Sugar Hollow Farm Alpacas LLC, Pennsylvania

We welcome our newest arrival to the farm! Rosehaven's Tres Nebbiola is a nearly three year old true black female. She is currently bred to Rosehaven's Tiberian who most recently threw a true black offspring. If you are seeing a pattern here, well yes. After a few years of adding white alpacas to our herd (and selling most of our browns) we are again concentrating on color, specifically true black and grays. "Nebby" was purchased along with a breeding to Crescent Moon's Kemmaus to whom she will be bred this fall. Kemmaus is a medium rose gray proven sire who has the genetics to throw black and gray offspring. He was the 2024 AOA National Show Roan Color Champion and has racked up 14 total banners in his two year show career.

We have our first cria arrival of the year! Sugar Hollow's Isabella was born on Friday, May 30 just after 11:00 AM. Dam is King Leonidus' Tiny Dancer and sire is BGF Poseidon Isaac's Matoskah. This is the third time for this breeding match. The first two were lgiht fawn males. This time around we have a medium brown female! Like her brothers she has tremendously soft fleece and is already bouncing around in the pasture keeping mom on her toes! Tiny Dancer was sold this past spring so she and little Isabella will be leaving the farm in a few weeks. We are expecting two additional cria later this summer. Watch this space for announcements when they arrive!

Congratulations to new alpaca owners Nicole Farr, and Susan & Chris Walsh! 

Nicole purchased three females: Thistledown Heather Nikos who is rose gray; Sugar Hollow's Sweet Caroline who is brown, and Sugar Hollow's Twist & Shout who is medium fawn. That's a great variation in color! 

Susan & Chris Walsh also purchased three females: Snowmass Secret Ovation who is white, King Leonidus' Tiny Dancer who is Beige, and Inspiration's Keep The Faith who is Dark Fawn. These three girls regularly place very high in the EPD calculation, have produced ribbon winning offspring, and make wonderful yarn!

​We are excited to help you get started on your alpaca adventure!

Only the two young males are left from our Post Holiday Alpaca sale. Not ready for alpacas just yet? We will be breeding six of our females this Spring to "re-stock" our inventory for late 2026 and 2027. If you think you may be interested in raising alpacas sometime in the next few years call us to arrange a no obligation visit to talk about what is involved in having alpacas. 

We welcome the arrival of Accoyo America Tickety Boo to the Sugar Hollow herd!. She brings our farm more of those amazing Accoyo genetics which produce fleece that makes superb yarn. She will also produce wonderful offspring who will produce incredible fleece that will make superb yarn! Tickety Boo is bred to Snowmass Bernacelli who in the 2023 EPD calculation (the 2024 calculation should come out later this month) ranked in the top 12% for AFD (fineness), and Mean Curvature (crimp), the top 6% for SDAFD (fleece consistency), just outside the top 5% (5.03%!) for Mean Staple Length, and the top 3% for Fleece Weight. This should be one spectacular cria, and we can't wait to meet him or her in September. Tickety Boo is settling in nicely with our herd and appears to have been accepted readily by her herd mates and guard llama Gabe. 

Following is a list of events in which we will be participating this fall. There may be changes so check back often!
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​National Alpaca Farm Days - Saturday, Sept. 28 from 10:30 to 4:00 & Sunday, Sept. 29 from 1:30 to 4:00.  This is the weekend that alpaca farms all across the United States open their doors to the public. Stop by our farm to visit the alpacas, take a tour of the farm, learn about the care and handling of these amazing animals, and also the process for turning their fleece into yarn and eventually into the soft and warm apparel that you've come to know and love. Then finish off your visit in our farm store to get a jump on that Holiday shopping!

​Waynesboro Market Day - Saturday, Oct. 5 from 9:00 to 4:00. Held on Main Street in downtown Waynesboro this annual event features dozens of vendors along with lots of food and activities. We will have alpacas with us so be sure to stop by and say hello! For more information click here.

Pumpkins & Pippins Fall Festival - Saturday, Oct. 19 from 12:00 to 4:00.

