Sugar Hollow Farm Alpacas LLC, Pennsylvania

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.

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!

In celebration of Small Business Saturday we will have our farm store open from 11:00 to 4:00 on Saturday, November 28 and also Saturday, December 5. There is no need to call ahead! Just come on out to find that special Holiday gift for your alpaca loving family and friends.  

Sugar Hollow's 3rd Annual Holiday Open Farm - Saturday, December 12 from 10:30-4:00. Come see the alpacas in the weather they love - COLD - and warm yourself by our fire pit. For your safety our farm store items will be outside for you to finish up your holiday shopping. Amd if you've finished your shopping, then reward yourself with your own pair of 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!