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.

Alpaca Wool Classer--see what she is doing at the moment

At the moment, Elyse is the only person that has studied at the Deakin University, Geelong the wool classing on sheep wool, and the univeristery were introducing alpaca. This program seems as though it will wind down, due to govt cut backs. SHe also has a gained her certifcates in agriculture, specialising in alpaca. What is her job description?Managing alpaca farm, quarantine duties, which incorporates assisting vet, health checking alpacas on a daily basis, and cleaning and disinfectiong.'She also advises clients on animal managment, she drives around for the mobile matings, and worms and innoculate clients alpacas, manages our own herd, matings, spit offs, clean farm, teaches vet students, supervisers vet students, assist me if needed in fibre sampled, data collection, filing, assists her dad, mowing, laying turf, spraying, rode on mowing, paving, window cleaning, building pagolas, trimming hedges, assists her brother, laying underlay, carpet and vinyl, driving, deliveries to pharmacies if needed, driving her brother to jobs.

Of course this is only a brief description, she also has passed Junior judging and is waiting for when she can become an apprentice judge, shows and prepares alpacas for showing, advisoer to clients, and also teaches them about fleece etc.

But above all she is a grosse kid, she is always there to help me, often cooks tea, if i am so loaded up with work, is always there to assist her father, loves her dog, "fatty". We also have three other dogs, who will follow her all over the farm, and stress out when they cannot see her.

I forgot through the alpacas she has become a world traveller, and has visited NEw Zealand, Peru, UK, Wales, France, Switzerland. She is very well known in the alpaca world, world wide.

She has a great future, and as you can see, she can set her hand to anything.

She is a wonderful person, and daughter.

In her spare time, she enjoys her little flatette, that is on the farm, where she has her own space.

What else can i say, i hope life gives her evrything she wants, as she gives all the time to anyone who calls her help.

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.

My work, my life

I start often in the middle of the night, to catch up on some of the emails, as most of the people i deal with are asleep when i am awake, and visa versa.

So if i want to speak to them, or email them, i need to get up very early, to catch them.

Often i can wake up to 50 emails in the morning, which takes time to go through and answer every one of them.

I try to, but sometimes, i am interutped, when it is time to get brekky ready.

Rob, is fantastic, and often makes me a milo, while he cooks his brekky.

Rob is truely my soul mate, and we get on so fabulously.

Lauren is next to go to work, she works as a courier driver, and also works in the hotel in Pakenham. We are very proud of Lauren, as she has achieved so much.

Daniel is next to go to work.

He is an apprentice plumber.

His girlfriend Hannah is a hairdresser, and has just moved into he house.

Rob is next to organise, but at this stage, i am most likely on the phone to england, or Canada.

Night time in england, midday in Canada, a coupl of hours ahead in New Zealand.

In between answering the phone or an email, Rob gives me my milo, and we sometimes, take 5 minutes out to say hello.

Usually the phone has rang again, and so Rob, sets out his days work.

By this stage, it is almost 8am, and so we start ringing Elyse to wake her up.

She lives in a gorgeous little flatette we made on the farm and she is very happy in her space.

The last few weeks i have been working on Protocols for other countries to export alpacas to, as well as the curent marketplaces, as protocols change all the time. As well as the bookwork for each shipment currently in quarantine at the moment, i must plan the next quarantine, and work with the alpacas, organise the alpacas to be delivered, or we pick them up.

A lot of planning takes place as most of the time, it is at least a 12 - 14 hour drive each way. It is pretty tiring driving that same road every time. We must go up to NSW, Sydney area on the average at least once a month, and this year we have been over to SA at least 5 times. In between picking up local alpacas. This week, Daniel assisted in picking up some alpacas, whilst Rob and i went in the other direction picking up some more alpacas for the next quarantines. I also assist overseas importers to organise screening, for the Uk. Again this can take some time, as people often change their minds, on when they want to do things.

