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Southern Alpacas News
We provide a steady stream of news and
information of value to many of our customers
and visitors.
Bookmark this news page and return often to
see our updates.
Below you'll find
Seasonal Hints,
for alpaca
work to be done now.
Pictured: Top Stud ILR Alpine Fiber's Brutus
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Alpacas Autumn Newsletter 2008 |
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In this issue you'll find out about wintering alpacas, courses to help you save
cria, more opportunities to sell alpaca fibre, and
3-in-1 packages for sale.
You can meet us at
Mystery Creek Fieldays again this year from Wednesday 11 June to Saturday 14th
June. Same place, N1D, opposite the plane.
We will have for sale NZ alpaca yarns and alpaca products, many made from our
alpaca fibre, as well as alpacas of course. Local members of our
Alpaca Services Network will be there, so come and see us and have a chat.
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Wintering Alpacas
Alpacas
in their woolly winter coats can get thin without
you seeing it, so over winter do regularly get hands on
your alpacas and "body score" them. Get your hands on
your alpaca over the backbone, near the last ribs, just
above and behind the front legs. Feel the backbone
between fingers and thumb. Have a look at our
website
articles section to see how to interpret
what you feel.
With the drought this summer, feed is
scarce around the
country. Winter feed conditions may mean your alpacas
are looking for extra food. Supplement the grass with
meadow hay, or for those who need that little extra,
use lucerne hay or chaff which is higher in protein.
There are a wide range of garden plants that alpacas
can eat. We give them the last of the poplar and willow
leaves, and evergreen trees like acacia, hebes, tree
lucerne, photinea or red robin bush and karamu coprosma.
These are all alpaca favourites, and can be grown as
sheltering hedges, and trimmed regularly for fodder.
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Saving Cria -
Camelid Neo-Natal Workshop
Our Neo-Natal
Workshops continue to be held around New Zealand. We aim to educate breeders
and vets, and now vet students from Massey University are attending our next
workshop.
People will
learn what is normal and what is not in birthing, and they will know what they
can do and when they need a vet. In birthing 95% of births are normal, but
this course should save the 5% and minimise distress of cria and dams.
Scheduled workshops are:
Saturday 23rd August in Taranaki
Sunday 24th August in Fielding
Dates TBA for workshops in:
Aug Christchurch
Sept Auckland area
Book in now
with us - your investment of $100+gst is well worth it if you save a cria and
her mum, with the knowledge and experience you gain on the course.
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Selling Alpaca Fibre
The
opportunities for selling alpaca fleece in NZ have expanded with Just
Alpaca signing contracts to supply Masterweave, who make woven throws
and blankets, and New Zealand Natural Clothing Limited who will use NZ
alpaca in their garments.
They are using all colours of fibre from ultrafine (16 micron) through to
medium at 30 micron. It has to be at least 75 mm long.
 We
are continuing our fine yarns in the ultrafine and superfine range,
and intend to be buying low micron white and light fawn fleeces later in the
year.
OUR
SPECIFICATIONS: white and light fawn fibre,
75-100 mm long, up to 23 micron, which really means blanket fleece. It has
to be clean - hand-picked clean of dirt and vegetation, strong guard
hair skirted off, and with any dirty/matted/tender tips clipped or pulled
off.
In the
USA a newly formed group, the American Alpaca Fibre Federation, has
signed a joint venture deal with Telas Parras, one of the top five largest
textile mills in the world. Their mills in Mexico and Italy are the
largest producers of denim, and denim is the number 1 selling clothing
item in the world. They are preparing to blend alpaca with cotton for
their denim products.
Interestingly, the ideal length for this is 60-70mm, which we regard as
"shorts". And also, they do not need crimpy fibre, as they can create that
artificially. The joint venture is right to the finished product, creating
a greater return for growers, as the more value you add to the fibre,
the better the return you get.
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3-in-1 Alpaca Packages for sale.
We always
have
alpacas for sale but right now we have a great range of 3-in-1 packages with
female cria at foot - always a good deal. Our wide
choice of females includes herd starters at the lower end of the price scale, to
show quality girls.
As part of our import and export
business we also have Australian born females for sale, and studs from all over
the world available for mating duties, around New Zealand. Some studs are here
for six months, en-route from Australia to Europe and provide an opportunity for
fresh genetics. Look at our website
www.alpacasnz.co.nz
If you are after alpacas with fine fibre, we
have them. Our own bred alpacas, even our wethers, fall in the 16- 18 micron
range, with some far lower. The future lies in fine fibre for alpaca.
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·
Rye grass staggers has been bad this year,
throughout the country, even in the south where it does not normally occur. The
endophyte that causes the staggers is in the seed head and also in the base of
the plant. You can minimise the risk by topping the seed heads, and not letting
your pastures get eaten down low. With the onset of colder weather and frosts,
staggers risk should soon be past.
Winter brings the challenge of food for alpacas, especially with the summer
drought.
Make sure you have stocks of winter feed - hay, lucerne, chaff, lactating mix,
pea vine, alpaca pellets. Baled feed is already in short supply.
Keep a close eye on your alpacas, but particularly get your hands on them
regularly, and do a "body score" to check their condition.
Older alpacas
and nursing dams can easily lose condition in winter, and fibre hides it from
view.
Their woolly winter coats can hide the fact that they are skinny underneath.
Have a look at our articles webpage on body
scoring
Lower pecking order alpacas get less feed. Get hands on and move those suffering
into feed paddocks or where supplementation is available and competition is
less.·
Also consider
earlier weaning of cria, if the cria is thriving and the dam is suffering. It is
perfectly OK to wean at 4 months in these circumstances.
And remember that hay fed alpacas have a far higher water requirement
than grass eaters. Keep troughs full, and break the ice.
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