http://banjocatbanjo.livejournal.com/123618.html

I don’t know why or how things got this bad – the sanctuary operators are probably going to be charged with animal cruelty and abuse – but right now animals are still dying every day of starvation and cold.  Initially it was reported there were  over 800 llamas spread out on this 400 acre ranch but only around 600 have been rounded up and herded into feeding pens.  One volunteer said she was afraid to think what would appear once the snow melts.

Animeals http://www.animeals.com/ got involved early in December and has been on site coordinating bringing in over 6 tons of hay needed per day. Various horse and other rescue groups have taken most of the equines, sheep and goats off the property and into their rescue network for needed veterinary care and rehoming. http://www.kaj18.com/news/volunteers-trim-rescued-donkeys-hooves/ but that still leaves hundreds of llamas & 2 camels in the cold and snow.  Llama babies (called crias) are being born and dying because their mothers are themselves too emaciated to nourish and warm them.  On-site rescue volunteers are doing the best they can – building shelters out of tarps! – but the need is to get these animals out of the Montana facility and distributed to better locations where their health needs can be assessed and tended.

Various regional llama and alpaca rescue groups have formed a coalition group to coordinate their efforts and dollars toward saving these suffering animals.  Most of these are small regional groups of volunteers for whom a large rescue would be saving a herd of 10!  Yet each group is stepping forward to take in up to 100 llamas (plus 2 camels!) to rehabilitate and rehome.  The need for financial support is huge.

The cost for transporting 100 to North East Llama Rescue alone is over $4,000.  Transportation is being arranged to bring about 30 females (pregnant or with cria at side) to a volunteer foster farm in Georgia for South East Lama Rescue.

Quote from http://rtfitch.wordpress.com/2011/01/07/sanctuary-lost-death-in-the-montana-mountains/

This was the promised land. This was sanctuary

A short time later we pulled up to the actual sanctuary. The grounds are magnificent, the scene of the snow covered mountain, the low hanging clouds, the beautiful buildings all spoke of a perfect place. Then the cover started coming off. Like a fairy tale turning into a horror story, it took a moment to see 600 llamas standing behind a fence in a large pen. Six hundred of them, six hundred faces looking back because there was nothing else to do but stand there and look, and poop and stand in the poop and look some more. Separated by sex, the female llama pen is where the babies drop, lots of them, because the llamas were not gelded (I don’t know if you call it gelding or not with llamas). Most of the babies don’t survive, but they all have the same hay as the horses – which is worthless.

I support South East Llama Rescue but would encourage (beg!) anyone who reads this and feels moved in their hearts to kindness to give whatever amount they can afford to ANY rescue group working to save these poor suffering animals.

Please join me and put your $$ where your HEART is.

Thank you

Starr 1/9/2011

Holy crow – this is the most snow we’ve had since we moved here.  Which is 10 years this Feb.   We never lost power although it flickered and struggled several times.  Which killed the fan I use for circulating heat down at the farm house but that’s minor damage all things considered.   I measured 11″ on the back deck Saturday morning- or about kitty ear high!!  Actually, judging from the prints – kitties sort of float on top.  And much prefer to be let back inside to rampage and tear up the upholstery in wild antics.

I tobogganed some hay out to each field Sat morning – the alpacas seemed semi-grateful.  No body was shivering.  Actually, with minimal wind – it really isn’t that cold and even the beans/pee weren’t frozen in the sheds.  Based on foot prints in the snow, girls have barely left the shed to go to the water tank.  Apparently they were content to wait for room service – they have a big hay bunk inside their shed.  Boys have been everywhere!  But I think they spent most of their time hanging out in the shed too.

Right now (Sun morning), all the alpacas are clustered around their hay bunks fueling up.  It snowed pretty much all day Saturday but lightly.  Nothing has melted though so I’m going to have to take them more hay today. I’ve got plenty of feed and enough hay for the next couple days but I’d feel better if I had a larger store of Hay here in the barn. I’ll be wanting to get some hay that I have stored over at Linda’s pretty soon – there is NO way the alpacas can get to the grass to graze.

Saturday Joe hooked up the scraper on the tractor planning to clear the driveway but our tractor is just too small for this job and that snow is like cement.  He said he could do it with the front loader but that’s silly, he’d have to clear 1 scoop at a time and we don’t have to be anywhere anyhow.  We’ll just wait for the sun to clear it off.