I must now go to the quarantine feed and quickly clean. Rob does a good clean mid day. Elyse checks on the herd, and brings up any alpaca that needs treatment, if any. We are very lucky, we do not have many problems with our alpacas, they generally do not get sick., but we check them regularly, and we make sure we stick to our worming and vitamin maintenance vigilantly. Fibre samples taken, bookwork, photos, planning new shipments. Show entries, research, halter training, assisting vet, colating paperwork and vet results, co-ordinate with other countries schedules, and often ring up an importer just to touch base. Organise shearing, hay baling, some where along the line do a little housework although this seems to be left behind. Check babies, check late pregnant paddock. Bring males up for mating or spit offs. Meanwhile, Rob has gone and completed some lawns, given quotes out for new jobs. Sometimes, elyse assists rob, with his landscaping mowing service. If i can, i try to meet rob for lunch, although i am very lucky to catch him once or twice a week. Put tea on, whilst we go and check the alpacas in quarantine again, another clean, and feed. Often Elyse will cook tea, and serve it for us, whilst i am still on the computer. it is now 9.40 at night, and i still have heaps to go.

But, as it gets later, then rob and i might have a quick drink, and then off to bed. We work 7 days a week, although we do not get tired of it, it is nice just to jump off that merry go round every now and then. Yesterday people from NSW dropped in to learn more about alpacas, and after the vet work for the quarantine animals, and final bookwork, being ompleted for AQIS. Rob finished early, it is the first time, he has, the night before he did not finish until 8.30pm. I said to rob, i need to get out and see the sun, and get some fresh air. Now that it is day light saving, you can go for a short drive, so we drove to Hastings, that is where we lived when we first got married, and of course where our alpaca venture started. We got some chicken and chips, and sat at the foreshore, and watched the boats go in and out, and watched the seagulls, and pelicans.it was a beautiful evening, and just nice to be together, and catch up on what has been happening in each others lives. On Monday, it is our wedding anniversary, 29 years.

I still think we make a cute couple, but i can honestly say, that against all odds, he came over to Peru, a moments notice, he called into the travel agent, when elyse rang him in tears whilst I was in hospital in Lima.
He said to the travel agent, he has to go to get me and his daughter, he explained the situation, and the travel agent said there is a plane leaving in 1 1/2 hours, not another plane for two days,
He rang Lauren at work, and asked her to come home, and pack some clothes for him.
He rang his work, and said he did not know when he was coming back. It takes at the best of time, 1 1/4 hours to get to the airport. They held the plane up for him, as Lauren also drove him to the airport.
The 22 hours to Los Angeles, then 10 hours waiting in Los Angeles airport, not knowing if I was going to be alive or dead when he arrived.
Meanwhile, a Peruvian doctor who was the only person we had seen for weeks that could speak a tiny bit of english, organised to pick up Rob.
Rob at this stage did not even know what hospital i was in.
The doctor took elyse to the airport, and bought Rob to the hospital.
He was my knight in shining armour.
As up to date, the doctors had told me I was not going home, that is all they could say in english.
They only spoke spanish.
They could not fix me, and I could not understand them and they could not understand me.
We had gone through all our cash whilst I was in hospital in Cusco, where i first got sick, and elyse stayed with me all the time in my hospital room.
Rob had taught himself spanish the previous two years, and he spoke it fluerently.
We had always planned to go to Peru for our 50th birthdays, so Rob taught himself, by memorising five words every day, and listening to the spanish news on the radio whilst he drove on his courier round.
Once he arrived, he helped to nurse me back, and he spoke to the doctors to make them understand how I was feeling, and also helped to translate what was wrong.
We were there in total 8 weeks in that hospital room, the three of us, as like in a prison cell.
It was very frightening on the streets of Peru, with a man being bashed within an inch of his life for 45 minutes, outside my hospital room. He was screaming for help, he screamed until the end, when they had bashed so much, and then smashed something in his back.
Everyone watched, and everyone was too scared to go and help.
I do not believe that man was alive when they pinned him down unconsious, on the back of the ute, with a batton against his head.
Before Rob came, poor elyse was there by herself, I was in no condition to help her, and if it was not for her courageousness I know I would not be alive, as she ran through the hospital calling for someone to speak english. She was only 16 years old.
One thing we learnt in Peru, well the large city of Lima, they do not like white people that much.
Thank goodness the day we were taken from Cusco by an insurance doctor, as i was definately not going to survive in the high altitudes, i had to get down to the low lands.

