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Our Busy Summer and Fall
Welcome to the inaugural edition of “THE HUM ON THE RANGE”, our
monthly website newsletter! We plan to keep all our alpaca friends up to date on
what’s happening at Singletree Farm. We’ve had a busy summer of alpaca events
here in Arizona. In June we were in Flagstaff for the fiber festival held at the
historical museum. This festival is host to sheep, goats, llamas, spinners,
weavers, felters, blacksmithy’s and lots of fiber enthusiasts. Since we had just
sheared the pacas, we took lots of raw fiber, roving, yarn and finished goods to
sell in our booth. This fest is host to lots of out of state visitors who were
seeing alpacas for the first time, and we had a great weekend talking to people
from all over the U.S.A. about alpacas. Afterwards, we were invited to dinner at
Sandy & Charles Van Riper’s ranch in Flagstaff for a delicious lamb and elk
feast. This was our third year attending the festival, and it just gets better
every year. We sold lots of fiber and practically all our finished textiles.
People are falling in love with the luxurious feel of alpaca! In August, our
affiliate “Alpaca Breeders of Arizona” hosted a tax advantages seminar in
Prescott. This seminar was geared toward people just getting started, or
thinking about raising alpacas. Taught by Alan and Eileen Davis, C.P.A.’s who
are well versed in small livestock operations. Eileen has even written a book
and computer software program for alpaca record-keeping. Deb Hill, our affiliate
president, gave a talk on how to set up your alpaca operation, based on her own
experiences. After the seminars, all attendees were invited to the Vaughan’s
ranch in Prescott Valley for a bar-b-q and a chance to see alpacas first-hand.
That same weekend, Chris Switzer, a fiber expert from Colorado, gave an all-day
workshop on fiber. We learned how to sort and skirt our fleeces; how to
determine fineness by sight and feel; how to card the fiber and ready it for
spinning, and how to use a drop spindle to spin our fiber into yarn. We had 30
attendees from 4 different states for the workshop. Chris is a wonderful teacher
and if you ever get a chance to attend one of her workshops, don’t miss it!
October has brought us cooler weather, falling leaves (LOTS of leaves!) and 3
cranky females anxiously awaiting the birth of their crias. Midnight, our black
beauty, is trying her best to share her misery with everyone. The Singletree
farmers are pestering her every two hours during the night –flashing the lantern
over her over-abundant body looking for “signs” of impending labor. They’re all
getting so used to this late night routine that they don’t even get up when they
see us coming….just raise their heads and flash us dirty looks at this intrusion
on their beauty sleep. So…the farmers are on 24-7 baby watch; the cria medical
kit is ready, and the baby name book is being poured over. We will keep you
posted! Farmer Jack has finished two new pastures for the herd and is planning
two more for spring. This will give us eight grass pastures, and 5 dry lot
pastures. Gee, we only have 10 alpacas. But Jack says, even if they don’t need
all that real estate, they really appreciate the variety. (It’s always greener
on the other side of the fence.) We took our three weanlings to the library on
Sept. 29th, to meet the Head Start kiddies. These children are 3 and 4 yr olds
and the alpacas just love interacting with them. Everyone fed them carrots and
let the alpacas smell their heads. For some reason, alpacas just love the smell
of Johnson’s baby shampoo. We will be taking them back in November to meet the
kindergardeners. These short trips are a great way to get the young alpacas
socialized and used to crowds before we start taking them to shows in the
Spring. Just a reminder to everyone….we welcome visits to the farm, so give us a
call.
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