Alpaca World Magazine - Summer 2011

Alpaca World Magazine Summer 2011  ÂŁ5.25 where sold

Oh! You Pretty Things

The diary of a fashion designer

Doing it on your own

Handling without resorting to 'forceful persuasion'

Judgement day

Two British judges on their debut in the show ring

2 ALPACA WORLD MAGAZINE

SUMMER 2011

CONTENTS

Welcome to Alpaca World Magazine Classical Publishing Ltd © 2011 Issue 38 Summer 2011 ISSN 1477–7088 Editor: Rachel Hebditch Vulscombe Farm, Pennymoor, Tiverton, Devon, EX16 8NB Telephone 01884 243579 Mobile 07540 748803 Email: rachel@alpaca-uk.co.uk Advertising: Heidi Hardy Telephone 01598 752799 Email: heidi@ alpacaworldmagazine.com Copy deadline for the next issue: 2nd September 2011 Design and Production: TRG Design 68 Rivermead Road Exeter, Devon, EX2 4RL Telephone: 01392 279371 Email: info@trgdesign.co.uk www.trgdesign.co.uk Printed in England by: Magazine Printing Company Plc. www.magprint.co.uk The material contained in Alpaca World Magazine is compiled by the publishers for information purposes only.

Although the material included has been obtained from sources believed to be reliable, no guarantees are given as to its accuracy or completeness.

Readers are reminded that expert advice should always be sought in individual cases.

Whilst every care has been taken in the compilation of the material contained in this issue the publisher does not accept responsibility for any loss arising out of such changes or inaccuracies nor for any other loss suffered as a result of information contained in this issue.

Notice to Advertisers: It is a condition of acceptance of advertisement orders that the publishers, Classical Publishing Ltd, do not guarantee the insertion of a particular advertisement on a specific date, or at all, although every effort will be made to meet the wishes of advertisers; further the company does not accept liability for any loss or damage caused by any error or inaccuracy in the printing or non appearance of any advertisement, or if we decide to edit or delete any objectionable wording, or reject any advertisement. Although every advertisement is carefully checked, occasionally mistakes do occur. We therefore ask advertisers to assist us by checking their advertisements carefully and to advise us by the deadline given should an error occur. We regret that we cannot accept responsibility for more than one incorrect insertion and that no republication or discount will be granted in the case of typographic or minor changes which do not affect the value of the advertisement.

Cover photo: Miss Terralies competition, Brittany

SUMMER 2011

The only independent magazine reporting on the international alpaca industry. Distributed by subscription worldwide and through country stores across the UK, Alpaca World Magazine reaches the largest readership in its market.

WELCOME TO THE SUMMER EDITION OF ALPACA WORLD MAGAZINE WHERE YOU WILL FIND LOTS OF WORDS AND PICTURES ILLUSTRATING THE STATE OF THE ALPACA INDUSTRY IN EUROPE AND PARTICULARLY FRANCE. Over here one might ask why the latest two members of the British Alpaca Society board were not assimilated into what I like to imagine as The Borg where ‘resistance is futile’. Instead we have rapid resignations from two of them and no official hint of why unless of course you listen to gossip – perish the thought. Did they, like Jean Luc Picard, survive assimilation or can we think of them as drones who escaped like Seven of Nine?

I know you have all probably had enough of showing but the organisers of the British Alpaca Futurity, the first show in 2012, are already working hard to make the next one on March 16 and 17 even more of a showcase for the British alpaca industry.

Mark your diaries.

Inside Alpaca World Magazine Summer 2011 18

34

health & welfare 24 Nutrition in alpacas part 3 46 Doing it on your own

24 news 04 Herds under the hammer 05 Australian National Show 05 Twins are rare 06 SW England shows 09 Brittany Show

regular features

09 Vierzon Show

52 Who do you think they are?

10 Suri Day

76 Letter from France

10 Bluetonge-free

special features

10 Charity calendar

18 Judgement Day

10 Hummmm

30 The moment of truth

66

34 She's in fashion

81 Breeders directory Summer 2011

52

58 Practical Bio-security

features 14 Buckeye show, USA 42 Casa Chapi 62 Italian job 66 Dunreyth Alpacas 72 Letter from Belgium

www.alpacaworldmagazine.com ALPACA WORLD MAGAZINE 3

news

NEWS

If you have news of events or developments within the alpaca industry which you would like to share with others please send it to: The Editor, Alpaca World Magazine, Vulscombe Farm, Pennymoor, Tiverton, Devon EX16 8NB, United Kingdom Email: info@alpacaworldmagazine.com

Reports from three spring UK auctions

Herds under the hammer THE FIRST AUCTION of the season was the Devon based Collabear Alpaca Herd which came under the hammer at the Bristol Sales Centre on April 30 and was sold on behalf of David and Elaine Smallridge by the auctioneers Harrison and Hetherington.

The leading price of the sale was 4,400gns for the solid black Huacaya, Collabear Ella who already has a successful show career to her credit winning junior black female Devon County Show 2010 and Black Colour Champion North Devon Show 2010.

Following at 3,900gns was Collabear Rosanna, a Rose Grey huacaya which sold empty and carried a show record winning her class at the SWAG Spring Show, Devon County Show, Royal Bath & West Show and the North Devon Show in 2008. A few lots later and selling for 3,700gns was Collabear Miss Muffet, a Mid Grey female who also sold empty.

A young solid black pregnant female, Collabear Jenna, was sold for 3,200gns. Also reaching over the 3,000gn mark and selling for 3,100gns was Collabear Fleur another young female and mid fawn in colour.

Next up was a whole herd retirement sale for Nick Weber of Westways Alpacas. The Westway Alpacas herd

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Collabear Ella

auction, conducted by Symonds and Sampson, was held at Stubhampton House in Dorset on May 14. The top price achieved was £2.900 for a young male.

Ballochruin Farm at Balfron near Glasgow was the venue on June 11 for the first auction sale of alpacas in Scotland. The sale was run by Harrison & Hetherington

and was on the premises of Campsie Camelids which is owned and run by Freddie and Janet Small. Most of the alpacas consigned were theirs in a major herd reduction. Fellow Scottish breeders Richard and Pan Fennell of Ravenshaw Alpacas were totally dispersing their herd.

Other Scottish herds consigned smaller numbers of animals.

Top price on the day went to Ravenshaw Alpacas; 3800 guineas for Ravenshaw Gracia, a lovely light brown maiden female.

Another maiden female, Campsie Maori Princess, a pregnant prizewinning mid-brown, sold to 3200 guineas, whilst her younger full sister Campsie Madam Mira, a light fawn maiden, made 2800 guineas. Also at 2800 guineas was Campsie Diva, a late entry to the sale. She is a white 2010-born maiden, the Supreme Champion at 2011 Drymen Show.

Top price for a male was against Campsie Magnum; he sold at 3300 guineas. Magnum was Supreme Champion at Drymen Show in 2009. All the top-priced alpacas noted above are offspring

of mid-brown Charbonnel Ronnie of Campsie who was imported from Canada by Janet and Freddie.

Within the 40 animals to be seen, there was a wide variation in colours, ages and qualities and this was reflected in the bids offered. In a few cases, animals were withdrawn. Most of the better quality animals sold to a reasonable level but some of the breeding males and females with older genetics, or plainer types, were more difficult to cash. l Campsie Magnum

SUMMER 2011

NEWS

Australian Alpaca Association 18th National Show, Sale & Expo

Let it be... in Sydney, Australia ALWAYS THE HIGHLIGHT of the Australian alpaca calendar but this year with a new venue and a new format, the National Show, Sale & Expo promises to be an event not to be missed.

From 13-16 October 2011, more than 650 alpacas are expected to be entered in the National Show – to be held for the first time at the Sydney Showground, Sydney Olympic Park. Judging will take place over three days and will include Best Colour classes.

In addition to this showcase of the very best in Australian alpaca breeding, a maximum of sixteen elite alpacas will be entered in the new Breeders’ Choice Auction.

Each lot accepted for auction will be exclusive - there will be

only one female and one male of each colour (white; light fawn; medium/dark fawn; brown; grey; black) in the huacaya section and one female and one male selected from white and all other colours in the suri section, representing a maximum of 12 huacaya and 4 suri lots. To optimize their chance of being selected to represent the best in Australia for that sex and colour, breeders will naturally be submitting only their top animals for selection by an expert panel from the Australian Alpaca Association. This new format for the annual National Sale will ensure that potential purchasers can be confident that each alpaca selected for auction is not only the best that the breeder has to offer, but has also beaten other

alpacas put forward to secure its place in the National Sale. The auction will take place on the evening of Friday 14th October.

This year’s Expo is also a new innovation, designed to maximise attendance at the Show by the public, to educate potential new breeders and to showcase the quality of Australian alpaca fibre and product.

The auction catalogue will be available on the Australian Alpaca Association’s website from early September. Whilst we hope to welcome many international visitors to share in this unique celebration of Australian Alpaca, bidding can also be undertaken via pre-arranged telephone links.

For further details, contact John Hay by email: alpacas@tpg.com. au or telephone +61 (0)2 9653 2277.

A range of quality accommodation is available within the Sydney Olympic Park precinct. Full details will be listed on the AAA website in the near future. l

Twice as nice!

Twins are rare – but here are a pair, named Cagney and Lacey, born this summer at Houghton Hall Alpacas sired

by Cambridge Navigator of ACC

SUMMER 2011

ALPACA WORLD MAGAZINE 5

NEWS

Show news

Drafts and laughs in the South West a Lining up at the Devon County Show

THE SOUTH WEST of England’s

four full fleece shows are the SWAG Spring Show, the North Somerset Show, the Devon County Show and the Royal

6 ALPACA WORLD MAGAZINE

Bath & West. All four were well supported this year.

The first show was the SWAG Spring Show which moved to the Hand Centre at Clevedon

where the ring was enormous and the alpacas housed in stables. The judge Cathy Lloyd put up Valley Alpacas The Diplomat as Huacaya Champion, Popham Suri Dream

Catcher Suri Champion and Best British Bred Suri, and Classical MileEnd Socrates as Best British Bred Huacaya.

SUMMER 2011

NEWS

as spring blows in at full fleece shows

The North Somerset Show, also judged by Cathy Lloyd, was outdoors and all the alpacas appreciated the grass after a dry spring. Champion Huacaya was Valley Alpacas The Diplomat and Suri Champion was Rosewyn Barney.

The alpaca classes at Devon County Show, judged by Val Fullerlove, saw one of the highest number of exhibitors ever. It was very windy and a rather bad hair day for the humans as shown by this photo (right) of the Huacaya Champion Classical MileEnd Xerxes and the Reserve Champion Cambridge Joshua.

There were quite a few laughs, as we have come to expect, at the Royal Bath & West, where this year Helen McMahon upped her game and appeared dressed as an alpaca for her demonstration of ring etiquette. This year chocolate raisins were involved, I’ll leave that to your imagination. l

Bad hair day at the Devon County Show

Junior handlers

Rebecca Oglesby and her alpaca friend at the Royal Bath & West Best British Bred Huacaya CME Xerxes

SUMMER 2011

Champion Huacaya Eringa Park Lawbreaker of EPC

Champion Suri Alpaca Stud Sharif

Exhibitors at rest

ALPACA WORLD MAGAZINE 7

HEALTH & WELFARE NUTRITION IN ALPACAS

Long Acres Alpaca Farm 2010 Fall Show Season Results 20 Championships Judges’ Choice AWARD Judges’ Choice Empire Extravaganza Male 1st & Champion Empire Extravaganza Black Male 1st & Champion Empire Extravaganza Light Male 1st & Champion VAOBA Expo Black Male 1st & Champion VAOBA Expo Fawn Male 1st & Champion VAOBA Expo Light Male 1st & Champion VAOBA White Female 1st & Reserve Champion VAOBA Light Male 1st & Champion NJAC Black Male 1st & Champion NJAC Fawn Male 1st & Champion NJAC Light Male 1st & Champion NJAC White Male 1st & Reserve Champion NJAC White Female 1st & Champion SEPA Light Male 1st & Reserve Champion SEPA Light Male 1st & Reserve Champion SEPA Fawn Male 1st & Reserve Champion SEPA White Male 1st & Champion Maryland Classic Black Male 1st & Champion Maryland Classic Light Male 1st & Champion Maryland Classic Fawn Female 1st & Champion Maryland Classic White Male 1st 1st 1st 1st

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Maryland Classic NJAC VAOBA SEPA

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Breeding Best Quality Females to Elite Males

8 ALPACA WORLD MAGAZINE

SUMMER 2011

NEWS

Show news future shows.

About twenty of us had a very convivial night on the Saturday, starting at the Bowling Alley for drinks and moving on to a new and acclaimed restaurant where we stayed chatting and regaling each other with alpaca stories until one-thirty in the morning.

We started a little late on Sunday.

Brittany Shears THE SECOND BRITTANY SHOW

at the Terralies agricultural festival was a smaller affair than last year, but made up for that in camaraderie and good fun.

The reason for fewer entries was that unfortunately, despite the rest of France being free of a requirement for vaccinating against Bluetongue, our Brittany Veterinary Service insisted on

all animals being vaccinated.

Understandably, many breeders felt unable to comply for a single show. However there were in excess of seventy animals for Rob Bettinson to judge – a reasonable number, including some from Belgium.

We had an age championship as well as the usual colour championship – a great chance to

compare animals by different criteria.

Colin Ottery, ably assisted

by Pascal Meheust and Clara Vaerman, who have just been training in the UK as shearers, spent all of the Sunday shearing the animals as they were knocked out of the competition. They certainly drew the crowds! I hope we shall be able to do this in

This was the happiest, most good-natured FUN show ever.

The Supreme Champion Suri was Breizh Utopian Cleopatra owned by Enid Anderson and Linda Hitchcock.

The Supreme Champion Huacaya was Godswell Monty owned by Nigel and Ginny Cobb. l

Concours Salbris April 2011

New location brings rich pickings Marie-Genevieve Lion of Alpagas Sologne and Dominic Lane of Anzac Alpacas.

Reserve Champion Huacaya was Godswell Monty owend by Ginny and Nigel Cobb of Europa Alpagas.

Supreme Champion Suri was

WHAT USED TO BE KNOWN

as the Vierzon Show moved to Salbris, a small city of 6,000 inhabitants in Sologne, in the heart of a region known not only for its lakes, forests and wildlife, but also for its gastronomy and lifestyle. Close to the centre of France, Salbris is only two hours away from Paris by car.

Run by the Alpaga Developpement this is the 6th

SUMMER 2011

year the show has taken place and it was by far and away the largest to date. With 154 entries it had a very International feel about it with entries from France, Belgium and Spain.

Held in the Equestrian Centre of the large Chateau de Rivaulde, the halter classes were judged by Matthew Lloyd and the fleeces by Cathy Lloyd. Matt and Cathy also held a fleece workshop on the eve

of the Show which was followed by a lively evening in a local hotel.

For the first time in France there was an auction of Stud Services held during the interval of show day to raise funds for the Alpaga Developpement.

Supreme Champion Huacaya was Jolimont Attitude owned by

Willow de Grand Fouilleze owned

by Leah Duclaud of Les Suris de Grand Fouillez.

Reserve Champion Suri was Langaton Razzamatazz owned

by Enid Anderson and Linda Hitchcock of Breizh and Utopian Alpacas. l

ALPACA WORLD MAGAZINE 9

NEWS

Suri Day at Moonsbrook Alpacas

Yes Suri!

THREE OF THE UK’S larger suri breeders put on a practical oneday free workshop based around all things suri at Moonsbrook Alpacas in West Sussex. The tutors were Nick Harrington Smith of the Alpaca Stud and Mary Jo Smith of Bozedown Alpacas.

Our tutors led us through the different types of recognised suri locks – tight ringlet, wave and twist, corkscrew, large wave and broad lock, straight lock – followed by the evaluation of density, fineness and lustre in many samples of suri fleece laid out on the tables.

Some of the participants were experienced suri breeders, some had not got their animals yet and others, like me, were wearing metaphorical ‘L’ plates. There was a splendid lunch where Mary Jo announced that ‘you couldn’t have

enough steak’ very true as the sharp showers hit.

Our tutors then selected small groups of three or four animals of similar colour and age so that we could assess the fleece and line them up as if in a show ring.

Evaluation includes True to Type, Sound Conformation, Fineness, Softness of Handle/Greasy Handle, Density, Lustre, Style of Lock, Independence of Lock/Solidity of Lock, Coverage, Uniformity/ Colour/Micron, Lack of Guard Hair, Fleece Soundness. Most people got first and last right with a bit of variation in the middle which we were informed was EXCELLENT. Thanks must go to the tutors for giving their time and to James Young and Melanie and Simon Brown at Moonsbrook for the excellent lunch and use of their facilities. l

Alpaca Charity Calendar

Health news

Bluetongue-free Make it a date THE UK – England, Scotland and Wales - achieved Bluetongue free status from July 5. There have been no cases of BTV 8 since 2008 and the last national surveillance exercise that was carried out in November 2010 showed that the UK was free of circulating disease. EU law does not permit vaccination outside of a protection zone and therefore

BTV 8 vaccination will no longer be allowed.

Imports of bluetongue susceptible species into this country will have to meet certain conditions which will probably be vaccination plus a 60 day wait; vaccination plus a test 14 days after onset of immunity or a booster vaccination within the time period of the immunity. l

Health news

Ho Hummmm...

HUMMMM IS A NEW

e-magazine for alpaca lovers and is a Belgian based initiative with readers in both the Flemish and French speaking part of Belgium, France, Holland and even Switzerland. It is the the result of an encounter of two animal lovers who, in this way, want to share their passion for alpacas

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and llamas. Hummmm offers its readers the opportunity to get in touch with other enthusiasts and exchange knowledge and experiences for the benefit of alpacas and llamas. www.hummmm.eu l

WHILST 2011 MAY BE an exciting year

for many of us alpaca breeders with much to look forward to, less can be said for the victims of natural disasters such as the Japan tsunami, the earthquakes in New Zealand or the hurricanes in North America.

To help the victims of these disasters, Ivywell Alpacas are producing an alpaca calendar with all profits going to charity. In order to create the calendar we would like you to submit your best alpaca photographs.

All photos entered will be reviewed by a professional photographer who will select the winning entries to be included in the final calendar.

Should your entry be successful, there will also be room for your company logo & farm details to be included alongside your photo.

Even if your photo is not selected for the calendar, we will credit within the calendar the details of all those who entered, as a thank you for your support.

This is a great opportunity to support a worthy cause whilst at the same time showcasing your photography talents and promoting your alpaca herd. Even if you don’t want to submit a photo, you can still contribute directly to the cause by making a donation.

To find out more information about both the calendar and also how to make a donation, please visit the website: www.alpacacalendar. co.uk And remember, as this is a calendar we need alpaca photos for all seasons! l

SUMMER 2011

Canchones

fine black alpaca

Visit our website for pictures of our latest group of cria

Solid Black Suri & Huacaya Peter Kennedy & Robert Gane alpacas@canchones.com.au www.canchones.com.au SUMMER 2011

Phone: 61 3 5773 2468 360 Swamp Creek Road Taggerty, Victoria, Australia 3714

ALPACA WORLD MAGAZINE  11

Team Supreme!

