Sugar Hollow Farm Alpacas LLC, Pennsylvania

Congratulations to Lia Mort of Richfield, PA on her recent purchase of Matoskah's Johnny B. Goode! Lia was looking for a companion alpaca for her 8-month old male cria Buck who was about to be weaned and Johnny was a perfect fit for her needs. After arriving Johnny seemed to really enjoy his new surroundings, new friends and new home and we know he will spend many happy years ahead on Lia's farm!

Here is a line up of our fall events as they now stand:

National Alpaca Farm Days - Saturday, Sept. 26 from 10:30-4:00 and Sunday Sept. 27 from 1:30-4:00 we will again be joining with alpaca farms all across the nation in this open farm event. Come visit the alpacas - including our two 4-month old crias - and get a jump on your Holiday shopping at our farm store. Due to the Coronavirus pandemic we will have our store items outside and will require that masks be worn. There is no research yet regarding whether or not alpacas are susceptible to the virus, but with over $30k invested in alpacas we're not taking any chances.

Market Days in Waynesboro - Saturday, October 3 from 9:00-4:00 we will be participating in this annual Waynesboro event. You can find more information here. As of this writing our display will be located at the back of Mainstreet Park near the band stand. If that changes we will update this post. Please stop by! 

Holiday Tree Lighting and Parade - Friday evening, Nov. 21 and Saturday, Nov. 22. At this time there is no information available regarding vendors for these two events. Last year a Holiday market was set up in the park and if that opportunity is provided this year we will be there!

Holiday Open Farm - Saturday, December 13 from 10:30-4:00. Come see the alpacas in the weather they love - COLD - and warm yourself by our fire pit with some hot chocolate or coffee. After consuming some Holiday treats, visit the farm store to finish up your last minute shopping and then treat yourself to some warm alpaca mittens, gloves, socks, hat, or whatever else catches your fancy!

Our yearling male Born to Run placed third out of 11 in the white color class at the 2020 Pennsylvania Alpaca Owners and Breeders Association Fleece Show held on August 7 & 8 at the Penn Stater Hotel and Conference Center. His score of 84 earned him an Advanced Fleece Award and was high enough to have taken the blue ribbon in other classes, but white is always a very competitive class in which to compete. He scored well in all the categories that help make his fiber a joy to spin into lovely, soft yarn. With a score of 19.5 out of a possible 20 in fineness and handle, 8.5/10 in uniformity of micron (commonly known as consistency) 5/5 in uniformity of length, and 5/5 in uniformity of color he confirmed that we are on the right track with our breeding program toward our goal of producing alpacas who will produce outstanding yarn!

Congratulations to Bryant Greene of Sewell, NJ on the purchase of two of our breeding males - Honey Boy Edward and Jumpin' Jack Flash! They will make a terrific addition to his farm where he intends to raise alpacas for yarn production among many other activities. Honey Boy and Jack will produce offspring with great characteristics for quality alpaca yarn production. Honey Boy was in the top 15% of EPDs for Mean Staple Length (fiber length) and Standard Deviation of Average Fiber Diameter (consistency). Jack was in the top 1% for Average Fiber Diameter (fineness), SDAFD (again, consistency), and Spin Fineness. We hope the sires will provide Bryant with many wonderful fiber producing alpacas and wish him the best of luck in all of his farm endeavors!

The second of our 2 expected spring cria's arrived on May 29. Abracadabra (named from the Steve Miller Band song) weighed in at 17.6 lbs and was standing and nursing in about an hour. Deacon Blues, our cria born about 2 weeks earlier, was very happy for a playmate and was anxious for "Abby" to get big enough to run around the pasture with him. Fortunately, thanks to mama Rhiannon, Abby was strong enough to play in just a few days. Now the two of them are inseparable and tend to annoy the adults as they romp around the pasture!

The first of our two expected Spring Crias hit the ground on Sunday, May 17. In keeping with our classic rock theme we have named him Deacon Blues. He weighed in at a healthy 18.7 pounds. His mama, Sweet Caroline, is very attentive and is providing him with plenty of nutrition. He gained more than 2 pounds in three days! Now we are waiting for our true black female Rhiannon to give us cria number 2. Her due date just passed so it won't be long now! 

It was cloudy, but the rain held off for our shearing day on April 27. Jay Mariacher and his shearing crew harvested the fleece from our 18 camelids in about 2 hours and 45 minutes. If you do the math that's about 9 minutes per animal (although the llamas throw off the average a bit because they take longer). Kathy has  begun skirting the fleeces to prepare them for processing at Blue Mountain Farm and Fiber Mill just north of Harrisburg, PA. For your enjoyment here are some before and after pictures, plus our llama Gabriel being sheared standing up! (The alpacas are all sheared lying down).

​Have you heard the latest news?! The Yarn Shop at 98 W. Washington St. in Hagerstown is now offering Sugar Hollow Farm Alpacas' Yarn! We are so excited to have our yarn available at another location. The Yarn Shop is open on Tuesdays, Wednesdays & Fridays from 12:00 - 5:00; Thursdays from 12:00 - 7:00; and Saturdays from 10:00 - 4:00. You can find class schedules and other events on their Facebook page:  facebook.com/WilliamsportYarnCloset
​
​Grab all your knitter/crocheter friends and head on over. Tell them Kathy & Jay sent you!

COVID-19 has meant that many of our Spring Activities have been cancelled. Both the Pennsylvania Alpaca Owners and Breeders Association Breeder Showcase, and the Mid-Atlantic Alpaca Association's Jubilee and Gala were cancelled. The MAPACA Jubilee and Gala may be rescheduled for this fall at the Farm Show Complex in Harrisburg, PA, but no decision has been announced as of yet.

As far as we know we are still invited to bring some of our fleecy friends to the Mennohaven retirement community in late May. We enjoy introducing our alpacas to the residents almost as much as they enjoy interacting with them! 

And of course, even the current pandemic cannot dim our excitement concerning this year's crop of crias! We are expecting 2 baby alpacas in late May or early June and 3 more in November. Later this Spring or early Summer when the Stay-At-Home orders are lifted plan to shake off that cabin fever with a farm visit. Bring the whole family and see why we say "YES, crias ARE even cuter than puppies and kittens!"

You've heard us say it over and over - "Just give us a call, if we're home, we're open!" We realize however that in the busy Holiday season it's not always convenient to call first before coming to the farm.  To remedy that we've decided to open our farm and store for regular hours on Saturday, Dec. 7 & 14 from 10:00 to 4:00 and Sunday, Dec. 8 & 15 from 1:00 to 4:00. Just swing by during those hours - no call necessary! We'll be here!