Heydtsite’s Blog

White River Alpacas, made the news! Alpacas Make the News

We had a beautiful weekend for our Open Barn. It was sunny, warm and ‘Paca Perfect! The alpacas, as expected, were a big hit – even with the local news station.

We must report that the voting contest became skewed when Unicorn decided to have her cria on opening morning. We thought Pablo might become the “Farm Favorite” with his outgoing personality and unique spots.

He was one of the farm favorites

But then Grace’s 3 week old cria had spots too…

"Marble" needs a name

but then Unicorn had her newborn on Opening Day, and all bets were off. He was definately the “farm favorite”.

This was the Farm Favorite

Our barn was totally transformed into a shopping area…

Shopping area in the barn

With new hand dyed yarn, felted pictures and table runners…

Felted scarf, felting kits and Ashford Fiber art supplies

and this one of a kind faux felted scarf.  The wind was strong on Sunday making it difficult to keep things in place and take photographs, but such are the challenges of country living!

Unicorn gave those that visited us on opening day quite a unique gift – she had her cria just about an hour before we opened the gate! Those that came were able to see a very newborn baby. It’s a boy and he naturally he’s adorable. I’ll get photos today. Yesterday was just too busy. But here are photos of the proud parents, Unicorn and Clancey.

Mom: Unicorn

Meet Pablo. Pablo is my guess for winning the “Farm Favorite” category because he’s everyones favorite when they come for a visit. He has an interesting story.

Pablo was born in January 2009. Terry found him at 8:00 in the morning and he truly thought that he was frozen – it was during an ice storm. But when he picked him up, he looked up at him and hummed!

I came “skating” to the barn with my hair dryer and towels and Pablo sat inside my coat while I dried him off and warmed him up. Terry looked at him and immediately named him Pablo after the Disney storybook we read to our boys when they were young. You see, Pablo was the penguin that hated the cold. With this cria being black and white and born in an ice storm, it seemed to be the perfect name!

I’m going to write a children’s book about Pablo. We are very attached and he is quite the character!

Meet Pablo right after shearing. You should see him now!

April was born on April 1, 2009 – yep, April Fool’s Day. But she is no joke. She is a stunning pure white (mayble that’s the joke. Both parents are fawn!) female that will also be in our fall show string.

April needed a “Show Stopper” name, but naturally she must be called April. It tooks me months, but I finally arrived with a name that suited both her date of birth and was show worthy. LaBelleFluer is French for “The Beautiful Flower”. It had the flair I thought she needed!

This is April's baby photo. You should see her now!

Here are just a few of the crias that you can vote on for “Most Adorable”. They have just completed their halter training and some are preparing for the fall show season.

We’re very busy here on the farm getting ready for National Alpaca Farm Days. The barn is clean thanks to a local youth group. They worked very hard to clean the panels, gates and add a new floor. Maybe they should come and work INSIDE my house!!!

Last year was such a success with well over 100 people coming, that this year we’ve added a couple of new activities.

VOTE for your favorite alpaca in several different categories including “Most Adorable” – always a favorite, “Show Stopper”, Yarn Pick/favorite color” and “Farm Favorite”. We’ll tally up the results and post them here and on our website.

We also have a new arrival that needs a name. He’s a rare appaloosa and could very well grow into the “Shop Stopper” category and he needs an appropriate name.