Stoneberg Alpacas, LLC

2009 Babies!

2009-10-14T21:29:00.000-07:00

This year at Stoneberg Alpacas, LLC has been quite a roller coaster with new babies.

In July, Brandy Storm had a baby girl who died 3 days later. She was a beautiful Sun Tzu female. I did a necropsy on her which turned out inconclusive.

The next birth was Marshmallow Cream. She gave me a beautiful Paul Revere female! Vanilla Cream is 34 pounds as I write this post. She is robust with nice fiber and thick bones.

Next came a DENSE boy from Mocha. Paul Revere did it again. Annihilator is the full brother to Cocoa. He has a small grey spot on his left hip. He like his half sister, Vanilla Cream, is about 32 pounds as I write this post.

Aspire my 16 year old matriarch was next. She was bred to MSA Hemingway's Bogart. On 09/16/09, Aspire went into labor. My gut told me something wasn't quite right as I saw the amniotic sack but no nose or feet. Jamie got in and got the cria out. There was a heart beat and we worked on her for 30 minutes but were unsuccessful. That Bogart baby was a nice brown female...and not a pinto.

At this point I was ready to throw in the towel with Alpaca breeding. I felt somewhat responsible for the 2 deaths. I was frustrated that the full gestation of each cria went for nothing! It got even more frustrating with Hi-Way.

Hi-Way, bred to Artero, gave me a beautiful white female. less than 24 hours later she had died. It is unknown what she died from. I honestly was a little depressed and really began blaming myself. However, I thought in my heart and mind...Keep going Eric. Think about the long term plan you have with Alpacas, learn from what happened to these babies, see the big picture, re-breed and get that farm you so desperately want.

Today, 10/14/09, Zafiro birthed a white Glacial Storm daughter. She weighed in a 17.4 pounds and was treated extra special. Leanne and I used a hairdryer to get her dry. We also put a cria coat on her. As I write this post, she and Zafiro are resting comfortably under the carport on a nice bed of straw. I have learned from my mistakes and vow not to repeat them.

I am blessed with the 3 cria that I have. They are all healthy and are excellent additions to my herd. My next post will be about 2009/2010 breedings.

2008/2009 fiber sorted.

2009-10-14T21:28:00.000-07:00

Yesterday, 06/27/09, I went to Alpacas at Tucker Creek and helped with shearing. 30 animals were shorn including, "THE MAN" Sun Tzu. Wow, nice fiber and his daughter Candy is superb. Candy's fleece is phenomenal! Carrie Hull with Course Boards, sorted all my fiber and it is ready to go to get processed. Now I'm waiting for Brandy...July 21 or so. Sun Tsu baby and I can't wait.

Shearing!

2009-06-21T16:45:00.000-07:00

Monday June 15th through Wednesday June 17th I had my 12 animals sheared. They all are much happier to get their fiber off. My total was about 52 pounds for 2009, not to mention another 40 from last year. Tomorrow June 22nd, I am heading to Tucker Creek Alpacas to drop off my fiber, which will be sorted by grade next weekend. I am also helping with toenails and top knots. June 28th I will be helping Tucker Creek Alpacas with some of their shearing.

Over the next few months, I am going to intensify my marketing strategy. I need to sell some animals. I have good bloodlines and look forward to the births this year.

Sheering and Fiber!

2009-05-20T12:56:00.000-07:00

The sheering season is under way throughout farms in Washington County. On my way to work I have seen animals that have been recently shorn. I will be helping NWA with their sheering June 16-18. I have also been asked to help Alpacas at Marquam Hill Ranch (June 5) and finally Alpacas at Tucker Creek June 28,29. This year my fiber will be sorted and sent out to get processed.

I went to the CABA fleece and halter show and spoke with a few different breeders about how they processed their fiber. To do it privately vs. a co-op there are many factors to consider. Here are a few:
1. Price
2. Individual animals vs. many animals
3. turn around time
4. quality of fiber processed

The year is moving by and June will be here shortly. Then one baby in July: Brandy Storm/Sun Tzu. The rest in September. Shayda/K2 cria April 2010 if the breeding was successful from last week.

Three boys are down the road!!

2009-04-20T17:15:00.001-07:00

Anatolian, Brunson and Thunder and off to new homes. The family in Damascus took Thunder and Brunson. Anatolian will be given away at the end of June. Have some things in the works for this year! I won't jinx myself, but I can't wait for Mocha, Brandy, M.C. and Aspire to deliver. I'm interested to see last year to this year, especially Mocha/Paul Revere. Cocoa is beautiful and I'm hoping for a repeat!

