By SUSAN HAYHURST
Indiana Correspondent SAINT MARY-OF-THE-WOODS, Ind. — What do you get when you cross an inquisitive public with furry, comical alpacas? Lots of laughter and photo opportunities.
The National Alpaca Farm Days were celebrated recently at three alpaca farms in northern Vigo and eastern Vermillion counties. In its fourth year, the celebration offered a hands-on opportunity for the public with alpacas.
The Indiana farms taking part in the event were Aris Farm Alpacas near Clinton, White Violet Farm Alpacas at Saint Mary-of-the-Woods and Lookout Farm Alpacas at Terre Haute.
Each farm featured interaction with the animals and some sites offered spinning and weaving and needle felting demonstrations and handmade alpaca items including slippers, socks, scarves, hats and note cards. Lookout Farm also offers “Alpaca Gold,” which is fertilizer, in powder, pellet or liquid form.
Alpacas are deemed livestock, according to Tracy Wilson, owner of Aris Farm Alpacas and alpaca herd manager at the White Violet Farm: “While alpacas offer a beautiful end product of their fur being made into wonderful fiber, they are considered livestock and leave an environmentally small footprint.”
Sister Paul Bernadette, assistant herd manager of White Violet Farm, touts the alpacas as the “new green livestock. They don’t tear up the ground like horses and cows, they don’t tear grass out like goats and their manure makes wonderful fertilizer.
“The animals are shorn once a year and their fur makes fiber that can be made into clothing. Alpacas are renewable resources and provide a complete living and growing cycle.”
White Violet Farm started its alpaca herd with a gift of three several years ago and have grown these to 65. All of their animals are nationally registered and the farm does selective breeding practices.
Wilson’s passion for alpacas happened inadvertently when she took a job at “the Woods, because I needed money to build a barn for my horses. I graduated from Saint Mary-of-the-Woods College in 2000 with a degree in equine studies. I still have horses for pleasure but I ended up with alpacas.”
She owns 12 on her 43 acres, boards two and is expecting three crias – alpaca babies – to be born in May 2011. Aris Farm’s also does selective breeding.
Lookout Farm owners Don and Jane Conner enjoy their herd of 25 alpacas and look to the White Violet Farm as a mentor. “All three of the area alpaca farms cooperate with each other and share information. We look at St. Mary’s as our mentors,” said Don.
Jane makes a point of educating visitors to their farm, just as she shares similar information during their weekly participation at the Terre Haute downtown Farmers’ Market from May-October.
“So many people haven’t been to a farm, let alone an alpaca farm. We want them to learn about alpacas and how they are cared for,” she said. “We take good care of them, just like farmers do with their livestock. Our animals are vaccinated yearly, their toenails are trimmed every two months, the animals are all registered and have a microchip placed in them for tracking and record-keeping.
“They are weighed every month. If they are sick, they wouldn’t show it. They are very stoic animals. Their losing weight may be the first indicator to us they are ill.
“We also want people to know alpacas are not solitary animals; they are herd animals, and (you) have to have two together. Six alpacas to an acre are considered a good measurement. Alpacas are camelids and are related to both the camel and the llama. The sizing ranks first with camel, then llama, then alpaca,” Jane explained.
The Conners acquired their alpacas in a manner similar to Wilson. “When I retired from Indiana State University, we got some chickens to raise,” said Jane. “Well, some of the Sisters of Providence have their eyes examined by Don, who’s an optometrist. They frequently said, ‘Dr. Conner, you have ground at home to have alpacas.’
“Finally, I visited a program at the White Violet Center that discussed alpacas and came home and said, ‘We need some.’ We trained for 15 months before we got our first ones. We visited Seattle and Denver shows to get a good look at the animals and industry.”
She said there are 100 alpaca farms in Indiana; Ohio has the most farms, with one alone having 1,450 alpacas.
All three Indiana farms attend shows and each competitor can show up to 18 animals. Visitors stopping at the three farms will see numerous large ribbons that were won at competitions, including the Indiana Alpaca Assoc. Heartland Classic at the Indiana State Fairgrounds.
For more information about the national farm day event, go to http://nationalalpacafarmdays.com
The three local farms mentioned above can be contacted online through their websites at: www.aris-farm.com and www.lookoutfarmalpacas.com and www.whiteviolet.org |
