Day at the Ranch

Been Gone Too Long…

Leigh — Mon, 07 Mar 2011 22:21:56 +0000

Hey, I’m sorry…. what can I say…. Sometimes life gets in the way of blogging!

Hill Country Alpacas has this great new (to our ranch) herdsire…EON Max Factor. You heard about him from my blog about the BARE Alpaca Show.

The time is getting closer and we are anxiously awaiting the arrival of our first Max Factor cria. We have chosen eight of our dams to be the the moms of the first Max cria at our ranch. Max has that super beautiful fine fleece that a descendant of Peruvian Hemingway and PPeruvian Victor offers… he also has unbelievable brightness and exquisite character.

His most recent histogram with the OFDA 100 came back with the following:

Mean Fiber Diameter of: 20.5 microns, a SD of 4.1 microns, a CV of 20.1% with Fibers Greater than 30 microns at 1.3%.

He has a Spin Fineness of 19.8 microns and a Comfort Factor of 98.7%. And, he is a 3 1/2 year old breeding male!

Some of the comments from judges who scored his fleece are, “Excellent crimp style, brightness. Very even fleece. A joy to judge!” “What a beautiful fleece!! Fine, uniform, highly aligned & bright.” Eye catching bright crimp style, good micron in relation to age group”. “Good structure, well nourished fleece”. Wow, what more can you ask for.

Now, lets see how good I will be to post picture of these long awaited cria…. The first is due on March 26th by our Oro/Dom Lucilio granddaughter, Bell.

I’m guessing a fawn colored cria, how about you?

Go Texan

Leigh — Fri, 02 Jul 2010 21:11:10 +0000

As a part of the natural fibers of Texas, alpaca has now been added to Texas Department of Agriculture’s Go Texan Wool and Mohair fiber listing. See here. Following is what they say about Alpaca:

Alpaca

Alpaca has long been recognized as a premier fiber in South America where it originated. Produced by the animal of the same name belonging to the camelid family, alpaca is known for its length, soft-hand and insulating properties. Alpaca fleece may be used in a wide variety of applications and may be especially applicable when desiring warmth in a lightweight garment.

GO TEXAN is designed to facilitate domestic and international sales of Texas agricultural products. It allows the Texas Department of Agriculture to link our GO TEXAN program product members–growers, processors, farmers and ranchers–with industry buyers and consumers.

These Renoir cria amaze me!

Leigh — Thu, 24 Jun 2010 17:45:32 +0000

So, we have this beautiful white herdsire – Express’ Masterpiece Renoir… a son of Peruvian Accoyo Express and great-grandson of Caligula through Peruvian Presidio.

We had our first crias from him recently and are very pleased with how they are developing.

Above is Renoirs fleece as a yearling.

This is a fiber shot of Harrison, a white son of Renoir, at 5 months. This guy is solidly built and at 7 months old is growing like a weed in stature and his fleece is looking fabulous! Look for him in the show ring in the fall.

Above is Harrison at two months old. He’s much bigger now…

Above is Harrison from the rear. Just look at that popcorn fleece! This guy also carries Oro and Peruvian Aladdin bloodlines.

Then there’s this guy, Dawson. His dam is a Dom Lucilio daughter, so that gives him that sought after bloodline through Royal Fawn. He got the fawn patch on his eyebrow from his mom; she has fawn on her ear.

He’s crimpy! And, just look at that shine! This is what we are looking for….

BARE Alpaca Show – a great success!

Leigh — Mon, 17 May 2010 22:45:43 +0000

This past weekend in Fredericksburg, Texas, the first annual BARE Alpaca Romp & Expo took place – see www.barealpacashow.com. This show was a Composite only show and everyone learned a lot! There are some particular rules to a composite show that are different than a fleece or halter show. And, a Composite Show is where shorn animals are judged in the show ring for their conformation, and their most recent harvest of fiber is judged separately from the animal, the day before. The two scores are combined for final placement. It is the most exacting and precise form of alpaca show judging.

Just wanted to share a few pictures with you from the show.

Ali receiving the Reserve Color Champion Ribbon and Beer Stein from the show. Ali did such a good job!

This is Ali with her obstacle course alpaca, Bucky, loaned from Wildflower Ridge Alpacas in Fredericksburg. It was her first obstacle course to participate in and she got second place.

Texas Wildflowers

Leigh — Sun, 25 Apr 2010 14:45:38 +0000

About 15 years ago when we moved closer to the Texas Hill Country, I had been hearing about his drive called the Willow City Loop for wildflower viewing in the Springtime.

A few weeks ago we took the day off from work and headed to the Willow City Loop for the afternoon. It was the best Texas wildflower drive I had been on in a looong time!

Sharing a few of the beautiful pictures of Texas Wildflowers in the Hill Country.

Love a road like this…..it makes me want to be there to see what’s on the other side!!! And…..I did!

Ahhhh….bluebonnets!

Very Texas….. Purely Texas….. Beautiful Texas…..

The Majestic Bluebonnet….. God’s glory in a wildflower!

A map of the Willow City Loop.

Meet Our New Boy!!!

Leigh — Sun, 28 Feb 2010 04:13:12 +0000

Meet EON Max Factor. He is a Victor’s Hemiaccoyo Casanova son with Peruvian Accoyo Victor and Peruvian Hemingway on his sire’s side and Yupanqui on his dam’s side. His dam, Mabelline, has produced several award winning alpacas with Max being one of them.

Take a look at his fleece…

We are excited about partnering with Michelle and Mike Swango from Eye of the Needle Ranch in Golden, Colorado. We will be able to use Max to the utmost as the breeding season in Colorado is just the opposite as ours here in Texas.

For those of you in my area, Max will be here through most of May. Give me a call if you’d like to come see him when he arrives in early March. He is a handsome macho and can make huge improvements in your herd!

Getting Some Comfort at TxOLAN

Leigh — Mon, 22 Feb 2010 15:22:48 +0000

On the last day of the TxOLAN show in Fort Worth, Zori was ready for some comfort. I think she was also ready to go home….Showing alpacas can be a stress to some of them and though Zori was showing no real signs of stress, she was finding some comfort hanging her neck over Cami’s.

I thought it looked so sweet that I just had to get a picture.

Announcing a NEW Alpaca Show

Leigh — Fri, 19 Feb 2010 14:39:58 +0000

This new show is going to be May 7-9, 2010 in the beautiful Texas Hill Country town of Fredericksburg. This AOBA Certified show is a Composite Only Show and the first of its kind in Texas.

Many of us in the southern part of the country have our alpacas shorn some time in April because it starts to get pretty warm by then. So, if you have had your animals shorn by then, plan now to get your show fleeces skirted, head on over to Fredericksburg, Texas and join us at the show.

For more information visit this site: www.barealpacashow.com

We would love to have you join us in showing your alpacas, sponsoring the show, or being a vendor. It’s gonna be a great time!

Life Is Like A….

Leigh — Thu, 04 Feb 2010 18:56:05 +0000

You never know what you’re gonna get!!!

Texas Country Reporter

Leigh — Sat, 30 Jan 2010 04:09:48 +0000