***DUE TO THE SPOTTY NATURE OF INTERNET AT THE PINE HILL RECREATION AREA PLEASE BRING CASH OR CHECK TO MAKE PURCHASES***

​Pine Hill recreation area outside Waynesboro is the location for this event sponsored by Buttonwood Nature Center, Home of The Institute to fundraise in support of their many year round programs. There will be pony rides, a "kids zone", bake sale, pumpkin decorating contest, and even a Trebuchet Pumpkin Launch! There will also be food trucks, craft vendors and of course, ALPACAS from Sugar Hollow Farm! Click here for details.

​Waynesboro Tree Lighting "Sweets & Treats" Market - Friday, Nov. 22 from 5:30 to 7:30 - Alpacas are sweet and a treat to be around so of course we will be a part of this favorite annual event in downtown Waynesboro! Come see us in the square (in front of the Candy Kitchen) before and after the official lighting of Waynesboro's Christmas tree (or even during, if you want to beat the crowd)! We will have all our usual favorites for you to find just the right gift for that very special someone.

Waynesboro Small Business Saturday Holiday Market - Saturday, Nov. 30 from 9:00 to 3:00 - Come to Main Street Park and support small businesses! We will have all our usual favorites for you to put a serious dent in your Holiday shopping.  And don't forget to treat yourself! Click here for details.

Seventh Annual Holiday Open Farm - Saturday, Dec. 7 from 10:30 to 4:00 - Rain or Shine!- Come to our farm and see the alpacas in their natural habitat - COLD. Then warm yourself by our fire pit with some hot chocolate and cookies, while that special someone finds the perfect alpaca gift for you in our shop! Don't forget to drop a lot of hints!

The days are getting shorter and cooler weather is upon us! Following is a list of events we will be hosting or attending this fall. Events may be updated and others added so check back often!

Wright Hand Studio Fall Event, Hagerstown, MD - Saturday, Dec. 2, from 10:00 to 2:00 ​- Shop for unique gifts at the Wright Hand Pottery Studio, 571 Jefferson St., Hagerstown, MD. We will be there with a few of our alpacas and our various alpaca products along with some of Kathy's one-of-a-kind pottery!
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Sixth Annual Holiday Open Farm - Saturday, Dec. 9 from 10:30 to 4:00 - Rain or Shine!- Come to our farm and see the alpacas in their natural habitat - COLD. Then warm yourself by our fire pit with some hot chocolate and cookies, while that special someone finds the perfect alpaca gift for you in our shop! Don't forget to drop a lot of hints!
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National Alpaca Farm Days - Saturday, Sept. 23 from 10:30 to 4:00 & Sunday, Sept. 24 from 1:30 to 4:00.  This is the weekend that alpaca farms all across the United States open their doors to the public. Stop by our farm to visit the alpacas, take a tour of the farm, learn about the care and handling of these amazing animals, and also the process for turning their fleece into yarn and eventually into the soft and warm apparel that you've come to know and love. Then finish off your visit in our farm store to get a jump on that Holiday shopping!

Waynesboro Market Day - Saturday, Oct. 7 from 9:00 to 4:00. Held on Main Street in downtown Waynesboro this annual event features dozens of vendors along with lots of food and activities. We will have alpacas with us so be sure to stop by and say hello! For more information click here.

2nd Annual Hagerstown Fiber Fest - Saturday, Oct. 7 from 9:00 to 4:00. Unfortunately the date for this event conflicts with Waynesboro Market Day so we will be unable to attend. However, if you're looking for alpaca yarn, roving, felt, or raw alpaca fiber please contact us to arrange a visit to our farm!

Fall Festival - Saturday, Oct. 14 from 10:00 to 2:00. Held at Silverbrook United Methodist Church in Lorton, VA the Fall Festival features an amazing chicken BBQ and bake sale along with Karaoke and a few Sugar Hollow Farm ALPACAS! Proceeds from the bake sale and BBQ benefit the Wilson Scholarship Fund which supports children attending Camp Highroad summer camp.

Pumpkins & Pippins Fall Festival - Saturday, Oct 21 from 12:00 to 4:00. Pine Hill recreation area outside Waynesboro is the location for this event sponsored by The Institute to fundraise in support of their many year round programs. There will be pony rides, a "kids zone", bake sale, pumpkin decorating contest, and even a Trebuchet Pumpkin Launch! There will also be food trucks, craft vendors and of course, ALPACAS from Sugar Hollow Farm!

