Paca Talk #25 -Alpacas 101 - Prepping bare land for an alpaca ranch [49:48m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

Evergreen Terrace Farms circa 2003

Evergreen Terrace Farms circa 2009

In this episode, we explain our six steps to preparing bare land for an alpaca ranch.

1. Call your local extension agent
2. Prepare bare land for barn and pasture
3. Seed and fertilize pasture
4. Weed
5. Install fencing and barn
6. Graze animals on pasture once it is established.

We also promised links to our local extension office and soli and wter office to help you locate your own, local resources.

Link to Polk County Extension Office.

Link to Polk County Soil and Water office.

Music provided by Jim Soloway. Find him at http://www.jimsoloway.com/

 

 Paca Talk #24 [30:20m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

How does a novice alpaca owner choose the right animals to buy?

In this podcast, we consider things like:

• fleece animal qualities (fiber boys)
• breeding stock qualities
• show stock qualities
• the importance of conformation and fleece
• the concept of “breeding up” a female
• why you don’t need a stud (but might want to buy one, anyway)

Here is a list of the alpacas we mentioned in the show with links to their pages on our website www.etfarms.com:

Consuella and her kids demonstrate the concept of “breeding up”:

Consuella

Milhouse

Consuella + Tocto

Lisa

Consuella + Peruvian Canadar

Manjula

Consuella + El Barto

Dr. Hibbert

Consuella + El Barto

 

 Paca Talk #22 -Alpacas 101 - Choosing your first alpacas [31:18m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

How does a novice alpaca owner choose the right animals to buy?

In this podcast, we consider things like:

• general health of the animal
• disposition of the animals
• and why you need two alpacas

Then we begin discussing the different things to consider when buying animals for different purposes. We cover these kind of animals in this podcast:

1. Lawn/pasture ornaments or pets
2. Guard alpacas
3. 4-H animals

In part two of this topic (Paca Talk #24), we’ll discuss needs for fleece animals, breeding stock, and show animals.

Enjoy!