Gates Open Tour

Wow is all I can say about the Gates Open tour. We had an amazing turn out and had between 1500 and 2000 people visit us at the farm. I must say that I am so pleased with the people who came. They were respectful of the animals and the farm. I was pleased to see Adults and kids alike enjoy the animals as much as I do.

We walked through the fields of Alpacas and I let people feed them. Then we went and visited the donkeys and fed them some carrots. We had ducklings hatch on Wednesday so the kids loved to see 3 days old Ducklings.

Then into the Studio we went. Where Stephanie was weaving and Donna was Spinning. What a great way to see how we turn all that Alpaca fleece into Yarn and then into Fabric.
Ian the Bee Man had also brought a Bee Hive for people to see the beeds working on their honey. We will have some of Ians bee hives on the farm next year. We now carry Ians pure honey and honey comb. Plus his wonderful pure bees wax candles.

Then everyone was able to see and feel the luxurious Alpaca products we have. Many Teddy Bears were adopted and are now in new homes :-)

Please enjoy the pictures from the weekend. If you would like to visit Heronview Alpacas please contact Me (Lori) go to our Website Heronview Alpacas

We lost our new cria

I am so sad right now. My beautiful little girl that was born on sunday died yesterday.  It was a really silly injury that she died from.  ON Sunday afternoon I had to go out for an hour. She was fine and was nursing and running around.  I cam back and she was chused in the field. I went to see how she was doing and just check her out. She had some blood on her and I thought maybe her imbelical cord was bleeding. My hand came away wet with blood.  I turned her over and she had a small puncture wound. This was weird as we have nothing she can hurt herself on.  I looked after the wound and wrapped it etc.  She got up and was walking around and trying to nurse. Yesterday I changed the dressing and thought it was wetter then it should be. Called the vet who said no that is fine best to be draining.  She was peeing and nursing so I did not worry (to much)  I was not happy thought with her attitude. It was nto sharp enough. She enver startled at all when I came to check her. I thought maybe she was getting so used to me hovering. I gave her a bottle of goats milk just incase she was not nursing enough. just a couple of ounces so she would get more emergy and be able to nurse more from mom.I called my vet to come out and look at her because I just felt she was not right. You just get a gut feeling.  I went inside for an hour and when I came out she had died. I was heart broken. My vet arived 1/2 hour later.  He was so surprised. Then he looked her over and told me she had not infection. He opened up the wound to look at it. What a surprise. inside that little would she had torn her muscle so he figures she lost more fluid inside. They are so small that losing blood can send them into shock and this is what he thinks happened. You always question yourself and how you could have changed things.  The only thing we can think that happened is she got poked with a branch. We have a pile of vranches in the field from trimming the trees. My Alpacas love to eat the leaves and scratch themselves on the branches. We left them there for their enjoyment. A baby has paper thin skin and I guess she must have wandered into the pile and got hurt. Figures doent it. Her mom is breaking my heart following me around and asking me where he baby is. Everytime I turn around there she is with those big sad eyes looking at me and making a sound  that  is like a question.I love my animals and would never change but it is times like this when I hate doing what I do.

Reggie and his mom are just too cute

I went outside and reggie and Raven were giving each other little licks. Alpacas do not really lick. They can do little tiny licks and this is what they were doing. Then I walk to the other side of the field and here are a few of the Alpacas laying there like they had been placed. All in a row. I thought it was pretty funny.

Camelidynamics Clinic

June 28th and 29th I attended a 2 day Camelidynamics course with Marty McGee Bennett. This course is similer to Tellington touch but has been changed and evolved to work with Camelids. Marty is a fantastic presentor and makes it all look so easy. What I loved about this course was seeing that what we have been doing all along is pretty similar to what Marty teaches. I of course learned a lot about the way an Alpaca thinks and different behaviours. I plan on taking the week long course she offers in Oregon.

My goal is to train all my alpacas the Marty way now and to help my customers learn also. So this is a win win situation for the Alpacas.

Our Cria has a name

Finally our little boy has a name. We have decieded to name him Levi

.Here he is at 6 weeks old. Levi is a brat and loves to torment the girls. He needs a playmate and the girls are not cooperating . I have two Alpaca girls that are overdue right now

Happy news today that Layla who was sold to Jo and Denis had a wonderful 19.5lb cria.

Shearing day

Shearing day is over for another year. We get better and better at it every year. We have had the same group helping for the past 3 years. We have Tom Redpath shear our herd. He is experienced and his knowledge and ability makes our day so much easier. We sheared 31 Alpacas and 1 sheep this year . The Alpacas look so cute after all their fleece is off. To see more of the Alpacas with and with out their fleeces visit my website www.heronviewalpacas.com

Now we have the babies to look forward to. The next step is skirting and sorting my fibre so I can send it to be made into yarn. Then we can make it into wonderful items for the Store

New cria born at Heronview

Hi everyone welcome to my blog. This is my first post and I thought why not start with some fantastic news. We had a male cria born on Friday , he is a beautiful fawn and is the color of carmel. He is very friendly and walks up to you to say hello. We have not chosen a name for him yet. We want to have a contest to name the cria. Go to my webpage http://www.heronviewalpacas.com/ for details.

His mom is Honey a lovely rose grey girl and his dad is Myster Luv a beautiful fawn boy.