Henry and Molly had huge fun helping me and Joe with our endeavors this morning.  I think Henry the canine snow plow is the funniest thing ever – he just sticks that big old head down in the snow, snorts and shakes and then shoves forward.  Then looks up with a grin to make sure I’m watching!  Molly bounces and leaps – her tracks in the snow are funny.

Had an email back from Susie Friday afternoon, she was sitting in a ditch waiting for Brandon.  I think she was close to home.  That was almost 5 pm and I think she had gotten off work around 3′ish.  Poor thing.  Liza is on my mind too.  I don’t know where she is in all of this.

I got a little stuck myself Friday.  About noon the sun had come out and the snow had stopped and I said “aha!  perfect time to finish off the last few items on my Christmas list” so off I went.  Made good progress and was at the last shop when Joe called and said “you better get back here” because the snow is coming down pretty heavy.  I also wanted to hit Ingles (believing by now that we really were getting real snow this time) so I asked if I had time and he said “make it fast”.  So I flew around Ingles (me and a few thousand other shoppers!) throwing things in the basket and headed back up the hill.  Made it without even a slip all the way to just above the farmhouse driveway – right by the pond – and then I just could not make another inch forward.  It doesn’t look it but that’s actually a fairly significant slope from there up to the barn – you definitely feel it when you’re walking.  Anyway, the car just was not going to make it so I backed down to the parking area below the farmhouse and left the car there.

But!  I had all these groceries in the car which I didn’t want to leave out to freeze.  So I tromped up to the barn and got my toboggan, back down to the car, loaded up the groceries and hauled them up to the house.  Joe met me at the door looking at me like I was some sort of fool but I had fun in the snow and I got the groceries home!

Chicken soup for dinner tonight.  Yes, I have got a cold or something.  Feeling quite punkish – that might be part of why Joe thought I was being idiotic – but I really wanted to bring in the ingredients for him to make me some of his excellent chicken soup.  It’s Medicine to cure what ails you!!

You know what it reminds me of?  Remember the fight scenes in old westerns (or old soldier/sailor) movies where everybody in the bar is fighting (or ducking and drinking) for the sheer joy of it and the soundtrack is goofy upbeat music to show that it’s just good clean fun?  Where chairs are broken over heads and bodies fly over the bar to smash a million bottles but no one is ever actually hurt?  And at the end everyone is hugging and holding each other up and grinning like fools – best friends forever?  Heck, boys just gotta let off a little steam now and then?  An all male alpaca melee is just like that.

When they all run out of wind and were standing around huffing and sneezing – Rodger was a member of the herd.  No more lurking around the fringes being a loner.  He’s one of the big boys now.

Nah, he’s gonna be mama’s pretty wittle baby boy no matter how big he gets!

1. By pooling our collective fiber, working together and sharing our own skills and labor to sort, skirt and grade we would expect to end up with a higher quality result in our end products without incurring the cost of having to pay someone else to do that work.
2. Because of the variation in our herds by Age (Fineness) and Color and Type (Suri & Huacaya) we would expect to end up with a wider array of finished products than we would have each been able to achieve from just our own herd.
3. Since our combined “incoming” collected fiber was more than 1000 pounds, we expect to achieve volume discounts from processors (mini-mills) that will provide a lower cost for all of us than we would have had individually.
4. Although we would still need to use non-local mills to process, we expect that having a local “farmers cooperative” flavor would be useful for marketing purposes.
5. By having a larger amount of consistently graded products – yarns, socks, rugs, knitted/crocheted items – than we could produce individually from our own herds, we expect that will help increase sales.  Better to have 20 skeins in a single color/grade batch to sell than 4 skeins from 5 batches as an example.

So far we have met objective #1 – higher quality – very well. After sorting and grading, we will have a higher quality finished product whether that be handknitting yarns or more highly finished products.  But, as is to be expected we also learned a few things which we would do differently next time.

