Sugar Hollow Farm Alpacas LLC, Pennsylvania

Congratulations to Drs. Joel & LuAnne Yeager of Newmanstown, PA on their purchase of Sugar Hollow's Born to Run, Deacon Blues, and Abracadabra! They are off to a good start on their alpaca adventure with these three fabulously fleeced  young males. Runner earned an Advanced Fleece award at the 2020 PAOBA fleece show with a score of 83. Deacon and Abby also show excellent fineness, consistency, staple length, and crimp. All vital characteristics to produce wonderful yarn!

Here 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. 25 from 10:30 to 4:00 & Sunday, Sept. 26 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. 2 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.

Wright Hand Studio Fall Event - Saturday, Oct. 9 (time TBD). Held at the Wright Hand Pottery studio in Hagerstown, MD this semi-annual event features pottery created by owner Steve Wright and his many talented students. We'll be there with alpacas and alpaca apparel, books, toys, and some pottery of our own created by Kathy Brownefferson Street
Hagerstown, MD 21740571 J571 Jefferson Street
Waynesboro Tree Lighting & Holiday Parade - Friday, Nov. 19 & Saturday, Nov. 20  - Last year we were one of several vendors in Main Street Park during these events. We're not sure if that will be the case in 2021 but if it is - We'll be there!

Fourth Annual Holiday Open Farm - Saturday, Dec. 11 from 10:30 to 4:00 - Come 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!

Holiday Farm Store Hours. You know what we always say - "Give us a call, if we're home, we're open!" We realize however that in the rush of the Holidays it's not always convenient to have to stop and find our number to call first. Therefore, we will have the following set Farm Store hours, no calling ahead required:

Saturday, December 4 from 11 AM to 4 PM
Sunday, December 5 from 1:30 PM to 4 PM
Sunday, December 12 from 1:30 PM to 4 PM

Of course, Saturday, December 11 is our 4th Annual Holiday Open Farm (see above). If you can't make it during our holiday hours you can still call us at other times to see if we're home. But do please call first - it's a busy time for us, too!

Our third and final cria for 2021 arrived on June 24 at about 1:25 PM. Kathy and Jay were off the farm that day, but fortunately daughter, and experienced alpaca midwife, Julia, was on site to ensure a smooth delivery! Louie Louie (from the unintelligible Kingsmen tune) weighed in at 15.5 lbs and was standing and nursing in short order, and then even running after only a few hours. That is not a typical activity for the day you are born! He is a beautiful light fawn color and according to Kathy looks rather like a lightly toasted marshmallow. Louie is the son of our herdsire BGF Poseidon Isaac's Matoskah and Sugar Hollow's Tiny Dancer. Dancer is the daughter of our Champion herdsire Snowmass King Leonidus. This is our second breeding of a Leo daughter to Matoskah and we are very pleased with the results!

Our first male cria of 2021 arrived at 1:05 PM on Friday, June 18. His name is Daydream Believer (from the Monkees tune) and he weighed in at 16.9 lbs. His dam is Sugar Hollow's Keep the Faith who is one of the most consistent alpacas on our farm. Consistency refers to the fiber diameter of each individual hair being nearly the same as every other. This makes yarn that will not "pill" and garments that are much less likely to "shed". Dreamers sire is Sugar Hollow's Honey Boy Edward. Honey Boy's distinguishing characteristic is his incredible staple length. His fleece is routinely over 4 and almost 5 inches in length. That makes it easy for the mill to spin into yarn that is 100% alpaca. Dreamers fleece is stunningly bright and assuming he inherits his dam's consistency and sire's staple length his fleece will make fabulous yarn!

Sally is the daughter of AOV Peruvian Enterprising Encore owned by Double 8 Alpaca Ranch in Purcellville, VA and Sugar Hollow's Jack Flash's Maybellene. Encore is a Champion in the show ring and has sired offspring who have also been awarded that honor as well as Judges Choice! Read more about him here. With her sire's genetics and dam's good natured disposition we're expecting Sally to be a spectacular addition to our herd!

11 day old Sally romping in the pasture with her new best friends Cecilia and Bohemian Rhapsody

We are pleased to announce a new line of alpaca socks that are not only made in the USA, but made in PA! Frog Creek Socks is a small company located north of Philadelphia that produces several styles of socks made from alpaca fiber grown in the USA. Sugar Hollow Farm is looking into the possibility of having our own alpacas' fleece manufactured into socks by Frog Creek in the near future. The socks are offered in both light and heavy weights for use in all seasons, and come in ankle, short, crew, and boot lengths.  We currently only have light weight ankle socks in stock priced at $9 - $10 pair. We can order other lengths if they prove more popular! Why not come check out a pair and help support PA agriculture!

The second of our two expected fall crias was born on Friday, November 6 on a beautiful sunny, warm morning and weighed in at 17.9 lbs. In keeping with our classic rock naming regimen we've named him Bohemian Rhapsody. We'll call him Bo for short. He is the first cross of our two premier herdsires Snowmass King Leonidus, who is Bo's maternal grandfather, and Poseidon Isaac's Matoskah, who is his father. At first glance he appears to be rose gray in color which could be from his great grandfather on his mother's  side who was the silver gray herdsire Ashland's Silver Bullet. Rose gray or fawn he is a really handsome addition to our herd!

No doubt you may have heard about, or even seen the video of alpaca shearing produced by PETA. While shearing is a stressful event for an alpaca, here at Sugar Hollow we use a professional shearer who takes great care to produce our harvest of fleece quickly and efficiently with as little discomfort to the alpaca as possible. Below is a youtube video of our shearer Jay Mariacher at work. Although the video was taken in 2011 it is an accurate portrayal of how he shears today. Additionally, click here for a link to an official statement from the Alpaca Owners Association which describes with much detail how NOT shearing an alpaca would be much more cruel than the 8 or so minutes of discomfort shearing causes. It contains a lot of information and is much more succinct than we could ever  be. If you are concerned about alpaca shearing please take the time to read it.