The insurance doctor took us on a plane, and then an ambulance met us, and took us to a hospital, then the doctor and ambulance went, noone knew who i was, what was wrong with me, or anything at all. The insurance doctor did not tell anyone anything, no hospital history, no nothing. Although we had travel insurance, the hospital said they did not take travel insurance, and they were going to throw us on the streets, unless we came up with $AUS20,000 there and then, which we could not, and so they said we could not stay. I told Elyse to run, and try and phone Her dad, the travel insurance or Pat, the Importer we were with in Peru. Try and find someone who could speak english to help us.
Elyse found Dr Freddie, who spoke a little english who negotiated on our behalf for 3 hours, before the hospital said I could stay. We did not know or was i in any condition to contact the Australian Embassy. They had not contacted us.
An experience I am afraid has scarred Elyse, who still breaks down from time to time over this experience.
So when we saw Rob, he did come and save us both, assisted me in getting me better, was there for elyse to give her a break and took her out each day to see a little of Lima.
He took us home.
......for better for worse
Thanks Rob Happy Anniversary

New Zealand alpacas are off tomorrow night

Another shipment is about to be delivered to the airport.

THe alpacas have been vet checked, they have passed all their tests.

It is time now for them to be prepared tomorrow, and have the final go ahead from AQIS, who is expected to visit tomorrow.

AQIS will come and once they have checked the facility and the alpacas, then we are given permission to load.

We have to be at the airport at 7 pm on sunday night, and then we meet the AQIS inspector again, whilst we also meet the freight forwarder.

We have had a copy of the health certificates that accompany the crates, and check that all is in order.

We check the crate, first, and prepare it for loading the alpacas.

These crates are very roomy, and we have a stocking rate we have to keep to, which gives each alpaca room to walk around, and stretch out if they need to.

Once loaded we are given the all clear, and we wathc the crate move to its loading dock.

Quite often the alpacas are half way to New Zealand before we even get home.

We like to visit New Zealand at least once a year, usually at their Nationals, (which we could not make it this year), and it is often fun to see the alpacas that we sent over, in their shows, or their offspring, winning the ribbons and accolades of New Zealand alpaca industry.

Illustrious,,, one of my favourite alpacas at the moment.

This boy, has a long way to go.
The day he was born, he was ear marked for a huge future, but as he gets older, and he is still very young, he just improves out of sight.
From one of our favourite dames, "Seduction"' and Vallon De"oro, this combination has been repeated, with huge hopes.
This is the second offspring from the same join, and the previous male was sold as a stud male, at 6 weeks old.
Illustrous will not be sold, he is ear marked to be one of the stud males of our stud stables.
The line actually goes back to an original female we purchased in 1993 who was half vicuna, and every offspring from that original female, (gabbe), have been super fine, excellent density, and superb in quality, and have gone on to win their classes.
It is a shame, as i have been so busy with working on protocols, that i missed entering the finale shows for the year, so we hope to shear this boy, and start him off early in 2009.

China Display

I have been asked to put a display at Yangling Agriculture fair in China.

The display will be up for 3 years.

I had to write a promotion brochure, and display information, and then get it translated into Chinese, which was not an easy thing.

We look forward to meeting out Chinese contracts sometime in 2009

Alpaca numbers are under 100 currently in China, but they are looking into starting a registry, and farming alpacas in larger numbers in the coming years.

We have also been asked to meet some of the Chinese farmers who are interested in breeding alpacas.

We will hold a meeting with these interested Chinese in the New Year.

Mariah Hill is established to be able to meet the Chinese protocol for importing alpacas.

Mariah Hill Quarantine facility was originally desidned to cater for many protocols.

and the Chinese protocol, has always been in mind, when the facility was designed.

We have 20 acres set aside for China, which will not interfer with any Canadian exports, or New Zealand exports.

ALPACALANDGOED

Yvonne, from ALPACALANDGOED alpaca stud in Belgium, this is her property, with her alpacas.

They look lovely.

I think it is becoming to be autumn there in Belgium, with winter very soon.

Here in Victoria we are the other extremes, today being 30 degrees C, which was so nice to feel the sunshine on your skin.

Summer is on the way, grass is growing really well.

I look forward to receiving my emails from Yvonne.

She and her husband operte a mechanic shop in Belgium, and enjoy farming alpacas.

English Rose has settled in well. I am so glad that English Rose has settled in at Yvonnes place.

I think she will do well.

