Willow, Again

Don't worry, folks, this is a good post. Hula Honey, part of our original animals purchased from Apple Orchard Alpacas back in 2008, finally had her first cria. She's a beautiful little dark fawn girl with some grey spots. My 5 year old wanted to name her after Willow, from last summer. So, I am pleased to introduce "Willow Nelson-Again".

"Mom, can we name her Willow, again?". Sure, baby.

This is Willow, a few hours after birth. The other picture is big sister Caroline, meeting the new Willow for the first time.

BIG NEWS FROM OFFBEAT ACRES!

First, we bought a new boy, Prestige of Lucky Luciano. We proudly co-own Prestige with Willow Bend Alpaca Farms of Forreston, IL. (If you're ever at an alpaca show and see Willow Bend, go over and introduce yourself to Patti. She is an absolute riot and just a great soul.)

Prestige is a beautiful, rose grey herdsire. He'll be 2 in June, and has already settled his first girl! We plan to breed him to our very own Sweet Caroline (the first cria born at Offbeat Acres, back in 2008).





But, here's the best news: we showed Prestige at the Great Midwest Alpaca Fest last weekend. WE NOW HAVE PURPLE!!! Before GMAF, our best placing in a show was a 2nd, with Roni. Yes, Prestige had collected plenty of blue ribbons before GMAF too, but no color championships. I had the privilege of showing Prestige at GMAF in a class of combined grey yearlings, and not only did we place first in the class, WE TOOK HOME THE RESERVE COLOR CHAMPION PURPLE!!

I've attached the "before" & "after" picture, of Prestige & his ribbons at GMAF!

Offbeat on TV!

Hey folks,

If you're in the Madison area, check out the Channel 3 morning show (WISC, the CBS affiliate). Roni, Felicja and I will be on TV this Friday morning to promote the Great Midwest Alpaca Fest!

Our segment airs about 6:40, if you want to have the DVRs ready!

Meet the egg ladies

We have chickens now. Four laying hens. They like with the boy alpacas, and are supposed to help keep the bugs down around the poop pile. Everything is going fine and it looks like they've even made a few friends.

Also, if you're looking for the latest news, become a fan of Offbeat Acres on Facebook!

A sure sign of spring

All of my barn shoes / boots are wet, muddy, or covered in dried poop soup. Not familiar with poop soup? Take some manure, add some frozen pee, and pile some snow nearby. Add some sun, and let the whole thing melt. Voila - poop soup. Anybody want some?

The glamorous life of alpacas

Ah, the glamorous alpaca life. This afternoon, I was sitting in my pasture, feeding treats to my girls. It was lovely. Little Felicja and Roni were smelling my hair, and Sabetha was being really sweet. Meridian was even taking treats. And then - the spitting began. I got it on my hair, face, hand, even eyes, and... it ...was the stinky, half chewed food kind of spit too. Gross.

February's To-do List

Ugh. I'm tired of winter, but am tired of being cooped up in the house. Here's what we have to do this month:

-Taxes. Done. Yuck, but not so yucky (there is one advantage to the farm....)
-Shots. On the 14th. Yes, that's right: Valentine's Day in the barn, with a bunch of syringes and a bottle of Dectomax. How romantic.
-Halter training. Our first show of the year is in mid March. We're doing okay.
-Plan for spring planting. We have to replenish the raspberries, at least. Not sure what else we're doing this year.
-Do the budget for the year. See item #1. Tax refund = farm budget.
-Work on promo materials for Lord Muireach. We've got his breedings discounted at $500 for the first ten. He's a beautiful boy, with an interesting heritage.

Ugh. That's enough of a list. Next month, we'll also have show prep! So much for our winter lull!

The Z

Zigmund's been here a week now. He's doing just fine.

He has separation anxiety. I leave for work a little less than 2 hours before everyone else in the house gets up. A couple days a week, Paul takes our youngest son to preschool. So, Zigmund has been alone a few times this week.

He's still doing just fine. There was one morning that he made a mess on the floor and chewed up a pen, but the other times have been good.

He's laying next to me on the couch now, resting his big head on my lap. He must have a pretty strong watchdog instinct, too, because he follows me and the boys around, always keeping a watchful eye.

I love my Zigmund.

I have news....

You might want to sit down.

We're getting ANOTHER dog.

Check out Zigmund posts from last summer. Zigmund still hasn't found his "furever" home, and hasn't been doing well as of late. Thankfully, the Shelter from the Storm folks called us today, and asked if we'd be interested in taking him in again....permanently.

We're getting ANOTHER dog.

I'm super excited. I love Zigmund....he was really sweet, a little goofy, and I'm really glad we were able to make a difference for him.

We are officially done with fostering, though. Four dogs in the house is downright ridiculous.

We're getting ANOTHER dog. WELCOME HOME, ZIGMUND!!!!!

Happy New Year!

I hope everyone has a wonderful 2010! Someone posted this on my Facebook page, and I thought it was too good not to share: "May your BEST day in 2009 be your WORST day in 2010"!

We went to a sledding party at our neighbor's place yesterday. This is the view of our farm from the top of their sledding hill. It's a good distance away - maybe 1/4 mile? Anyway, I thought it was a neat picture.

A few reflections on 2009:

We suffered our first herd loss this year, when Willow died. Both my husband and I were having second thoughts about this alpaca business. She was the only cria we were supposed to have last year, and she died. That was a major setback.

Instead of throwing in the towel, we dove into the deep end of the pool and bought 4 more girls (Meridian, Kacie, Millie, and Roni) as well as Muireach, our junior herdsire. Check out our new AlpacaNation page to meet them. Two days after we bought Meridian, she had a beautiful female cria. We were already excited about the cria because it's out of Invicible's Brookhollow Superstar, and to have a female cria was the icing on the cake. We've named her Felicja, which is Polish for "fortune" or "luck". Thank you to Joanna Stephens from Robasia Alpaca Ranch for help with the translation!

Our raspberry crop all died too. What a bummer that was, as we should have had berries in 2010 to sell. I'm not exactly sure what happened - they were mulched, watered, etc. This year, I'm going to make a trip to the bare root room and pick out the stock myself (and plant it directly). I'm also going to plant more.

Our first peach tree (planted in the yard in 2004) died too. Maybe I was lulled into a false sense of security with the warm winters we've had over the past several years. Good thing we've got lots of other types of trees planted (plums, pears, apples, paw paws) that should thrive in Wisconsin.

2010 will be a challenging year for us. This is our third year in the business. We've been hemorrhaging money for the first two years, and it's time we start bringing in more than we spend. We are well positioned for it though - most of the major expenses like animals, fencing, and equipment are behind us. We did pretty well with our holiday sock sales, and our new redesigned website will have an online farm store added soon. We're also hoping to sell some Muireach breedings too.

After two years, I'm still glad we did this. It's been a lot of hard work, a lot of money, but it's also incredibly satisfying. I have no regrets.