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Interview with Sara Bender (Ollie Series #5)

March 27, 2013

Last month in the Ollie series, we met Ollie’s parents, the alpacas behind the cria. Let’s now meet the people behind the alpacas behind the cria! First, though, I’ll go over what, exactly, alpacas are since I’ve been remiss about that (stick with me—I’ll try not to get too science-y!); plus, it will give us some context for the interview!

Alpacas are camelids, which started out in North America approximately 40 million years ago. At one point about three million years ago, a land bridge formed, allowing some of the animals to migrate into Africa, Asia, and South America. The camelids that stayed behind in North America became extinct, likely due to overhunting and environmental changes. The camelids that migrated to Africa became the Dromedary (one hump) camels, and those that migrated to Asia became the Bactrian (two humps) camels. The camelids that migrated to South America split into two groups: vicuñas and guanacos. Over time, some vicuñas and guanacos were domesticated by the ancient peoples, and these animals became alpacas (cousins to the vicuñas) and llamas (cousins to guanacos).

Camelid Comparison

This drawing shows llamas and alpacas together with their wild cousins. Photo © llama-llocater.com

Interestingly, vicuñas and guanacos still run wild in South America! Vicuñas have the finest fiber of any animal in the world and have been a protected species since the 1970s when it was discovered their numbers had dwindled to only a few thousand as a result of poaching and habitat loss. Today, however, their numbers are back up into the hundreds of thousands, and, though they are wild, they are still rounded up once a year for counting and shearing using the same methods as the ancient peoples.

Vicuñas

These are vicuñas. So beautiful and delicate! Photo © knewance.com

And, of course, alpacas are still very common in South America, and are becoming more popular all over the world. Ironically, when alpacas made a comeback in the U. S., they were imported from South America, the very place the original ancestors from North America migrated to all those millions of years ago.

There are two types of alpacas: huacaya (pronounced wuh-KAI-ya) and suri (pronounced SOO-ree). Each type comes in a variety of colors, ranging from white to brown to gray to black. Huacaya alpacas are like Ollie, with short, crimped fiber and suri alpacas look like they have “dreadlocks.” Suri alpacas are much rarer than huacaya alpacas. Alpacas are herbivores, primarily eating pasture protein-rich grasses, hay, and sometimes grain. They chew cud and, like other ruminants (this means they chew cud, like cattle and goats), they have a chambered stomach, but they have only three chambers instead of four.

Alpaca vs. Suri

Comparison of huacaya alpacas and suri alpacas. Photo © islandalpaca.com

Personality-wise, they are friendly and gentle, but standoffish. The best way I’ve heard it described is that they are like cats, seeking attention when they want it and staying at a respectful distance when they don’t. They can be curious and fun to watch, and they are very intelligent and trainable. They are generally quiet, but they do make some noises, such as “warning” sounds, humming, or sounds reserved only for mating. They are herd animals who must be kept in groups of at least two, though three or more is ideal.

Curious Herd Animals

See what I mean? Curious herd animals! Photo © gnllama.com

There! I think that about sums them up in a nutshell. I could go on (and on…), but it’s time now to talk to Sara! I mentioned in my introduction post about Ollie that Foggy Bottom Alpacas, where Ollie currently lives, is owned by Mark and Barb Bender. Sara is their daughter, and she manages Foggy Bottom Alpacas as well as her own Over the Rainbow Alpaca Ranch. People like Sara are important because they are often mentors for individuals (like me) who are just getting into this hobby. Though I can (and have) read many books and websites about alpacas, I often find the best information comes from having real-life interaction with other people who own alpacas. When Ollie is old enough to live at Linda’s, I will be lucky enough to have both Sara and Linda as mentors, which will help to ensure that I can give Ollie the best care possible!

Sara, how did you get interested in alpacas?

Sara: My parents got their first “group” of alpacas in 2008. At first, I thought they were crazy… but then I started to really like the alpacas. In 2009, I went with my dad to a farm in Virginia, Double “O” Good Alpacas, and that is where I bought my first alpaca. I haven’t looked back since.

Jillian: That seems to be the general consensus for alpaca enthusiasts—the alpacas just puuull you in. 🙂 I think it’s their soulful eyes!

How did you and your parents come up with your farm names?

Sara: I named my farm Over the Rainbow Alpaca Ranch because I have an alpaca named Over the Rainbow. She is very social, and loves to be petted and hugged. She even comes when you call her! My parents named their farm Foggy Bottom because they have 20 acres of rolling land… and it is usually foggy in the mornings. 😉

Rainbow

The Rainbow after which Over the Rainbow Alpaca Ranch was named! Photo © Over the Rainbow Alpaca Ranch

How many alpacas do you have?

Sara: Between each farm, there are about 70 alpacas, all huacaya. This year, we are expecting 29 babies to be born!

Do you have any other animals at your farm?

