Alpacas have arrived safely in Luxenbourg

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We have just heard all alpacas have arrived safely in Luxenbourg.
Congratulations to the new owner of Bamdolero, a quality Dark Brown Sire.
Alexis and Kaisho have also arrived.
The logistics of this trip was also vital because some of the alpacas were directed through to Ireland, and had to meet a ferry.
Congratulations to all involved with this successful shipment.

Waiheke Island Quarantine facility for exporting Alpacas to Europe

Lisa and keenan have built a beautiful facility, very protected from any bad weather that may come through.
Becuase of the EU protocol for exporting alpacas to Europe in a 3rd Country..it is very complicated and policital, so i will not go there.

We use Waiheke Island as
quarantine base for our shipments going through to Europe.

AS you can see, this has been set up with the utmost ease of handling alpacas.

Alpacas have arrived in New Zealand, and are enjoying the lush New Zealand pastures

Well the alpacas have passed all their tests, they have now been inspected by AQIS, and the Vet,

(AAV)

And they now have permission to load. A quick call to the airport to confirm that the plane is on time. All the paperwork has been accepted, and satisfied the New Zealand requirements, and now i have been given the health certificates that accompany the plane. It is time, the females are loaded first, a very quick process, as we set up gates, to give them a laneway to walk through and straight into the float.

It is easier to walk the males to their area. These males are halter trained, and near working age, so we have to keep them separate to the females. The females are pregnant and would spit at the males all the way to the airport, anyway. We keep the males separate anyway. The males are eager, as they are loaded into the van. All goes well with the trip to the airport. Both Rob and i are so tied, it has been a long day, since 4.30am, in the morning, with the final clean up for this group. AQIS meets us at the airport along with our freight forwarder. We load the alpacas into the crate, and they are off to New Zealand. Before loading, we check the crate out, and make sure that it is safe, and well constructed, we check the stamps on all timbers to confirm that it has been treated properly to the specificatations of IATA. Then after the alpacas are loaded, we lock the crate up secure. The the crate is lifted to the conveyor belt, and we watch the crate move into position to be loaded onto the plane.

A very smooth and well planned loading, AQIS is very happy with the loading, and there is plenty of space for the alpaca to walk around, and sit if they want to. It is a vey

long day, we had the alpacas at the airport loaded by 730pm, it is almost 10pm by the time we get home. We stopped off at McDonald's on the way home, have a fresh pick me up, before heading off home.

What is involved in the screening process to meet the British (UK) (BAS) screening for Alpacas

The purpose of screening alpacas for the UK marketplace for alpacas, is firstly, to make sure only the best Improved stock is imported into Britain.

There is no use going through the importing process to bring alpacas of the same quality into the country.

Although i live in AUstralia, i am a member of many country's Alpaca associations.

And as a member, i am also very aware of my devotion to the industry be it here in Australia or over in England, France, germany, Canada, or where ever.

As an exporter of Camelids, ALpaca in particular, and as a breeder, i am here to promote our iundustry of the very best.

I am also given the task, of trust, and with this trust i take very seriously, hold high, and will not sacrifice. As a third party in the screening process, when presenting the alpacas for screening, gives the screeners great confidence.

The screeners although they have worked in the industry and still are consultants to the industry, are not part of the industry, and so do not know individual Australian Breeders, or known alpacas.

So when the alpacas are presented to the screeners they are given a brass tag no, dob and that is all they want to know about the alpaca.

They then look at the alpaca objectively, and are not influenced at all by the accolades an alpaca has gained, or the stud name of the breeder.

This is a very important componant to the screening process.

Once a British importer has selected an alpaca they would like to purchase, they then fill out an agreement with the BAS (British Alpaca Society), which nominates where the alpaca is to be screened.

The british importer also then contacts myself, as the quarantine facility they are to go through to start the export chain, and also as i am the Exporter, i give instructions first of all, and most of this information can be seen on our export /quarantine website http://mariahhillalpacaexport.homestead.com/pre_export_quarantin_alpaca.html

this gives you a lot of information, especially the requirements of EU, BAS Screening.

The same screening requirements have also been taken up by other alpaca societies aroud the world.

On this website is also the rejection criteria.

As an exporter i can only accept healthy alpacas to go into quarantine for export, this page will give you a list of my requirements when i accept alpacas for export.

The screeners take their reconition seriously, and as i said before, they are not given any identification of the alpaca other than DOB and Brass tag no.

Not every alpaca that has been screened will pass, % of the ones that do not pass, i could not tell you, maybe 1/3rd of alpacas presented will pass.

Why do they fail, when these alpacas have won sometimes championships of the class.

because the alpacas are tested for things that are not checked at shows.

laxating patellas, for one.

Tails are always checked, teeth, legs, and testicle size are often things alpacas fail on.

