Beginnings......
The Fall of 2000 is when the Alpaca
adventure began....read an article about non-traditional livestock
and so I started the research. The internet became an easy resource.
I became a member of the Alpaca Owners and Breeders Association
in the United States in 2001 mainly to use their library. Farm
visits began as well, and by March of 2001, I had purchased my
first pregnant female, Dynasty, whose first cria was due in June,
2001.
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On
the Saturday before Father's Day, Carmen was born. An inquisitive
bright boy, he soon became the darling of the herd where
he and his Mom were agisting.
Today, Carmen is my farm ambassador,
a gelded male that enjoys meeting the public. He attends
the venues away from the farm where he can greet the public
at fairs and agricultural exhibits
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attending a conference in Alberta the following year, I visited
several farms and eventually purchased three maidens to be
bred the following year. These three females stayed in Alberta
until the summer of 2003 when they were shipped to Ontario.
In the fall of 2003, my herd had grown to Dynasty, her son
Carmen, her new female cria Aida, Sierne's Snowfake, Taza
and Fancy Doll from Alberta. This herd was now living at a
friend's farm near Uxbridge, Ontario. |
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Four crias were expected
in 2004. Two females and two males were born. Sirene’s
Snowflake gave birth to a male we named Largo; Taza another
male, Torzido. Fancy Doll gave birth to a female we named
Loza, and Dynasty had another female we named Lavita. A successful
beginning to an expanding herd. |
The barn and fencing were the big
projects for the summer of 2004, with some new boys coming at
the end of August. Neko, a new herdsire was purchased along with
a prospective junior herdsire named Auregon. The main herd arrived
in mid-September making Andre’s Alpacas an active alpaca
farm for the first time.