New Zealand’s elite genetics now available for Export to Europe

Homestead Farm Apollo

Flowerdale Shackleton and Timbertop CT Legacy

Oak Ridge Oliver

Each of these sought after males is a Supreme Champion in the New Zealand/Australian Show circuit, and are now producing champion progeny that are a must for the discerning alpaca breeder.

All progeny exhibit ultra-fine, advanced structured fleece styles, with excellent handle, density and brilliant lustre.

Bright Whites - Fabulous Fawns - Beautiful Browns Progeny are now available for sale – Breeding Females and Future Stud Sires.

Also females pregnant to these stunning males.

Enquire today and Invest in the Future Contact: Martin Bennett – Oak Ridge Alpacas, New Zealand. www.oakridgealpacas.co.nz Brendon Taylor – Waikara Park Alpacas, New Zealand. www.alpacas4u.co.nz 12 ALPACA WORLD MAGAZINE

SUMMER 2011

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DO YOU REMEMBER TIJERA PRIMERO (TAJ)? ...who won virtually every show entered undefeated in his individual and progeny championships in 2006 and 2007...

WELL, HIS INFLUENCE IS BACK IN HIS SON ROMEO TRENT BRIDGE ROMEO won 2nd place Adult White Male at the National 2011 (out of a class size of 16, Judge Tim Hey), he is of full Peruvian descent, and is a bold framed macho male with great presence, excellent density and handle with coverage from top to toes.

His dam, Gypsy, is a Rural Allianza import and at the age of 7 is still holding a 23 micron fleece with only 8% above 30 micron (WTAE, 2010). She has produced class winning progeny in the past.

Trent Bridge Romeo fleece stats 2009: mfd 19.9um, sd 4.10um, cv 20.80%, >30um: 1.85%, mean curvature 66.7 deg/mm (WTAE, 2010)... check out the curvature!

This is an opportunity to use full Peruvian quality “Taj” genes again for own herd improvement and diversification, without the reliance on Australian or US Pedigree at a really affordable price.

Drive by/ Mobile/ On Farm: £450.00 (under strict bio security conditions) We run a herd with a wide range of colours and headline pedigrees. We have a selection of potential herd sires, some females and pet males for sale, located in Staffordshire. View our website for further details of sales and services.

TRENT BRIDGE ALPACAS Trent Bridge Farm, Bond End, Yoxall, Staffordshire. DE13 8NJ Tel: 01543 474924 www.trentbridgealpacas.co.uk

SUMMER 2011

ALPACA WORLD MAGAZINE 13

FEATURE BUCKEYE SHOW

Why Buckeye?

Some will know that Nick Harrington Smith is occasionally invited to judge alpaca shows in the United States. In May this year he went to Columbus in Ohio, where he was privileged to judge the Buckeye show.

I’VE ABSOLUTELY NO IDEA why it is called

The Buckeye. Of course, their intention is to promote a show and make it memorable!

I was to learn later in the trip that pretty much everyone you meet in the States and connected to alpacas, know about “The Buckeye” show, obviously a promotion well done. This show had some 750 or so entrants, judged by three judges operating across three show rings on both Saturday and Sunday. It is a little daunting to realise that this number of entrants is considered in the US to be only of moderate size. The Americans seem to run shows that appear very relaxed and this one was no exception, even with many exhibitors having entries due in all three rings, the show ran almost seamlessly with very few delays.

I was appointed to judge huacaya males, something I love doing, and I was not disappointed in the quality of alpacas put in front of me. Some classes were very challenging but great fun, other classes were clearer cut, but illuminating to me as both a judge and breeder. Sara-Jane Maclennan, showed her mettle judging huacaya females, and her wicked sense of humour at dinner every evening, indeed she is proof positive that Americans do understand irony, and that not all take themselves too seriously.

Past president of AOBA, Californian David Barboza, who I am guessing is 6ft 6 inches tall in his cowboy boots, but without his cowboy hat, conducted the suri judging with calm efficiency, and utmost courtesy to the exhibitors, much appreciated by all.

One of the more interesting aspects of the AOBA show system is that they do not have a “Supreme” champion; instead in shows of 400 Huacaya or 150 Suri and above, they have a “Judges Choice” for both male and female suri and huacaya, thus avoiding the elevation

14 ALPACA WORLD MAGAZINE

of a single animal to superstar status in any one show, and in the smaller shows, neatly sidestepping the issue of having to create a “Supreme” alpaca even if the quality is not obviously evident. This helps give the show results perspective, and I think generally causes breeders to think more about the relevance of show results in their own breeding programmes. I chose a brown male of nearly nine years of age as my choice; he was nearly as fine as any of the juniors, with a tremendous phenotype and a style within his fleece, not often seen in an alpaca of this age, most impressive. I do try to make time after a show to talk to those exhibitors who would like to understand better some of my decisions, not something that happens often here in the UK. The show finished in good time so I had the chance to meet and talk through some of my decisions (I am always aware that only one exhibitor per class is even remotely happy!), and it was really encouraging that in general breeders there view the show ring as a yardstick as to where their breeding programme is in comparison to others, not an absolute guide as to what they should choose to use within their breeding programme. One breeder did ask me why I chose what I did as

I do try to make time after a show to talk to those exhibitors who would like to understand better some of my decisions, not something that happens often here in the UK.

Judges Choice and not her lovely little junior.

When asked she hadn’t looked at the alpaca that beat her and was a little taken aback when I responded, because it was better.

It is always a challenge leaving America for home on the day a show finishes, more usually I cannot get a flight out until the Monday evening, so given that the AOBA Nationals were taking place in Denver the following Friday I decided to make the effort and go to Denver and see what the American showpiece had to offer. The show was at the National Western show complex, some 100,000 square feet of exhibition space organised over a number of floors.

The build up to the show starts on the Thursday with alpacas and fleeces being checked in, and breeders organising their display pens around their stalling. On the Friday morning the fleece judging began and the performance and composite classes were held, although the main focus seemed to be around the breeders pens, and the 53 or so auction lots that were to be offered for sale on the Friday afternoon.

It was encouraging to see the enthusiasm that abounded within the venue and more especially the sheer volume of breeders who were looking at alpacas in both the sale pens and breeders show pens, with apparent pride taken in selling and promoting alpacas.

There was a broad cross section of animals on offer in the auction with some unshorn, and others shorn with the fleece on display, the latter surprising me until I realised how many people were actually looking at alpacas with obvious intent. I think the fleeces must have been completely wrecked on some of the unshorn alpacas. The auction started at 2.00pm attended by a large crowd; I counted 150 seated and then gave up because there was so much movement.

SUMMER 2011

FEATURE BUCKEYE SHOW

Celebrity Sales conducted the auction in the usual style, with spotters prowling the room to make sure no bid went unregistered, or to encourage the tentative bidder in to action.

It seems to work well with the top price Suri female fetching $20,000, top price Huacaya female $18,000 and top price Huacaya male $120,000, interestingly enough the Suri couldn’t even elicit a starter bid for a while.

The average selling price was $12,405 and of the 53 lots consigned there were only 10 lots unsold, a clear endorsement for auction sales in the US. What I later learnt was that it costs the vendor $2,500 to enter their alpaca in the auction, and a minimum auction reserve is set by the auctioneer, for this auction I was told it was $5,500 dollars, and the vendor then pays a further 10% on the sale price, or the reserve price if the alpaca does not reach the minimum value! This struck me as being harsh and yet it seemed to be accepted as a given and I guess the support for many auctions like this suggest it has become an accepted part of the American alpaca industry.

The showing was conducted in four rings which were situated in the main equestrian ring, with the rings being set around a central dais from which the show organisers ran the show with extreme efficiency. On show were some 750 or so alpacas, apparently slightly disappointing, but generally most were not surprised given the economic climate, but perhaps because like here in the UK, people thought it a little late in the season and had shorn their alpacas because of welfare issues.

Some people though had driven upwards of 20 hours to exhibit.

On parade were some of the most experienced judges in the world, and over the next two days I was privileged to witness a display of some fantastic alpacas, and listen

SUMMER 2011

Some people had driven upwards of 20 hours to exhibit. to some concise and illuminating oration from the judges as to why they had made their decisions. Of course hardly surprising with the incomparable Dr Julio Sumar judging female suri, dispensing his wisdom with a candour not often heard, but tempered with his Latin charm, his decisions and reasons were always clear and relevant. Tim Lavan, judging huacaya females, calm and unflappable, again left nothing to the imagination when detailing his decisions clearly and concisely.

Mike Safley whilst judging huacaya males left you in no doubt as to the pleasure his task gave him, and was heard to say how difficult some classes were, and his praise for the 6th place was in some cases almost as fulsome as his praise for 1st place. Kristin Burhman judged Suri males... what can I say, this is one lady I would not play poker with, her consistency of technique and delivery gave nothing away until the last moment, making it all the more exciting for exhibitors outside the ring with alpacas in. I’m sure I saw some well-known judges looking very nervous outside this ring.

Of course, one of the great things about visiting other countries is the different view you get of the alpaca industry and this show was no exception.

It soon became evident that the majority of people attending and showing were relatively small breeders who were fairly new to the industry, but who were also very much aware of the need to promote their stud name and be seen to be an integral part of a vibrant industry. One thing that struck me was how

pro-active AOBA was in presenting itself at the show, and how effectively it presented the breed society as a facilitator of cooperation and education. With ARI present and promoting the work it is doing on EPD’s, breeders were buzzing with confidence about their future, however they were very much aware that it fell to them to promote the industry as a whole. Perhaps the result of the auction of alpacas donated to AOBA demonstrates how committed to the industry it members are, the auction raised nearly $100,000 for the breed society.

Above all else though, I was left wondering what drives such a successful show circuit and of course this was a great topic of conversation most evenings. I had not given much thought lately to the differences between the UK and the US show system, however it was pointed out to me that all exhibitors in America expect something from the shows, and this is why show classes are split at 16, which means that the vast majority of exhibitors do receive some feedback from the judges, and are therefore left feeling they have had value for money. I think this is an idea that we would perhaps do well to consider here in the UK; after all, I commonly hear the complaint that too many of our exhibitors get nothing from their attendance at our shows.

Comparing the AOBA nationals to our own is perhaps irrelevant, but whilst the venue in Denver was very large it was not without fault, not unlike our own, however it was the professionalism in presentation in America that really set it apart. Breeders large and small realised it was the taking part that was important, not just the winning. Something that perhaps one would expect us Brits to embrace better than the Americans, but something we might need to reconsider if we are to move our industry forward. l

ALPACA WORLD MAGAZINE 15

Is this Nature showing off ?

FOWBERRY NOBILITY First fleece at 11 months: 15.61µ, 3.67µ SD, 23.5CV, 0.3%>30µ, 53.2° Curve Second Fleece at 24 months: 16.73µ, 2.85µ SD, 17.0CV, 0.2%>30µ, 63.8° Curve 1st Junior Fawn Fleece - of 21 - Scottish National Fleece Show 2010 - Cameron Holt Champion Fawn Male & 1st Intermediate Fawn Male - of 30 - British Alpaca Futurity 2011 Sire:

EPC Top Account of Fowberry (SW)

Dam: Fowberry Keiko (SMF) Fowberry Alpacas, Crambe Grange, Barton-le-Willows, York, YO60 7PQ. Tel: 01653 619520 & 01653 618100 Email: info@fowberry-alpacas.com 16 ALPACA WORLD MAGAZINE

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ALPACA WORLD MAGAZINE  17

SPECIAL FEATURE JUDGING

judgementday....

Mary Jo Smith and Jay Holland are two newly fledged British Alpaca Society judges.

This summer both of them made their debut in the show ring.

How did it go?

Read on…

18 ALPACA WORLD MAGAZINE

SUMMER 2011

SPECIAL FEATURE  JUDGING

SO, HOW DOES ONE GO ABOUT explaining your first judging experience? It is not just the action of judging a show; it is the feelings that ensue from the day of appointment. I was amazed at just how emotive that is, one feels a real weight of responsibility, in several spheres and, ultimately, it is down to you, just you, to get it right.

My first experience was a bit of a shock, having been kindly invited to judge the Cornwall Camelid Association show by Gary Sanders of Popham Alpacas. I was busily preparing for that when I received an urgent cry for help from Damien Dyar of the Irish Alpaca Association to judge their show in Ennis. Never one to say no and looking to gain more experience, I accepted; but, during our conversation, it came to light that their show was to be held the day before the Cornish one.

Still, always up for a challenge I thought why

SUMMER 2011

not? A baptism of fire might stop me worrying too much and so it was that on Friday 30th April 2011 I started my epic judging weekend.

FLY. DRIVE. JUDGE. What can I say, the plan was to drive to Bristol, fly to Cork, judge a show on the Saturday morning, fly from Shannon back to Bristol in the afternoon and drive down to Cornwall in time for dinner with the show organisers ready for the show on Sunday. If you actually told anyone they would tell you that you were mad.

Still, luckily it all went very smoothly and was not at all the chaos it might have appeared. I was met at Cork by Eloise, a member of the IAA who kindly drove me across most of Ireland and we had a lot of time to talk about the state of the alpaca world in Ireland, as well as in the UK and

One feels a real weight of responsibility and, ultimately, it is down to you, just you, to get it right

ALPACA WORLD MAGAZINE  19

SPECIAL FEATURE JUDGING

Senior Male Line Up Ennis 2011

Europe. We spoke of the dearth of knowledge in Ireland about alpacas, their need for more information on a wide range of subjects and the problems arising from the small number of owners being so widely dispersed.

A quick change of driver meant that I finally met Damien Dyar for the last leg towards Ennis; Damien owns Burren Alpacas one of the largest alpaca studs in Ireland and helps run the IAA. We talked of breeding programmes, fibre marketing and the good news that the UK could now export to Ireland following the UK’s declaration of being BTV free ratified by the EU. An interrupting phone call from a potential client who needed their alpacas shorn brought us to the perennial problem of shearing; with around 500 alpacas in Ireland and geographically spread throughout, it seemed to be a problem. Damien explained that one of our shearers usually did a tour, north to south and that personally he had a tame sheep shearer that could do his alpacas but...

Master at work!

20 ALPACA WORLD MAGAZINE

SOCIAL ANIMALS Still, finally we arrived at Damien’s home, a lovely farm overlooking Galway Bay, the sun was out and the view absolutely stunning over a world heritage site (not bad this judging abroad lark). We had agreed previously that it was acceptable for me to stay in Damien’s holiday home, he rents it out, I am told, at a very reasonable rate, which is, in fact, the old farm house. Luckily, the IAA rules differ from those of the BAS and I was allowed to fraternise with other exhibitors who were also staying at Damien’s and they did very well to hide all their alpacas from me.

It was, I admit, really pleasing to be able to

socialise with the exhibitors before the show, we went out to the local pub for an evening meal and, as it was my first time in Ireland, I was looking forward to the experience of an authentic Irish pub. I don’t know quite what I was expecting but it is very similar to home with the exception of Guinness everywhere.

The very odd thing was that the pub was also full of Bulmers cider. No Magners anywhere, Bulmers only, on draft, on draft ice cold, in cans or in bottles and, when I enquired as to why, apparently it’s made just up the road.

I have no idea about where it’s made but I always believed that Bulmers was a Herefordshire cider maker - the power of marketing seems really impressive just now.

So, the day of the show, an early start with the alpacas loaded with me safely out the way and a short journey to Ennis. The Ennis showground had kindly provided the venue and the penning for what was to be a stand alone alpaca show within one of their myriad of buildings. Damien was hoping for a good public turnout as he had been able to advertise widely, including spots on the local radio.

With the pens arranged around the outside of a central show ring it meant that exhibitors could watch the classes, observe the judging and hear the oral reasoning over the PA at all times and from their own pens if necessary.

With 40 odd alpacas to judge, they were feeling a little embarrassed that some exhibitors had not arrived and I was obliged to point out that 40 was, in fact, a large percentage of their national herd, something akin to having around 2,000 in a show in the UK and so they should be feeling very proud of what they had achieved.

SUMMER 2011

SPECIAL FEATURE JUDGING

The show was run on a colour championship basis and, as usual, we started with grey. I was not sure what to expect, having no knowledge of the history of alpacas in Ireland, where they had come from or at what level they were in terms of quality and so it was with some trepidation that I started judging.

The fleeces on the greys were as good as many that I have seen in the UK as a steward and I had no problem in handing out first places. What a relief, the last thing I would have wanted would be start handing out second or third place rosettes to start, especially as I had no idea what the standard would be like. Anyway, the show proceeded through the usual array of colours and, as I became more relaxed, the oral reasoning, which I have to say for me is actually one of the hardest parts of judging, also became more relaxed and expansive. I had been prewarned about the behaviour of some of the alpacas and the amount of training that they may have received, no change there then, and, in deference to the exhibitors, had to look at one or two alpacas sat outside the ring entirely. But, on the whole the alpacas, and exhibitors, behaved impeccably.

SUPREME TEST Despite the time constraint, we were able to be relaxed in our approach and had time to chat with members of the public even inviting them to guess the placings which created a very friendly ambience to the show.

So, I found myself beginning to enjoy the experience and heading rapidly for lunch time when, suddenly, no more alpacas to be judged. Well, just the supreme to go. Pardon,

supreme? No one teaches you how to do a supreme; horror, you really don’t want to get this one wrong. Still, be sensible, you did pick all the champions so can it really be that hard?

Yes, it can but, ultimately, treat it the same as any other class – the best wins. In this case, a white male, richly deserved for his fleece qualities belonging to …Damien Dyar!

If this was a true sample of the Irish national herd, then they are poised on the edge of a very successful breeding programme. The alpacas that I was privileged enough to judge were generally of a high quality given the immaturity of the industry. Yes, I saw some that we would consider a little “primitive” in their style and appearance but, on the whole these were still very fine and exhibited some strong positive fleece traits that will be passed on and, hopefully, enhanced. However, I also saw some very good alpacas that would stand in the final line up in many a UK show and a lot in between who would not be out of place in a UK show either.

The whole experience of my first show was, despite the timetable, very relaxed; my hosts were as welcoming and as friendly as one expects of the Irish, the subtle changes to the rules made the evening spent in pleasurable company. The exhibitors and alpacas deserve my thanks for inviting me and for allowing me to hone my skills, or lack of them, upon them and for listening to my tentative attempts to justify my placings.

For me, my Judgement Day was, in reality, less of a trauma than I originally thought but the Day of Reckoning may still be approaching.

Jay Holland l

Would you argue with this man?

I saw some very good alpacas that would stand in the final line up in many a UK show The Winner! Ennis 2011

SUMMER 2011

ALPACA WORLD MAGAZINE 21

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ALPACA WORLD MAGAZINE 23

ARTICLE CATEGORY MAIN HEADING

nutrition in alpacas part 3: protein, fibre and monitoring nutrition Karin Mueller (MRCVS) Cambridge Vet School (camelidworkshop@salixorion.co.uk)

24 ALPACA WORLD MAGAZINE

SUMMER 2011

HEALTH & WELFARE NUTRITION IN ALPACAS

Appetite and energy requirements were covered in the previous two parts of my series on nutrition.

In part 3 we will look at protein and fibre requirements. We will also address how to monitor whether your animals’ nutrition is on-track.

PROTEIN WITH ENERGY, WE HAVE TO LOOK at an

absolute amount the animal needs (see part 2 of this series). In contrast, when it comes to protein requirements, we can think more along the lines of an overall proportion in the diet.