Making room for 2009 cria = get rid of some boys!

2009-04-17T22:22:00.000-07:00

Anatolian is in a drawing to win an alpaca. Thunder and Brunson are being looked at tomorrow as fiber boys/lawn mowers for some people in Damascus. Please take them....less mouths to feed and room for new babies!

The shelter is being taken down. Apparently the county got wind. Soooo new shelter might be a Costco car cover.

ALPACA CASTLE!

2009-02-25T19:02:00.000-08:00

I've been working hard to get the alpaca shelter complete. As you can see in the picuture, the frame is almost complete. I got some supplies ordered from Jeffers.com and Valleyvet.com. I will be updating the shelter pictures daily as I have time to work on the structure!

http://www.stonebergalpacas.com/ All my animals are up for sale!

Things!

2009-02-11T12:49:00.001-08:00

NWA traded Pearl for Hi-Way. Previously I thought Pearl was full Peruvian...I was wrong. Hi-Way was selected through careful analysis of 5 animals. Jamie helped me and Hi-Way is bred to Artero. Taxes are done and sent in. Shelter will be under way this weekend. Fields will be re-done this weekend and website will be getting some updates.

Updates...

2009-01-15T00:01:00.000-08:00

Pearl, my female bred to Bogart aborted 01/01/09. It occurred within 30 minutes of my arrival home from work, as the fetus was still steaming. An ultrasound by Dr. Jones showed that the egg implanted in the right horn. This is not a good thing... So Pearl got traded with another full Peruvian animal..Hi-Way. Jamie helped me pick out Hi-Way. She is bred to Artero with a Sept. 2009 due date.

Other tasks I am working on are the re-building of my alpaca shelter, looking for a transport van and contacting SEO about updating and optimizing my website. Gene Genie Alpacas out of Michigan has a nice site as well as nice animals. A few of their studs are very striking, especially PRIDE! Wowzers.

Finally, taxes are in the works. Slow but sure. All my 2008 cria are doing well to include Firecracker. He was born very small and in-fact lost weight. It has been a bit of a task trying to put weight on him...up to 40 pounds now. I checked his bite today and observed it appeared to be forward. Firecracker will have his feet doctored this weekend and be kept under the carport to get him healed up.

Until next time.

SNOW= damage!

2008-12-26T19:52:00.000-08:00

It snowed and was cold at my house for about a week. Last Tuesday, 12/23/08, I woke up to find a large pine tree through the middle of my alpaca's shelter. OMG...I hate the snow. None of the animals were hurt and since this event they have been chillin under the carport. No worries! Now its warming up and rain is in the forecast. Never thought rain would be a welcome sight, but it is.

2009 Breedings!

2008-12-02T15:57:00.000-08:00

6 Cria for 2009:

Asire/Bogart
Brandy/Sun Tzu
Marshmallow Cream/ Paul Revere
Hi-Way/Artero
Mocha/Paul Revere
Zafiro/Glacial Storm

July (1) and Septmeber (5) I will be busy with cria hitting the ground!

2009 Sires!

2008-10-27T22:35:00.001-07:00

I'm not 100% sure yet how many breedings will be successful for 2009. The window is closing quickly with Nov. 30th being the last breeding day. Here are the current stud males with successful breedings for 2009:

PAUL REVERE

SUN TZU

BOGART

GLACIAL STORM

2008 Cria

2008-10-07T10:06:00.000-07:00

2008 started out disasterous with Pearl aborting twins. However it quickly became exciting with the birth of Blazer a full Peruvian Providence son with pedigree to burn. Then came Boots and Brunson. Finally I got the female cria I was wanting. I was sitting at 33%! Not too bad for year one. Firecracker was born 07/09/08. He is a 2nd generation Studmaster boy and has gobs of fiber. Firecracker is a bit on the small side, and I believe he will most closely resemble. Studmaster Impact in size. Next was Thunderstorm...a bay black male out of Glacial Storm. Finally after 4 boys and one girl, I had another female cria. Cocoa was born on 10/01/08 and was on the ground in less that 30 minutes. The pregnancy was flawless and she is a beauty.