Fort Ritchie Fall Craft Bazaar/Family Fun Day - Sunday, Oct. 22 from 10:00 to 4:00 - This event will feature over 60 indoor craft vendors selling unique items from home decor, holiday gifts, homemade candles, to foods, and children’s toys. Find us OUTSIDE on the parade field in front of the Community Center with a few of our fleecy friends! We will also have alpaca items for purchase as well. For more information click here.

Waynesboro Tree Lighting "Sweets & Treats" Market - Friday, Nov. 17 from 4:30 to 8:00 - Alpacas are sweet and a treat to be around so of course we will be a part of this favorite annual event in downtown Waynesboro! Come see us in the square diagonally across from the Christmas tree (in front of Sapporo) before and after the official lighting of Waynesboro's Christmas tree (or even during, if you want to beat the crowd)! We will have all our usual favorites for you to find just the right gift for that very special someone. 

Waynesboro Small Business Saturday Holiday Market - Saturday, Nov. 25 from 9:00 to 2:00 - Come to Main Street Park and support small businesses! We will have all our usual favorites for you to put a serious dent in your Holiday shopping.  And don't forget to treat yourself! Click here for details.

There are basically four ways that one can assess the quality of alpaca fleece.  The first is eyes and hands – how does it look and how does it feel?  The more fleeces you get your eyes and hands on, the better you will be able to judge a quality fleece.  The risk is “barn blindness,” which is when you only look at your own fleeces and judge them to be superior – which we all do!  That is why it is important to get someone else’s eyes and hands on fleeces, and to look at fleeces that don’t live in your barn.
The second way is to go to the shows.  Halter and fleece shows will give a lot of feedback – with a few caveats.  If you send your fleece to a fleece show, you will get a scorecard with the judge’s comments, regardless of placement.  If you go to a halter show, your alpaca will also be scored on conformation, which is important for breeding.  You won’t get comments in the halter ring, though, unless your animal places in the top six. By the time you pay to register the animal, reserve stalls, travel and secure lodging, pay for farm sitting, etc, the shows get pretty expensive.  For some of us, that is a real issue.
The third way, histograms, gives objective data. That is why we do histograms on all our animals.  At shearing, a 4x4” sample is taken from the side of the animal, which is sent to a lab in New Zealand where the fiber diameter, curvature (crimp), and staple length are measured in a machine that has no bias or error.  Of course, the measurement is only as good as the sample.  Histograms only look at fiber – not the whole animal, and not density, because that is based on hair follicles per square millimeter.  Hair follicles are in the skin, so can’t be measured by a fleece sample.
An option with histograms is to participate in the EPD program.  EPD stands for Expected Progeny Difference.  All the data that is available for a particular animal – most of it from histograms – is entered into an algorithm that tells breeders how likely an animal is to pass on particular characteristics.  EPDs are available for cattle, pigs, sheep, horses, and within the last few years, alpacas.  The EPD algorithm for alpacas assesses fleece diameter (fineness), percent of fibers above 30 microns (comfort), medullated fibers (can produce itchiness, and don’t take dye well), mean staple length (2” staple length is necessary to go through machinery at a commercial mill), fleece weight (more is better), and birth weight.  The higher the percentile (closer to zero), the more likely the animal is to pass that particular trait on.
Histograms only take a couple of weeks once the sample arrives at the lab, but EPDs are run as a batch at the end of the year, as the data is needed from all the animals participating.  Our EPD results for 2022 came about a month ago, and we are SO pleased.
We don’t have a lot of show wins, mostly because it is so expensive to show.  We’ve never stood in the championship ring (although we’ve bought animals who have!).  But our EPDs tell us we are right where we want to be as a fiber producing farm.
Two of our animals are in the top 1% for fineness (AFD), one is in the top five%, and three are in the top 10%.  Consistency (SDAFD) is even better:  1 in the top 1%, 5 in the top 5%, and 5 in the top 10%.  Mean staple length (MSL) is where we fall off:  1 in the top 5%, 1 in the top 10%, and 2 in the top 25%.  This means that out of 53,247 females, some of ours ranked in the top 300 for various traits.  For males, 29,710 animals were ranked, so again, those in the top 25% are more likely to pass that trait on than 22,282 of the animals participating.  Not bad for a small farm like ours!
These results tell us that our breeding decisions are paying off.  We have been focusing on consistency for several years.  Consistency gives us nice, soft yarn that tends not to shed and is less prickly than yarn that has fibers of different diameters and length.  Fineness is important for softness, but the mills can’t use fiber that is too fine, so we prefer to focus on consistency.  Now, while we maintain a strong focus on consistency, we will turn to improving our staple length.
There was an interesting article in The American Alpaca Journal in the January, 2023 issue, that judges in the show ring are not currently showing a preference for staple length, and in fact are rewarding fleece traits at the expense of staple length.   “To win in the halter ring, breed to produce animals with fleeces that are finer, denser and much shorter than average.” (p. 3).  The data bears this out:  from a sample of 50 male halter show champions and reserve champions with shows from January 2021 to May 2022, all were at the 85 percentile or lower for staple length (p. 5).  In fleece shows, the highest percentile for staple length in a cohort of 38 male champions and reserve champions was 63% (p. 9).  The problem is that staple must be two inches long, at least, to be commercially made into yarn.  There is a disconnect here somewhere.  As one exhibitor at a show a few years ago told me, we have to make breeding decisions based on what we want – to win ribbons or make yarn, because the two aren’t necessarily the same.  This particular exhibitor has champion alpacas and owns and operates a fiber mill, so he knows whereof he speaks.
What does this mean for Sugar Hollow Farm Alpacas?  As we say on our website, we breed for yarn.  We don’t need the finest alpacas who win in the show ring.  We want consistent fleeces with a staple length of 2 inches or more.    Our EPD results tell us that we are exactly where we want to be as far as consistency goes. Now we need to work on staple length. 
What does this mean for you?  Look past our show ribbons – we aren’t big winners at the shows.  Look at our histograms and EPDs, and if you need help interpreting them, give us a call.  If yarn is what you want, our animals will help you get it!
 
