Click here to meet the alpacas
Elyse has started back at the Deakin University , Wool Dept, Geelong, completing her Wool classing certificate.
She is the first alpaca student to have studied under the apprenticeship program at this school.
Her teacher Stuart MacPherson was one of the professors that did the original research on alpaca fleece so that the AAA could get the Australian Made label. He is very impressed with Elyse's knowledge, and experience for her age. She displays the enthusiasm as most breeders to learn more about fleece, which he can incorporate into alpaca for her.
She is learning how to operate the Laser fibre scanners, and alos how to take skin sampling for fibre density testing.
Elyse is enjoying and leanrning about all the different sheep fleeces and breeding, and she is willing to help explain this at our education days.
All the up to date techniques. and processes.
Bookings available
Please post any ,mail, enquiries to Raelene
They cannot resist a cuddle and Elyse cannot resist giving them a cuddle. Masterpiece making the most of the moment
Stefano now over 19 1/2 years old, is still one of our best producing males, with his offspring still performing well with the best at shows.
He now has his own paddock, which he guards with pride.
Still servicing over 20 females per month, we just do not want to put too much on him for his age. But he is still up there with the best of them
Thanks Elyse for helping us on the farm
WE hope you had a very merry Xmas and wish you a very successful 2008.
Nov, Dec Jan Feb, is always a very busy time on our farm.
With 1 full week of shearing, and we still have 750kg of fibre to take to the AAFL. With 5 handlers and 1 shearer, the job was done quite stress free, in hot weather, to find at the end three days of hail stones, and heavy rain, which the whole herd had to be housed.
We started showing this year, the first time since i was sick in Peru, that we are able to start bringing our best out to display our breeding. our fist show was the sheep & wool show.
with great success, and bringing home many awards, and satisfaction, as our fleeces are being reconised with some of the best.
with over 100 babies born this year, we are now assessing the ones that will go to the shows.
With currently 12 in the show team, there is only so manyyou can take to the show at once.
We have had heaps of rain, in fact too much rain, but all are coping well.
We have all the fleece samples to go through now, and prepare and send to the Fleece testing lab.
We have a group of alpacas in quarantine at the moment destined for New Zealand, and Germany/
all is going well..
A Kiss or a Spit?
...A Kiss of course, our alpacas do not spit, just getting impatient whilst i
try to clean him up for the ring
to view some videos go to
http://www.youtube.com/mariahhillalpaca
Our Show Team
History is being made with the First Canadian Shipment in over a decade is under way.
Chellenges are being tackled, as we meet all the conditions of this new protocol.
Already a second shipment is booked, and will start the procedures very soon.
Still plenty of planning ahead, as we go through each condition.
We have just come back from the National Show at Canberra, Our Car had some problems, and so we had to stay to get it fixed before we came home.
This is the first day off we have had in over 8 months and so you can see Elyse did make the most of it.
It also is the first time we have seen some sunshine for a long while, it was such a nice feeling to feel it on your skin.
A fantastic show team
...We were very pleased
with the comments and
interest on our fleeces.
to view some videos go to
http://www.youtube.com/mariahhillalpaca
First 3 weeks of January 08, we just had babies, babies and more babies, this is half of waht was born in the first 3 weeks of '08
The above fleece is from one of our best producing females..Seduction, this is her third fleece.
SHe has hardly blown out at all, and we were stunned with the combination we gained with Vallon De Oro', with a stunning cria called "Illustrious"
When our fleece man tested his fleece, before dipping it into the cleaning fluid, (as we are dusty here now), he said this is the most lustrous fleece he has seen... then when it came out of the cleaning fluid, he said he could not believe how beautiful the fleece was, he said i cannot believe this is alpaca