So rather than saying ‘we need so many grams of protein’, in most cases it is enough to ensure that the diet contains X-percent of protein.

But, just as with energy, this percentage does vary depending on the type of animal.

It will need a higher protein percentage if it is growing, lactating, and in the last stage of pregnancy. Table 1 shows what percentage of protein the overall diet should contain. We express this in terms of ‘Crude Protein’ (CP).

Not all of this will be available to the animal for digestion, metabolism and use (just as with energy), but these percentages take that into account. Detailed information on how camelids use the protein in the diet is not available as yet.

The recommendations in Table 1 assume that the animal eats at least 1.5% of its bodyweight (BW) in dry matter (DM) (equating to 0.9 kg dry matter of food for a 60 kg animal; see part 1 of this series for information on appetite

SUMMER 2011

Fig. 1: The protein recommendations assume that the animal eats at least 1.5% of bodyweight in dry matter. If it eats less, add 1-2% to the required levels shown in Table 1.

and dry matter). If appetite is less, the protein level should be increased by 1 - 2 % (Fig. 1).

Table 1: Percent of crude protein (CP) that animals of different types and activities need.

Type of animal / activity

CP needs

Maintenance

10 %

Pregnancy, months 9-11*

12 %

Lactation

14 %

Growth

12 - 16 %

Mating

12 %

* Females pregnant in months 1-8 just need maintenance levels For interest, the recommended absolute amount of crude protein is 3.45 grams per kg of metabolic bodyweight (BW0.75; see Table 1, Part 2) for maintenance. This equates to 83.5 grams for a 70-kg alpaca.

To produce 2 to 6 kg of fleece, your animal needs between 10 and 25 grams extra protein per day.

BALANCING PROTEIN AND ENERGY The microbes in the alpaca’s first compartment

(or stomach) break down the proteins from the diet into a form that the alpaca can absorb. For this they need energy. So feeding a high amount of protein without some energy supply for the microbes leads to a high amount of wasted protein. An imbalance between protein and energy occurs particularly commonly in spring: spring grass contains a very high amount of protein, but relatively low energy. To enable your animal to fully utilise this good protein, it is worth considering giving them a small amount of concentrate while grazing spring grass.

These microbes, by the way, have a second useful function with regard to protein: when they die, their own cell-protein becomes available as a nutrient to the animal.

Even if a diet looks fine on paper, at the end of the day we need to monitor how the animal responds to it ALPACA WORLD MAGAZINE 25

HEALTH & WELFARE NUTRITION IN ALPACAS

(a)

(b)

Fig. 3: Alfalfa (a) and clover-rich pasture (b) contain high to very high levels of protein, respectively.

Fig. 2: The feed label will show the protein contents of the feed.

Utilising the more difficult to digest fibre in plants is a much cheaper way of feeding your animal.

HOW DO I KNOW HOW MUCH PROTEIN MY FEEDSTUFFS CONTAIN? The feed label will show the amount of crude protein (CP) on concentrates that you buy (Fig. 2). Sometimes, instead of a percentage, the protein is listed as X g per kg DM (for example: 120 g/kg DM). Dividing this figure by 10 will give you the percentage (for example: 120 g/ kg = 12%).

Table 2 shows some common feedstuffs categorised by their protein content (Fig. 3a & b).

Table 2: Feedstuffs listed by their typical protein content Protein level (% CP)

Feedstuffs falling into that category

Low (9-10%)

Poor hay, haylage, Fibregest (GWF), Hi-Fi Original (Dengi)

Medium (1113%)

Good hay, Sugar Beet Pulp, Maintenance Plus (Charnwood)

High (14-16%)

Late summer grass, silage, alfalfa (e.g. Alfa-A (Dengi)), Coarse Mix (Charnwood)

Very high (>18%)

Average summer grass (18%), spring grass (25%), clover-rich pasture

26 ALPACA WORLD MAGAZINE

Fig. 4: It is important to feed different lengths of fibre.

Short pieces are easier to digest, while long pieces stimulate saliva production and rumination.

FIBRE In theory, just feeding concentrate feeds (e.g. cereal grains, sugar beet) would provide enough energy to your animal. However, because they are forestomach-fermenters, they need a certain amount of fibre in their diet to keep the flora of bacteria and protozoa that lives in their stomachs (or compartments) healthy.

Utilising the more difficult to digest fibre in plants is also a much cheaper way of feeding your animal.

On a dry matter basis, your animal’s diet should contain at least 25% fibre. However, not only the total amount of fibre is important, but also what length that fibre is: short-length fibre is more easily broken down, whereas long-length fibre (8 - 10 cm) is important to stimulate rumination and saliva production.

The forage you feed should have a good mix of short, medium and long lengths of fibre (Fig. 4). This is also important to bear in mind when feeding a concentrate with a good amount of fibre (like Charnwood’s Fibre Extender): the amount of fibre it provides looks good on paper, but it is all in small particles. While a useful feedstuff when your forage reserves are running low, you will need to add some long-stem forage to give your animals what we call ‘effective’ fibre.

HOW MUCH FIBRE DO FEEDSTUFFS CONTAIN? Forages like grass, hay, and haylage typically contain 30% fibre. Spring grass will have less, at about 25%, as will grass silage. Autumn grass, in contrast, often goes up to 35% (Fig. 5). Concentrates typically contain 12% fibre.

WHAT IS THE MAXIMUM AMOUNT OF CONCENTRATES I CAN GIVE? To meet the energy requirements of your latestage pregnancy or lactating dam (Fig. 6), you will have to add a fair amount of concentrates to the diet. Rule of thumb is to always have 70% of the diet’s dry matter as forage, and not more than 30% as concentrates.

So, for your 70-kg alpaca with an appetite of 1260 grams DM (see part 1), you can give about 375 grams DM as concentrates (equal to about 420 grams as fed). The remaining 885 grams DM need to be forage. This would be about 4.5 kg of fresh grass, or just over one kilogram of hay.

Formula for 70kg Alpaca: Appetite = 1.8% of BW = 70kg x 1.8% = 1260g DM 30% of 1260g DM = 378g DM concentrates as maximum amount (concentrates have about 90% DM, so this equates to 420g as fed).

1260g Appetite – 375g Concentrate = 885g DM appetite left to eat as forage.

885g DM forage = 4.5kg fresh grass, or 1000g hay as fed.

SUMMER 2011

HEALTH & WELFARE NUTRITION IN ALPACAS

Fig. 5: Autumn grass contains more fibre than spring or summer grass, but will have less protein.

A WORD ON CHANGING YOUR ANIMAL’S DIET Because camelids rely on a vast number of bacteria and protozoa to digest the bulk of their food, changes in diet should always be gradual.

The bacteria and protozoa need 2-3 weeks to get ‘used to’ a new feed added to the diet.

This is, in part, because not every organism in the stomach can digest everything, i.e. your animal needs to build up the right combination of specific organism that can digest a certain feed particularly well.

Take particular care to introduce any new feed that you expect your freshly-birthed dam to eat at least 2-3 weeks beforehand (Fig. 6).

Start with a small amount and gradually build up to the amount you eventually wish to give. This will ensure that she can fully utilise the diet after birthing, which is especially important given her great energy and protein demands once she starts lactating.

MONITORING NUTRITION Even if a diet looks fine on paper, at the end of the day we need to monitor how the animal responds to it, whether it eats and utilises the feed in the way that we assume it does.

So monitoring nutrition, and adjusting it if needed, is very important. When monitoring, always assess different groups of animals. Just because your youngsters are growing well on

SUMMER 2011

Fig. 6: Although your late-pregnant or lactating dam has high energy and protein requirements, it is important not to feed more than 30% of her dry-matter intake as concentrates. Also make sure that you introduce any major changes to your animal’s diet slowly over 2 to 3 weeks.

a given diet, for example, does not mean that your lactating females are getting sufficient nutrients, as well.

(a)

BODY CONDITION SCORING This is probably the most important way of checking that your nutrition is spot-on.

Because of their dense fleece cover, the only way of knowing how much condition an animal carries is by putting your hands on to it (Fig. 7a & b).

• Any change in body condition is as important as the actual condition score.

• Check every animal once a month. If concerned, increase the frequency of your checks. Consider additional checks about two weeks after a major change in diet (e.g. moving from grass on to hay).

• Ideally, record the body condition score (BCS) for every animal, so you can compare over time. As a minimum, note down the ID of any animal that is too thin or too fat, so you can assess any change at the next check.

• In the UK, we typically use a scoring system of 1 - 5, with 1 being too thin, and 5 being too fat. Table 3 shows the assessment criteria for the different scores.

• Ideal score for an animal at maintenance is 2.5 to 3.0. A female in late pregnancy should be 3.5, to have some reserves for the start of lactation.

Fig. 7: Visual assessment alone may be enough to detect some thin animals (a = view on to rump from behind the animal, with tail in the foreground and hip bones very prominent).

But in most you need to carry out proper body condition scoring to establish their condition, as their fleece will mask their true status (b). (b)

ALPACA WORLD MAGAZINE 27

HEALTH & WELFARE NUTRITION IN ALPACAS

Table 3: Body condition scoring in camelids Drawings adapted from Eric Hoffman and Robert van Saun.

Score

1.0 Emaciated Fig. 8: Weighing your animals periodically is a good adjunct to body condition scoring. It is especially important in young growing animals.

BODYWEIGHT Regularly weighing your animals is important, especially when they are still growing (Fig. 8). Obviously, they should have a satisfactory body condition score, as well.

• In addition to appetite and feed intake, bodyweight also changes with increasing fleece growth, pregnancy, and gut fill.

• If your animal looses more than 5% of its weight, observe it closely, and weigh again in 2-3 weeks.

• If your animal looses more than 10% of its weight, get veterinary attention.

Boney points very prominent, ribs very easily felt. No meaningful muscle cover.

1.5 Poor

As above, with very slight muscle cover.

2.0 Thin

Slight muscle cover. Ribs easy to feel.

2.5 Low normal

• Carefully watch animals with a BCS of 2 or below. Restrict feed to animals that are BCS 4 or above (unless in early or late pregnancy).

• Monitor animals that have lost 1/2 a score and check them again in 2-3 weeks time. Ask your vet to check any animals that have lost 1 score at the next opportunity. Get immediate vet attention for animals that have lost 2 scores.

• Ideally, the same person should carry out the scoring, as there usually is some variation between people.

Description

Straight line between boney points over back. Ribs felt without much pressure.

3.0 Normal

Line between boney points over back very slightly curved outward. Some pressure needed to feel ribs.

3.5 High normal

More obvious curve over back.

Pressure needed to feel ribs.

4.0 Excessive

Continous line left to right over back, i.e. boney point in centre no longer felt. Definite pressure needed to feel ribs.

4.5 Fat

Line over back starting to bulge. Firm pressure needed to feel ribs.

5.0 Obese

28 ALPACA WORLD MAGAZINE

Profile between front and back legs

Prominent upright ‘V’ between front legs.

Prominent upsidedown ‘V’ between back legs.

Area between front legs curved. ‘Daylight’ just visible between back legs.

Bulging fat between front legs. Thighs touching in back legs.

Obvious bulging out over back. Ribs only felt with strong pressure.

METABOLIC PROFILE This involves taking blood from a selection of animals (typically 15-20), and doing a lab analysis for various parameters (Fig. 9). It can show whether the diet has enough protein, minerals, and the right balance between nutrients. It is a commonly used way of monitoring nutrition in cattle and sheep, and is being developed for camelids. l

Karin Mueller regularly holds workshops and seminars throughout the country on alpaca and llama management and disease topics.

Contact her on: camelidworkshop@salixorion.co.uk or 01223 337641 to discuss your special requirements or events in your region.

Profile over back

Fig. 9: A metabolic profile involves blood analysis of a group of animals and allows assessment of their nutritional status.

Corrigendum Part 2 A couple of errors made their way into Part 2, for which I apologise: • I n Table 2 (page 14), the first row stating ‘bodyweight’ is irrelevant, and the heading of the 5th column should read ‘lactation’ • The example calculation on page 15 (working out how much course mix and grass a pregnant female requires) contains a discrepancy on the total energy requirement: the first highlighted box correctly states the total needs to be 12.4 MJ ME. Later on in the text, when looking whether grass alone would fulfil her energy requirements, it says ‘….but not quite enough to fulfil the target of 11.9 MJ ME’. This should also read: 12.4 - I had omitted the half a MJ required for fleece production.

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ALPACA WORLD MAGAZINE 29

SPECIAL FEATURE  JUDGING

the moment of truth Having been involved with alpacas since 2000 and managing Bozedown Alpacas for a number of years, Mary Jo Smith decided in 2007 that she would try her hand on the Judge Training courses being offered by BAS. Here is her story.

30  ALPACA WORLD MAGAZINE

AT THAT TIME I TOLD MYSELF that I had no intention of becoming a Judge but it would be an interesting learning experience and allow me to assess alpacas in a new light and not just as a breeder.

So in November 2007 I started the first of three courses and officially certified as a Judge in November 2010. I have to say I was honoured to have been asked to do quite a few shows this season, however I am expecting a baby at the beginning of September so I decided (with a bit of forceful help from my husband) that I should only accept the shows I was offered at the beginning of the show season to be fair to the exhibitors as well as myself. So my first show was in Norway in April and my second was at the Northumberland County Show in May. I have many years of experience on the alpaca show circuit in the UK and Europe but all of it has been as an exhibitor. I have been fairly confident with my choice of alpacas to enter shows. However, donning a judging badge and entering the show ring to place the alpacas in the correct order and then to oral reason my decisions to the exhibitors so that they understand my decisions and hopefully help educate the onlookers was a whole new experience for me.

SUMMER 2011

SPECIAL FEATURE JUDGING

My first experience was during my training to become a Judge and I completed one apprenticeship under Nick Harrington-Smith judging the fleeces at the BAS National Fleece show in 2009 and then halter judging under Liz Barlow at the Royal Bath & West Show in 2009. It was here at the B&W that I had my first real experience of halter judging and oral reasoning, Liz was excellent. In some of the smaller classes she let me take the lead, go through the alpacas, let her know my placings and reasons, than I was given the mic to oral reason the class.

ARCTIC MONKEY When I headed off to Norway to judge my first show, I did not have another judge in the ring to discuss my decisions and reasons and give me that extra confidence that I was making the right decisions, it was all up to me. So on the 8th of April, Iain and I headed off to Norway. Iain decided to come with me to give moral support but I think it had more to do with the fact that we had never been to Norway before and it has always been on his list of places to go. Also the alpaca show was being held in conjunction with a much larger show, which was an Outdoor Hunting and Wildlife show, again this sparked Iain’s interest! Once the Norwegian show’s organisers found out Iain was coming with me, he was put to work and rightly so.

We were both looked after really well. Upon arriving at the hotel, Iain’s duties began and I went and relaxed until he was finished and joined me for dinner. As it was only the 2nd show in Norway, they were eager to learn as much about shows and the organising and so Iain was asked to colour check the alpacas for the show. We took some of the new BAS colour cards with us for them so that Iain could show those who wanted to learn how to colour check.

The show was around 45 alpacas, all the exhibitors were lovely and very keen to show

SUMMER 2011

their alpacas, the ring was tiny (10 x 4 meters) but we managed to walk the alpacas in and comparatively judge them. Outside the ring was a very interested crowd of onlookers listening very intently to the announcer, explaining all there is to know about alpacas.

Then to my surprise and delight when it came to my oral reasoning I was not translated. Most Norwegians understand English and speak it exceptionally well. This puts me to shame as I only speak and understand English.

With not being translated I was happy that the exhibitors would understand my placings and why their alpacas placed where they did. Iain was my ring steward and was able to help restrain the few that needed so that I could have a proper look at all the alpacas.

As a new industry and with relatively few alpacas, the show was judged as a colour champion show but only one colour champion awarded per colour, not for male and female alpacas, which I think was the right way to go until the industry has some more growth to warrant both male and female champions. As in all shows there was mix of quality but the Supreme Champion was a lovely alpaca.

Following the show there was a society dinner and gathering where they did all their speeches and announcements in English and we felt very welcome and enjoyed the festivities. It was a lot of fun to spend time with such an enthusiastic and energetic bunch of alpacas breeders. I wish their industry all the success in the coming years.

HOME, AND AWAY After coming home and reflecting on how I felt I judged and oral reasoned the classes, we jumped head first into our shearing and showing of our own herd, it was not long before I was heading north to judge the Northumberland County show. Again this was going to be another new experience for me, this show was an Age Championship show with approximately 70 plus alpacas and again only huacayas.

This time Amelia and Iain both came along with me. The Northumberland County show is a lovely small agricultural show with lots to see and do, so when Amelia and Iain got bored with watching me judge, they had a wander around the other livestock tents. The show ring was outside and it was quite windy and threatening to rain all day, but the rain held off and I think the day ran smoothly.

The show organizers were very helpful and my two ring stewards did a sterling job making sure the alpacas behaved. Again I met some challenging classes that made me work my brain weighting up all the traits to come up with the placings in the classes and then to explain to my reasoning to the audience and exhibitors. It has been a while since I was at an agricultural show with alpaca classes as most shows I show at these days are stand alone shows and I have to say it was great so see how the alpacas still draw in the crowds.

So my judging for 2011 show season is over and I am pleased I did two shows and feel that my oral reasoning has improved between the two shows and the nerves are settling down, and I have to say I enjoyed the experience a lot more than I thought I would.

So thank you to the shows that asked me to judge and I look forward to my next lot of judging in the future. l

It has been a while since I was at an agricultural show with alpaca classes... and I have to say it was great so see how the alpacas still draw in the crowds ALPACA WORLD MAGAZINE 31

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ALPACA WORLD MAGAZINE  33

SPECIAL FEATURE LINDA HITCHCOCK

she's in fashion

Linda Hitchcock of Utopian Alpacas in Brittany is a talented fashion designer and a spinner, weaver, felter and knitter who makes all her creations herself.

Her garments, that use both suri and huacaya alpaca, have starred in many fashion shows in the UK and Europe. This is her diary of three days in May. 34 ALPACA WORLD MAGAZINE

SUMMER 2011

SPECIAL FEATURE LINDA HITCHCOCK

Linda Hitchcock's trade stand

FRIDAY 27TH MAY 2011 I finished the hand spun wedding dress at three am, up at seven, car packed and ready to go. Just check the alpacas first even though we had planned it well last year so we wouldn’t have any crias during this weekend, the girls decided otherwise, five of them were over 12 and a half months. Today was my debut as a judge for the Miss Terralies at the Cotes d'Armor agriculture event in Brittany, France.

I had been told there would be 12 candidates in January so was asked to make 12 outfits, one for each candidate, there would be evening dress, swimwear, mohair and for the finale alpaca, great publicity but what a lot of work. The candidates arrived at 2pm, only seven had come, they were promised

SUMMER 2011

a hairdresser who never arrived, poor girls.

I had to go up into the changing room and tell the girls what I wanted them to wear.

I never realised that slim girls come in different shapes but I do know a few men who would give their right arm to be in my position. I do have one question, if you were a girl who wanted to be a model, would you wear a bright red bra and a tiny black thong.

Everything was sort of sorted except their hair, they didn’t have a comb between them.

If you were a girl who wanted to be a model, would you wear a bright red bra and a tiny black thong?!