BLAZER

BRUNSON
BOOTS
FIRECRACKER
THUNDERSTORM
COCOA

National Alpaca Farm Days

2008-09-10T13:37:00.000-07:00

The last weekend in September, farms across the U.S. and Canada open their doors for National Alpaca Farm Days. September 27th is by appointment only, while September 28th is for family and friends from 1:00 p.m. to 5:00 p.m. Please join me for refreshments and learn more about these animals. Just yesterday, 09/16/08, I had a cria...Thunderstorm. He is a bay black male out of MSA Peruvian Glacial Storm. Look forward to seeing you on the 28th. Any you never know, I might have my final baby while you visit.

Zafiro!

2008-09-10T11:14:00.001-07:00

My newest female is a NWA, LTD Haldane daughter. She is pure white and will be bred to Glacial Storm for a 2009 cria. Look forward to the result!

2008 Fiber results.

2008-08-30T12:42:00.000-07:00

This year I had all my animals shorn and sent the fiber to be tested at Yocom-McColl Testing Laboratories in Denver, Colorado. The only animal not done at NWA was Brandy who is still in Astoria. I'm very excited to share that her Micron (fiber fineness) was 23.6. Now in the world of Alpacas, that is a darn good number, with the national average around 28 micron. It's also important to note, Brandy is medium brown in color which is typically more course than white animals.

To put it into perspective, Aspire, Cindy and Mocha are 30.2, 31.7 and 35.6 respectively. I would also like to share that these 3 mentioned animals are also 14, 13 and 9 years old compared to Brandy at 3 years old.

Moving on to some other animals of my herd:

Blazer (my 3 week old Providence boy at time of sheering) at 15.9 micron
Pearl (11 years old) and 24.9 micron
Marshmallow Cream (5 years old) and 25.9 micron

In reading this blog, you can see that my fiber results have quite a wide range, but the 3 females at or near the high end of the range are pretty primitive animals. These animals are bred to Studmaster males, which will improve the offspring compared to their mothers. I was suprised to see that two cria (non-Studmaster breedings) from both Aspire and Mocha, born in 2007, had pretty decent results at 21.6 and 21.3. Those two boy's aren't breeders by any means, but did produce about 11 pounds of medium brown fiber.

Some people are very secretive when getting their fleece results. I, however, want my future clients to be aware of the animals that I am producing.

Finally, I have two more births scheduled in Amber Shayda (Gacial Storm) and Mocha (Paul Revere). If Amber's cria is anything like Brandy I'll be happy. But as usual, healthy animals is the most important thing for me.

Next blog will update my National Alpaca Day dates and times. Stay tuned.

FIRECRACKER!!!

2008-07-12T09:46:00.000-07:00

People might wonder on the name. I'm here to tell you it is fitting so far. Firecracker was born at 12:20 p.m. on 07/09/08. He weighed in at 11.8 pounds. Now in the world of alpacas that is on the small side. But not out of the question. Dr. Hunter (Alpacas at Tucker Creek's vet) drew blood for an IgG (Immunoglobulins= antibodies) reading and discovered the results were low. I don't have the exact reading, but above 800 is what we as breeders want. My boy born 06/14/08 was 2850 to put it into perspective. Soooo, Peggy Stevens (Alpacas at Tucker Creek), told me Dr. Hunter would do a plasma transfer.

The latest update...Firecracker gained 1 pound since yesterday and is running with his cria brothers and sisters. For me that is good to hear.

Firecracker has hit a few small bumps in the road, but he is a fighter which I translate into a potential herdsire!! Why you ask? Becasue I know!!

Until next time.

2 boys so far and 4 more births to go!

2008-07-10T17:30:00.000-07:00

I wanted to update my blog and announce on 06/14/08 Marshmallow Cream had a phenominal all white boy! He arrived at about 11:20 a.m. and the afterbirth arrived by 12:30 p.m., I of course was sleeping when Studmaster Providence's Blazer was born, but I was glad to see no issues resulted in a flawless pregnancy. Marshmallow Cream and Blazer are back at Northwest Alpacas re-breeding to Pachacuti. My fingers are crossed.

Yesterday, 07/09/08, at about 12:20 p.m., Tucker Creek's Brandy Storm gave me a medium fawn boy. This boy is a 2nd generation Studmaster boy and I look forward to his growing process. Brandy will be re-bred to Sun Tzu. And as ususal I can't wait for that baby!

2 births down and 4 more to go... July 11th and 17th. September 22nd and October 1st. In the remaining 4 babies, 2 girls would be a successful 2008 after the rocky start with Pearl.

Stay tuned...

