A New Alpaca Herd Is Established

Hi All,

Well it's been an early start for us this morning as we loaded up the trailer and headed off to deliver a foundation herd to their new owners Nick and Sharon from Pine Tree Alpacas in Leicestershire. Nick and Sharon have been planning this day for sometime now with us and we are pleased to announce that their dreams are finally starting to come true for them.

Pine Tree Alpacas have selected a range of alpacas from our herd enabling them to offer a variety of packages, some show winners too!

Sharon and Nick, with a congratulating hug from Lisa

We would like to wish Nick and Sharon all the very best and every success in the future, hopefully see you at some fleece shows guys.

Well it was back home to relieve the farm sitter from her duties and a nice cup of tea was welcoming us on our arrival. It feels a little odd seeing the paddocks 19 alpacas lighter.

The recent weather situation has certainly not had the effects on us this time round after we invested the time and money into concreting the barns and organising the drainage, earlier this year with the severe weather we were constantly getting flooded out which after more than a few times of this happening, it starts to get a little annoying as you can imagine. The investment has certainly been worthwhile as not a drop has entered our barns this time, so smiling faces around.

Well that's all for now, take care all.

We Are Happy With A Second

Hi folks,

Well again it's been a long time but I'm back again. It's been very busy for us over the last few months with one thing and another going on, hopefully we can reveal some of what's been happening in the not to distant future.

We are still in birthing mode with out latest female cria being born yesterday morning, a solid white female from Wellground Cyan, sired by Wellground Relentless, we are excited about this one but will have to wait and see what becomes of her as you just never now.

Today was an early start as I was off to the GWR Fleece and Fibre Show in Frome. I made the trophies again this year and sponsored the Supreme Champion Huacaya and Suri classes. This is a fantastic show concept that we have attended now for the last three years being placed with our fleeces each year, this year being of no exception and coming home with a second place from a class of thirteen in the Junior Huacaya Fawn, we are more than happy with that as this is a result of our own breeding decisions. Congratulations to all the other entrants that won.

It feels good to be back blogging again, let's see if I can keep up with it again, I know a certain Scot will have something to say!!

That's all for now.

Another Cria Born

Hi Folks

Well the sunshine has brought us another cria today. This time it is from our very own herd sire "Wellground Relentless". We have been waiting patiently for this years cria's to see what Relentless will pass on to the new born.

"WillowBank Cadberry"

"WillowBank Cadberry" a solid fawn boy Sired by "Wellground Relentless" our very own herd sire here at WillowBank Alpacas. "WillowBank Cadberry" looks like he is going to be a little cracker, we will just have to see how he progresses as time will only tell!!

"WillowBank Cadberry"

"WillowBank Cadberry" was born 14 days early but that doesn't seem to be a problem as he surveys his new surrounding looking for his new play mate that was born yesterday.

Sitting Proud 

We still haven't decided a name for this young man yet, but we are sure it will come in time. He just loves to pose to the camera and is more than happy to just sit and take it all in, until he is hungry that is then there is no stopping him on the milk bar!

That's it again for tonight who knows what tomorrow will bring.

Our First Cria Arrives

Hi All,

Well again it's been such a long time since we last blogged.....disgraceful!

We have been busy redesigning the website and putting adverts in magazines, which has been paying off for us. A little dickie bird told me that getting the advertisements right is an essential part to our business, that dickie bird was right of course and we believe we have got it right.....well the phone is ringing so we must be doing something right.

The shearers came Friday just gone the 22nd, they said bright and early as they arrived at 07.30 and we all got stuck in. We are so lucky to have the barns enabling us to bring the alpacas in during this bad weather, which also allows us to operate our carousel design in the barns rotating the alpacas round for shearing, the day well went really well like a well oiled machine.

Today saw our first cria of 2012 born here at WillowBank Alpacas......a cracking solid white male who's sire is Wellground Close Encounter and the dam is Wellground Beyound Compare both parents posses fantastic genetics which we are sure their traits will have been passed onto this fabulous boy, I think this could be one of those to keep a close eye on.

