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Alpacas are quiet,
gentle and curious animals, slightly smaller than their camelid cousin,
the llama. Indigenous to the Andes of South America, these herd animals graze on pasture grass or browse blackberry bushes and low tree limbs. Fleece colors range from white and light
fawn to brown, mahogany, rose gray, silver, and black, and many shades in between.
Having never owned lifestock before,
we carefully considered the implications of getting involved in the alpaca
business. We looked beyond the doe-eyes and the cute babies to the business
model and the daily tasks, and agreed that the 'alpaca lifestyle' appealed to
us on multiple levels.
Our two-year search for farm property resulted in an accessible and beautiful location in Eugene,
Oregon, just 35 miles from Mike's birthplace of Oakridge. We knew within 10 minutes of walking on the property that this was the farm we were looking for. We readied the 1890s-era barn and pens, and after agisting (boarding) our alpacas for three years at two mentor farms, we transported them to their new home. See photos and notes of our beginnings on our blog. And for more recent notes and updates, visit our FaceBook page.
We are CLOSED January - March 2020
~ Check back with us for our Grand Re-Opening Date ~
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Think
Locally
and
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 Our on-site Boutique & Gallery, A Spinner's Barn, showcases yarn and items made from our own alpacas' fleece as well as from other local farms' bounty. Oringal art for sale by Plein Air Painters of Lane County graces the walls.
Throughout the year, we schedule Open Farm Days, and also host school groups, senior residents, foreign students, families, and other visitors to come enjoy our "living postcard."
"Agisting" is an Olde English term for "boarding." Here at Aragon Alpacas we have a few agisting clients ~ folks who do not live on a farm but want to own alpacas. Their animals are included in our herd and are treated with the same daily care for a minimal monthly fee. Any necessary veterinary visits and shearing costs are the responsibility of the owner; and there is a birthing fee for cria born to agisted females. That's how we began this adventure!
Alpacas
are fleece animals — that is the harvest of our farming
business. Aragon Alpacas began breeding toward fineness of dark-colored fleece, but for hand-spinning, we recognize that light colors are very dyeable and desirable, too.
And Nature has a way of surprising us!
Shearing
Day is our Harvest Day, producing a bounty of fleece for processing and for sale to artisans. A few fleeces are skirted for shows, others sorted for spinning. Raw fiber is desired by hand-spinners — some reserve a particular fleece ahead of time — or it may be sent to
a mini-mill for machine-processing into roving, batts, or yarn. Small mills
are often are often located on alpaca farms, so the fiber is in skilled
hands. There are also a few fiber co-ops in North America to promote this
home-grown resource.
Alpaca fleeces are eligible for entry into the Black Sheep Gathering's Wool Show & Sale to be evaluated with hand-spinning in mind, and we entered several of ours.
A Spin-Off is a simple and easy way to get an expert spinner's objective evaluation of our fleeces so we can measure the succes of our breeding progam and herd management. So we also entered select fleeces in the Alpaca Association of Western Oregon's Spin-Off 2019 and the winners are displayed at the Oregon Flock & Fiber Festival. Troubadour took a Judge's Choice award.
For breeding selections, we make the wisest choice possible by considering the attributes of a female and adding higher qualities in a male, always reaching upward. Physical conformation,
fleece characteristics, color genetics, and temperament of each parent
enter into the equation. We then wait for almost a year (gestation is roughly11.25 months) for the outcome,
and then another few years before that offspring matures and shows what he or she can produce.
The alpaca industry is so new in the
United States that owners and veterinarians are continually learning and sharing information in our literal grass-roots network. The sole purpose of groups such as the North West Camelid Foundation is to fund research for these unique animals.
Alpacas were declared "livestock" by the U.S. government in 2008, further enhancing their asset value. Come visit us if you are near Eugene, Oregon. Or search online to find farms in your area and go meet alpacas for yourself.
"Alpacas
offer an outstanding choice as a livestock investment. They
have long been known as the aristocrat of all farm animals.
But most of all, alpacas are easy keepers, they have a charismatic
manner, do very well on small acreage and produce a luxury
product which is in high demand."
~ Alpaca
Owners Association ~ |
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Drake's Arabesque d'Aragon |
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