Farm Blog

Mr. October

We are heading to the Great Western Alpaca Show tomorrow (Thursday the 29th).  If not the biggest show in the country  - it is pretty darn close.  We will be taking Collin’s Princeton and Mr. October to show along with our booth display. Good luck boys!  Nievo wanted to come but he’s a little busy with the girls;) right now.

Collin's Princeton

Our first cria of the season was born last Tuesday.  Kuni Kialua!  Gorgeous eyelashes just like her dad!

Kuni

No way will I walk over that!!

It'll be okay Princess.

No problem... I knew we could do it!

Unbelievably it took this little girl all of ten minutes to gain the trust of this little juvenile.  It was her first time on the halter and lead. At the end of 30 minutes she was walking her through, and around obstacles and jumping over  12 inch logs. Alpacas and kids a natural fit!!

Horse Mountain took an educational fiber display and four of our alpacas  to the Fruita Co-op Farm and Ranch Days.  We spent the day educating the visitors and letting them sink their hands into the fleece!  Fun times were had by all.  (Even the boys)

(photos by Dave Wadsworth)

Talking about Gunnar and his fiber

Our first trip to town and our first event all in one day!!

Visit us on Etsy to see all of the locally grown, processed and handmade alpaca products we now have for sale on etsy and at our farm store!!

Click to Visit!

Horse Mountain Alpacas Etsy Store

Horse Mountain helped to organize and attended a workshop “all about the fiber”. We are now ready to put to use our new knowledge to help on shearing day when we need to sort and grade our fleeces.

Yesterday was our All About Alpacas seminar. We hope everyone had a great time and left knowing more about them!

We visited about the history of alpacas in the US, their behavior and temperament, what it takes to raise them, what is going on in the industry right now and more. Of course, we played with the alpacas and their fleece!!

We hope to hold another mini seminar in the fall!! But anyone is welcome to visit anytime.  We love to talk about our alpacas!

We’ve been busy here on farm:

On May 20th all the alpacas (39 in all) got their summer haircut. They are MUCH more comfortable, but now the work begins. The fiber has to be sorted and sent off to various places for processing. The very best will be shown first in spin-offs and fleece shows and then later processed. Much will be sent off to mills to be made into beautiful yarns and rovings. The seconds and thirds (Neck and leg hair) will be send to be made into rugs and felted fabric.

It’s spring cria and breeding time. Leilani is due at the end of June and Desi and Malia are ready to be bred! The boys are thrilled to have dates!!

Last year’s crais are ready to be halter trained and socialized. Willie and Kimo went to our huge family yard sale and were they the hit of the party!!

Our first Alpaca Seminar will be held next Saturday so we are busy preparing for our farm visitors!

Horse Mountain has attended both the Kokopelli Llama show and the Hotchkiss Sheepdog Trial with our traveling Farm Store booth.  They were both wonderful events where we were able to share about alpacas and their fantastic products!  Lok for us again at the Fruita Farmer’s Market every Saturday from 8:00 – 12:00.  This year we will be featuring some beautiful alpaca rugs made from the fleece of out own alpacas!

(Be sure to click on the flowers to turn the pages)

We came home from the National Western Stock Show with a First, a Fourth, and a Color Champion.  Yeah Nievo and Mr. October!!!  We enjoyed visiting with all the people coming through to meet the alpacas.

  It’s winter on the farm and we are all trying to keep warm and clean!!  With over a foot of snow on the ground it’s beena challenge. The crias love playing in the snow and the moms just can’t seem to get enough to eat to keep up with all their energy. 

Horse Mountain will be taking out two yearling males, Mr. October and Accoyo Nievo Diamante to the Great Western Stock Show on January 15-17th.  It will be fun!

Born 8/8/08

FRUITA FARMERS MARKET

Horse Mountain Alpacas is setting up every Saturday from 8-12 at the Fruita Farmer’s Market.  We have beautiful yarns, socks that will be your favorite, and a variety of accessories (gloves, hats, scarves) for sale.

We will be taking the alpacas with us for you to meet on August 2nd! See you there.

Alpacas were a hit at the first Western Slope animals expo!  We took Desi, Madison, Mr. October and Juneau.  We enjoyed answering all of the questions about alpacas and the visitors enjoyed petting the alpacas.

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It was April 20 and we had just arrived home from watching our son play baseball.  Grandpa was out in the field building a new fence and my husband glanced over to the girls pasture.  He yelled “I think you’ve got a baby!”  I couldn’t believe it, he was 3 weeks early.  I raced out to see.  All the girls were surrounding him and sniffing.  Up on his feet and looking around he was tiny (weighing in at only 12.3) but strong.  At 6 weeks old now he’s close to thirty pounds and thinks he rules the roost.  Named Shoeless Joe Jackson, he has an attitude! Check out his pictures in the photo gallery.

Shearing Day has come and gone at Horse Mountain Alapcas. With lots of help we ended up with 32 naked alpacas and 2 naked llamas.  Now we are preparing the fiber to be sent to the mill for processing.  Our very best we are entering into spin-offs and fleece competitions. 

 Shearing Day at Horse Mountain Alpacas will be on May 7.  A crew that travels around the country will come in and shear our alpacas,  and alpacas and llamas from two  other farms.  We will sort, skirt and prepare the fiber to be sent to the mill  for processing into rovings and yarns.  Our very best will be set aside for showing before being made into specialty items.