Here is the fella sitting happily in the barn as the weather has been really hit and miss here all day, so we didn't want to risk him getting cold and decided to keep him in all day with mum. We will get some nice out in the paddock shots as soon as the weather permits.

Well that's it for tonight, but with us now being in full swing of birthing it's only a matter of time before we have more cria popping along.

WillowBank Prime Contender

Hi All,

Well after a kick up the rear from an email.....you know who you are!! we have finally managed to find time to update the blog. I really need to put more time aside to keep this updated, it's no excuse but with the commitments of my full time job and longer hours being required from me the blog has been the last thing on our minds. However we are going to try and get back in the flow of blogging and catch up again of whats going on with you all.

No saying that, I have actually had a week off from work this last week and have managed to get so many jobs completed around the farm. Lisa has been a star and has kept the farm running whilst I continue with my other work commitments, it's a good job she is as understanding as she is. We have finally completed fencing off the rest of the land and created more paddocks allowing us to manage the land better and rotate the alpacas onto fresh grass every few weeks, it's so satisfying to finally see the land completely fenced how we originally had planned, a good job done and ticked off.




We have know separated another up and coming stud "WillowBank Prime Contender". WillowBank Prime Contender is sired by Wellground Close Encounter and his dam is Wellground Beyond Compare. We are really excited with the young potential stud, his fleece is perfect in every way he really has taken traits from both parents and is possessing a fleece to die for, you really have to see this fleece to believe it.

We will be getting a sample of fleece sent away and will keep you posted of the results, I will try and get some pictures of his fleece but as we all know getting those pictures to come out is a challenge in it's self.

Talking of fleeces we have just received our bags from the Natural Fibre Company, so we will be sending off our next batch of fleeces for processing and our knitter is keen to get cracking on some fantastic designs we have.

The website is about to undergo some major changes and become a more user friendly and funky site with various extras, so keep an eye out for the news of this when completed.

Well that's all for tonight, but watch this space for more news from the WillowBank Alpaca Crew.

Snow And Jumping Alpacas

Hi All

Well the snow started falling at around 15.00 yesterday and continued well in to the night, I was expecting things to be a lot worse than they were this morning when we woke, even though, we have still had around 5" of snow fall overnight.

Lily was really excited and couldn't wait to get outside and start playing in the snow, we decided to let the alpacas out for a short while so that we could muck out the barns and thought that it would be a fantastic photo opportunity to see some of the alpacas experience snow for the first time.


Here is one of the groups taking advantage of the crisp snow, they were not that bothered to start of with, they were more interested in breakfast.

Then the younger one realised that the grass was a little colder than usual and the wrong colour and that's when the fun began.


The jumping and skipping around was fantastic to watch and I am glad I had the camera with me. I hope you enjoy these pictures as they make us smile when we look at them. All the alpacas are now all took up in the barns to keep warm and Lisa and Lily are outside making a snowman.

So that's all for now, be back soon with more pictures. Keep warm all.

Computer Repaired!

Hi All,

Well it's been such a long time since my last blog which has partly due to having major computer problems, hopefully this is all sorted out now and we are back online.

We hope you all had a lovely Christmas and New Year, a little belated I know but with our computer issues this is our first time in wishing you all the best and a successful 2012.

Wellground Relentless our stud male is due to become a dad this year, so we are really excited to see what his influence has been with the cria's being born this year. Relentless is a true gentleman with the ladies and can't wait to show them a bit of loving. We will keep you posted with the new arrivals when they happen.

The rest of the alpacas are all coming along nicely, we are going to be releasing some of the alpacas for sale this year and we are currently updating our website with these details and will publish these very shortly.

The winds of late have been playing tricks on our minds as we have been convinced that we are going to get blown away in the caravan, although it is very well secured down it has been a little bit scary at times and kind of feels like we are on a small boat during a hurricane storm out at sea.

Well it's great to be back online again and to be able to see what you all have been up to, it's very surprising how much we depend on computers these days, it's only when they are not working that we realise how much they form part of our daily routine.

That's all for now, back soon.