About Us

A view beyond.....

Another year has come and gone, and we are still learning something new every day!!

Here are our highlights of 2011:

January and February 2011 was how everyone remembers a “real” winter. Lots of snow - came early and stayed late. It was fun to watch the alpacas following David as he made paths for them with the snow blower.

The end of March threatened with a Nor’easter – we left early to take the boys – Hickory and Maxwell to NAAS. This was our first show with alpaca born and raised on our farm. Maxwell took 5^th in class and Hickory took 6^th. I was told this wasn’t too bad as NAAS is a very competitive show.

In April we went to MAPACA in Harrisburg, PA. Imagine how thrilled we were that Maxwell took 1^stin class. Hickory took 5^th.

May found us at the NE Expo in Syracuse.We thought we were on a roll with a couple of winners, only to have our bubble burst.Maxwell and Hickory both walked out of the ring with no ribbons.They are actually great yearling males, and should make anyone proud to add their genetics to their herd.Looking forward to offering breedings the spring of 2012.

May was also shearing time again. Like the previous year, we took our small herd over to Bel Canto Farm. The shearers were late, held up at a previous appointment, so we didn’t start until around 7:00 PM. It didn’t take long to get a routine going – and we had ~30 alpaca and 2 llama done before 10:00 PM. Although I’m getting better, it is still difficult for me to hear them during this traumatic event. They soon forget – but it sure pulls at my heart.

June was rather uneventful as we started our cria watch. And then, on the 4^th of July, Dream had her baby. To honor the day we named her Cabin View’s Liberty Belle. And living up to her name – what a firecracker she is! We are pretty sure halter training her is going to be a project. Four days later, Jasmine of Cabin View was born. A little bit of a difficult birth, she had to fight for her first breath. The vet told me to rub her with the towel until she was really “ticked” off. She got mad, she breathed and off she went. A beautiful little white girl either named after the delicate white flower or more suitably the Arabic translation for “a gift from God”.

In July we took our little girl, Katie (now all grown up) to Magical Farm’s Summer Camp for her date with Black Mesquite. It was difficult leaving her there, but Magical was very good about keeping us informed on her progress. Tripp said she had read all the right romantic novels. A couple of ultrasounds later – and voila Katie is pregnant with her first cria. (A STF Jetson/MFI Peruvian Black Mesquite combination.)

OH MY GOSH – what were we thinking! Katie was ready for us to bring her home the first part of October and we decided to go the weekend Magical was having their annual Breeders Choice Auction. We were curious to see the event and figured we’d even get a free meal, or so. Well – there really is no such thing as a free lunch. We went to Ohio with an empty van, and came home with four alpaca. Our Katie, Shadow Dancer, June Bug and Miss May. We had some pretty nice genetics on our farm already – and just added the Jericho line and then some. Pulling in a couple of favors, as it was really short notice – we took Shadow Dancer to the Empire Extravaganza. Her first show - 1st in class.

Off to NJ the first weekend of November and entered Shadow Dancer in the NJAC. Bunking with Autumn Mist we had a great weekend. Shadow Dancer took Reserve Championship and we won a breeding to Nevada from Sue and Wayne Robinson in the Silent Auction.

And, starting late summer – a work in progress – an addition to the shop/barn. We hopefully will have plenty of room at the inn for a while.

Well, here we are, just about to start 2012. We are looking forward to healthy crias, a good show season, meeting new and old alpaca friends and an ever improving herd of alpaca.

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!

Christine and David Houseworth