Sara: Other than our family dogs and our two barn cats, it’s just alpacas! We used to have chickens, but we needed the space in the barn to create our “nursery,” which is a heated area in our barn.

We have talked above about what alpacas eat, but do they have any favorite treats?

Sara: Some alpacas like shredded carrots, some will eat apple bits, and one even likes animal crackers! We try not to feed too many “treats,” but when we do, it is usually something called alpaca chews (it is grain that is in bigger pellets so they think it is a treat!).

Jillian: When I visit Linda’s alpacas, they like it when I bring carrots and dark greens!

How do alpacas do in the extremes of the Minnesota climate?

Sara: They do very well in our climate overall, though the summer heat is dangerous to alpacas because of their fiber—imagine wearing a fur coat in 80-degree weather! We keep them cool in the summer months with fans and sprinklers that wet their belly and legs. We have to be careful not to wet the top of their backs with water in the heat because that acts more as a thermal blanket and traps heat inside, rather than cooling them off. (Some farms even put out little kiddie pools with a few inches of water that the alpacas kush in!)

Jillian: What about the cold? Would you say the heat is more of a threat than the winter months?

Sara: The cold is not something that we worry about. They have so much fiber that they can insulate and stay pretty warm. We have a few girls that get cold, and laying straw down in the winter helps to insulate and keep them warm. A few select females and younger alpacas need coats, some of which we make here on the farm out of felted alpaca fleece!

Tell me about the first cria born at your farm!

Sara: Windsong was his name, and Duchess was actually his mom! My mom was at a breakfast meeting and I was at work (when I worked for Children’s Hospital in Minneapolis) and my dad was alone. He called to say that Duchess was in labor! Though my mom left her meeting right away, by the time she got home, Windsong was already up and walking. I think my dad was nervous, but after it was done… it was exciting!

Windsong

This is Windsong! I think he is the spitting image of Duchess. Photo © Foggy Bottom Alpacas

Jillian: Given what I know of Ollie’s birth, I am not surprised Windsong’s was just as quick! It is pretty exciting that Duchess, Ollie’s own mom, was Foggy Bottom’s first female and that Windsong was the first cria born on your farm. This makes Windsong, who was sold as a sire to Wildflower Alpacas in Princeton (he is their top sire!), Ollie’s older half-brother! Cool!

How do you know whether a cria will be a fiber boy (like Ollie) or a sire (like Windsong)?

Sara: Well, the goals for breeding are basically always the same: breed for the best quality fiber without compromising the conformation [correctness of body shape] of the alpaca. You can usually tell by a couple of days old, but sometimes you need to wait until you can get the animal sheared in the spring. Cria fleece usually looks a little “fuzzy” and can be very long, which will pull the fleece and the crimp out. But sometimes they are born and the fiber looks straight… then I know that it will not be the fleece I was hoping for. Practice, practice, practice. The more crias you see, the better you get at knowing good fleece right away.

Jillian: So, because the goal of breeding is never to go backward in either conformation or fiber, an alpaca male must be exceptional in both of these areas to be a sire. By dint of being an alpaca, Ollie has lovely fiber, but in the grand scheme of things, his fiber is simply average for an alpaca, not a leap forward in getting to the goal of alpaca fiber that rivals what the ancient peoples of South America created. (We still have not, to this day, been able to replicate the fineness of their alpaca fiber, which was the result of thousands of years of breeding knowledge that was lost approximately 500 years ago during the Spanish Conquest. Basically, breeders of today are having to relearn what the ancient peoples had already figured out, though a basic rule of “never go backward” is simply common sense.) Because breeding Ollie to a female would not get us closer to that goal and, in fact, might take us backward, he will only ever be my fiber pet. Windsong, on the other hand, had both good conformation and good fiber—because of that, he is now a sire!

Speaking of fiber, what do you do with the fiber from your animals?

Sara: Right now, we turn a lot of it into yarn which we then sell in our store, we knit with some of the yarn to sell the finished goods, and we also sell some of it raw (spinners out there want to process the fiber themselves!). We have a machine called a FeltLOOM. [Jillian: I’ve seen it, it is so cool!] It needlefelts the fiber into any size sheet, which we can use to make a variety of things. So far, we’ve made boot inserts, bags, purses, and blankets. We also will start donating a lot of our fiber to the co-op in exchange for products to sell in our store.

Jillian: I am pretty excited to figure out what I am going to do with Ollie’s fiber! I have a special plan for a little bit of it that, if it works out, I’ll reveal here on the blog closer to shearing time. 🙂

Play Time

Two crias at Foggy Bottom playing chase. Photo © Foggy Bottom Alpacas

That’s all for today! I hope you enjoyed the closer look at alpacas, and the bits behind-the-scene where Ollie lives. Next up, we’ll talk about the weaning process! (Can you believe Ollie is old enough for us to even start thinking about that? Time sure has flown…)

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