FRICTION FACTORY The Miss Terralies was organised by the Madam Fontenay group who until last year organised Miss France, this being France everything is political and there was friction in

ALPACA WORLD MAGAZINE 35

SPECIAL FEATURE LINDA HITCHCOCK

the camp, something to do with nude photos of the winner. I was asked to write about my work for the compere, so with the help of my friend Chris wrote a short text in French.

Sat down on the end of the panel a bit scared and embarrassed, the five judges were one for mohair, the President of the Terralies, a local news reporter, the Mayor of St Brieuc and me for the alpacas.

Kick off, compere starts to babble, introduces each of the judges in turn, we had to stand up and sort of nod to the audience, my turn oh god I bet I’ll get caught up in the chair or something, still if that’s all I have to do that’s fine. No, the compere then decides he is going to interview us, bad enough if you can speak the language, I thought wrongly that after hearing me massacre the French language he would leave me alone. No, the answer to this he thought was to give me a translator who just said what she wanted. Eventually he shuts up, the music starts and the first lamb to the slaughter descends the stairs in evening wear, at least her hair was ok, she had a bob haircut A quick speech about herself a nervous walk up the catwalk and back. This was then repeated with each candidate.

At last we were ready for my hard work to

36 ALPACA WORLD MAGAZINE

Wedding dress made by Linda

descend the stairs, this would be the best part the first time I had seen my creations on a living body. I could hear and feel everybody was impressed.

I was dragged up on stage by the compere.

First question; Are you related to Alfred Hitchcock, easy, no, next why alpaca? because it is like wearing a big hug, microphone shoved under my nose, here goes I will try my French in public and make an off the cuff speech, crikey I said it all correctly, now they think I can speak French, quick exit time for a politically incorrect cigarette.

SATURDAY 28TH MAY Checked the alpacas, showed no signs of giving birth, well it was 08:30am when I left.

After the semi disaster of the day before, which I thought would be well organised and was not, all fear had left me, what will be, will be. The first show was at 11:00 but all the models had to be there for 09:00 for rehearsals. We didn’t even know how many girls would turn up but to my surprise we had 13 models, even a girl we had dragged up from the audience last year had come, even though she had slept with her father’s show cow the night before.

SUMMER 2011

SPECIAL FEATURE LINDA HITCHCOCK

by Enid Anderson and Jane Potts

Even a girl we had dragged up from the audience last year had come, even though she had slept with her father’s show cow the night before.

WALKING TALL Claire, a trainee, was on the ball. She had the girls marching up and down the catwalk to my music and they actually looked as if they were getting the hang of it. Miss Finisterre arrived all one metre 80 cms of her, very beautiful. I was doing well, the winner, two runners up and another candidate from yesterday I had managed to encourage to come back, also arrived and a big pat on Claire’s back, two hairdressers came. Now to sort out the order of the garments and models, chaos, we had garments from Jane Potts, Enid Anderson, Emily Brown, Sonia Lutz, a true artist of fibre who as yet owns no alpacas and me and a very dishy young man to compere.

11:00am Off we go, a bit shaky but no roadkill, it can only get better and it did. By 6pm we had done three shows and increased the number of hairdressers to three. All was well and the girls were getting the hang of it, very friendly, no cat fights, they were helping each other with make up and all was well in

SUMMER 2011

my world. I had to race home, a one hour drive, to check the alpacas and change for the evening meal. My good friend Isabelle had come with me after spending all day on the stand. When we arrived home we only found Tulaco Maid had given birth to a very beautiful eight kilo fawn girl, quick spray of navel, watched her suckle, fed cat and dog, walked dog, quick shower and change and off again.

This time Isabelle was driving, I could have a drink, fantastic.

SUNDAY 29TH MAY I haven’t told you about my hand spun wedding dress. Our stand was next to the mohair stand and they are very professional.

I had decided my piece de resistance was to put my wedding dress on a mannequin on the table nice and high for all the world to see.

Now Sunday 29th May is Mothering Sunday over here and somehow overnight like rabbits my hairdressers had increased to four and were getting more adventurous with each show.

by Sonia Lutz

ALPACA WORLD MAGAZINE 37

SPECIAL FEATURE LINDA HITCHCOCK

Some of the girls who wish to become professional models had arranged for a photographer to come and take photos for their portfolios so they asked if they could have some photos with the alpacas. Never being one to turn down an opportunity off we went, me and four models wearing suri alpaca.

We walked through the Parc de Expo with a growing crowd of mainly men following behind to the show ring. I did apologise to the judge Rob Bettinson as the judging came to a halt and everything was taken in good spirits.

Even Colin Ottery who was demonstrating shearing had to stop and stare.

Somehow overnight, like rabbits, my hairdressers had increased to four and were getting more adventurous with each show

VET IN A SPIN Now I haven’t mentioned that one of my models is my vet’s wife Sara, even though a mother of two and 41 years young, Sara is absolutely stunning and natural and could easily give Miss Terralies a run for her Mr.....

money. For the final show we decided to do something different so Sara asked her husband, my vet, to model one of Emily’s men’s jackets and also I decided to get the wedding dress on Miss Terralies and walk it down the catwalk. It certainly got a rapturous reception from the crowd, perhaps it was worth all the hard work just for the gasps and cheers as Miss Terralies walked down full of pride.

Six oclock and everything was coming to an end, all that was left was to clean up and reflect. Yes it had been a very good friendly show with people and breeders pitching in, thank you all for your help and support. One of the proudest things this weekend has been watching the girls grow with confidence and blossom. Oh Enid and I won supreme champion suri, fantastic. See you all next year thank you bye. Oh god shearing tomorrow. l .....and Mrs. Vet Jonas Engstrom and his wife Sarah relishing the catwalk!

Linda centre with Sonia Lutz and Emily Brown

Shrug by Em ily Brown

38 ALPACA WORLD MAGAZINE

SUMMER 2011

FOWBERRY LUCIEN - SOLID SON OF TOP TOP ACCOUNT ACCOUNT FOWBERRY LUCIEN SOLID WHITE - SON

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The Proof is in the Progeny Lucien's first cria have just become old enough to enter the show ring.

His Daughter's claimed 1st, 2nd and 3rd Junior White Females at The Northumberland Show as well as Junior Champion and Reserve Colour Champion.

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After years of searching through the world's finest herd sires, Herts Alpacas are delighted to offer the genetics of a very special son of EPC Top Account; LUCIEN. Lucien's sire, Top Account already has 6 supreme champions, 17 champions, 10 Reserve champions, 28 1st places and 20 2nd places (not including 2011 show results).Lucien boasts some of the world's finest genetics including Purrumbete Highlander, Inti, Sweet Freedom, Ledger's Dream, Jolimont Commisario and Benleigh Bellisimo.

Lucien’s first fleece had a micron of just 15.3 at 11 months and, like his sire he exhibits incredible brightness and a high frequency crimp from skin to tip.

He has a lovely handle throughout his fleece due in part to the absence of medullated fibres and show judges have all appreciated his density for an alpaca as fine as him.

1st fleece: 15.31u, SD:3.37, CV:22.0, 0.3%> 30u (11 months) 2nd fleece: 18.2u, SD: 4.1, CV:22.5, 0.9% > 30u (24 months) 3rd fleece: 18.34u, SD: 4.18, CV:22.8, 1.0%> 30u (35 months-May 2010) LUCIENʼS SHOW RESULTS The British Alpaca Society National Show 2009 Lucien was 1st Intermediate White Male and went on to beat a further 28 other Intermediate white males to secure Reserve Intermediate Male Champion.Northumberland County Show 2009 1st Intermediate White Male, Intermediate Male Champion, Supreme Show Champion and Best White In Show.

Jointly owned with Fowberry Alpacas - standing at Herts Alpacas until 2013

FEMALES NOW FOR SALE MATED TO LUCIEN

Herts Alpacas

www.hertsalpacas.co.uk SUMMER 2011

Fairview Farm, Wyddial Road, Buntingford, Hertfordshire SG9 9BS

Tel: 01763 271301 • Mob: 07802 433155

ALPACA WORLD MAGAZINE 39

Feature The AGEing Process

SPECIAL FEATURE BRITISH ALPACA FUTURITY

Most data submitted to date have "With every data submission, concentrated on fleece and fibre traits, but the figures and the indices Championship Winning data are beginning to appear for body weight, Championship Winning Pedigree Alpaca Herd testicular size, and SRS(r) skin traits. Those Pedigree Alpaca Herd are getting more and more studs that have become involved early will accurate. The scheme is set be the first to receive their data, and will & International International Championship Winning Studs therefore be first to benefit from a marketingNational &National to take off over the next 12 point of view, as well as making earlier Championship Winning Studs months, with a simplified progress in their breeding program. The Companion / Pet Alpacas for sale enrolment process, and ABVs rate of genetic improvement will naturally be Companion / Pet Alpacas Darsham, Suffolk Melford, Suffolk higher inLong those studs which submit annual and BOVs beginning to appear ‘Most Successful Breeder figures, and use theSmall derived data2010’ for the Husbandry Packages & Advice in advertisements for both sires selection of both donors for embryo transfer, Husbandry Packages & Advice and sires suited to their breeding objective. and animals for sale."

The AGE is one arm of the Holy Trinity which presently drives scientific breeding in 01728 668446 • www.melfordgreenalpacas.co.uk Australia, the other two being the SRS(r) About the Author Breeding System, and Artificial Reproductive Most Successful Small Breeder 2010 Technology. All three are linked. Decisions Ian Davison is practising orthopaedic surgeon living in Cambewarra, 01787Dr 374142 • awww.melfordgreenalpacas.co.uk made in one arm will drive those made in the Australia, 160 kms south of Sydney, where he and his wife, Harriet, established other two, and all three will drive the insistence Illawarra Alpacas in 1992. Their herd, now numbering over 500 alpacas, has on measured genetic improvement. Ultimately, featured prominently in major shows and promotions since their first supreme as in many other livestock industries, alpacas will be sold, purchased and offered for service exclusively on the basis of ABVs. The future is exciting. What took 200 years in the Merino industry may realistically be achieved in 20 years in the alpaca. And the work of Jane Wheeler and Jim Watts suggests that the alpaca is far from reaching its full genetic potential. For those serious about genetic improvement, there can be no way forward without the help of science.

For once, it's great to feel AGE'd.

50

Alpaca World Magazine Summer 2007

40 ALPACA WORLD MAGAZINE

championship in 1997. Dr. Davison has written widely on alpacas, and was a founding director of the Australian Alpaca Fibre Marketing Organisation, and a member of the Working Party for the design and implementation of the Across-herd Genetic Evaluation program for the Australian Alpaca Association.

He is a foundation shareholder in the Australian Alpaca Fleece Limited and SRS(r) Alpacas International, and currently serves as President on the National Committee of the Australian Alpaca Association.

This article is © Dr Ian Davison, and cannot be reproduced in any format or media without the author’s prior permission. Correspondence to ian@illawarraalpacas.com

SUMMER 2011

JOIN US FOR OUR FIRST OPEN DAY AND SALES EVENT

We invite you to join us on Bank Holiday Monday 29 August 2011 for a great Alpaca experience AT HOUGHTON HALL ALPACAS 10.00 am until 4.00 pm We are a premium, independent farm, with bespoke facilities, breeding high quality alpacas. We have consistently excellent show successes and are now offering a small selection of our exceptional stock for sale.

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Also…

Craft demonstrations using alpaca eece – follow the Field to Fashion concept from shearing and spinning to the nished garment featuring Purl Alpaca Designs.

Learn tips from the expert and renowned judge Tim Hey, with over 16 years experience in breeding alpacas he can offer you the very latest in alpaca breeding, advice and alpaca selection.

For a personal appointment, please contact Mick or Liz on Email: Houghton-alpacas@btconnect.com or call 01480 461510 • www.houghtonhallalpacas.co.uk Houghton Hall, St Ives Road (Mere Way), Houghton, Cambridgeshire PE28 2BL (No dogs allowed except guide dogs) SUMMER 2011 ALPACA WORLD MAGAZINE 41

FEATURE CASA CHAPI

Happy Chapi Two of the Children Cottages – May 8, 2011

“Llaqtakunaq atipayninwan, teqrimuyuta kuyuchisunchis.

Con el poder de los pueblo’s moveremos el mundo.

When the villages work together, we will turn this world around.”

A Quechua proverb

By Mike Safley

42 ALPACA WORLD MAGAZINE

CASA CHAPI IS RISING on a terraced Andean hillside in the Colca valley like a giant Condor soaring from its rocky nest on the nearby canyon walls. Alejandro Tejeda, Quechua Benefit’s project manager, is leading our team of ten labourers from nearby Chivay who are laying brick, slinging stucco and crafting rock into cottages, a community health centre, a kitchen dining room and a bibliotheca. One mile of water line is complete along with 11 retaining walls, the garage and the shop. There is four hundred and two feet of 10 foot high brick and rock security fence joined at the Incan style front gate. A central spire of black rock stairs forms the spine of the children’s village. Next the soccer field, gardens, and plaza will be built not far from the greenhouses. The first phase of the complex will be finished by November 2011.

The completion of construction is really just

the beginning of the project. The progress has not been without bumps in the road, detours and frustrating adjustments. If anyone tells you that building a large complex in a remote area of a foreign country is easy I would caution that a small slice of scepticism should be added to your mental file on the information. And rest assured that the Quechua Benefit Board of Directors also realizes that operating the village will not be problem free. There is much to learn and hopefully many friends from whom we will learn it.

The complex has changed as Quechua Benefit’s seven member board focused on its future. Ursula Munro spoke with other children’s home operators and women’s rights advocates working for the Peruvian health agency. They focused on the subject of family violence and alcohol abuse by the potential

SUMMER 2011

FEATURE CASA CHAPI

Alejandro Tejeda in front of Central Stairway

resident’s families. A recent tour of the Milton Hershey School, which was founded in 1906 and is home to 1700 disadvantaged kids, was arranged by our newest board member, Monica Kline. The board learned that a maximum of 12 children should form the family units that inhabit the cottages.

This provides the optimum opportunity for a nurturing atmosphere. Each cottage will be supervised by two house parents who play an important role in guiding and supporting the children living in the cottage. This is the same model used by the Milton Hershey School.

The results of these investigations required a redesign of the four dormitories into eight family style cottages.

The board recently appointed Ursula to be the director in charge of managing Casa Chapi. Her experience as a Registered Nurse and programme manager will come in handy as she begins assembling job descriptions, conducting interviews, hiring staff and qualifying the children who will live at the facility. Sandra Carbajal, Quechua Benefits executive secretary, in the Arequipa office, is working with Ursula on this task. During The Author crawling up the scaffolding inside a cottage

SUMMER 2011

the planning stages the Quechua Benefit board always referred to the complex as an orphanage. This implies that each resident will be parentless. This is not exactly the case. There will be three categories of children living in the village: 1) children of alpaca breeders whose families live in areas so remote it prohibits them from attending school 2) children who are from families or single mothers who lack the resources and support to provide adequate care in a safe environment and 3) children who do not have a living parent.

TAKING RESPONSIBILITY As the village begins to function and the children take residence the Quechua Benefit BOD realizes that we have the same primary responsibilities as biological parents. First and foremost we must see to it that the children are safe. Then they must be well nourished, become educated and learn the life lessons that will better prepare them for the future.

Each one of you who have supported this project is in effect a godparent for the children living there. This is a weighty responsibility

and we need each of you to continue supporting the endeavour.

In addition to the social aspects of the project Quechua Benefit is required by Peruvian law to obtain a permit for the facility. The authorities will have inspection and audit rights over the operations. The community surrounding Casa Chapi must be engaged and it is the obligation of the projects management to inspire confidence in the local pastors and community workers.

Many of the residents will need remedial tutoring and some, the native Quechua speakers, will need to learn Spanish in order to succeed at school. We also plan to have vocational classes at the complex’s shop and garage buildings. We will build green houses and create small animal husbandry projects to raise rabbits, chickens and cuy for the dinning room table. There will be no shortage of chores for the kids as Casa Chapi aspires to become self-sufficient.

I remember back when Quechua Benefit was first conceived by a request from Don Julio Barreda for help in his village of Macusani.

He told me the Bible said that it was the obligation of the more fortunate among us to take care of society’s orphans. For many years he supplied alpaca meat to the Musqa Runa house where 30 young girls lived; all of them separated from their families. I recently came across the following quote in the book of James (ASV) chapter one: “27Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress..,” I think this is the verse that Don Julio had in mind.

Thanks to each of you the dream that gave rise to the children’s village we call Casa Chapi is rapidly becoming reality. Much hard work is in front of us and each of you is vital to our success. We welcome your help, donations and expertise please visit our website www. quechuabenefit.org, or our office in Arequipa Peru: Calle Santa Catalina 115 Oficina No. 10, 3er Piso Cercado, Arequipa, Peru or call or email one of our board members. l The Casa Chapi team at the November 2010 dedication

ALPACA WORLD MAGAZINE 43

. . . y l b proba

T H E L A R G E S T AC C OYO A L PAC A H E R D I N E U R O P E Kilnwood Alpacas are delighted to announce the acquisition of the Cambridge Cajamarca of Blenheim

Blenheim female Accoyo herd in a deal that also includes the champion stud male - Cajamarca.

Caligula’s Accoyo Galaxy of Kilnwood

This concentration of Accoyo alpacas means that Kilnwood will now be able to offer genetics from three of the most famous of Barreda’s legendary stud males - Shere Khan, Caligula and Ruffo.

Shanbrooke Accoyo Shere Impact of Kilnwood

In addition to our stable of prize winning stud males, Kilnwood always has for sale - pregnant females (some with cria at foot), young stock including potential stud males and geldings suitable as pets or flock guardians.

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ALPACA WORLD MAGAZINE 45

Robby Williams

HEALTH & WELFARE CAMELIDYNAMICS

how to do it on your own I came to Camelidynamics in 2002 because I wanted to find a way of handling my animals without having to resort to ‘forceful persuasion.’ I also needed to do things to alpacas on my own and wanted to find some techniques and skills to help me with this. I was reminded of this recently whilst teaching in France, where I met Clara, a French alpaca shearer, who had recently sheared some llamas with the help of 17 firefighters! She had come on my course to get some pointers on working with animals in a calmer, quieter way with less stress for animal, owner and shearer (and firefighters).

Julie Taylor-Browne Camelidynamics Instructor Camelidynamics Instructor

46 ALPACA WORLD MAGAZINE

I THINK IT IS OFTEN EASIER to manage your alpacas and llamas on your own as the 'help' we enlist (spouses and partners, next door neighbours, interested friends and the kids) don't always make it easier and sometimes they make it harder. For example, if my helpers are not aware that Katya, one of my llamas, thinks it is the best game ever trying to evade our herding techniques and they aren't prepared for her to make a cunning break (or two) for freedom, with her best friend Lucy hot on her heels, the two of them will get away and then the rest of the alpaca herd will suddenly feel that they can't possibly go in without her and the job takes at least twice as long as it ought to. A regular helper of mine likes to wave his arms up and down whilst herding when there is no need to, this makes the herd move faster and behave more suspiciously than if we just moved towards them slowly and calmly with our herding tape at their chest height.

Similarly, when working with animals in their pens I may end up with a ‘helper’ who is unaware that their body position is really important to the animal. If they stand in front of the alpaca, position themselves too close to the head or wave their hands around at the animal's eye level I will have an animal that will move to find a safer position. I will need to train my helper as to where and how to stand in the pen in a way which generates as

little movement as possible from the alpaca.

