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!
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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. It was an exciting day! We were at Market Days in downtown Waynesboro while back on the farm - our long expected cria was born! Fortunately our daughter Julia was there and able to attend the birth and everything went off without a hitch. Our newest arrival is a girl and we named her Cecilia after the Simon & Garfunkel song from the 1970 "Bridge over Troubled Water" album. She weighed in at 17.7 pounds and at 5 days old is running around the pasture trying to fend off our 4-month old boys Deacon Blues and Abracadabra who are very pleased to have a new playmate! 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! |
AuthorWe are Jay & Kathy Brown of Sugar Hollow Farm Alpacas in Waynesboro, Pennsylvania. Learn more about us here. |