Lesson 1: It was bit complicated to schedule us all for several days to sort and grade that much fiber.  Turns out that sorting and grading is quite slow, dusty, dirty work which means being on your feet with your back bent over a skirting table which is never at a comfortable height… for anyone!!  We learned a good bit from the experience which will probably make this process better and more efficient next time.  Perhaps it would be better if each farm did some upfront work – both on shearing day to avoid contaminating blankets with seconds or shorts/2nd cuts and by pre-sorting by previously agreed upon color groups.

The second lesson we took away relates to accounting for contributions.  For the 1st year we decided to use a simple Divide by 5 method to allocate any expenses or profits from the pooled fiber but it was obvious that next year we will want to use a more complex system of allocating “share” based on amount and possibly even type of fiber contributed to the pool.  For example, I had already sold some of my fiber so my total amount of fiber contributed was significantly less than that of the other 4 farms.  However, what I had sold was my Adult and stronger grade fibers so what I did contribute (Fine & Baby grade) to the pool was of higher perceived value (in my own mind at least!) than other farms who contributed large quantities (multi years worth) of Rug or Mulch grade.  They put in a LOT more fiber into the pool by weight than I did but it will be more challenging to find profitable applications for it.

Objective #2- greater variety – is also being met very well.  Although our sorted result is heavily skewed towards Adult, Rug and Mulch grades we do have a real good distribution of colors in both Suri and Huacaya fiber types in all the grades.

It is in our expectations for Objective #3 – volume discounts – where we are having the most disappointment so far.  The cost to process (and shipping!) is very expensive and for the most part we have not achieved sufficient volumes to qualify for discounted processing.  Even where we have – the cost, even divided by 5, is more than any of us are in a position to spend.  Also, most of the time the mills expect half or even all of the processing cost to be paid in advance so you have that cash tied up for whatever amount of time it takes to get your product back plus whatever amount of time it takes you to sell those products.

Take the case of socks.  We were very excited to think of having socks custom made from our very own fiber.  We have all been selling socks already and felt that “local fiber” socks would sell very well.  And, we had pooled quite a lot of Adult grade fiber so we could get into a volume discount.  But.  To process that amount of fiber would have been an upfront expense of more than $600 per farm and we would end up with 260 pairs of socks to sell.  Selling a few dozen pairs over the course of the fall to spring season is one thing – committing to sell over 20 dozen pairs is a bit intimidating to say the least.  Not to mention that with lead-times for processing, we’d probaby receive our socks right as the weather is warming to summer when sock sales are the slowest.  So our cash would be tied up for probably a whole year – which none of us can really afford to live with.  On the other hand, if we drop down into a lower volume to process – and fewer socks to have to sell – we increase the average cost per pair and end up with a much smaller profit.

So, at this point we are still very much struggling with what to do with our fiber now that it is sorted and graded.  At our last meeting Susie made a great proposal to start with a budget to spend on a per farm basis and then figure out what we can do within that sum.  We may not be able to do everything we want to do all at once.  I think that’s going to be very helpful to us.

As I said – it’s a work in process and I just wanted to share how its working out so far.

Everyone who came last year had such a great time – and what alpaca farmer wouldn’t love the chance to tell as many people as they can reach about the joys of raising alpacas.

Here’s the Press Release

On September 26 and 27 five WNC alpaca farms will join alpaca breeders from across the United States and Canada in the 3^nd Annual “National Alpaca Farm Days” by opening to the public.  The public is invited to come to meet alpacas and learn more about these inquisitive, unique animals.

From 11 am to 3 pm Saturday and Sunday Alpacas of Merritt Farm, EverThanks Farm, Last Penny Farm, Lorien Alpacas and Venezia Dream Farm will welcome guests to join them as they showcase their beautiful friendly alpacas and lovely products made from alpaca fiber.  Knowledgeable and experienced alpaca farmers will be available to answer questions and explain all about alpacas. There will be demonstrations of spinning and other fiber crafts.  all FREE!

Local fiber artisans and alpaca farms will be selling a wide selection of products made from naturally luxurious alpaca fiber including roving for spinners and yarns for knitters as well as a variety of ready to wear clothing and household décor.

The location for the open farm is:

Venezia Dream Farm, 276 Jones Cove Rd, Asheville, NC 28805

To find out more about Open Farm Days at Venezia Dream Farm or for directions to the farm, please visit www.AlpacasWNC.com or call 828-298-9166.