As a consequence, if I am going to have a helper around for a while (we were Wwoof* hosts for a number of years), I will teach them how to work with my herd, but if they are not going to be around for very long I often find it simpler, quicker and less stressful for all concerned to do the job myself. So far I haven't found anything I can't do on my own, apart from castrating and shearing.

Camelidynamics teaches that an alpaca will stay calm and quiet if you remember four rules which were developed in response to their nature as prey animals.

• C ontainment not restraint - work in a small area rather than grab and hold them.

• E scape Route - let them see an escape route, working in pens is ideal.

• C ompany - even if you are only working one animal, have others around it.

• B alance - make every effort to keep them in balance, this will keep them calm.

By setting up my facilities with these four principles in mind and consistently using the handling skills I have learnt, my herd have got easier and easier to handle on my own.

EVERYDAY HUSBANDRY Feeding my camelids in the pens every day means that I can always get them in to the pens at feeding time and this enables me to

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carry out regular jobs which involve a few animals. Two to three alpacas (or one llama!) will go into each pen and if I need to do anything with them, I close the pen whilst they are in there and wait until they have finished eating to do whatever job I have earmarked for that day. I also close the pens on either side of the chosen animal so that they feel part of a herd and not isolated. As a prey animal, the alpaca is always going to feel safer in company than alone, and if the others leave, having finished their breakfast, they will panic and try to jump out of the pens. My pens are set up more or less permanently in the field although when I rotate pastures, I put the hurdles into the trailer and they move to the new field with us.

I use this arrangement, for example, for: • working with babies to get them used to being handled.

• emergency rather than routine toenail trimming • a non-routine injection, e.g. for a dental abscess • picking off embedded brambles • t raining alpacas • trimming fringes • mating and spitting off recently mated alpacas.

Most of my pens are made of sheep hurdles which are only 5ft long by 3ft 6in high, but I also have some of the larger (and taller) purpose made alpaca panels. Because I don't grab or wrestle with my camelids they don’t jump out. My small pen size doesn’t give the alpacas much room to move around, particularly when I am in it as well, making it easy for me to inject them. We also teach how to catch and hold camelids without restraining or panicking them on Camelidynamics courses.

RESTRAINT FREE INJECTING Over the years I have had one or two animals that are difficult to inject or to toenail trim.

To overcome this, I have used a spare panel to make a 'mini' pen within the catch pen, and from here it is easy for me to inject or toenail trim on the ground (i.e. I don't lift the leg).



Easy toenail trimming, this 100kg male alpaca would rear and struggle if you tried to hold him still for toenail trimming. In this arrangement of pens he was perfectly content.

Animals handled in this way are usually well behaved in their mini-pen because it isn't the injecting or the toenail trimming which they are afraid of - it is the restraint. So standing in balance in their mini-pen (with the option to eat as an additional bonus) can turn a very difficult

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animal into a much easier one to handle.

Snoopy the llama, shown here, is injection-ophobic, but is much calmer in this set up.

HERDING YOUR ALPACAS ON YOUR OWN If I am going to do something to the whole herd or at least to most of them, I am going to bring them all into my barn where it is easy for me to run them through my very grandly named Alpaca Handling Facility (AHF). I never recommend using field shelters for handling tasks, for a number of reasons; • they are too dark • t hey have too few escape routes • they are too big and the animals can move around too much • alpacas shouldn’t become reluctant to go into their field shelters.

My first job, therefore is to get them to go into the barn. It would be nice to believe that one would be able to just tempt them in there with a bucket of food, but once you have sheared them in there - they are going to be forever suspicious of this area and your motives. So I herd them in there. I learned recently that effective handlers need to emulate the stalking behaviour of predators.

Temple Grandin describes the effective herding of cattle: The "stalking" behavior simulated by the person is similar to the behavior of a predator such as a lion or a wolf. First, the predator locates the herd. Then it begins a slow survey of the herd by walking in a circular direction around the herd looking for weak or old animals. The behavior of the predator circling the herd causes anxiety in the animals.

The cattle become uneasy over an impending attack by the predator and begin to loosely bunch together. This is an instinctual HARD WIRED behavior that is wired into the animal's brain. This uneasiness and slight anxiety comes before the fear and flight elicited by an actual attack. It is important to remember before attempting to use these methods that it is anxiety that makes this technique work and not fear. When the method is first used it triggers instinctual bunching behavior.

The more a person works with the cattle, the calmer they become and instinctual bunching behavior is gradually replaced with calm learned behavior.

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HEALTH & WELFARE CAMELIDYNAMICS

Effective handlers need to emulate the stalking behaviour of predators. have got them into this, makes herding very easy. You can use two 'wands' to make sure that no-one decides to turn back to the field.

Herding on one's own is a bit of an art. It certainly helps if the herd have been herded a few times with two people either end of a long, very visible rope or tape which trains them to move forward whenever they see the tape. However, if you don't have the luxury of another person in the initial stages you are still able to train them to herd simply by not giving them any options of where to go except in the direction you want them to. This can be done by dividing the pasture into smaller areas, either with permanent fencing (known as a ‘fence that goes nowhere’) or temporary fences. To make temporary fencing, I use plastic posts that hold electric tape for horses with two strands of tape or rope. If you use just one strand, your animals may just pop underneath....

Having an area narrow enough for you to herd is one important factor for success, the other factor is the height of the tape. Both ends of the tape or rope (one end is attached to a non moving object, the other is held by you) should be at the height of the herd's chests. Never think that you only need to

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take a proportion of the herd - you need to take all the animals in the field. You can’t just take most of them and assume the others will follow - if one or two escape, the rest will try their utmost to join them. Move slowly towards them allowing them to bunch up and move away from you. If they look as if they are going to challenge your tape, wait until they look as if they are going to make a run at it and then move the hand holding the tape up and down to create a rippling effect in the tape. Once they change their minds about challenging the tape - stop rippling.

As you walk towards your animals holding one end of your herding tape, unless you have a very long tape or are working in a very small area you will need to move the tape forwards and re-attach it. This is why it is important to keep your animals calm and moving slowly.

If they are, you will have time to unhook and reattach your line.

Managing a herd of animals on one’s own usually involves the concept of funnelling them from a wider space into a narrower. Many people have a lane or runway, which once they

WORKING IN HANDLING FACILITIES After I had had my alpacas for about three years I started to feel the need for something more purpose built for handling than just my outside pens. In particular, because of my increasing work as a trainer I was dealing with a lot of recalcitrant (the literal translation of this is to kick out) camelids and I needed larger, taller and more substantial pens. So we converted a cattle shed and it has worked very well. It has eight separate pens, but the partitions can be taken down to make larger pens, which I have used for mummies and vulnerable alpaca babies, shearing, ill alpacas and holding pens for husbandry tasks.

Alpacas may be reluctant to go into your barn, although if you can design it so that your barn has an escape route at the other end (e.g. a gate) the alpacas will be happy to move through the barn towards the escape route.

As mine does not, I placed a large acrylic mirror at the opposite end to the entrance and discovered to my great delight that alpacas are really vain and love to look at themselves, so they move forward through the barn to get close to the mirror.

Because we humans are descended from monkeys, we have inherited the unfortunate simian habits of waving our arms around, chattering, apparently uncontrollably, and grabbing things. All these habits are very confusing to camelids who do none of these things. So gesticulations, 'Go that way', verbal commands, 'Left! Go left!' and attempts at steering them, 'Git in there', are unpleasant, alarming and simply incomprehensible for them, whereas a couple of white sticks make it so obvious for them you can almost hear your alpacas sigh with relief, 'Oh, they want us to go that way', and they magically start to 'behave'.

So once I have got them into the barn, I need to put them into the smaller working and handling areas and I use my wands to direct the traffic, e.g. this alpaca can go forward and this one needs to stay back.

For example if I want all mummies and babies in one pen I will use my wands for this task.

Using wands is so much better than using one's hands to either push from behind (which often sets off the kick reflex) or the grab around the

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HEALTH & WELFARE CAMELIDYNAMICS

Gesticulations and verbal commands are unpleasant, alarming and simply incomprehensible for them. A couple of white sticks make it so obvious for them you can almost hear your alpacas sigh with relief, 'Oh, they want us to go that way', and they magically start to 'behave'. neck in an attempt to point the front end in the direction in which you want them to move.

Grabbing animals simply makes them more nervous and more efficient at evading you, particularly as you have demonstrated to them that their necks are stronger than your arms. I regularly get requests for new wands because the alpaca owner has lost one and 'can't manage without them'.

My small pen system worked well enough until I bought weighing scales and started to regularly drench the animals when I decided I needed a permanent ‘mini-pen’ for this purpose, and a system that didn’t need to have two people to work the animals through it.

I had set up a slightly Heath Robinson-esque arrangement using hurdles and cable ties, it wasn't great but it worked well enough.

Now I have replaced this contraption with the Easy Pen** and it works very well for me, my alpacas and my llamas. However, in my experience I have found that you have to use this or any other similar arrangement in conjunction with the alpacas' natural instinct which is to be part of the herd. Therefore I split the herd so that a number of them go into the half of the facility with the mini or Easy pen in it and another part of the herd go into the large pen immediately in front of it. I put hay nets in each double size pen and into the central area. The unwritten rule of alpaca gastronomy is that hay out of a net tastes much better than identical hay in the field in a feeder so everyone is happy. The first alpaca goes into the easy pen - looking directly at the rest of the herd in front of her, and is thus surrounded on three sides by alpacas.

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She is let out after whatever procedure she needs and she then hangs out in the central area (eating the delicious hay...). The next alpaca in the pen will have alpacas on all four sides. This keeps them remarkably calm. In contrast, however the other day I was showing someone how the Easy Pen works. I had a very calm, well trained suri on a head collar and a lead and I led her over and put her in the pen to demonstrate it. She had been through the pen certainly a dozen times in her life, probably more, but this time she panicked and tried to get under the sides - to get back to the others who were on the other side of the barn.

Once in the barn and running the alpacas though my set up, I can weigh them, drench them, spray them with frontline if necessary, inject and toenail trim. When I had less than ten animals I taught them all to lift their feet up for me to trim their feet. Now I don't bother because it is so easy for me to trim their toenails on the ground. If they are on the weighing scales,I use the Salter PS1000 scales, then there is a clear view of the toenail and I trim with my nippers almost parallel to the ground.

Once I have finished with each animal it is let into the central area, where they wait for their companions. I don't let any out until it is really crowded there, as this upsets the remaining ones. I prefer to have someone to put an animal in the Bracelet, a very useful Camelidynamics technique, for me to do the microchipping and ear-tagging, as they have the option of doing TTouch to calm the animal, but if I really needed to, I could do it by myself in this configuration.

You don't need to have as many pens as I do. Instead, you could as one of my clients with 90 alpacas does, have a small 'marshaling yard' with three pens set up in it. She herds her animals into this smaller area, then uses her herding wands to separate out the one(s) she wants and puts them in the pen with company either side. Alternatively you could just have one pen and have the others milling around this pen on as many sides and as close as possible. Another client with 60 llamas has two nice pens made from wooden gates in her marshaling yard, and within one of these is an Easy Pen which can be tied flat to the sides when not in use. We recently ran five or six animals through it for the first time, all remained calm as they were surrounded by their herd, whilst being in the Easy Pen. I hope I have shown you some pointers on how to work with your herd on your own in order to have calm, easily managed camelids.

If you would like to find out more about Camelidynamics equipment, courses and training please have a look at my website: www.carthveanalpacas.com or e-mail me on taylor.browne@clara.net. We are currently looking for hosts for workshops in 2012. Marty McGee Bennett, the founder of Camelidynamics, will be teaching an Advanced Clinic in England in September. Details are on my website. l References: Wwoof* Worldwide Opportunities on Organic Farms: www.wwoof.org.uk Grandin, T. www.grandin.com/b.williams.html Easy Pen**: www.marshwood-alpacas.co.uk

ALPACA WORLD MAGAZINE 49

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SUMMER 2011

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SUMMER 2011

ALPACA WORLD MAGAZINE 51

SPECIAL FEATURE WHO DO YOU THINK THEY ARE?

who do you think they are?

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SPECIAL FEATURE WHO DO YOU THINK THEY ARE?

First love.

Above: Gillian is third from the left Right: at the Sydney Royal Show

In this issue ‘Who do you think they are’ goes to Europe and explores the life of Gillian Howard Evieux, a well known alpaca breeder in France. Her farm, near St Chamond, has fantastic views and on a good day you can see Mont Blanc in the far distance.

But, as she tells us here, her love of alpacas was preceded by “an ingrained need to sing”. Play on!

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I HAVE THOROUGHLY ENJOYED reading the "Who do you think they are?" series in the past AlpacaWorld issues, and when I was asked to write one, myself, I initially thought ’wow, what a lark!’ However, sitting down to write about myself, I actually find the experience extremely daunting. I have been thinking about it for the last two months and the words of a famous French poet keeps coming to mind – Paul Verlaine, sitting in prison for having tried to shoot his lover, writes “Dis, qu’as-tu fait, toi que viola, de ta jeunesse?” which loosely translated says “Tell me, you there, what have you done with your youth?” Well, I’ve not been in prison yet, but this keyboard that I’m chained to is starting to feel like one …. So here goes.

FLAT PACK I was born in Australia and brought up on a rice farm. It was the period after the Second World War when the government was setting up schemes for the returned soldiers and when I was four my family moved on to an 800 acre block – no fences, no house, no water, no telephone and only a generator for electricity. There were days when all the friends and relations came and set about fencing the perimeter, we lived in a caravan and watched our new house rise in front of our eyes and we saw first the bulldozers arriving to dig channels right through the centre of the farm and then we saw the water arrive, rushing through and on further into the desert. Our farm was on the east side of Australia, but far west of Sydney, on the flat plains that slowly merged into the central desert. The field that my father called the ‘hill paddock’ was so called because it was 20 inches higher than the rest of the land. We had 20 miles of dirt (clay) roads to get to the nearest town and when it rained, that clay was mean! We often set off to go to town, nothing would stop us getting to Church on a Sunday, with Mum and the kids in the car and Dad on the tractor, and when we got to the nasty bits, clay pans to bog down the car or streams

which had become 200 yard sheets of water, then Dad would hitch the car behind the tractor and pull us through to the other side, and thus, on to town.

Our farm had sheep and cattle, oats and wheat as well as the rice fields. Mother had a horse and at four years old I had my first fall, when Mum was leading me past the shed, out rushes a pig, sideways goes the horse and I fall on my head! Maybe that explains all that followed. Anyway, after that, my parents thought it would be a good idea for me to have my own pony and learn to ride properly.

So Toby arrived, complete with bridle but no saddle. Dad says, “When you can stay on bareback and ride properly, then we’ll buy you a saddle”. It was a good way to learn because since then, it’s the rare animal that has ever unseated me. We, one of my brothers and I, went to pony club to learn the ‘proper’ way of riding, and soon we were setting off to Horse Shows around the area. I had my first first-prize ribbon before I was five and I had the ‘showing’ virus from then on. On the one hand, living on a farm ‘outback’ and having two older brothers to deal with (Dad says “Stand up for yourself …”) certainly toughened me up but on the other hand, being the only girl in the family, I benefitted from my mother’s pleasure in making lovely clothes and I can still remember some of the little dresses that she made for me. And I have her to thank for a lasting love of beautiful clothes. She also bought me a beautiful doll with a whole wardrobe full of clothes, but I much preferred being out with the horses or the poddy lambs.

At one time we had a poddy pig, the runt of the litter, that lived in the kitchen and wore a tartan coat and another time we had a little ‘joey’ – a baby kangaroo that my father had found abandoned – that slept in a bag hung up in the kitchen. Great times for a child! This story might have stopped here, as one day my mother walked out of the kitchen and saw me bending down to pick up a ‘stick’ which suddenly lifted up its head and hissed then slid away as Mum rushed at it with the broom,

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SPECIAL FEATURE WHO DO YOU THINK THEY ARE?

Gillian aged 19

There was no TV in those days, and every time someone sat down at the piano, we would all stand around and sing our way through the book Adelaide today – green (and blue!)

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music, as I didn’t really know any other sort of the Australian brown snake is mortal. music. My mother had wanted me to learn the My first school was a one-teacher affair with piano but I “just wanted to sing”. In later years I 21 pupils; I was the youngest and my elder would bitterly regret my lack of musical theory brother, who was in his final primary year, and the ability to play the piano, but I was a often took over my training while the teacher stubborn little thing back then. When I reached worked with the other pupils. There were 16 years of age, my mother agreed for me to only enough boys to make one football team, have singing lessons; it not being wise for a girl so the girls were roped in to be the ‘training’ to start training her voice before she’s mature. team, and this was well before girls started So, I started having real singing lessons which I playing football officially. loved and when I was 18 I was asked to sing in My parents eventually left the farm as the the local Musical Comedy Society and extremes of desert temperature were found myself playing the role of Julie, proving harmful to my mother’s a 40’ish singer, in Showboat, while health. So I found myself living the role of the young 18 yearr old in a town in the mid-west of Magnolia was sung by a local 40’ish New South Wales and attending a singer. It was a bit weird, but it was a school with several hundred pupils fantastic experience for a young girl – terrifying. Luckily, we had kept to sing such a ‘meaty’ role on a real the horses and we were in an area stage with real stage work, chorus where there were many more small and orchestra. towns, meaning a lot more shows It was not long after this that one to attend, so most of my out-ofof my brothers moved to Canberra, school time was spent training my the national capital of Australia, horse or myself or preparing the and I decided to move there and tack for the next weekend show. see what living in the big city was Around about this time, I discovered all about. I got a job with a big ballet; some of the girls at school car rental firm and one of my first were taking classes, so I decided customers was a local violinist, that I really wanted to do that. My who, after we had got talking, mother gave me the choice, ballet You shall go to the ball was able to give me the name of with all its tutus etc or horses a local singing teacher and I was and the expense of going off each soon working on my voice again, then the weekend to shows, but we couldn’t afford to teacher suggested that I join the local amateur do both. I chose horses and didn’t regret it, Opera Society, which I did, having never seen as I kept growing upwards and everyone told nor heard an opera before. Luckily they were me that I would have been far too lanky to do ballet. Martha Graham was still some time and working on a Handel piece that was written in English, which made things decidedly easier another continent away. for me. I joined the chorus, which was mostly university students – a ‘type’ of young person SONG SUNG, BLUE that I had never really frequented before, Running parallel with my love of horses was coming from my small country town – and an ingrained need to sing. I sang all the time learned all about going down to the lake after and all sorts of music. Even at the age of rehearsals for some midnight skinny dipping, four I loved to stand in front of the radio and etc. We all got together to make the props wave my arms about, ‘conducting’ whatever or costumes that were needed for the stage; was being played. I did my first solo at the a group of ‘amateurs’ in the best sense of the school concert when I was five and after that word. Horses had necessarily dropped off as it it was Sunday school anniversaries, fêtes and is hard to keep up that level of sport when you whatever was offering. Our life in the Church are living in a big city and no longer have the was a vital part of the awakening of my love support of the parents behind you. I of music, as most of our religious or social still went riding with friends from meetings revolved around the making time to time, but I now had of music , there was no TV in those to earn a living, secretarial days, and every time someone work, sales woman, sat down at the piano, we would Blonde chauffeur in the Public all stand around and sing our period...

