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The year 2011—Alpacas and Fibre Processing:

Cria 2011 saw the first offspring from CJ Russian River. Showing good promise in the fibre with excellent conformation. CJ Bollinger still producing some excellent offspring and his sons proving to be following in his footsteps. Though still mainly male cria did manage to get 4 lovely females.

Show Success—with 2 alpaca shows and one fleece show in Switzerland in 2011 was given ample opportunity to show off , what I think, is an improving herd. The results did not let me down and I am delighted and proud of what I am achieving. Champion Suri Fleece; Reserve Champion in Show and for fleece; 2 first places; 5 second places and 5 third places won.

Shearing went well and as always I am very grateful to my helpers and to Mike, the shearer, who is always very calm with the alpacas. We managed 132 animals in 2 days, including 2 llamas. My friend, Kate, who now lives in France, took over my kitchen and produced the most fabulous meals and kept us hydrated with fresh homemade lemonade during the 2 days of shearing. Much appreciated in the heat.

I took some alpacas to a Show in France in the autumn. Journey time was much closer than heading to some of the Swiss Shows, however, sadly it is not something that I will be doing again, with animals. Travelling to and from the Show was not a problem at all, organising the documents was rather more complicated and I hasten to add not from the French side. The Swiss side kept changing their minds as to what they required and my animals ended up having their blood taken twice, once prior to departure and once on their return to Switzerland, spending 21 days “home” quarantine on their return for a 2 day Show in France. The cost of this did not justify the journey. It would be great if the Swiss could come to an overall agreement on alpacas being able to attend shows outside of Switzerland. After talking to a number of Swiss alpaca breeders, it appears that each Canton is different—not what I call fair at all. Anyhow this discussion is for another time and place.

Took the decision to try and reduce my herd size from over 100 to under 50. Reason being that I was finding it more and more difficult to give 100% of my commitment to both the animals and the fibre processing. The fibre processing side is now taking up more of my time and each year more clients are sending me their fibre, which is excellent news and they deserve more than 100% of my commitment to their fibre.

For example 157 kgs of fibre has been carded on the small carding machine, of which 123kg is being hand spun from clients in Switzerland and France. I think it is important to point out that when processing individual fleeces it takes more time. After the fibre has been washed it comes back matted and knotted, this all needs to be handpicked which involves pulling the fibre apart by hand—usually my job! Then the fibre is carded and is then ready for handspinning. Also did receive quite a number of fleeces which clearly had not been cleaned of any vegetable matter; lots of straw and twigs and sadly the smaller carding machine cannot get rid of it all. This also causes the hand spinners lots of headaches as they have to stop spinning to remove any debris that is left behind, therefore taking more time to spin. This is something that should be sorted out by the owner before they send the fibre.

For the bigger machines, managed to process 30 kgs for one client and 125 kg of black and grey. Unfortunately as I cannot run the machines over the winter, had to stop and there is still quite a lot of fibre waiting in the wings for when the machines start up again, hopefully in March. This is a small amount to process on the machines which is why I need to allow myself more time to concentrate on processing more this year.

The engineers came over for a quick visit and said that all machines were still in good working order and though at times I wish I did not have to spend 2 days cleaning the carding machine and nearly an hour oiling them, it is proving to be of great value and is keeping them in good working order. Now all I need to do is to win the lottery to insulate the barn allowing me to process fibre all year round—important to have dreams!

Markets/Fairs/Passeport des Vacances:

Each year I am attending more and more markets, some with alpacas and some without. Invitations to attend Open Days with animals as an introduction to different people. This is important and all part of the education process alpaca breeders have to go through to introduce alpacas to more and more people.

Hosted a number of Passeport des Vacances during the summer and autumn. Always an interesting few hours, especially when you have a group of over 10 children all wanting to touch the animals. Have to say the cria are more welcoming to the children than the adult alpacas and the more patient child gets rewarded every time. What proves to be very popular is the felting we do with the children after the tour of the farm and the machines, have seen some really special designs—artists of the future.

I also attended alpaca shows in France and Germany taking a stand to sell alpaca fibre and knitted products. These are always well worth the travelling as it shows what can be done with alpaca fibre plus I get to see alpaca friends and to make new contacts.

Had an Open Day with Dider Blanc of Randolama. This was a good opportunity for people to see the difference between alpacas and llamas. They were also able to take both the alpacas and llamas for a walk. In 2012, am planning on putting something together in the early autumn to include other artisans from the area—check the website for more information later in the year.

Alpaca Courses:

Was given permission from Bern to be able to give Alpaca Courses for new alpaca owners or potential alpaca owners. This proved very challenging for my French but I think have gone down well. Will be hosting them again in 2012 and if anyone is interested please just keep checking my website or send me an email.

Finally:

I am very grateful to Marilynn Johnston for all her hard work and help with the machines and fibre processing and to Brigitte Guignet whose speed at knitting is something to behold.

My special thanks to Catherine, Nicole, Yvette and Roland for their handspinning skills. The clients are all very happy with their results and though it seems as though we have had their fibre for a long time, and we still have a further 50kg of fibre to hand spin, we have moved forward this year and this is all thanks to you. It is important to point out that they do not hand spin all day every day as they all have other jobs and families to look after, to have achieved what you have achieved in 2011 is a miracle.

Here’s to 2012 and hopefully some more handspinners to help...

Walking with Alpacas:

Every Wednesday or Saturday afternoon for about 45 minutes. A photograph will be taken and sent to you by email. A fee of Fr 10. Please contact Emily to make a reservation.

Alpaca Courses:

The first course for 2012 will take place on Saturday 3rd March. A Course for potential alpaca owners or existing alpaca owners covering:
• What to look for in alpacas: confirmation, negative and positive traits; fibre
• Basic husbandry
• How to handle

A fee of Fr 100 which includes lunch.
0900 - 1700 hours.

Please contact Emily to make a reservation.