Dream team

Lythe Brow Alpacas was established in 2016 by Steven Ellershaw and his wife Tracey, along with Steven’s two boys Sam and Tom. The couple both work full time and are devoted to the herd spending all their spare time with the alpacas, or planning how to improve, as Steven explains

Lythe Brow is a real family affair, we are all involved in all aspects of alpaca ownership, with varying levels of enthusiasm. We can’t understand why but the boys didn’t seem too keen on the poo picking aspect until we purchased a quad bike! The boys enjoy showing and love being in the ring, as well as meeting other owners; Sam can often be found in the pens of the larger breeders discussing mating decisions and, much to our surprise, potential purchases.

The highlight of showing for Sam and Tom was winning Champion Junior Handler at the 2018 BAS National Show in their respective age groups. As proud parents we stood at the ring side biting our nails. Would they know the stuff that they had spent weeks revising? Would the alpacas behave for them in the ring? What if one did well and the other didn’t? Now, that would have been a long drive home? But the boys got dressed up that night, suited and booted they thoroughly enjoyed the Gala Dinner.

Building our herd

We always dreamed of having alpacas and visited the BAS National Show several times prior to embarking on a beginners’ course in spring 2016. By then we had already fallen in love with alpacas and their enchanting personalities. We were hooked and started preparations at home – our Lythe Brow dream was about to come to fruition. In the summer of 2016, we bought two young females from a local breeder; this was the best way to get guidance and support close by as we started our exciting journey. A few weeks later we took delivery of a small herd of four pregnant females, three with cria at foot plus, our first stud male to continue spitting off our girls and to wean our male cria with.

We wisely decided to buy quality over quantity and purchased a top-class female in this group as we wanted to buy the best that we could afford at this time. This special female has gone on to produce our three times Supreme Champion Lythe Brow Alchemist who is part of our stud team, as well as a fawn male cria this year who we have high hopes for, so she was well worth the initial financial investment.

Buying from a well known and extremely knowledgeable breeder who provides ongoing support and mentorship is invaluable. They have been with us every step of the way to celebrate with us the good and support us through the bad and have become close friends.

Starting to show

In the early days we only had a very small show team so there wasn’t much in the way of decisions to be made when it came to choosing our show team. Our very first show was the North West Alpaca Group (NWAG) Halter Show in 2017 where the organisers and the other exhibitors made us feel so welcome. We were absolutely astounded when our three entries all won first places and our young male Cosssack went on to win Champion Fawn Male.

The buzz was addictive, and we couldn’t wait to get back into the ring. Several years down the line, we now have a larger number and wider genetic pool to select from alongside our increased knowledge base which makes choosing the show team a little easier. We spend a lot of time looking at the herd and admiring certain characteristics. Making sure they are conformationally sound. We look through the fleeces of our cria and intermediates on a regular basis; we prefer fleeces with lots of character, those that when you open them make your heart sing. We also spend a lot of time halter training so that they walk confidently around the ring and are comfortable being touched.

We really enjoy showing; it is great to get constructive feedback from the judges and meet lots of likeminded people and we have made many new lovely friends. Winning any rosette is a great feeling and a Champion ribbon is a real achievement but gaining your first Supreme Champion is a magical moment – especially when it is one that you have bred yourself.

We were privileged to achieve our first Supreme Champion in our first showing season. Since our adventure began we have been regular attenders at the NWAG Show, Scottish Nationals, Yorkshire Alpaca Show and Northumberland Show as well as the BAS National Show.

‘Something special’

Lythe Brow Alchemist was only the second cria born at Lythe Brow but we knew from the moment he arrived that he had the potential to be something special. From an early age he stood up tall and proud, loved the excitement of shows and always walked into the ring interested in what was going on.

It is great to get positive feedback about an alpaca you have bred. Alchemist was pulled out of a line by a very respected Judge and described to the exhibitors as “an upstanding macho, who has all the qualities of a stud male. He actually wants to be here and is loving life. When you are looking at stud males on the Altiplano, this is exactly what you are looking for.”

Cossack, Lythe Brow's first Supreme Champion

Sam is very proud of the Lythe Brow team

He has gone on to achieve three Supreme Championships, multiple Champions and Fawn Champion of Champions Fleece in the 2020 BAS National Show. We are very proud of him and our decision making. He is now making beautiful babies at Lythe Brow and throughout the North West and Scotland.

Watching shows and taking in the judge’s feedback has really helped us to develop our understanding and consolidate our goals. We are part of NWAG and Yorkshire Alpaca Group (YAG). The vast array of educational webinars and Zoom calls by the regional alpaca groups and BAS have helped keep the alpaca community together and showing has helped us to forge long lasting friendships. Everyone is so welcoming and willing to help each other and we are excited to be taking over the reins for the Westmorland Show (7 September).

Unfortunately, due to Covid-19 we have been unable to show for the past couple of years. Then at the end of the 2021 birthing season Tracey fractured and dislocated her ankle which required surgery. We have really missed attending shows and seeing everyone, although we have loved watching and supporting these events via the live video links where available and through sponsorship.

We have managed to send a couple of fleeces into fleece shows and had some fabulous news when one of our stud boys, Lythe Brow Boaz was awarded first place white (24-48 months) and Champion White.

Future plans and goals

Our aim is to breed fawns and as we all know when you try to breed for a specific colour, instead of fawn females you get white boys. Over the last few years, we have added other genetic lines to our herd through purchases and using specifically selected stud males. The breeders we met through doing this have all been supportive offering guidance and encouragement along the way.

We have recently added new genetics from New Zealand. We went looking for some fawn daughters of a specific male that we coveted from afar and they arrived with us in 2021 just in time to settle in and be mated. We have 20 females confirmed pregnant, so we are excited for a busy 2022 birthing season.

Long term we want to continue to improve the quality of our herd along with continued success in the show ring. Our ambition is probably the same as most small breeders, which is to be able to reduce the hours we both work elsewhere in order to spend more time doing what we love.