March 26th. He is out of our star stud, Rocky, and one of the most sweet and friendly, not to mention dense and soft, dam’s Kissie. So this boy has high hopes riding on him. He is an adorable rose grey, with striking white face and boots on his back feet. Did I say crimpy and dense. Make an appointment to visit him sometime soon. You might consider adding him to your herd too!

All the pacas out enjoying the sunshine and green grass.

Noah helping with fiber sorting.

The trillium given to us by our midwife 35 years ago when Sarah was born right here in this very house. They bloom every year the week of her birth.

Happy Spring!