I haven’t weighed the fleeces or checked staple lengths yet.  Hopefully I’ll get to that today.  I can’t wait to get my samples sent off for testing.  My hand says that I have some really good fleeces this year.  Definitely their good health shows, really nice brightness under the dirt!

I still need to shear for 2 clients who bought alpacas from me last year and I’ll be a helper at Linda’s for her shearing day so I still get a little more time on the mat but it feels so good to know my herd is done and ready for summer.

Do it yourself

There is a wealth of information on internet for how to wash, comb, card & spin alpaca fiber, including how to blend and how to dye. I have a pamphlet available called “Turning Fiber Into Gold” where I have already collected much of this information for your convenience.

Hire it done

There are many custom mills that can process your fleeces and return it to you in whatever form you desire. Some will also knit or weave finished items for you. Cost and quality may vary greatly from mill to mill. Be sure to ask for and to check references for the mill or other custom processing you choose.

Here is a link to AlpacaNation where several mills are listed. http://alpacanation.com/alpaca-services/alpaca-services-2.asp?servicetype=12&servicename=Fiber%20Mills/Processing

Wild Fibers Magazine has a directory of mills listed in the back of each issue. Also you will usually find several ads for mills in this magazine. http://www.wildfibersmagazine.com/

International Camelid Quarterly magazine http://www.llamas-alpacas.com/ and AOBA’s Alpacas Magazine http://www.alpacasmagazine.com/index.asp also have ads for custom fiber processing.

Team up with others

A cooperative is a special type of corporation in the eyes of the IRS – the members are shareholders who own and operate (co-operators) the business. Profits from Cooperative corporations are taxed differently than regular corporations because the US Government recognizes the importance for small farms to be able to work together and pool their efforts.

Naturally, a cooperative is not the only form of business which can be involved in pooling fiber or collaborating to process fiber for groups of farms.

Here is a listing of farmers cooperatives and other businesses involved with pooling alpaca fiber:

http://www.afcna.com/ AFCNA (Alpaca Fiber Cooperative of North America Inc) is the biggest alpaca fiber cooperative in North America with over 2000 farms in the US and Canada and the oldest, established in 1998.

http://www.fibrecoop.ca/ The Canadian Camelid Fibre Cooperative (CCFC) is the only nationally based fibre co-op in Canada.

http://www.naafp.us/ NAAFP (North American Alpaca Fiber Producers) is an agriculture cooperative of alpaca fiber producers who have their fiber sorted by a certified fiber sorter, using the Certified Sorted(TM) system.

http://www.neafp.com/ The New England Alpaca Fiber Pool (NEAFP, Pronounced NEEF) is an Alpaca Fiber processing service. Private company, not a co-op.

http://www.alpacablanketproject.com/ The Alpaca Blanket Project is collaboration of American alpaca growers. As far as I know, there is a single owner. Not a cooperative.

http://www.llamafibercoop.com/ The Pacific Northwest Llama Fiber Cooperative (PNWLFC) is a member owned company whose specialty is the fabrication and marketing of high quality llama fiber products.

It’s all about the fleece!!

Whether you choose to do it all with your own hands from soup to nuts or to have minimal personal processing, do SOMETHING with your fleece each year promptly after shearing. Improperly stored fleeces degrade rather quickly or become infested with moths or other pests. Even in the most optimum climate and humidity controlled storage, unwashed fleeces can become dry and brittle in about 3 years time. It’s literally a case of use it or lose it.

Mills want clean fleeces to process.  For commercial mills who don’t offer scouring service, that means washed before it comes to them.  Most mini mills include washing service.  For all mills that means fleeces well skirted to remove VM and other non-fiber contaminates. I personally recall the recommendation to blow/vac fleeces coming from a mill who is using a card or dehairer to remove particles which should have been removed from the fiber before it was submitted for processing.  (not that my memory is all that good!!!)  His point was that its easier to clean up the alpaca before shearing than it is to clean up a filthy fleece afterwards.  I personally believe we should bring reasonably clean alpacas to the shearing floor rather than trying to blow/vac them right before shearing.  Heck, Shearing Day is busy/stressful enough without that thing roaring and blowing and sucking!!

I personally only feel like I’ve succeeded when my clients are also successful in their goals.