Sunday, March 27, 2011

Photo of the Week 3/27/11

Alpaca with Hay
North Gray's Creek Rd 
(our property, our alpaca Mo!)
Indian Valley, ID
Thursday 3/24

5 comments:

  1. Heh, heh! Alpaca heaven. I miss seeing Alpacas and Llamas. There are lots in RI; sheep ranchers keep Llamas to guard their flocks from Coyotes, and they'll also raise Alpacas for the wool to add variety to the sheep wool they also sell. But I haven't seen any sheep around here, just cows and horses, and although there are Coyotes in PA, they're not in this particular area. And yes, I also miss seeing the occasional Coyote; they're so people-shy that it's a reward to actually see one.

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  2. Hi Roy & Doug

    Roy: Interesting about Rhode Island--I wouldn't have guessed that. There was a big llama & alpaca boom in this part of the west in the 80s-early 90s, which is ultimately where this alpaca & our one surviving llama (we had three others at one point) came into the picture. We got the llamas & alpaca by leasing the pasture as a sort of "retirement home" for a handful of animals that came from a now defunct high-end llama ranch. But you're right: llamas are excellent guards for sheep, & there's also a fair amount of sheep ranching out here, so you see them doing that as well.

    Doug: Thanks!

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  3. Glad to see the alpacas over there. Just a few miles from where we live is the wonderful old village of Saltaire where Sir Titus Salt built his mill, his model village and his fortune. And that fortune - and mill and village - were the product of his innovative use of alpaca wool.

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  4. Hi Caroline: Hey, me too then! Thanks!

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