I think it will be very soon, and Primera, and English Rose's sister will join her in Belgium.

Canadian Alpaca Import departure date set

Final arrangements are now being vonfirmed.

Plane is now booked.

19th November...16 alpacas will board Air Canada Plane and fly to Canada, a 14 hour flight, and they will arrive in Vancouver, Canada on the 19th November, yes they cross the international date line, and they loose a day.

What a wonderful transport trailer for the alpacas.

Tannis will move the alpacas still in quarantine in this trailer especially designed, and purpose built, so that she can feed and water the alpacas during their road jouney.

Everyone in canada are anxiously waiting for the arrival of these alpacas.

Jhett

Jhett, the newest member of our family, an 8 week old hand reared lorikeet.

He is gorgeous but loves to sit on your head, or my keyboard.

Elyse thinks he is really cool!!!

Canadian quarantine facility for Alpaca shipment

All final preparations are being completed at both ends of the world.

We are getting final directions from Canada, and we in Australia are meeting these directions.

Meanwhile, Tannis has been busily fixing

up a purpose built barn, doesn't it look great, for her quarantine facility, as it is going to be so so cold over there in Winnipeg, Manitoba.

The quarantine facility has been passed by the Canadian Officials at CFIA, and they were just amazed at this magnificant quarantine facility, plans, and set up.

These guys are going to be spoilt.

Remember "Living Image"

Remember the bottle fed baby, last year, the gorgeous boy that looked after Ayhmara.

look on my website under Ayhmara, and you will see thi

s georgeous boy, the picture above is of Image at the 2007 rotal Melbourne Show, we had to take him everywhere.

well look at him now.

It is now 6am, in the morning, the sun is coming up, all the alpacas are starting to waken, i can hear them around the office window. The picture may not be clear, as it is still dusk, and this is from my front door, beside the office window.
Some are still waking, others have started their breakfast.

hair cuts

We have to trim the Canadian alpacas up, before they fly out.

It was too cold to shear here, and they need some fleece to come off, for when they fly.

Although they can fly in full fleece, as most of these alpacas come from NSW, where they shear earlier in the year than we do in victoria.

Their weather is a lot hotter than we have. They have more than 12 months growth on them currently.

But we cannot shear them to low to the skin, as they will arrive in a canadian winter, which i am told is very, very cold. In the minus, so the Canadians leave their legs, and underbelly on as that keeps those parts which is closest to the snow, when kushing, warm.

So we have tried a happy balance.

It takes on average 4 hours to trim up an alpaca, and you get heaps of blisters from the scissors.

My blisters are finally healing, so if we get time to day we will tackle a couple more of the alpacas.

The bigger alpaca is Mantra.

and the other two photos are of Star Dynasty.

It may look like a rough heairt do, but we will neaten it up before they go.

we just have 10 more to clip up, these will be the hard ones, as they are older females.

Alpacas for Canada

The guys in the Canadian group have settled in well.
They are enjoying the sunshine, and the grass.
We are looking through canadian legislations at the moment, which is very complicated.
Enviromental assessments, and plans. I am now an expert on these.
The picture is when we were just giving the guys a health exam.
Elyse is in her quarantine gear.
This girl just loved a tickle under the chin.
She was just lapping it all up.
Yes we are now ready to go, when everything is confirmed now from Canada.
This should only be a few weeks now.
The Canadians are very excited, and look like opening up their registry.
The Australian Alpaca is very sought after, world wide, because of the breeding experience we have with wool.
The alpaca fleece is so advanced now, that it just mazes you every year, how it still gets better.
You think how can it get better, but it does, and it is so beautiful, the quality that is being produced now.

Spring has sprung

All of a sudden, the grass seems to be taking off.
It has been slow this year, although ROb would not have sai so, as he is getting loads of lawns to mow.
the grass is growing all around the house, and it is so lush.
So i let the herd out yesterday afternoon to eat the grass, there would be around 5 acres of grass between the two houses, and it is so lush.
So are the capeweeds, we payed a guy $2000 last year to spray the weeds, as Rob did not have time, but they are three times more this year than any other year.
Everyone is commenting the same.
The animals thought it was wonderful, they love getting into the garden, They eat all my new shoots on my palms though, but trim the other plants nicely.
They were skipping, and running around, they had a ball last night.

