This morning was a bright and sunny
day in Pennsylvania as we drove to
Heaven's Hill Alpaca Farm. The drive out was
beautiful as the sun shined on the rolling hills of wide-open green grass.
Having alpacas myself and falling in love with them on last year’s tour, I
practically giggled with excitement when we drove down the driveway and saw the
first alpaca. We got out of our cars and had a beautiful view of the valleys
and hills. We could even see West Virginia far off in the distance.
We learned
a bit about the farm and what they breed for. They are primarily a grey and
black breeder however it is still not completely understood how the genetics
for fiber color in alpacas work so some of the offspring still come out a
different color. We moved down the hill to see the babies and moms to see the variety
of colors for ourselves. We approached the barn and they all started to poke
their heads out one by one until there was about fifteen adorable fluffy faces
confused as to who we were and what we are doing at their home. Alpacas are naturally
shy creatures, so they kept their distance at first, however, as so as feed was
dished out and instantly, the babies came into eat and a collective “aww!” was
heard throughout the group. We each took turns getting to go in and pet the
babies who were so soft it felt as though I wasn’t even touching anything. It
was as if my hand was gliding through a cool cloud of air and while I can’t
speak for everyone else, I imagine they would say the same. Moving through the
barn we saw the main breeding stock of the farm. This was a group of ten or so
all black females. This gave us a great opportunity to be able to see how much
the facial and structural look of an alpaca can differ. We fed the girls by
hand to be able to feel how they pick up the feed with their lips. The fine
hairs on their lips tickled our hands as they searched every crevice of our fingers
to make sure they got all of the feed. After this we walked back to the front
of the farm to see the stud males. There were two pastures of males with about
four males in each side. The males were either frolicking in the pasture or
stretched out sunbathing soaking up all the rays. They were beyond adorable and
just made my heart warm to see them. We concluded our tour by going into the
farm store and getting to feel some of the shorn fleece and products such as
yarn and scarves made from the fiber of the animals we just saw. Overall, this
was an amazing experience getting to see the operation from breeding stock to
babies to the products made from the fiber of the animals.
No comments:
Post a Comment