Big Rock Alpaca Farm

Did I mention in my previous post that May 30th was a big day for us! Along with getting our hay made we also were taking three alpacas (Frankie, Thomas, and Integrator) over to Paso Ligero Alpacas to get shorn.  It was a big day.  The shearers arrived and started work around 3:00 in the afternoon.  They had already sheared 13 alpacas at a farm in New Jersey before driving the several hours to central PA.

Kim from Paso Ligero Alpacas had graciously opened her farm for several other local farms to bring animals to get shorn. There were a total of about 30 alpacas from at least six different farms.  Below is a picture of Kim collecting a blanket for showing.

The shearing finished up around 8:00 PM and we all gathered for a pot luck dinner we had brought.   Kim supplied the hot dogs and burgers.  The shearers grabbed a couple minutes of well deserved rest and some food before they were off to a shearing somewhere in New York state.

It was a very exhausting day for everyone and several passengers fell asleep on the short ride home.

Tags: Alpaca Other by Allen
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  We recently attended the MAPACA quarterly meeting that was held at the University of Pennsylvannia New Bolton Center.  There was the usual business meeting in the morning where we were given details about the upcoming Jubilee show in Harrisburg.  It sounds like it should be another great year for the show.

After lunch we got to the part that everyone was waiting for, the presentation by Dr.  Walter Bravo on alpaca reproduction.  It was a very informative presentation, covering all aspects of alpaca reproduction, the three main areas being the females, the machos (males) and the cria.  He had great information on fertility and growth rates along with comparisons between South American and North American alpacas.

The final portion of the day was a presentation of what New Bolton Center has to offer alpaca breeders.  The main thing we were interested in was the availability of assistance for problem births and/or late term pregnancy issues.  They can also do quite a bit for infertility issues if that is a problem for either your female or male alpaca.  It’s nice to know there is such a facility near by, it would take us two ours to get there but somewhere like Ohio State would be eight hours or more.

Tags: Alpaca Other by Allen
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