But the most common thing they fail on is fleece.

The fleece sample is taken by one of the screeners, and then sent to Yocum Mccoll in USA.

They test on the butt end of the fleece, at the point of growth.

So when alpacas are presented for screening, please be aware that not all pass, and it is an expensive venture if an alpaca failed.

I hope this has helped people understand a little bit more about the BAS screening regime.

The bottom picture we are checking legs and weighing the alpaca

Remeber screening has been devloped to protect the purchaser, to ensure the alpaca being exported is of a high standard, and carrying no known genetic faults.

It is also a protection for the British alpaca Industry, so ensure again, that they will not compromise for anything else but quality.

ALpacas are off to New Zealand.

The next group of alpacas have passed all their tests for export,

They will get their final checkup, and procedures completed tomorrow, whilst AQIS check out the shipment, the quarantine facilities, and the running of the shipment.

The alpacas have done really well, it has been great the past few days, wiuth beautiful sunshine.

They have enjoyed having their coats, off, and just lapping up the warmth in the sun.

They head off during the night on Friday, and arrive most likely around lunch time Saturday morning in Auckland.

Good luck to all the owners of your alpacas, they are a fabulous group, and it has been a pleasure looking after them for you.

looking forward to seeing them or their babies in your National shows of the future.

Freezing cold day

What a day Monday turned out to be.

Big clean for the quarantine, everything

gets that extra special check out.

All the alpacas are going well, and as you can see they are fed their food on a table, and there is plenty of room for everyone to choose from.

They are all wearing coats, although up to today, it has been quite nice weather.

The alpacas are shorn before they enter the quarantine, to meet the requirements of New Zealand.

This is so the ectoparasites can be checked and topically treated properly.

The alpacas do not really mind, In this group, there were 10 Suri's, with at least 18 mths - 2 yrs grouth on them, and actually they were glad to get their coat off.

They do not shear the suris as often as the Huacayas, that is especially if they are show animals, as they have like a longer coat, that is like a curtain, that flows as they move, and drapes down their legs.

They are a beautiful looking alpaca.

Everything was fine. The Quarantine shedding it self faces east giving full protection from any south, north and westerly winds. we mainly get the westerly winds, sometimes some notherlies, but mainly westerly.

It is actually quite wamr in the shedding and as this is winter, we mainly feed them inside, on the sunny days we give some offerings outisde as well, but most of the feed is inside the large fully equipped, purpose built shedding.

We checked all the herd, as they are in about 6 paddocks at the moment, although the bulk of the herd is in one paddock.

We have just weaned 50 weanlings only 2 weeks ago, and although we make sure there is a couple of mature alpacas to look after the weanlings, we keep a constant watch on these precious girls and boys.

I bought most of the large group up to the yards to take some photos, the yards are really protected, and then beside the yards, there is a paddock, sometimes just to hold them in for a couple of hours if we are doing some procedures.

I was taking photos, of the alpacas, and rang out of batteries, this was about 1.15pm, and then whilst i was down the street grabbed something for tea.

Back about 2.30, and in between time the wind was just coming up that hill. I decided to move the alpacas, but 5 of them did not want to budge.

and the others were getting spooked as the wind was really getting stronger and almost like a gale, it was quite cold.

These girls are getting hyperthermia i thought, as the others were not going out the gate.

lucky my son Andrew, came home, and came and gave me a hand, and we took the 5 girls into the shed, whilst Daniel and Lauren moved the rest of the alpacas to a protected paddock.

The girls were cold, and one was very cold.

we had just weaned her cria, so we took her straight up to the vet.

Within about 1.5 hours, you would not have thought there had been anything wrong, as she was standing up in the surgery waiting for her lift home.

Whilst i took Elana up to the vets, Andrew was helping the others and checking to make sure no one else was cold.

It was really raining quite heavy at this stage.

The first thought also was the quarantine girls.

Lauren went down to check on them, and they had all gone inside, all sitting in a row, just watching the rain on the outside, They were no worries, but we put out extra feed, the best way to keep them warm is to make sure there is plenty of feed.

By 8pm, all were right, we placed most of the weanlings in sheds, the girls that were feeling the cold, (they all had a minimum of abou 3 inches of fleece on), the males were in protected paddocks.

The females were also placed in the paddock closest to the house, where we can view them all from our bedroom and ensuite windows, (as we live in a two story house), we can check them all night long.

Next morning, a glorious sunny day.

new Quarantine starts

The next group of alpacas have entered quarantine. Some of these alpacas are national champions for Australia, many Suri's in this group.

ALthough it is officially winter, it has been so far very mild.

We have had some rain, but it is not too cold.

We start with the first procedures, and health check.

All alpacas are looking really good.

Although they have just been shorn, we place coats on them to make sure they stay wam.

A nice bunch, and all are getting on well.