Service – a bit of everything way through the book. ...purple & really, and was putting As I got into my teens, ginger period... most of my spare time into the Peter, Paul and singing. I had decided I wanted Mary era, I would get to be a ‘real singer’ and I together with a friend had a lot of catching up to on his or her guitar do; learning languages, and we would shoot Italian, French, German off to the various Youth – phonetically, but not Rallies in different towns yet to speak, getting and do a couple of numbers. ...hat period some basic music theory, Up until this point it had all been religious

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SPECIAL FEATURE WHO DO YOU THINK THEY ARE?

The latest model?

at last, and delving into a whole new culture, who’s Bach? Wolfgang who? What’s a ‘lied’? of which I knew absolutely nothing. A visiting soloist advised me to move on and gave me the address of an excellent teacher in Adelaide, so I packed up all my earthly goods into my little Corolla and headed off across the desert to beautiful Adelaide.

Adelaide as a city is a bit like an elegant elderly lady, very trim and green, sitting peacefully astride a lovely river and running right down to and along the coastline. At that time, it was also one of the most culturally alive cities in Australia and it was a real buzz to be there in the thick of things. I was accepted by the teacher whom I had gone to see, and was even offered a three year Scholarship to study part-time at the Adelaide University where he was teaching, so I was able to sit in on all the classes. Fantastic! Five great years there, right in the middle of things, culminating in two separate contracts with the South Australian Opera Company to take a children’s opera on tour around the State.

In the first opera I was a Dolphin and in the second, I was the ‘Ring-mistress’ of a circus, whip and all! What fun; we travelled around, two shows a day in different schools, often 60 to 100 km apart, five days a week. We went where kids had never even seen a TV, let alone heard live singers or opera, we went up to Alice Springs and Darwin, and on to an aboriginal reserve where white people have to obtain special permission to enter. We went swimming in a small lake where aboriginals were spear-fishing from a canoe and were

We went swimming in a lake and were followed by a crocodile – our pianist told us when we got out as she didn’t want us to panic while we were swimming followed across the lake by a crocodile – our pianist, waiting on the beach, told us that when we got out of the water as she didn’t want us to panic while we were swimming.

BUT SERIOUSLY...

At the end of this second period of touring I met a visiting conductor who told me I really should move on; “no one will take you seriously if you haven’t been to Europe” … So, I took a second job for 6 months, waitressing, and then sold my little house, packed up all my belongings in my Holden and headed back to Canberra where I dumped everything in my parents garage and gave them custody of Maggie, my little Shih Tzu. I took two suitcases and headed for London.

I had actually been ‘hooked up’ with a motor bike racer in Adelaide and we had decided to move to England together; he went several months earlier than me to get settled in and find a flat while I finished up my work, so when I eventually set off, it was in very high spirits and very optimistic. In those few months, my man had found a sponsor for his racing career, which was really great; however, what he didn’t tell me until he picked me up from Heathrow was that the sponsor had a daughter and he hadn’t, in fact, found a flat for us, as there was no ‘us’ any more. Sooo, I took my two suitcases and went and found me a youth hostel and so commenced six years of vagabonding around London, living in the student ex-pat scene. The hostel had lots of music students from all over the Commonwealth so was a good place to pick

Onstage

Backstage

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In the Alps

up bits of information about who was doing what, and where. I took my time about finding the ‘right’ teacher for me and when I found him I stuck with him for the whole time I was there. After some time taking private classes in voice, theory and languages I auditioned at the Guildhall School of Music and was accepted on to the Post Graduate Performance course which specialised in recital and oratorio work. Thus began my first real experience of intensive musical study and I loved it. Up until then, I had been working all over the city, doing temping, waitressing, you name it, to stay alive and pay for my lessons. I did a lot of promotional work launching new products in supermarkets all over the south of England, so if you ever tried your first Findus pizza or the latest margarine at the hands of a chatty Australian, it might have been me. When I started at the Guildhall it was obvious that I couldn’t be rushing all over the city and work properly at the School, so the School’s Director offered me a part-time secretarial job in the office of the School and that gave me a much more settled existence for a time.

The best part-time job I had at that time was being the dishwasher for the Royal Box at the Covent Garden Opera House. Situated just behind the Stalls, I could hear what was happening on stage through the walls, and when the introduction for the big arias started up I dropped my dishcloth and dashed up the stairs to stand, rubber gloves dripping, behind the paying guests and let the music roll! I was privileged to see most of the greatest singers of the world in some of the best operas ever written; a thoroughly enriching experience and well worth doing a bit of washing up for.

OPERA SAUVAGE During all this, I had been taking Italian lessons and intensive German lessons with the intention of doing the German audition circuit. One day I saw a little notice asking for extra singers to join a chorus which was going to Lyon, France to participate in the Berlioz Festival there. Well, I had never been to France and hadn’t had a holiday for over six years, so why not?! We were working with the Lyon Opera and near the end of our three weeks there, we were invited to audition, as they were looking for new singers. The English conductor, John Elliot Gardiner had just signed on as Musical Director and the whole atmosphere was very upbeat, so I decided to audition; it would be good practice

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SPECIAL FEATURE WHO DO YOU THINK THEY ARE?

for my upcoming German auditions. I was very surprised when I was told that I was the only ‘auditionnee’ they were interested in, and they were very surprised when they realised, too late, that I was the only non-European in the choir. Big problems for the working visa … but they stuck to it and in January 1983 I became a professional singer, actually being paid to sing. That really surprised my father! (“They PAY you?”)

Lyon is a wonderful city to live in; smaller and therefore less impersonal than Paris, close to the Alps and close to the South, awash in Burgundy, Beaujolais and Côtes du Rhone wine.

The actual work was less wonderful. I quickly discovered the difference between working with passionate amateurs and working with blasé professionals,‘civil servants’ in fact, as they were all on the city payroll, who count the minutes of each rehearsal, refuse to move a chair as it's not their job and go on strike if they have to dance and sing at the same time!

It was also very hard as I hadn’t learned French, other than phonetically, and they had all decided ‘en bloc’ not to speak anything other than French to me. I learnt much later that several of them spoke good English. However, that was probably a good thing as it really forced me to dig in and learn quickly and I was soon able to communicate on a basic level.

It was also stimulating, as I met and worked with many international singers, conductors and stage directors, but I found that this was a world that is based on shifting sand; relations are made and then dissolve as people move on, change from country to country and forget the faces they have seen in passing. I became a little tired of being the puppet on someone else’s stage, and although we sometimes had some truly amazing costumes to wear, silks, velvets and satins, we were more often than not dressed in rags and hessian; there are a lot of ‘peasants’ in opera!

As I became disenchanted with the professional opera world I was being solicited by various people to give them vocal lessons and after about five years I left the Opera and started teaching. Being free of the Opera contract I was able to accept other work and started being invited to do solo work with orchestras and the bigger choirs. I love the oratorio repertoire and thoroughly enjoyed being back working with passionate amateurs again. I was also free to devote my time to chamber music and recital work, which I have always preferred to operatic arias.

NUMBER ONE FAN It was due to one of these recitals that I met the man who was to become my husband.

Yes, he was a ‘stage door Johnny’; Pierre had come to one of my recitals and had gone home and written a very beautiful letter telling me how much he had appreciated the concert. This was the first ‘fan’ letter I had ever received, and as he was the friend of a friend, we soon met and found that we had

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Pierre was a great cook and he won the hearts, and palates, of all my singing students when we held workshops at his house in the country many things in common; most importantly a love of music and literature. The friend-incommon had an Old Book shop and taught bookbinding classes in which I had enrolled and Pierre often popped in for coffee when classes were under way. As he was a Greek and Latin scholar I asked him to help me with the translation of some of my Latin texts that I was singing; and that was the start of a whole new life. Bookbinding had quickly become a passion for me; I had always loved making my own clothes, including most of my evening gowns for concert work, and bookbinding was an extension of this, enabling me to take an old book and bring it back to life and beauty with a whole range of beautiful marbled papers and soft, glowing leathers. Pierre helped me to learn about French literature and about the value of certain editions. Pierre was also a great cook and he won the hearts, and palates, of all my singing students when we held workshops at his house in the country, where we could sing and eat all weekend. I was doing more and more concert work and it was a real pleasure to share that with my Number One Fan; to have his support in the rehearsal periods and to know that he was sitting out there while I

was singing and that we would be able to discuss it on the way home was a totally new experience for me.

We got married in 1998 and as Pierre was getting close to retirement age we started thinking about “after”. I was longing to get back in touch with the animal world after living such a long time in big cities and Pierre was thinking about cooking, and so we decided to look for a place where we could do bed and breakfast and some catering and where there was also some land attached- I was thinking horses but after a quick trip to Australia and a visit to an alpaca farm I came back with my head full of those little cuddly creatures and quickly infected Pierre with the virus.

We were very lucky to find an old farm house and barn with the possibility to rent land close by. In 2001 we moved in and started building and renovating, with our first four girls in the field next door. By 2003 we had two holiday flats up and running and the barn had been transformed into a lovely home. In 2004 Pierre was diagnosed with cancer and after a long battle he left me in 2007. I’m tempted to say “Alone again, naturally” but it’s not quite true; I am a surrogate grandmother to the three lovely children of Pierre’s son, Damien, there is a continual stream of friends and I have almost 50 alpacas that depend on me for their daily hay. I don’t sing any more and only have a very few selected students, as the B & B’s and the ‘pacas keep me very busy.

Oh yes, I’ve started country line dancing – keeps the head and the legs fit! l At the 2010 British Alpaca Futurity

Wedding day

Delegates on a fibre course, Gillian far left

SUMMER 2011

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founded on experience The Alpaca Stud Bowford Farm, Goose Green, Thakeham, West Sussex, RH20 2LP, UK ALPACA WORLD MAGAZINE  57 www.alpacastuduk.com

ARTICLE CATEGORY MAIN HEADING

practical bio-security Double boundary fence and electric fence

Foot bath at the entrance to Amberley Farm

58 ALPACA WORLD MAGAZINE

As disease and disease prevention creeps up the list of priorities for all farmers throughout the world finding a practical and workable bio-security plan for your farm can be a challenge. Tim Hey at Inca Alpaca in West Dorset describes the simple steps he is taking to monitor and help protect his herd of alpacas from disease.

AS WE GREW OUR HERD and business Tracey and I realised that we needed to implement measures above what we already had in place to deal with the growing worldwide concern over bio security. We already had basic procedures in place such as isolating new alpacas to the farm and we always carried out post mortem examinations, but we knew that we owed it our clients and ourselves to do more.

In 2009 we set up an appointment with our local veterinarian, Mrs Katrine Bazeley from Synergy Farm Health, to carry out a detailed assessment of our farm working practices in relation to bio security. The main areas of interest were: • Activities carried out on and off farm, such as stock movements and shows • Breeding • Disease vectors • Disease monitoring The diseases that we felt posed the greatest

risks were: • Bovine Viral Diarrhoea (BVD) • Mites (Sarcoptic and Chorioptic mange) • Bovine Tuberculosis (bTB) • Worms resistant to anthelmintic drugs • Coccidiosis • Liver Fluke We knew that we could never totally remove the risk of disease entering our herd. There are risks in everything we do in farming and that is the way it has been for centuries and it is a given that there will always be a risk if you farm livestock.

The goal of the exercise was to look at the potential risk factors (risk assessment) for our herd and to come up with a practical and sensible set of working procedures that would ultimately minimise disease at Amberley Farm but would allow us to continue our business in a responsible manner.

The assessment and action report from Katrine Bazeley BVSC MRCVS went as follows:

SUMMER 2011

SPECIAL FEATURE PRACTICAL BIO-SECURITY

MINISING DISEASE RISKS AT AMBERLEY FARM Disease Risk Assessment Potential risks

Bovine T.B.

BVD

Mites/mange

Coccidia

Worms resistant to anthelmintic

Fluke

Bought-in animals carrying disease

+++

+++

+++

+ (E. Mac)

+++

++ but requires snail intermediate host

+/+

High risk early pregnant females +++ +++

+/+

-

- (if matings carried out on disinfected hard surface)

- (if matings carried out on disinfected hard surface)

Contact with infected animals: • Show • Drive by and mobile mating Other ruminants (sheep, cattle)

+++

++ + (cattle)

+/- (not certain whether there is transmission across species)

++

+++

++

Wildlife

+++ badger

+ deer

+ fox (?) see above

-

-

+/-

Visitors – boots, overalls, hands

+/- (spit)

+

-

-

-

-

Shearing equipment

-

+/-

++

-

-

-

Water course

+/-

-

-

-

-

+ (snail habitat)

Muck (from other farms spread on land)

+

+

-

-

+/-

-

+/+/+/-

+ + +

-

-

-

-

Vehicles/transport • Alpaca transport • Bulk feed • Frome Vale

Conclusion: close contact with other alpacas poses the highest threat, but there are other significant risks. We need to look at ways to carry out your business while keeping the risks to a minimum.

ACTIONS: 1. Identify current disease status of stock at Inca Alpaca: a) Test animals to identify their current disease status. The accuracy of available diagnostic tests for the different diseases is variable. b) Investigate clinical disease as it occurs, with sampling and diagnostic testing as appropriate. c) Post Mortem examination of any cull animals or animals that die. d) Accurate clinical records.

2. Stop disease vectors entering the property and coming into contact with the alpacas and their pasture. This has been successfully done using an electric fence completely surrounding the property.

3. Double-fence and lane-way to separate Inca Alpacas from neighbouring sheep and cattle 4. Only buy in stock if you have adequate quarantine/isolation facilities available.

5. Treat any alpacas that come on to your farm with: • Avermectin and levamisole wormer then rest in barn for at least 48 hours.

All faeces to be cleared and disposed of away from the farm. The barn then disinfected.

• Frontline spray after shearing.

• Quarantine for at least six months.

6. Males carrying out drive by and mobile matings should be kept away from the

SUMMER 2011

home herd. Use a separate male for spitting off the herd if possible.

7. Shows: a) Stop all nose-to-nose contact b) Overnight stay at show should remain in barn (not on pasture due to resistant worms) c) Return to isolation paddock after the show d) If they have grazed while away at a show, treat with anthelmintic wormers 14 days after return e) Don’t use common handling facilities 8. No knacker van on the property.

9. Disinfectant mat for vehicles coming into close contact with animal handling facilities, for example; feed delivery vans.

10. Foot-dip + disinfectant + brush.

11. Disposable over boots for visitors.

12. Tim to use different overalls and boots when visiting other herds.

13. Staff to use different boots and overalls when working at Amberley Farm.

the recommendations in the report that we were not already in situ. The electric fence was a great investment. With just £1100 and two days of my labour we had a system that was 100% effective at keeping badgers out.

The electric fence consists of a single high tensile wire that is 100mm off the ground and protrudes 200mm from the post. The wire is then connected to a mains energiser which sends out between 9000 and 10000 volts.

The theory behind the use of the single wire is that the badgers hit the wire before they start digging under the wire.

With the help of your vet you can set up a bio security plan of action that could result in seriously minimising the risks for your herd while offering you and your customer’s peace of mind. Many people believe that it is bad luck if your herd gets struck down by an infectious disease. I think that implementing a properly researched bio security plan goes a long way to making your own luck. l Paddock of healthy alpaca crias

The report certainly felt as if it covered all the possible areas for introducing disease into our herd. It took no time at all to implement

Isolation/quarantine paddock

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS: Mrs. Katrine Bazeley BVSC MRCVS – Synergy Farm Health, Evershot, Dorset.

Rappa Fencing. Electric Fencing Suppliers. www.rappa.co.uk

ALPACA WORLD MAGAZINE 59

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60 ALPACA WORLD MAGAZINE

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ALPACA WORLD MAGAZINE 61

SPECIAL FEATURES SHEEP GUARDS

Italian job no.6

After a frantic three years all is now very well here in the deep south of Italy, near to Lake Sirino in Basilicata.

Beautiful Mount Sirino in the Spring

The newly built log cabin

62 ALPACA WORLD MAGAZINE

READERS OF THE LAST ARTICLE way back in 2008 will recall we were still trying to organise planning permissions for the improvements to the property. Happily all is now complete and so last year we enjoyed our swimming pool and terrace and visitors were able to enjoy the beautiful view from the log cabin that we have built as a guest suite.

The alpacas are all thriving and business is reasonably brisk after a slow start.

What has become very evident in this society is that initially ‘it is not what you know, but who you know’. Many Italians are suspicious of outsiders, even other Italians!

The Italian regions have a strong identity and, for example, people in Tuscany cannot understand why anyone could or would live in Calabria. They strongly support their own region and traditions. Hence we have had to invest a great deal of time in building relationships and gaining trust; more than I have ever had to do in England.

We brought a further shipment of our alpacas from England in 2009 but for various reasons too tortuous to recount here we had to bring them through Switzerland.

Incorrect advice from the border authorities between France and Switzerland meant they were treated as an export and not as a transit and so they were not allowed to leave Switzerland immediately. After a nightmare journey (five days in the lorry) followed by a quarantine period and extensive blood tests they eventually got into Italy after about ten weeks. Many of them had weight loss, all had ring worm and our suri stud was very stressed and we nearly lost him to a suspected stomach ulcer. After three weeks of veterinary care and careful nursing he recovered. The extra taxes and costs were extraordinary.

However I learned my lesson. Never again shall I try to organise it myself... one incorrect piece of paperwork and the whole European

SUMMER 2011

FEATURE ITALIAN JOB

bureaucratic machinery just swallows you up.

We have now set up a consortium of breeders who have British (BAS) registered quality breeding herds. This is not intended to be a breed society. Rather it is a group of breeders committed to quality and a professional way of doing business and keeping alpacas. All are my clients and all are passionate about their alpacas and about learning how to keep them healthy. All are

by David and Chrissie who already have a successfully holiday letting business as you will see from their website: (www.casasangabriel.com). Their guests love the alpacas and their daughters Elisabetta and Lucia are excellent guides who introduce people to the herd and sell the alpaca products.

Our Associates are very important ambassadors not only for our business but for

Veronica and friends

Italian alpaca products

wishing to develop their businesses both separately and together. Watch this space for more news on our progress!

The distances here in Italy are huge and we find that people are not prepared to travel to go to shows and to visit breeders. Hence we have also now appointed Associate breeders in Marche and Umbria to start with and hopefully two more to follow in the north and west.

In Marche we have El Blanco Alpacas run by Veronica and Gorgio (www.elblancoalpacas.com). They escaped from city life to realise a dream and now have a herd of around sixteen females with more births expected this summer.

In Umbria we have San Gabriel Alpacas run Paolo, Chrissie and Eli

SUMMER 2011

the future alpaca industry here. They provide support to local clients and offer venues for me to run my regular training courses including introductory and specialist courses… all in Italian of course.

In addition they sell my alpaca products and will shortly be producing their own.

See www.alpacaitalianknitwear.com The other key achievement for me in the last three years is finding a way to process the fibre. Italy has a strong reputation for quality knitwear but breaking into the manufacturing network was virtually impossible. That is until I came across the town of Biella near Milan which has been the wool centre of Italy for centuries. Now we have a pilot project with

a consortium of processors that are doing my suri fibre processing. If successful, having seen the outstanding quality of their work I have no doubt it will be, we shall be opening this opportunity to suri breeders in UK. In fact by the time you read this article our project may have already been announced. In addition to processing we shall be able to work together on the marketing of products.