Shearing at Tucker Creek

2008-06-09T18:32:00.000-07:00

Yesterday I traveled to Astoria to check on Brandy and help with shearing. I didn't realize how compact she really is. Just before shearing she was weighed at 127 pounds! Peggy said that was excellent based on previous weight issues just before breeding in 2007. So shearing begins and 8 pounds yes 8 pounds of fleece is removed!! Carrie Hull of Coarse Boards Inc. gave Brandy's fleece excellent remarks. It was bagged and I brought it home. I plan to send Carrie Brandy's 2007 fleece to get graded and sorted as well.

Today NWA sent me an email and it was agreed that Pearl would be bred to the Godfather for a May 2009 baby.

CRAP: Not such a great start!

2008-06-06T00:13:00.000-07:00

Today, 06/05/08, I observed Pearl was very uncomfortable. She was up and down and rolling. I called Steve at NWA and he mentioned she might trying to move the baby around inside. Well I'm here to tell you that my Shepherd's eye was not wrong. Something truly was wrong with Pearl. When I arrived home, I did not check the field immediately, but decided to send an email to Dr. Jones of the Woodburn Vet clinic. After that, my gut told me to check the field. I went outside with a flashlight and observed an aborted cria in the field. I walked out to check it and low and behold there were 2. Pearl was carrying two Providence babies all this time. Now in the world of Alpacas, two babies is very un-common.

Sooo, I must share with you that even though this is a business... I'm kind of bummed out that I won't be having a healthy Providence baby! Hopefully today's event isn't a sign of what's to come.

Update: Today Steve and Jose brought over another girl that I recently purchased; Amber Shayda. She has adapted well. Steve, Jose and I looked at both cria and Pearl had both a boy and a girl. RATS!! Soo away went Pearl back to NWA for re-breeding and now I must decide who the lucky stud will be!

Next post I probably will be sharing a few birth stories. Brandy 06/16/08 and Marchmellow Cream 06/19/08 (M.C. give me a girl...Providence sire)

I now have animals on my property.

2008-05-30T11:56:00.000-07:00

Here we go... Aspire, Mocha, Pearl, Marshmellow Cream, Anatolian and Stoney's Tuxedo all were delivered today. Let the real hands on Alpaca stuff begin. Thank you Jose and Steve for bringing the herd over.

Busy!

2008-05-19T21:52:00.000-07:00

I closed on my house with 1.40 acres. It isn't a huge property, but it will work just fine! On the north side of the house, I have cut down 7 trees and the limbs will be chipped up soon. Today I visited NWA and all my animals had fecal exams done. The plan is for them to be delivered next Monday, May 26th. Wowzers! Reality is hitting very soon. I'll be back with an update real soon.

A busy 2008!

2008-03-30T17:56:00.000-07:00

2008 has been busy as evident by how fast time is moving. I was promoted to the rank of Corporal at the end of February. I was selected as an EVO (Emergency Vehicle Operator) Instructor and just completed a 2 week school last Friday. It was awesome and many memories came from it... a good group of instructors. Yesterday I made an offer on a property that has a nice home and 1.5 acres attached with it. My website is almost complete with the tremendous help of David Stevens of Alpacas at Tucker Creek.

I also look forward to 5 cria in 2008...

June 16th: Brandy (Paul Revere)
June 19th: Marshmellow Cream (Providence)
July 11th: Pearl (Providence)
July 16th: Aspire (Brunello)
October 1st: Mocha (Paul Revere)

Finally this past week, Dr. Jones of Woodburn Veterinarian Clinic, agreed to be the vet of my herd.

I must thank all those that have helped me get my Alpaca business off the ground and running in the positive direction. Thank you, Thank you, Thank you!!

Stuff...

2008-02-28T12:08:00.000-08:00

Feb. 2008 has come and gone...VERY fast! March is on the horizon and I am counting the days until June...2 births! I just finalized my business logo. You can see it on my blog main page. I sent some materials away to update my website. I am gearing up for 2008 births. Even though the animals aren't on my farm, my plan is to be active as possible. Finally, Tuesday, Feb. 26th I was promoted to the rank of Corporal. I am excited for this position and can't wait to hit the road. Until next time!

Marshmellow Cream

2008-02-19T01:16:00.000-08:00

Yesterday, 02/18/08, I visited NWA and ended up buying Marshmellow Cream (Hemingway granddaughter) with Steve Johnson of NWA. Steve and I partnered in the purchase of Marshmellow Cream and we both look forward to the outcome in June 2008! Give us a Studmaster MFI Peruvian Providence baby girl!