Alpaca Farming Facts

Huacaya (pronounced wah-KI-ya) are a type of alpaca with short, dense, crimpy fiber. Conformation: Huacaya, as well as Suri alpacas are a small and relatively easy livestock to maintain.

Suri alpacas have fiber that is silky and resembles pencil-like locks. Conformation: Suri, like the Huacaya alpacas are a small and relatively easy livestock to maintain. Alpacas are modified ruminants, part of the camelid family, which includes llamas...

And if an adopted llama doesn't work out, the rescue gladly takes it back. Some are survivors of neglect. Llama overpopulation is a real and scary thing. Their motto is “Things change.” People surrender llamas and alpacas due to death in the family,...

The male cavorts around and sniffs the female to court her, and he begins making a distinctive mating sound called orgling. To survive, they developed unique breeding behaviors, such always having their babies (called crias) during the warmer daytime...

It's easy to collect lama “beans” from a poop pile to put them on your garden . Lamas are popular nowadays! Unless they can't get out to use a poop pile outdoors, llamas and alpacas rarely dirty their stalls.

Today, many weekend adventurers, backpackers and campers have discovered the fun of a pack llama. Could there be a camelid in your future? Unlike wool , alpaca is lanolin free and can be cleaned and processed without harsh chemicals, and the lack of lanolin...

Things To Think About One of the best ways to observe interactions between children and animals is to assign your children animal chores . Your Children's Behavior Most animals don't take kindly to being laid on, kicked or whacked on the head with sticks,...

Record It All With A Camera Everyone loves a before and after shot of shearing day. Boost your farm's social media presence with your herd's new haircuts. Containing animals, catching animals, helping restrain animals—there are a lot of moving parts...

Older Animals Just as young animals lack optimal metabolism to fight the cold, older animals might also be at risk. Make sure the thickness of the coat is appropriate to the weather, as too much blanketing leads to overheating.

It has allelopathic effect on weeds and other grasses, so do not plant it where you will be growing corn. Most of these nutrient-rich plants can be grown at home on a small scale to provide a little extra kick to your garden, your compost or wherever...

Thus began the Sock Brigade. Barbara and her husband, Randy Coleman, own Wings & A Prayer Alpacas in Amity, Ore., so the request was one she could easily fulfill. We also have a Suri female who sheared over 9 pounds this year,” she says.

We're talking thousands, ranging in size from a few inches tall (barely more than seedlings) to some rather large ash and maple trees several inches thick and more than 20 feet tall.

Animals innately know when and how much to lick. When it's hot, let everyone just relax—including yourself. Have Clean Water Sources Water troughs with stagnant water in the heat are practically nonpotable for several different reasons, most importantly...

The solution isn't to continually switch dewormers: The experts say that if a dewormer works on your farm, you should use it for at least one year. Resistance happens because one worm in millions of worms has a genetic characteristic that makes it resistant...

In other words, if you plan to add an amendment to your soil or potting mix, make sure it is an approved product. But perhaps you find the process daunting, you just aren't ready to throw down the money (currently around $250 for the year per venture),...

Smoking This might seem like a no-brainer, but you would be amazed how often people smoke around flammable liquids and explosive gases. If you're familiar with using a generator, you or someone you know might have inadvertently used it in an unsafe way.

Oh! Don't forget snacks and water. Hands take action as extensions of our hearts, and they work best when they are nimble. I envy experienced organic farmers that I observe, those who seem to effortlessly slide in and out of their work in their most comfy...

Create flexible, short-, mid- and long-term goals and plans that fit your needs for recreation and personal pleasure, as well as sustainable vegetative productivity. The terraces were created by pulling logs into place and backfilling with soil.

The more that research reveals about the farm's complex soil life, the more farmers have called into question the role tillers play in upsetting soil structure, particularly large, mechanized equipment that plunges deep into the earth to invert the earth's...

Recreational farmer: Grows out of interest rather than necessity, although the recreational farmer may subsist on what's grown by choice, not because he or she has to. Most urban farms in the United States, traditional French kitchen gardens (potagers)...

Just recently, I was working on a project that required attaching hardware cloth to a series of wooden frames (creating something not unlike window screens), and my tool of choice for the job was a staple gun.

I fixed one up with wood handles, and when I get a chance, I'll do the same with the others. I secured 24-inch-long, 3/4- by 1-inch pieces of trim from a recent oak-flooring installation as bumpers to the ends of the four panels.

If you are looking to create farm tools, they may even be able to meet your needs themselves. If you have limited needs for an anvil , a foot-long piece of railroad rail might be enough.

Quality matters. Like any backpack, the weight should not ride on the shoulders, but on the hips. My 4-gallon, non-motorized, Hudson Bak-Pak sprayer weighs in at 8 pounds empty and 40 pounds filled.

Well, we certainly wouldn't be able to get as much hard work done! A well-built tractor equipped with useful attachments, like a forklift or front-end loader, can allow you to quickly tackle heavy-duty projects that would take days to handle by hand.

Handsaw Or Chainsaw Pruning loppers and shears can do a lot, but for serious tree trimming, such as removing all the lower branches off a pine or spruce tree, you'll want to bring in a handsaw or chainsaw to do the job.

Take care of one, and it will be something to pass down to future generations. A reader recently responded to a July blog post that talked about buying tools locally where you could get service.