The climate here has now returned to what we hope is normal. This last winter was much warmer than the previous two, which, according to the locals, were most unexpected. We have not had the continuous rain and have had meals in the garden regularly since February. However due to the altitude (750 m) the heat of the sun is not uncomfortable and we get gentle afternoon breezes which benefit us and the animals.

We are now considering the next phase of our life here and have decided that for family reasons we need to be able to drive to and from the UK more easily. Hence we are now planning to move to our base in Umbria so at least one day of travelling is eliminated. At present we spend about one week a month there anyway.

As you will see from the advertisement in this edition of Alpaca World we are looking for a buyer for our house in Basilicata… and what a great opportunity for an alpaca breeder from UK. If you have been thinking about Italy why not come and join us here? Bring your alpacas… or have some of ours… or become an Associate breeder.

All local support is set up and the house and grounds are of manageable proportions.

Watch this space for news on all fronts.

Hilary can be contacted on: 0039 320 822 7068 or via e-mail: hilary@zarza-alpacas.com

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ALPACA WORLD MAGAZINE 63

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✱ www.lakeham-alpacas.co.uk ✱ 56 SUMMER 2011 Alpaca World Magazine Summer 2007

ALPACA WORLD MAGAZINE 65

FEATURE DUNREYTH ALPACAS

Dunreyth Alpacas Funtington, Chichester Ever taken an alpaca to the pub?

Well, this is just one of the options available to customers of Dunreyth Alpacas, where 'alpaca walking' has proven a great success for the business, writes Bruce Ives.

66 ALPACA WORLD MAGAZINE

SUMMER 2011

FEATURE DUNREYTH ALPACAS

PETA AND I LIVE IN AN IDYLLIC SETTING on

the side of the South Downs in West Sussex.

We currently have our herd of alpacas on thirteen acres of mixed grass and woodland.

Our dramatic change of lifestyle came about in 2006 when we were both made redundant from our senior nursing posts. We have owned land in West Sussex for more than fifteen years and wanted to make a living from it.

It was a big challenge for us but we were determined to make it a success despite some neighbours and the council.

From a very modest start with two pregnant females, the business has grown each year and we now have forty three alpacas, two groups of walking boys and a herd of breeding females for the alpaca selling part of the business.

We did a great deal of research into alpacas before embarking on our new venture and we are pleased to say it has proved as personally satisfying as we had hoped. This success has been made possible by our willingness to encourage our herd to interact with people in different ways, providing a more intimate, enjoyable experience for those who come to visit.

Our big breakthrough came through accompanied walking. Whilst initially we

SUMMER 2011

concentrated on breeding, we knew that walking with llamas was already well established in various parts of the country and we began to wonder about introducing alpaca walks. This idea was initially conceived over a bottle of red wine.

Although alpacas come from the same camelid ‘family' as llamas, as far as we knew no-one had attempted walking with them – in fact we were told it would be impossible by various ”alpaca people”. However, we persevered and it quickly became clear that these highly intelligent animals – smaller, gentler and decidedly prettier than their llama cousins, were just as well suited to this particular activity, especially with children due to their smaller size.

We have trained our alpacas to walk in hand for varying distances. A public right of way, which is adjacent to our property, allows access to beautiful views out to sea and over the rolling hills. I have also obtained a licence to use the forestry woodland nearby. Walkers at Dunreyth can enjoy these views whilst strolling or be even more adventurous and take an alpaca to the local pub where they can sit in the garden with a drink. Perhaps

Although alpacas come from the same camelid ‘family' as llamas, as far as we knew no-one had attempted walking with them – in fact we were told it would be impossible by various ”alpaca people”

ALPACA WORLD MAGAZINE 67

FEATURE DUNREYTH ALPACAS

what makes these walks different is that we do what we can to make each walk a personal venture for the customer through the diversity of options available.

Peta and I believe that even now there are very few other places in Britain where alpaca walking is available as the main thrust of a business.

The herd is also doing well. Some of the alpacas are becoming famous in their own right. Two alpacas, Alfie and Baron, even have their own fan clubs. Alfie holds a very special place in our hearts as he was the first-born of the Dunreyth Alpacas. It seems that visitors would agree that he has something special about him. Baron is also one of the star walkers who is a stunning grey colour and has

an aloof look which people seem to like. We also have an Adopt an Alpaca scheme which seems very popular.

Thirteen cria born were born in last year’s very wet summer, two had to be bottle fed for several weeks. Some of them will be invited to become walking partners, “you can’t make them into walkers they have to allow it” and the others will be sold on.

Hand knitted products made by Peta and a couple of local ladies are sold from our own small shop. Peta sources knitting patterns from old magazines, charity shops and vintage websites so that they are unique and as knitwear was made in the past. Patterns are often adapted to achieve the look that we want. Every item is individually marked, with a

We do what we can to make each walk a personal venture for the customer through the diversity of options available

68 ALPACA WORLD MAGAZINE

SUMMER 2011

FEATURE DUNREYTH ALPACAS

picture of the Alpaca that donated the fleece.

This is very popular as it makes it a personal item for the purchaser and establishes a direct connection with the animals they have visited.

I have not taken up knitting yet!

The majority of our fleeces are sent to a mini mill where they guarantee to return your own fleece to you. Fibre not sent to the mill is sold to local spinners for knitting or weaving, and some is used for bird nesting products.

The alpaca manure is sold as compost to local gardeners and is also made into briquettes for burning on log burners. In the shop we also sell imported alpaca goods, and home made key rings, cards, note pads etc.

Whilst it has not been easy to start an “off the wall” business, this is our third year, in the current financial climate our success demonstrates that it can be done. However we would be the first to admit that the whole

SUMMER 2011

experience of making a good profit in the second year was a pleasant surprise.

It’s now a full time job; both Peta and I have given up our previous full time careers to concentrate on the alpacas as we can now draw a salary from the business.

We are open to visitors 0900 to 1700 seven days a week and take out up to three walks a day. In an effort to keep the alpacas fresh, the same alpacas are never used twice in the same day.

Increased diversification has led us to running educational talks to groups, OAPs, Scouts, Cubs and the W.I., and attending local village fetes, country shows, and Christmas fairs. We now also host children’s parties, hen parties and group visits.

I admit that this broader engagement with the public has been very useful to us on a business basis and has led to increased sales

ALPACA WORLD MAGAZINE 69

FEATURE DUNREYTH ALPACAS

It seemed like a risk at the start but both Peta and I have been very surprised at the enthusiasm of the public to engage with alpacas and the popularity of the “Walking Experience”.

of alpaca with more leads to be followed up for this year.

It seemed like a risk at the start but both Peta and I have been very surprised at the enthusiasm of the public to engage with alpacas and the popularity of the “Walking Experience”. Visitors come from all over the south of England and other parts of the country and abroad. A holiday company have recently contacted us to arrange visits to Dunreyth for their guests to the South Coast.

Both of us are looking forward to another great year of welcoming people to walk with our alpacas, or to just see and learn about them and of course buy a few alpaca. l

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70 ALPACA WORLD MAGAZINE

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ALPACA WORLD MAGAZINE  71

FEATURE LETTER FROM BELGIUM

Greetings from Belgium

The latest ups and downs of life in Belgium, according to our correspondent Belinda White. This month: disaster ahead of the first alpaca show, torrential downpours and a bit of local Belgian tradition.

72 ALPACA WORLD MAGAZINE

LIKE MOST OF EUROPE we have had a very long, hard winter with so much snow that our Christmas turkey had to be delivered by tractor as we couldn’t get out. The alpacas were not in the least bit impressed and if turned out to stretch their legs while we tidied the boxes, lay down as close to the gate as possible waiting to be let back in. The horses however loved it, diving through chest deep drifts and rolling in the shallower bits - about 60 cm. We did however lose two good friends over the winter.

In October, fortunately before the weather turned bad as he hated the cold, Mr. Jambon the pig passed way after a very short illness; He had been slowing down for a few months but was still healthy and happy. One morning he was a bit slower than usual and I later found him peacefully lying in his favourite sun spot. He has been missed by a lot of people.

The other casualty was Dolly the sheep. We were given her five years ago aged at least eight. She was fearless and each year raised twins with no help. Last year she developed what we self diagnosed as ‘ovine Alzheimer’s’.

She forgot all about her two lambs until reminded, went on a few long distance rambles and could be found gazing into space at strange moments.

In November we organized the first alpaca

show here in the south of Belgium. What a nightmare!! It was to be held at the Citadel in the centre of Namur, very high profile and had been booked there for over a year.

There had been a few problems along the way but nothing to compare with the email that I received eight days before the show.

Someone at the commune, I don’t know who, had not had a reply from one of the services that they had to inform about the show and, without that response and OK, they cancelled the booking. With their cancellation came the cancellation of the barriers, electrics and water that were booked through them, insurance, well just about everything. The Director of the Citadel was horrified as in his view it was low maintenance, high profile event for them.

Devastated doesn’t start to describe how I felt. What to do, all those people who had had blood tests carried out etc. At this point my husband and children stepped in and said that we had to go ahead with it so, there was a hunt for a new venue at which point the airport of Namur stepped in, a private airport, nothing to do with the Commune. With lots of help from friends things were re-ordered and the big tent went up on the Thursday morning. The rain started on Thursday afternoon. Not just ordinary rain, the worst rain in 40 years! It continued for a week. We had been promised TV coverage ‘as long as there isn’t a National disaster’ joked the TV producer. Come the weekend, where were the TV cameras? Hovering in helicopters over flooded suburbs of Brussels telling people to stay indoors unless they really had to go out. Not an alpaca in sight. Despite having the tent, rain ran in everywhere and within a few hours it looked like the battlefield of the Somme. Nick Harrington-Smith must have had a premonition as he had packed his wellington boots and boy did he need them. He did a fantastic job under very difficult circumstances which included losing some lighting and I am

SUMMER 2011

FEATURE LETTER FROM BELGIUM

eternally grateful to him. I am also so grateful to those who literally ‘mucked in’. Thank you.

We will hold another show here as we still feel that there is great potential for alpacas.

The next one will probably be held at the Expo in Namur, a PRIVATELY owned venue where the weather will not be able to have such a huge effect on the show.

We have been working very hard over the last two years raising the profile of alpacas in the region. It must be paying off as we have had a number of requests from organizations to show our animals off. One of these came from the organiser of a local village Napoleonic march. He wanted to know if we could supply an alpaca as the march mascot.

We enjoy the marches but they are no place for an alpaca so we regretfully refused. This is now my chance to impart a bit of Belgian history as Belgium is for most people a country to pass through and not one to stop in let alone move to.

After Napoleon’s defeat at Waterloo, 30 minutes from here, his armies, which were drawn from all over Europe and North Africa, retreated and to evade capture discarded their uniforms and went on their way dressed as peasants. The piles of uniforms were found by the local villagers and, when they wanted their best clothes to march in their village saint’s day parade, they donned the beautiful army uniforms and carried the guns that they had found. The tradition has carried on and apart from the marching involves lots of gun fire and of course beer drinking. The different uniforms worn by different villages depend upon the division of Napoleon’s army that passed that way.

The village that requested the alpaca is one of the only villages to have a mounted division and for the second year running Sophie rode our old horse Baron in the children’s division, very well supervised and no beer drinking allowed by children or handlers. So, no alpacas but we were represented by a horse and the mascot’s part,

SUMMER 2011

There had been a few problems along the way but nothing to compare with the email that I received eight days before the show. well it was taken by a very unfriendly goat that no one really wanted to lead.

We were also asked by Wallonia if we would hold an ‘open doors’ weekend for them.

They organize these weekends to try and get people out and about in Wallonia. I asked a friend who has done them before, she makes costumes for the marches, and she told me that the last one she did she had 70 people over the weekend. We agreed thinking that we might have a few more than 70 but not really knowing what to expect. The gates opened at 10am Saturday and by Sunday evening we had had over 500 parties through. Some had come from as far away as Brussels especially to see the alpacas. We also had a surprise visit from the Charleroi Harley Davidson club who arrived on 14 throbbing motor bikes. The alpacas, although a little startled at first, took it all in their stride. The bikers all ‘cool’ in black leather lost their tough look when asked to stand with their backs to the alpacas for a photo. They were convinced that they would spit at them.

Not so cool really.

The show scene here in this part of Europe is growing year on year despite a number of problems that have to be considered.

Apart from the language differences there are also the various Ministries of agriculture to consider. Add to this the different requirements of each French department and

you end up with a bureaucratic nightmare.

The show held in Brittany in May suffered from a requirement that animals from other French departments should have a current blue tongue vaccination, now not legally required.

Coming from Belgium we didn’t need it so we were alright. If we had, well it is impossible to get it here now. The show however went ahead and what a lovely show it was. Robin Hodge, Linda Hitchcock and Enid Anderson had done the organizing with help from some very good people. As had happened the previous year Linda staged an alpaca fashion show which showcased not only her own wonderful garments but those produced by other designers. It was sensational, full of quality. The models also had their photos taken with the alpacas in the show ring, a true ‘before and after’ experience.

Back here on the farm we are just finishing off our shearing which with an increase in herd size seems to be taking forever. We are having frequent visits from the spinners that we met last year and in a very civilized manner, over a glass of wine or beer, they are choosing their fleeces for this year. Some have even chosen off the animals in the field or by name having bought specific fleeces last year. So, I am off now to do some more shearing and after that to have a nice cool beer. l

ALPACA WORLD MAGAZINE 73

74 ALPACA WORLD MAGAZINE

SUMMER 2011

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SUMMER 2011

ALPACA WORLD MAGAZINE 75

FOREIGN CORRESPONDENCE LETTER FROM FRANCE

Letter from France

The Ides of March “I wrote my last letter sitting in the garden in beautiful sunshine in early March. Little did I realise what was to follow...”

Andy Spillane writes.

76 ALPACA WORLD MAGAZINE

IT IS NOW THE SECOND WEEK IN JUNE

and until three days ago we had had no rain here since writing that article. The grass stopped growing, the fertiliser we used still lying in the fields. We have had no spring, straight from winter to high summer and drought and our big lake is lower now than it was at the height of the summer drought in August 2005. The land is slowly greening again now after the rain of the last couple of days and, hopefully, we should get a little growth into the grass despite the lateness of the season. Any re-growth is desperately needed throughout western and northern France.

We cut our hay seven weeks earlier than normal as it was starting to seed. The quality is fine but we are down over fifty per cent on yield, I am told many other farms have fared even worse with yields up to sixty five per cent lower this year. Whenever possible we keep a substantial reserve of hay from the previous year and we should have just enough even if we have to feed all summer. Others are less fortunate and are looking to bring hay from the Pyrenees that is expensive to buy this year and also costly to transport. Coming at a time when the alpaca market is rather flat due to the world economic situation, this year is likely to prove very difficult for those with high stock levels on limited land.

In March we sent a goodly number of our herd on guaranteed consignment to Belgium.

Given the current hay and grazing situation this has proved a double blessing. In our experience the majority of government departments and authorities here are very helpful and efficient. The only exception

we have found is the DSV of the Dordogne.

The DSV is responsible for sanitary health and veterinary services and regulation for the Dordogne. This responsibility, of course, includes the regulation of livestock export. We had agreed with our client to ship at the end of March. With this in mind I visited the DSV at the end of February to obtain a list of all pre-shipping requirements and documentation required. The “Petit Fonctionnaire” responsible sent his assistant out to say he was too busy to see me but would phone me in a few days. When he phoned he told me to get the animals TB and Brucellosis tested and ensure they were all vaccinated for Blue Tongue, the last despite Europe being declared a blue tongue free zone with vaccinations no longer needed. I asked him to send an email or fax with a complete list of all requirements, his reply, ”too busy and unnecessary”.

I visited our vets to discuss the process and Katrine, Koen’s wife, took over the file. She promptly tried to phone the fonctionnaire without success. She proceeded with the required testing programme and continued to call the fonctionnaire at regular intervals, always without success. Eventually Katrine called her own DSV, their practice is based in the Charente Maritime, and requested they send her the required documentation and a note of other information we needed to supply, they happily complied. In the export process timing is critical, the tests have a limited validity of thirty days from test. Part of this time is taken up by waiting for the results and if the animal is not exported within the thirty days a two month delay ensues before

SUMMER 2011

FOREIGN CORRESPONDENCE LETTER FROM FRANCE

I explained the urgency of the situation, to be greeted with a demand to know why I had left everything to the last minute. My response was a little too forceful for publication. one can begin the whole process again. As many can testify, waiting for the results of the notoriously unreliable TB test can be quite worrying, fortunately all tests were negative.

The other element of the equation is the availability of the livestock transporter.

A farm inspection and final check on the stock has to be undertaken within 48 hours pre-departure by a vet. On ringing Katrine a couple of days before to arrange a time, I was horrified to discover that she had still been unable to contact the fonctionnaire. Katrine promptly instructed her secretary to phone him every 15 minutes until he answered. The next morning Katrine rang to say still no response but her secretary would continue, poor girl. I joined in the phoning, also without success. Desperate to try and find a solution I rang the Chambre d’Agriculture, they were sorry but powerless to intervene but passed me to the DDT. The DDT is a sort of super body covering farming, forestry, the environment etc. The gentleman who responded spoke beautifully articulated and non accented French, obviously very well educated and high up in the organisation. He told me it was not in his direct remit but gave me the fontionnaire’s private line and also that of his boss. Office hours over I decided to call first thing next day. Before I could do so the phone rang, I answered to a tirade from a furious fontionnaire, how dare I involve the DDT. I explained the urgency of the situation, to be greeted with a demand to know why I had left everything to the last minute. My response was a little too forceful for publication. Both calming down we agreed Katrine’s surgery would fax all documentation to him direct and the paperwork would be ready for me to collect at 3.30 pm on the next day, the animals due to leave on the morning after. I relaxed at last, all too soon. The next morning his secretary phoned me to say her computer was down, so could we delay for 24 hours? I told

SUMMER 2011

her to buy a pen as I would be there at 3.30 computer or not!

A few weeks after the above saga, Katrine arrived at our farm looking very harassed, totally out of character for her. I mentioned this and she replied that she had just fled from the surgery but was fine now she was at our farm. She went on to explain that an English client from the Dordogne had been in the surgery requesting they prepare his dog and cat for return to UK. As this is somewhat routine I was puzzled by her reaction. She then added he had asked her to contact the Dordogne DSV to ask for the paperwork required to export his HAMSTER. The major alpaca event of early spring is Alpaga Developements show at the beginning of April organised by Mme Lion. This year the show was in a new venue at the stables and stallion yard of Chateau Rivaulde near Salbris. This event is always well organised and efficiently run, I was disappointed not to be entering animals but with all the hassle

with the DSV I was not ready. I decided to go and see the show anyway and travelled with fellow breeder Lindsay Naylor.

The show was very well supported and the facilities in the beautiful stable yard absolutely stunning. Entries came from Belgium, Holland, Spain and the UK in addition to a big French entry giving it a truly international status. Classes for whites and fawns were of a size never before seen in France, with 21 in junior white huacaya males alone. More important, the quality of these animals across the board was very high indeed. Matt Lloyd judging had a very difficult task on hand and commented afterwards that it was one of strongest junior groups he had ever seen.

