Sugar Hollow Farm Alpacas LLC, Pennsylvania

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).