The alpacas are now on the road to go to catch the plane to canada.
All cleared the shipment, and are all going well.
Permission has been granted from AQIS.
A hectic time as we all had so much to do this morning before they load.
I will be back in a couple of days.
Monday, October 26, 2009
Saturday, October 24, 2009
Friday, October 9, 2009
Tuesday, October 6, 2009
Back to NSW
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We had to go down to Geelong on Sunday deliver some alpacas to a new breeder.
All enthusiastic with his new purchase, and he said he will be back for more.
Whilst on the road, we decided in stead of driving up tomorrow to NSW, we would start heading off on Sunday afternoon, seeing we were about 1 1/2 hours already on the way, it would save time in the morning, especially through peak hour traffic, as at the moment in the middle of the city, they have changed traffic conditions, due to a new bridge being opened to help filter traffic across Bolte and Westgate bridge.
The traffic jams have been horrendous, especially i had to go through them the last couple of days to pick up and drop Paul Valleley off at the airport, because of the fleece workshops.
So we made our way to Holbrooke, to meet a fellow alpaca breeder to pick up a male from them for a future quarantine.
It meant that for 36 hours i had no access to emails, computers, so it was very peaceful, to unwind, which is good for a break.
Sometimes you wish you do not have to come home.
GIFT Workshop
This weekend, we had a very successful GIFT workshop held here.
All Partisicpants walked away full of knowledge, and said it was well worth coming to listen.
Listening to Paul, I always learn something more.
His knowledge of Ultrafine and Superfine wool production is endless.
As alpaca breeders we need to tap into these first hand experiences of sheep breeding and learn by their gains, and their mistakes.
As one lady said, well they have been breeding sheep for over 200 years (in Australia), but if you look at the mistakes that the sheep industry have made ovber the past century, it really has been only about the last 20 years, have they made significant advancement, and that has largely been due to research, data, and technology, and then taking these tools, and using them.
Trials have also been perfected, where by using data, and technology, on sample groups under the same conditions, and comparing to those that were unimproved by the latest technology, the gains have been significant, and fast.
Not all the sheep industry is breeding and using these latest technologies, and those are earning bottom dollars for their fleeces, where some figures that were given to us, March 2008, prior to the commodity collapse,
$982 a kilo was paid for fleece 13 micron (sheep), alpaca, this would eqate to approx 16-17 micron, which we area ll breeding. Currently ultrafine fleeces are not being sold, until the marketplace picks up, due to the world financial market place, as the people who buy this fleece, are the hardest hit by the world financial market, but already, the demand is starting, and then once the world economy is on full track, those prices will again reach these high points.
Why?
Because, with synthetics, which is wool's main competition, they cannot reproduce Ultrafine and superfine, it can only be supplied by natural fibres.
I pointed out that we at Mariah hill produced over 1000 kilos last year.
If for instance all the fleece wa ultrafine, the potential is $982,000 almost $1Million can be earnt by fleece alone.
Lets say that is so ambitious.
So maybe half of the 1000kilos was ultrafine, that is almost $1/5 million in fleece returns.
Lets be less ambitious, and say they were only paying half as much for my 500 kilos of ultrafine, that would still be $1/4 million.
the potential for ultrafine fleece, is where this industry must go.
All Partisicpants walked away full of knowledge, and said it was well worth coming to listen.
Listening to Paul, I always learn something more.His knowledge of Ultrafine and Superfine wool production is endless.
As alpaca breeders we need to tap into these first hand experiences of sheep breeding and learn by their gains, and their mistakes.
As one lady said, well they have been breeding sheep for over 200 years (in Australia), but if you look at the mistakes that the sheep industry have made ovber the past century, it really has been only about the last 20 years, have they made significant advancement, and that has largely been due to research, data, and technology, and then taking these tools, and using them.
Trials have also been perfected, where by using data, and technology, on sample groups under the same conditions, and comparing to those that were unimproved by the latest technology, the gains have been significant, and fast.
Not all the sheep industry is breeding and using these latest technologies, and those are earning bottom dollars for their fleeces, where some figures that were given to us, March 2008, prior to the commodity collapse,
$982 a kilo was paid for fleece 13 micron (sheep), alpaca, this would eqate to approx 16-17 micron, which we area ll breeding. Currently ultrafine fleeces are not being sold, until the marketplace picks up, due to the world financial market place, as the people who buy this fleece, are the hardest hit by the world financial market, but already, the demand is starting, and then once the world economy is on full track, those prices will again reach these high points.
Why?
Because, with synthetics, which is wool's main competition, they cannot reproduce Ultrafine and superfine, it can only be supplied by natural fibres.
I pointed out that we at Mariah hill produced over 1000 kilos last year.
If for instance all the fleece wa ultrafine, the potential is $982,000 almost $1Million can be earnt by fleece alone.
Lets say that is so ambitious.
So maybe half of the 1000kilos was ultrafine, that is almost $1/5 million in fleece returns.
Lets be less ambitious, and say they were only paying half as much for my 500 kilos of ultrafine, that would still be $1/4 million.
the potential for ultrafine fleece, is where this industry must go.
Sunday, October 4, 2009
My garden
It is my paradise, i love the tropicla loocking garden, Finally after about 10 years, my parls are starting to get some height, and the garden is starting to look like a garden,
i do not have time to work in the garden any longer, so there are weeds through it, but the plants are now starting to really take off, and i think it is the most peaceful place in the world.
I love my back garden
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