Mme Lion’s Inca Koi eventually took a very well deserved 1st followed by her Coco Chanel with an excellent Flanders Legolas taking third. It was a very impressive class to see. The stronger colours were of a lesser quality, one or two of the browns were good but I thought the blacks and greys were something of a disappointment overall.

In a later aside between classes Matt confided that the many of the whites and fawns could well hold their own at shows in UK. Although, as usual, the suri entry was small the quality of many was again excellent. After judging the white championship Matt remarked that it was the toughest white championship he had ever had to judge. Honours eventually going to Jolimont Attitude who went on to take Supreme Huacaya, with Godswell Monty, champion fawn, taking a well deserved Reserve. Sultan’s Wonder de Grand Fouilleze made Supreme Suri with Langaton Razzamatazz as Reserve. A thoroughly enjoyable show in a beautiful setting.

After the show a little time to relax before shearing, or so I thought. Tuesday morning brought a phone call from a TV production company. Could they visit for a day or two to film our farm. More on this later. l

ALPACA WORLD MAGAZINE 77

Opportunity Knocks – Are you looking for new genetics?

FuturA AlpAcA Stud is ready to share our success with you Our top stud male Rosedeane Sayonara with two of his prize winning progeny Futura Dynasty

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We will be attending the Australian Alpaca Assoc Ltd National Show and Sale October 2011 held in Sydney NSW Please visit our Website: www.futuraalpacas.net.au Email: futuraalpacas1@activ8.net.au

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78 ALPACA WORLD MAGAZINE

SUMMER 2011

Houghton King

Champion Huacaya Fleece, British Futurity 2011 Females pregnant to Houghton King are now available for sale Stud services by arrangement – please contact us

www.fallowfieldalpacas.com

l Outstanding proven male l Luxuriously soft handling fleece

Crag House, Fallowfield, Wall Hexham, Northumberland NE46 4HA T: 01434 681276 E: info@fallowfieldalpacas.com

Snowmass

Uncontended Royalty Standing at stud in France

l Fine and dense l Great character, uniformity and coverage l Strong masculine frame

E: nigelscobb@gmail.com M: 0033 (0)606 46 41 02

SUMMER 2011

www.europaalpagas.fr ALPACA WORLD MAGAZINE  79

Italian House Advert_Advert 08/06/2011 16:30 Page 1

A beautiful view greets you every day from our house on the slopes of Mount Sirino in Basilicata in southern Italy – easy access to the coast in summer or skiing/hiking in the mountains in winter.

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2 double bedrooms modern bathroom beautiful lounge with wood-burning stove and French doors opening onto large portico new kitchen with gas range cooker hobby room/garage/3rd bedroom Scandinavian wooden lodge provides self-contained guest accommodation gas central heating and all services swimming pool some furniture and fittings available by negotiation

We have two hectares of ground which is currently used for garden and alpaca-breeding but the paddocks could easily be rented out to one of our farming neighbours.

FOR SALE IN

Local airports are Naples, Bari or Lamezia. Eurostar calls at Sapri. Motorway A3 15 minutes away.

ITALY £245,000 (270,000EUROS)

Search or Advertise Alpacas for Sale Alpaca Stud Services Alpaca Breeders Alpaca Auctions Web Development Services for Alpaca Breeders

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We are relocating to Umbria so we are selling this house either as a permanent or holiday home OR as an alpaca farm - you could run your alpaca business here and be a member of our consortium which markets British registered alpacas throughout Italy and offers you full support and assistance with sales.

For more information and photos call Hilary Shenton 0039 320 822 7068/0044 786 7781699 or email hilary@zarza-alpacas.com

United States: www.alpacaseller.com Canada: www.alpacaseller.ca Australia: www.alpacaseller.com.au New Zealand: www.alpacaseller.co.nz South Africa: www.alpacaseller.co.za Germany: www.alpacaseller.de Austria: www.alpacaseller.at Switzerland: www.alpacaseller.ch Republic of Ireland: www.alpacaseller.com The Netherlands: www.alpacaseller.nl Belgium: www.alpacaseller.be

Online Alpaca Advertising at Affordable Prices 80 ALPACA WORLD MAGAZINE

SUMMER 2011

Alpaca World Magazine’s Breeders Directory FRANCE

IRELAND

CORNWALL

DEVON

Alpacas de la Grange Mynas Gillian Howard-Evieux, La Grange Mynas, La Glacière, Saint Chamond, France, 42400.

Tel: 33 (0) 4 77 22 85 69.

Email: howard-evieux@orange.fr.

Web: www.alpaga-alpaca.com.

In the heart of France (30 mins Lyon). Prizewinning alpacas for sale. On-farm and fly-by matings posible with top-class AlpacaStud males – all colours. Initiation and full aftersales support. English/French spoken. B&Bs, holiday flats available for your visit.

Burren Alpaca Damien Dyar, Murrough, Ballyvaughan, Co Clare, Ireland.

Tel: 00353 (0)65 7076010 or 00353 (0)86 8121314. Fax: 00353 (0)65 7076961 Email: damien.dyar@burrenalpaca.com Web: www.burrenalpaca.com Ireland's premier alpaca stud. Over 10 years experience. A 'full house' of bloodline includes progeny of Australia's 'super six'; Allianza; Accoyo; ILR PPPeruvian Auzengate; FC Ultimo and Jolimont Warrior. Irish and Australian show winners at stud. Sales, agisting and full support services. Visit our farm in the beautiful Burren with a luxury thatch cottage for rental on the farm www. burrenthatch.com.

Home Manor Farm Alpacas Anne & Mike Higgins, Home Manor Farm, Trevellas, St Agnes, Cornwall, TR5 0XU. Tel/Fax: 01872 571310.

Email: homemanoralpacas@hotmail.co.uk Web: www.homemanoralpacas.co.uk Select Peruvian and Chilean breeding herd.

Stud services available. Stock for sale with after sales support and advice. Enquiries and visitors always welcome. Come and see our wonderful animals.

Ashill Alpacas Keith and Heather Rushforth, The Shippen, Ashill, Cullompton, Devon EX15 3NL. Tel: 01884 841400.

Email: ashillalpacas@gmail.com Web: www.ashillalpacas.co.uk Breeding quality alpacas for fleece, showing and breeding stock. Also stud services, pets and fox guards. Throws and fabric for sale. Visitors welcome – please phone first.

Friendly, helpful advice.

Elevage de Garenne Isabelle Leydier Delavallade, Chez le Meunier, 16110 Marillac le Franc, France, 16110.

Tel: 00 33 545 63 58 07 Email: lama.de.garenne@wanadoo.fr Web: www.elevage-de-garenne.com Breeding prize winning camelids since 1990.

Limited number of huacayas available.

Specialising in Suri alpacas, white and coloured. Stud and agistment services available.

Farrlacey Alpacas Trevor Stables & Dick Darlington, Chez Farrlacey, Le Petit Champs, 16460 Saint Sulpice de Ruffec, 16460 France.

Tel: 00 33 (5) 45 85 94 69.

Email: farrlacey@orange.fr Web: www.farrlacey.fr Experienced Alpaca breeders and Alpaca stud situated in Poitou Charentes in central SW France. Show winning studs and females with excellent genetics and fine fleeces. We specialise in coloured alpacas both Huacaya and Suri. Many offspring from EP Cambridge Top Account at Fowberry and others... Let us help your dreams come to reality!

Quelvehin Alpacas Steven & Jayne Parker, Quelvehin, Malguenac, Morbihan 56300, Brittany, France.

Tel: 00 33 (0) 297 273 886 Email: steven.parker@wanadoo.fr Web: www.brittanyalpacas.com Breeding quality huacaya and suri alpacas. Australian and Accoyo bloodlines.

Championship winning males available for stud services. Two luxury cottages on farm for holiday rentals. Spinning and felting courses held.

SUMMER 2011

ITALY Zarza Alpacas Hilary Shenton, Casa Sirino, Contrada Sirino 16, Rivello, Potenza, Italy, 85040.

Tel: 00 39 320 822 7068 Email: hilary@zarza-alpacas.com Web: www.zarza-alpacas.com A British herd of high quality huacayas and suris offering alpacas for sale, stud services, herd management and training in Basilicata, Le Marché and Umbria in Italy.

CUMBRIA WhyNot Alpacas Robin and Caroline Sandys-Clarke, Whynot Alpacas, Ghyllas, Sedbergh, Cumbria, LA10 5LT. Tel: 01539 621246. Fax: 01539 621646.

Email: rsc@countrysideservices.co.uk Web: whynotalpacas.co.uk Well established family-run Huacaya herd. Selection of quality home-bred, BAS registered, halter-trained animals for sale.

Excellent after-sales back up. Livery. Stud.

Visitors welcome by appointment.

Classical MileEnd Alpacas Rachel Hebditch and Chas Brooke, Vulscombe Farm, Pennymoor, Tiverton, Devon, EX16 8NB. Tel: 01884 243579. Mob: 07970 415638.

Email: rachel@alpaca-uk.co.uk Website: www.alpaca-uk.co.uk Professional stud farm with 15 years alpaca experience. Show winning herd sires with pedigrees containing Australian, British and American genetics available for stud work.

Wide selection of quality alpacas for sale as pets or as breeding stock. We pride ourselves on excellent customer support and training.

Visitors welcome by appointment.

UNITED KINGDOM LS-02-0311-A-A

Aquitaine Alpacas Lindsay Naylor, Le Mayne de Gaye, Sainte Alvere, France, 24510.

Tel: +33 (0) 553 23 44 48.

Email: lindsay@aquitainealpacas.com Web: www.aquitainealpacas.com Established herd situated in the Dordogne.

Breeding quality Peruvian huacayas from contented home bred stock. Sales, stud males. Practical guidance and support given on management and handling for happy alpacas.

BUCKINGHAMSHIRE Livanti Alpacas Liz Barlow, 1 Nash’s Farm, Aston Abbotts, Aylesbury, Bucks, HP22 4NT. Tel: 01296 682605 or 07976 671701.

Email: liz@livanti-alpacas.com Web: www.livanti-alpacas.com 12 years experience of breeding champions.

Excellent Huacaya alpacas for sale. Stud services, including "Hire a Stud" for a season. Herd assessments and training from qualified judge.

CHESHIRE Cheshire Alpaca Yvette Noad, 'Novur', Macclesfield Road, North Rode, Cheshire, CW12 2NS. Tel: 07734 786687. Fax: 01260 223545.

Email: yvettenoad@hotmail.com.

Web: www.alpacascheshire.co.uk Family run business. Many years of experience with animal husbandry, breeding, land management. Help with agricultural planning applications. Day courses. Full after sales support and advice.

The Laser 2 is a heavy duty durable shear, available in 240V and 12V versions. With its extremely powerful motor it will cut through dense and dirty coats with ease.

Alpaca & Alpaca Pro Combs Leaving a tidy protective coat and lifting above the dirt for a longer life. For the more experienced shearer try the Alpaca Pro. Lister Shearing Equipment Ltd

Dursley, Gloucestershire, GL11 4HR Tel: +44 (0) 1453 544832 Email : sales@lister-shearing.co.uk www.lister-shearing.co.uk

ALPACA WORLD MAGAZINE 81

Alpaca World Magazine’s Breeders Directory Hayne Alpacas Paul and Teresa Cullen, Hayne Barton Farm, Burrington, North Devon, EX37 9JW. Tel: 01769 520384. Fax: 01769 520469.

Email: info@hayne-alpacas.co.uk Web: www.hayne-alpacas.co.uk Established breeder offering a wide selection of excellent Huacaya and Suri alpacas for sale. On-farm or mobile mating service with a comprehensive range of support services including husbandry assistance and advice.

DORSET Alpha Alpacas Di Davies, Woodstock, Mapperton Lane, Melplash, Bridport, Dorset, DT6 3UF. Tel: 07739 382483 or 01308 442661.

Email: didavies@alpaca.fsnet.co.uk Web: www.alphaalpacas.com A small elite herd with an excellent selection of proven Australian and Peruvian genetics and a great Show record. Sales, stud services and friendly after sales service provided.

Visitors welcome.

Inca Alpaca – Black Alpaca Tim & Tracey Hey, Amberley Farm, Higher Chilfrome, Dorchester, Dorset, DT2 0HU. Tel: 01300 320580. Mob: 07875 532827.

Email: mail@incaalpaca.co.uk Web: www.incaalpaca.co.uk A dedicated breeder of 17 years in breeding black alpacas using proven and scientific strategies. Elite show winning herd sires for service and proven quality females and pet males for sale. We offer a close and honest relationship to our clients to ensure happy ownership and long term success.

Marshwood Vale Alpacas Geoff & Brenda Bugler, Payne’s Down Cottage, Marshwood, Bridport, Dorset, DT6 5QG. Tel: 01297 678181.

Email: b.bugler611@btinternet.com Web: www.marshwood-alpacas.co.uk Dorset – Marshwood Vale Alpacas – Warrior of Alpaca Stud (fawn) + black, lt. fawn, rose grey and white males available for services.

Breeding Females, Pet Males, Guard Males, Fleece for sale. Alpaca/Llama easy-pen.

GLOUCESTERSHIRE Pure Alpacas Jay Holland, Torsend House, Main Road, Tirley, Gloucestershire, GL19 4EU. Tel: 01452 780327 or 07789 257222.

Email: info@purealpacas.co.uk Web: www.purealpacas.co.uk We offer friendly, quality Huacaya and coloured Suri. Specialising in beginners, we offer regular courses, bespoke packages with unrivalled support and advice. Limited number of Snowmass pregnant girls available now!

82 ALPACA WORLD MAGAZINE

Snowshill Alpacas Roger Mount, Snowshill Hill Barn, Temple Guiting, Cheltenham, GL54 5XX. Tel: 01386 853841. Fax: 01386 854791.

Email: roger.mount@btinternet.com Web: www.snowshillalpacas.com Breeders of prize winning Huacaya and Suri alpacas in Gloucestershire. We usually have alpacas for sale, from pet to show quality.

Stud services available from proven sires.

HAMPSHIRE Watership Alpacas Keith Taylor, Cole Henley Farm, Cole Henley, Whitchurch, Hants, RG28 7QD Tel: 01256 892154 or 07889 864269 Email: info@watershipalpacas.co.uk Web: www.watershipalpacas.co.uk Watership Alpacas invites you to visit and discover alpacas. We have all colours of BAS registered huacaya breeding females, young and pet alpacas for sale, and stud services.

Ladies pure alpaca winter coats and jackets made to order locally.

HERTFORDSHIRE Herts Alpacas Nigel and Katie Beckwith, Fairview Farm, Wyddial Road, Buntingford, Hertfordshire, SG9 9BS. Tel: 01763 271301 or 07802 433155.

Web: www.hertsalpacas.co.uk 2009 award winning British Alpaca Futurity breeder. Over 80 quality alpacas for sale in all colours from world famous bloodlines.

All our pregnant females are mated to the finest recognised and proven championship winning males. Stud services available, friendly halter trained pets and unbeatable after sales care.

NORFOLK AzSu Alpacas Nikki Lenk, The Low Farm, Letton, Thetford, Norfolk, IP25 7TB. Tel: 01362 820097. Mob: 07877 469383 Fax: 01362 821333 Email: su.lenk@azsualpacas.com Web: www.azsualpacas.com Norfolk's largest breeder offers potential and existing owners a friendly and complete service. High quality studs; breeding females and wethers for sale; practical training; caring agistment; fleece conversion; sound advice on all aspects of these magical animals.

Burnt Fen Alpacas Ann Nickerson, Garden Cottage, Burnt Fen, Horning, Norfolk, NR12 8LA. Tel: 01692 630553.

Email: alpacas@burntfen.plus.com Web: www.burntfen.co.uk We have been breeding alpacas for 12 years and have a fantastic friendly herd bred from excellent pedigree stock. Quality breeding females and gorgeous wethers are available, with genuine after sales support.

NORTH YORKSHIRE Fowberry Alpacas Graham and Jenny MacHarg, Crambe Grange, Barton Le Willows, York YO60 7PQ. Tel 01653 618100.

Email: info@fowberry-alpacas.com Web: www.fowberry-alpacas.com Your females visiting our Australian prize-winning males, have their own post and rail paddock with a quiet, caring environment, conducive to conceiving. Each of our elite stud males has been bred or bought to improve future generations.

With outstanding conformation and fleece statistics, choose a male to complement your female – inspection welcomed!

SOMERSET Tai Wind Alpacas Lynn Pepper, Staffordmead, Lower Rudge, Nr Frome, Somerset, BA11 2QE. Tel: 07790 674334.

Email: info@taiwindalpacas.co.uk Web: www.taiwindalpacas.co.uk Breeding quality black alpacas, this year we have our new black stud male from Australia Warlock of EP Cambridge (co-owned by EPC) and have a small selection of pregnant females for sale.

SUSSEX WEST The Alpaca Stud Nick Harrington Smith and John Potts, Bowford Farm, Goose Green, Thakeham, West Sussex, RH20 2LP. Tel. 01903 891425, 07770 586014 or 07979 651742. Fax: 01903 891425.

Email:info@alpacastuduk.com Web: www.alpacastuduk.com 600 huacayas and suris in all colours. 25 top stud males. Starter Packages. Shares in stud males. Free support. Courses. New Snowmass males.

WARWICKSHIRE Toft Alpacas Rob & Shirley Bettinson, Toft Manor, Toft Lane, Dunchurch, Warwickshire, CV22 6NR. Tel: 01788 810626.

Email: shirley@toft-alpacas.co.uk Web: www.toftalpacastud.com Pedigree stock in all colours. Superior stud services. Males for sale or lease. Pets and guardians for sale. Introductory workshops.

Field to fashion fibre workshops, ongoing advice and support. Holiday cottage on farm. Luxury alpaca products online and on-farm shop.

WILTSHIRE Pinkney Alpacas Margaret Silver, Pinkney Court, Malmesbury, Wiltshire, SN16 0PD. Tel: 07775 780345 or 01666 840540.

Email: info @pinkneyalpacas.com Web: www.pinkneyalpacas.com We specialise in suri alpacas and have top prize winning animals as well as ‘starter packs’ available for sale. We have a variety of champion males for stud purposes.

WORCESTERSHIRE Hanley Hall Alpacas Val Fullerlove. Tel: 07855 428464.

Email: valpacas@googlemail.com Web: www.hanleyhallalpacas.co.uk We have concentrated on breeding quality Huacayas for 20 years with proven genetics in our home bred champions. We have females pregnant to champion males, potential herdsires with outstanding genetics and some pet boys. We are always happy to give ongoing help and advice both before and after sales, whether your interest is in showing, breeding, pets or fibre. Contact Val for more information or to arrange a visit.

Priest Bridge Alpacas Kim and Andrew Perry, Priest Bridge Farm, Dark Lane, Bradley Green, Worcestershire B96 6TJ Tel: 07813 509531 Email: kimperry1@live.co.uk Web: www.priestbridgealpacas.com Stud services from show winning home bred stud males. Super selection of quality pregnant females with start up packages to suit your budget. Full after sales support and courses available. Fabulous fibre producing friendly halter trained pet males. Call for free friendly no obligation advice.

Book your space in the Alpaca World Breeders Directory now by telephoning Heidi Hardy on 01598 752799. An entry is priced at just £35 to cover FOUR issues

SUMMER 2011

SUMMER 2011

ALPACA WORLD MAGAZINE 83

84 ALPACA WORLD MAGAZINE

SUMMER 2011