Big Rock Alpaca Farm

Our annual open house will be November 7,8 & 14,15, 2009 from 12:00 Noon to 5:00 PM.? We have several new things for visitors to see.? There is of course the alpacas and this year we have our most exciting array of alpacas to view with the addition of Silver Ray and the fall crias to the herd.? An additional animal that we’ve added that you will be able to see are four Bourbon Red turkeys (2 toms and 2 hens).

We’ll also have a wide selection of alpaca products and apparel available for your Christmas shopping.

And we are very excited to announce that at this year’s open house (all except Nov14) we will be having “The Sock Lady” from Appalachian Sock Company here to demonstrate the use of a hand cranked sock knitting machine.? She will also have some of her specialty hand-dyed yarns available for sale.

She and her husband restore these wonderful machines to working condition.? This is how our fore-fathers got their socks, they couldn’t just run to the discount store and pick up a pack of 6 socks.

We can’t wait to see what she does with some of our 100% suri alpaca yarn.? We have an entire cone of it to use.? I’d like to keep some of for when I get a loom, but I can always get more if we turn it all into socks or something.? Actually she said the 100% suri alpaca wouldn’t be the best for socks so it will get made into something else.? You’ll just have to come to the open house to see.

We’re also hoping to get some spinners and/or weavers lined up to demonstrate those activities.

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We have a similar schedule this fall as we’ve had in the past.

• We started with East Berlin’s Colonial Day on Sept 12, 2009
• We will be doing the Fall Harvest at Ashcombe’s all of the Saturdays in October (weather permitting)
• And we will be doing our annual open house on November 7,8 and 14,15 2009 from 12 noon to 5:00 PM

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Rose had her cria on Monday, 9/21/09.? A very pretty multi boy.? He has been putting on weight nicely.

Rose's 2009 multi cria

Rose's 2009 multi cria

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We are again looking forward to being at East Berlin’s Colonial Day again this year. We should be at our usual spot or close to it, behind the food vendors and the post office. The time is from 8:00 AM to 4:00 PM. We’re hoping for nice weather.

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We finally had our first cria for the 2009 calendar year, we didn’t have any spring crias.? Born August 20th while we were on vacation everyone is doing fine.? She was 16.5 lbs on the day of her birth, dropped a pound the first day and gained it back by the second.? We were hoping for some color and got white, maybe light fawn if she darkens up some like Gaston did.? But ‘IT WAS A GIRL!’, take that any day over color.

Snowfox with new baby

Snowfox with new baby

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The Mannings Annual Spinning Seminar

The Mannings Annual Spinning Seminar

The Mannings Annual Spinning Seminar day on June 13, 2009 was a wonderful day.? The weather cooperated and didn’t rain, but on top of that it wasn’t terribly hot nor was it too cold.? When we arrived we found that we were placed under a nice shade tree across the road near the creek.? Across the open green space there were groups of people spinning and weaving.

It took Cimarron and Silver Ray a little to settle in to the routine of being handled and petted, but they did splendidly.? And Josh, but especially Jake, did a great job of handling them and telling the people about the alpacas.? We had several people comment to us about them and we really appreciated those comments.

We spoke to many people, some were familar with alpaca fiber and the difference between suri and huacaya fiber, but we were able to show many people the differences.? We also had several different stages of processed fiber for people to see, including roving, yarn and sheets of felt.? For those of you that were interested in purchasing some of the fiber, by all means, give us a call or drop us an email so we can make arrangements to get you some of the finest natural fiber in the world.? You can call 1(888)544-SURI (7874) or send an email to ‘info @ bigrockalpacafarm.com’ [without the spaces around the '@' sign].

All in all is was a great day and we got to meet so many nice people.? If any of you would like to visit the farm, please feel free to contact us to schedule a visit, there’s no need to wait for the open house.

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I know in my previous post I had said Gaston would still be in full fleece, but as we’re not sure when we would have gotten to shearing him we had it done at the AOBA Nationals Show.? He’s currently not feeling real well after his big weekend so we might not bring him to The Mannings Annual Spinning Seminar.

We are hoping for a break in the rainy weather for Saturday June 13 and it looks like it’s going to cooperate.

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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!

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I’ve been meaning to post this introduction since soon after MAPACA as that’s when we purchased him.? Currently we’re only breeding suris but there are some huacayas that you just love to look at, and Silver Ray is one of them.? He actually took fouth in a class of ten at MAPACA so others think he’s a nice boy too.? His personality seems to lend itself more to the obstacles than Gaston’s does, so we’re planning to have the boys work with him and they can do the obstacles with him next show season.

Hillside's Silver Ray

Hillside's Silver Ray

His fiber is so soft and fluffy that Kelly is really looking forward to getting to spin with it.? And of course his grey color is a great benefit.? Who knows, if he does good at the shows next year maybe we’ll have to get some huacaya females to use for breeding.

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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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