Saga...Super Dense Jet Black Male Has Arrived At Village Farm Alpacas
He is here. Saga will be working on our farm this Spring and Summer. Village Farm now offers three top males Aureus Magnus Champion Fawn, Rampage a General Stark son who is as nice as his White Champion dad and a rock solid super dense jet black Saga. We are thrilled with Saga who is the first true black offspring of Fosters Cerveza of Sallie's Fen Alpacas--who we co-own this herdsire with. The first time we put our hands on Cerveza at Jack Dibb and Nicola Blake's farm we couldn't believe how dense his fleece was! Saga has the same solid bone on a well balanced frame and the same extremely dense and crimpy fleece with excellent coverage that has won so many ribbons for Cereveza's offspring--but in his Dam's shiny true black. Saga has won ribbons at shows in large classes including 2nd at North American 2005, 3rd at North American 2006 and 4th at the New England Coastal Classic 2005. Saga took Reserve Champion Black in Fleece as well at the 2005 NECC. Saga is settling females with commanding presence and splits his time between our farm and Sallie's Fen in Barrington, New Hampshire. We will have him at Village Farm the Spring and Summer of 2008 available for breedings.
Aureus Magnus Takes First
In the alpaca fleece competition at this year's Maine Fiber Frolic, our beautiful young fawn herdsire, Aureus Magnus, took first place. Judged by alpaca fiber expert Cindy Lavin, his fleece's awesome shear weight, super finness and serious crimp with deep amplitude was clearly the top alpaca fleece entered. Cindy commented that she was very pleased to have a fleece of this rare high quality at the show. Aureus Magnus was the Reserve Champion Fawn at the North American Show and his sire, Magnus was two time National Champion. Aureus Magnus is now standing at stud ($2,500)at Village Farm and is the core of our breeding program.
September 26 Alpaca Farming Class
Offered by...MSAD 40 Adult Eduction
At....Medomak Valley High School Waldoboro, Maine
When...Wednesday, September 26 6-9 pm (One Night)
Fee...Paid to Maine Adult Education $15
Call 207-832-5205 Susan Taylor Adult Education
Course Title ....Alpaca Farming
Course Description From Catelog
"Do you think you might be interested in raising alpacas? Join us for a dynamic presentation with Bonnie and Terry Callery of Village Farm Alpacas. Bonnie will cover the basics of how to buy, feed, pasture and take care of the animals and share her knowledge about fiber and alpaca husbandry. Terry will cover the investment, sales and marketing -the business aspects of alpaca farming."
Cutting Edge Seminar
BONNIE ATTENDS CAMERON HOLT FIBER SEMINAR--PORTLAND, MAINE, NOVEMBER 2006 Cameron Holt flew from Australia to attend a Maine Alpaca Association Seminar in November. Holt is considered to be one of the world's foremost authorities on alpaca fiber and has done extensive research into the characteristics and qualities that make alpaca fiber unique. In addition to very cutting edge information on alpaca fiber analysis, he gave his opinion on what he feels breeders should be focusing on in their breeding programs to create a strong market for the alpaca fiber industry in the US. Students were provided with the opportunity to do hands-on assessment of fleece and gained invaluable knowledge on how to judge fleece quality.
2006 Maine Fiberarts Tour Map includes our Alpaca Farm
Village Farm Alpacas will be one of 143 fiber destinations accross Maine including sheep farms, natural dye gardens, fiber processing mills, spinneries, the studios of knitters, sculptors and weavers included in a self-guided tour map produced by by Maine Fiber Arts. There will be 60,000 of these maps printed and distributed all over the State of Maine including at the seven tourism information centers. A large poster version of the map will be printed. Among the photos is a shot taken by Terry of two General Stark crias, which we sold to Caroline Ford of Houlton. Lindy Star out of Liz and Commander Cody out of Snowdrop display perfect conformation as they posed for the photo. All of the Maine sites on the Tour Map will be open to the public August 4,5,6 for an "Open Studio and Farm Weekend" including our Alpaca Farm. A web version of the Tour Map has just one alpaca photo, a head shot of our beautiful Snowdrop, and it can be acessed by going to www.mainefiberarts.org
Alpaca Shop Moved to our Alpaca Farm in Waldoboro, Maine
Just a few days before the New England Holiday Tour 2004, which about fifteen Maine alpaca farms took part in, we had a 12 x 24 building shell dropped next to the barn by a big flat bed trunk. While the primary focus of the "Maine Breeders Open Farm Weekend" in October is to show off the farm and the alpacas, the NEAOBA sponsored Holiday Tour, is more about selling alpaca yarn, roving and alpaca apparel. Village Farm offers a nice selection of imported Peruvian sweaters, capes, blankets, hats, socks and scarves. For many years, we set up shop in the barn for our open house events, which was funky and quaint, but logistically a major headache as the alpacas had to be temporarily moved out of their feeding area.
Now we have everything set up in our "Alpaca Shop" which is open by chance and by appointment here in Maine. The shop is still a work in progress, but Terry was able to put a red oil stain on the exterior to match the barn, insulated the walls, and put up shiplap boards for interior walls just in time for the Holiday event. The Shop carries some very fashionable items: long sweater coats, alpaca "fur" hats and stunning full capes
Our Alpaca Farm sends Bonnie to Help the Maine Alpaca Association
Last year, Bonnie volunteered to join the education committee for the newly formed Maine Alpaca Association. She planned and organized the committee’s first initiative: a neonatal clinic presented by the internationally renowned Dr. LaRhue Johnson from Colorado State University to 50 enthusiastic alpaca farmers and veterinarians. For many, the highlight of the seminar was the very hands-on "wet lab" where students were able to simulate natural and problem births.
Terry as Alpaca Farm Member Now Serving as Marketing Chairperson For New England Alpaca Owners and Breeders Association
Recently, Terry was asked to serve as the Marketing Chairperson for NEAOBA. The marketing committee, together with the very creative marketing firm, Breedworks, has made a set of recommendations to move NEAOBA’s marketing effort forward to the next level. This included an analysis of NEAOBA’s website and a re-design proposal. They will be working on creating "branding" for the organization as well as organizing a drive to add informative content to the site
Bonnie attends "Accredited Breeder" fiber seminar by Judge Maggie Kriegor
Bonnie is working towards becoming an "Accredited Breeder"--an accreditation status achieved through an intensive course of study offered by the Alpaca Breeders Fiber School. She recently attended a 2-day seminar presented by the esteemed judge, Maggie Kriegor, which provided hands-on experience assessing fiber and conformation.
Feature Maine Alpaca Farm article in the AOBA publication Alpaca Magazine (Herdsire Edition), Spring 2004
Read Terence's informative article (in Adobe Acrobat format) about how we built a buttress addition to our exisiting 1840 Maine Alpaca barn.