Time out

The weather is picking up now, and we are starting to have pleasant days.
I have been locked up in the Office now for days on end, and have not seen the sun.
Rob has been very busy doing the lawns, some landscaping and loads of clean up jobs, and work seems not to end.
Let alone look at the farm.
Sometimes, when you are locked in the office, you brain seems to fizzle, and that is the point i was at last Saturday.
So when Rob came home, he said lets go or a drive. What a beautiful night it was, we drove to a small but affluent seaside resort of Inverloch. A beautiful spot, it was just nice to have that time out, with such good company.
Daniel's girlfriend Hannah has moved into a house, so we do not see much of Daniel any more.
He is a great, i cannot say kid anymore, he has grown into a great bloke.
Andrew has settled down now with his girlfriend Leesa, and is intent on doing up the old heritage listed house. Life is cool with them now.
Elyse seems very happy in her flatette, on the farm, it is gorgeous and sweet...her pad.
And her guy ishome now, and looks forward to seeing him.
Lauren is still sorting herself out, but is now working 2 jobs, and i think life is cool with her too.
Rob and i took time out, and had a chance to catch up with what has been going on with each others lifes, as Rob is too tied when he gets home, and i am still at the computer till late.
But we came tot he conclusion, yeah, we did a good job with the kids, they are all responsible adults.

Been A while

We have been to many shows over the past few weeks, all seem to be a minimum of 3 days.

We had three vet students here for two weeks, and a hectic time.

This is a friend who took an alpaca into the show ring at the Royal Melbourne Show. English Rose has arrived in Belgium, at Yvonne Steinlet, from ALPACALANDGOED.
I have seen pictures from her farm, and she has a beautiful farm, (right), her farm looks like parkland. Both Yvonne and I have just found out that Primera has had a white Female girl, we are both pleased, and glad that it is a girl. This means that Primera can now start her testing, and hopefully both Primera and cria will be in Belgium very soon. Yvonne is looking forward to seeing them both. I hear Lady Titicata is doing well in Uk, and will be mated to CZAR who is on ANZAC alpaca stud in the UK. Dominic Lane owns ANZAC alpaca stud, and loves it in England. His farm has oodles of feed, and is not that far from London.We have been busy with Quarntines, one for New Zealand, and still the Canadian Quarantine is doing well. As the weather is warming up for us, we are starting to hand trim the alpacas for Canada. We have had a very cold winter, and so it has not been disreable to shear the alpacas earlier. But i hear they will be going to snow, and most likely temperatures of -20 degrees, which we never experience here. We have been advised to leave leags, underbelly, head and tail fleece on, as this will help them keep wamr, and are the most exposed places when they are kushing in the snow. We need to bring their fleece back a bit, as these alpacas mainly coming from NSW, have over 12 months fleece on them. In NSW, they will have most of their alpacas shorn by now, in fact they shear more likely before the end of August, where in Melbourne, we will shear more like November, and still we will have days we have to watch the alpacas do not get too cold, with the sudden cold change, brought on by heavy rains. We need to trim the fleece down to approx 2 inches long, this way, we have enough fleece on them to help them keep warm when they arrive in Vancouver, before their 3 day long journey to Winnipeg Beach, Manitoba. But they will have also less fleece for when they go into the shipping crates, and they will be more comfortable. I hear that there is much excitement for the alpacas to arrive in Canada. The picture above is of Elyse trimming one of the alpacas, and you can see how much fleece we have trimmed off. This fleece that we are trimming is too short now for processing. This is a picture of the fleece of one of the alpacas. I trimmed one of the larger alpacas, which took 4 hours, and now i have blisters over my fingers from th scissors, so i have to rest them while the blisters hear before i can trim again. ELyse also has some blisters on her hands, she has now trimmed 6 alpacas, a few more to go. We have also completed screening for the uk, of 9 alpacas. this procedure was over a two day period. This week proves a hectic week also. I am still completing the paperwork for both shipments, working around plane flights etc. There is a lot of planning when organising shipments, and it has to be just right. I take pride in our exports.

Before i go, I wish Yvonne and her husband, from ALPACALANDGOED Alpaca Stud in Belgium, lots of luck with her alpacas, now 4 female alpacas, and look forard to a long and happy business relationship.