 
Edens, L., & Bienenstock, S.  (2023). Winning Fleece Formulas By Venue.  The American Alpaca Journal, 8(January), 2-11.

The days are getting shorter and cooler weather is upon us! Following is a list of the events we will be hosting or attending this fall. Other events may be added so check back often!

National Alpaca Farm Days - Saturday, Sept. 24 from 10:30 to 4:00 & Sunday, Sept. 25 from 1:30 to 4:00.  This is the weekend that alpaca farms all across the United States open their doors to the public. Stop by our farm to visit the alpacas, take a tour of the farm, learn about the care and handling of these amazing animals, and also the process for turning their fleece into yarn and eventually into the soft and warm apparel that you've come to know and love. Then finish off your visit in our farm store and get a jump start on that Holiday shopping!

Waynesboro Market Day - Saturday, Oct. 1 from 9:00 to 4:00. Held on Main Street in downtown Waynesboro this annual event features dozens of vendors along with lots of food and activities. We will have alpacas with us so be sure to stop by and say hello! For more information click here.

1st Annual Hagerstown Fiber Fest - Saturday, Oct. 15 from 9:00 to 4:00. Located at University Plaza, 50 West Washington Street in Hagerstown, MD this event is for fiber enthusiasts of all ages and experiences. There will be demonstrations, vendors of all things fiber and of course, alpacas from Sugar Hollow Farm! If you love the fiber arts don't miss this festival! Click here for more information.

Waynesboro Tree Lighting and Holiday Market - Friday, Nov. 18 from 4:30 to 8:00 - See us on Main Street (not in Main Street Park) before and after the official lighting of Waynesboro's Christmas tree (or even during, if you want to beat the crowd)! We will have all our usual favorites for you to find just the right gift for that very special someone. And don't forget to treat yourself! Click here for details.

Wright Hand Studio Fall Event - Saturday, Nov. 19 from 10:00 to 3:00. Held at the Wright Hand Pottery studio at 571 Jefferson St., Hagerstown, MD this semi-annual event features pottery created by owner Steve Wright and his many talented students. We will be there with alpacas and alpaca apparel, books, toys, and some pottery of our own created by Kathy Brown.
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Fifth Annual Holiday Open Farm - Saturday, Dec. 3 from 10:30 to 4:00 - Rain or Shine!- Come to our farm and see the alpacas in their natural habitat - COLD. Then warm yourself by our fire pit with some hot chocolate and cookies, while that special someone finds the perfect alpaca gift for you in our shop! Don't forget to drop a lot of hints!