alpaca fibre – Gabe Feathers McGee

Yes, it is that time of the year again 😉 National Alpaca Week 2013

This is the week that you can visit your local alpaca farm in Australia; and being the proud owners of two Suri alpaca we thought we would go and have a looksee at the place where Spirit and Merlin were born (Ivory Park alpaca farm in a place called Bungadoo).

Personally I would have gone to visit Bungadoo just for the sound of the name 😉

So we travelled forth to Bungadoo on Sunday afternoon to visit Ivory Park. This alpaca farm is owned and operated by Bev and Darryl (with a focus on solid white Suri alpacas).

And what a pretty farm it was!

Rolling hills, plentiful dams and a multitude of alpaca afoot.

This is the Suri nursery with Mums and their bubs (or crias as they are called in the alpaca world)

Suri alpacas (crias and Mums)

Suri nursery (Ivory Park)

Ivory Park also has some Huacaya alpacas (the fibre is very dense and stands perpendicular to the body). Suri alpacas have the finer fibre which has a dreadlock appearance.

Here is a very young Huacaya alpaca (cria) with Mum.

Huacaya cria with Mum

Huacaya cria

There was even a llama to behold:

Fabuloso (not my name 😉 )

Llama

Last but not least – the Suri alpaca on the left is Pinjarra Rossini (father of Spirit and Merlin). He looks a bit pleased with himself (but what the hell would I know 😉 learning the body language of an alpaca is on my To Do list!)