Big Rock Alpaca Farm

On June 13, 2009 Big Rock Alpaca Farm will be showing off some of our alpacas at The Mannings Annual Spinning Seminar.? The two that we’ll most likely have there will be Gaston and Silver Ray.

Silver Ray has already been shorn, but since Gaston will be getting back from Nationals earlier in the week we’re planning to still have him in full fleece and to hand shear him on Sunday.

The day makes for a great family outing.? There is no admission fee or pre-registration required and lunch can be purchased there in support of a local church.? There will be lots of different demonstrations going on for everyone to experience and learn from.

Kelly showing Frankie

Kelly showing Frankie

We’ll have a couple of our alpacas there and will also have some of the their raw fiber and fiber in various stages of being processed.

We look forward to seeing all of you there!

Tags: Events, Products, Shows by Allen
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This year’s shearing day has come and gone.? It was May 13, 2009, and we sheared 52 alpacas at Paso Ligero Alpacas.? We had all ten of our alpacas there, but only nine were shorn since Gaston is going to Nationals.

The shearer did an excellent job.? I wasn’t paying real close attentetion but I don’t think he even knick one of the alpacas.? There were some alpacas though that were not particularly happy about the process, some screaming and spitting was going on.

Shearing a suri alpaca

Shearing a suri alpaca

We completed the shearing around 3:30 in the afternoon, after getting started at 7:30 in the morning.? The guy that did the shearing took the early end of the day as an opportunity to sharpen a bunch of his blades.

Sharping blades at the end of the day

Sharping blades at the end of the day

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Gaston takes 2nd in class at 2009 PAOBA

Gaston takes 2nd in class at 2009 PAOBA

Sir Gaston ROX recieved a second place in his class at the 2009 PAOBA Breeder’s Showcase in York, PA.? He was placed in the medium fawn class at this show.? The class had six other nice suri alpacas in it for a total of seven in the class.? The judge liked his fineness, density and consistency of lock over the third place.? In fact that only thing that placed the first place alpaca above Gaston was the bone structure.? The first place alpaca was a little more heavily boned.

After the cl;ass a much more experienced suri breeder stopped us with the first place alpaca and felt that Gaston had more density than the first place alpaca.? His comments confirmed a lot of what we think about Gaston.

His last and final show of the season will be the 2009 National Show in Cleveland, Ohio.? He’ll be remaining in full fleece until then and we’re planning to hand shear him soon after he returns home.

Tags: Alpaca Herdsire, Alpaca Male, Events, Shows by Allen
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The 2009 MAPACA Jubilee is finally underway at the Farm Show complex in Harrisburg, PA.? If you are interested in learning more about alpacas this is one of the best opportunities to come out and visit with lots of different farms and see lots of great alpacas.

Judging a class

Judging a class

I don’t know what the official numbers are, but there are LOTS of alpacas to see.? Some of the best alpacas in the country are represented by the many farms, both suri alpacas and huacaya alpacas.

Much of the suri alpaca juding will take place on Saturday, April 24, 2009.? We will be showing Gaston in the light fawn class, probably late in the day on Saturday or possibly Sunday morning.

Admission is free this year so come out and see us!

Tags: Events, Shows by Allen
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Isn’t it nice to finally be getting to SPRING!? And with the end of the deep freeze of winter come the spring alpaca shows.

Here are the spring shows that we’ll be show Gaston at:

2009 Maryland Alpaca Show and Sale, April 18-19, 2009? Westminster, MD

2009 MAPACA Jubilee, April 23-26, 2009?? Harrisburg, PA

2009 PAOBA Breeders Showcase, May 8-10, 2009? York, PA

We’ll be sharing a stall with Criative Acres at these shows so be sure to look us up and say hi.

Allen

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We will have two of our alpacas on display at the Live Nativity at St. Paul’s Lutheran Church, in Hanover, PA on December 14th, 2008.? There will be two showings of the live nativity, one at 6:00 PM and one at 7:30 PM.? The alpacas wont actually be in the live nativity, there weren’t any alpacas at Jesus’ birth, although alpacas are related to camels and there were probably camels present at the original nativity.

Visitors will be able to both see and touch the alpacas.? We will also be available to answer any questions people may have about alpacas.

We hope to see you there!

Merry Christmas

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Today was a beautiful fall day.? Hopefully next week will be as nice for our open house.? We did take the opportunity to do some work outside around the farm. We also visited another alpaca farms open house at Eastland Alpacas.

The final version of the post card has finally hit the mail on Friday so hopefully you will be receiving your card in the mail shortly.? If you don’t have one, feel free to print out the card here to receive the 10% discount off the purchase of one store item.

Big Rock Alpaca Farm Open House Card

The dates to remember are November 8, 9 & 15, 16, 2008 from 12:00 Noon to 5:00 PM.? We look forward to see you.

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? We’ve just completed our second Saturday at Ashcombe’s this weekend.? It’s been wonderful.? We’ve gotten to meet lots of nice people.? And the kids really love seeing the alpacas.

Stand at Ashcombes

We will be there for one more weekend, weather permitting.? After that we’ll have a weekend off before our open house at the farm.?? If you miss us at Ashcombe’s be sure to come visit us during our open house.

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? Well it was a long day and we weren’t sure how it was going to go, but it turned out to be a pretty good day.? Friday, yesterday, was quite rainy so we didn’t setup Friday evening.? This morning the boys and I went in around 6:30 to set everything up.? Thank full it had quit raining sometime during the night.

? It did get a little hot during the afternoon, but thankful not like Sunday is supposed to be.? They predicting that tomorrow, 9/14/08 is to be close to a record high at 92 degrees and it will probably be about 90% humidity.

? We got to meet and talk to many great people.? If we you did stop by and see us thank you.? For those of you that didn’t make it you’ll still have plenty of opportunities to see us on National Alpaca Farm Day at Criative Acres, several Saturdays in October at Ashcombes and of course our open house in November.

We look forward to seeing you.

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One of the things we’ve been working on in preperations for East Berlin Colonial Day is our open house flyer.? We’d like to be able to give these outs to all the great people we’ll be seeing at Colonial Day.? We’ll also be mail them out to our mailing list in mid to late October so watch your mailbox.? It might not look exactly like this, but it will be something close.

Big Rock Alpaca Farm Open House DRAFT

We’re also working on getting our products ready to display at Colonial Day.? We have several new sweater designs available and?new lower pricing on some of our more popular items like the alpaca reversible socks.

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