Seduction bound for the Uk, one day

One of our best girls, Seduction has been sold to the Uk. Seduction has produced the most stunning Male, who will be one of our future herdsires without a doubt.

Congratulations, Hilary

Black Onyx is on his way to Belgium

Yvonne and Olivier are so pleased with their purchase, congratulations.

A wonder ful male, a fabulous fleece.

Excellent Density.

kasarni-med brown female

Kasarni, is a gorgeous Md Brown female, show ribbon winner, at National level, and State level at ROyal Melbourne Show 2007.

KAsarni, is a lady..perfect in every way. She has superb crimp structure, heavy tight stapled all over, and extremely fine, sired by Olympic Dream son of Stefano, full accoyo multi award winner himself, Olympic Dream, is polishing off the perfection she displays. She will be at Alpacalandgoed in Belgium

Aailyah

Sire is Vallon De Oro",
He has been putting spectaculat fleeces onthe ground.
The fleece tester last night who is the man that buys the ultra fine bale, said that the consistancy of our fleeces, and stats, would place us one of the top ultra fine /super fine studs in Australia, this guy tests most of the fleeces in Australia.
He especially liked this fleece, (I love her ), as he said when you have a SD 3.2, you know that the whole fleece is consistant in micron, but not only that, it is all over, and she then has the ability to pass this on. Most of our SD are in the 3's some in early 4's. He said most studs are not getting under 4 in the SD. She has outstanding fleece. She still is maturing, and she is spectacular, she is devoping nicely, the dam's offspring have all grown out well.
Aailyah also hs the most gentle, beautiful, sweetest personality.
She has just flown to NZ for her second leg of the Journey, where she will stay for 6 months for residency. Then she is due in Belgium in June 09

Sunrise at Mariah Hill Alpacas

With this unpredictable weather we are having, it is bringing the most startling beautiful sunrises. I hope you think these are as stunning as i do, although there is nothing like the ral thing

Ultra fine fleece Bale-Alpaca

The main reason we farm alpacas is for their fleece, with most alpaca breeders aim is to breed as fine and consistant throughout the body of the alpaca. The above fleece shot, is our finest tested to date, atr 12.6 micron. We are very proud of our boy, and we have a few morewith absolutely beautiful fine fleeces, but consistant throughout the body of the alpaca.

Mariah Hill Alpacas have always bred fine, without sacrificing the style, handle, density, coverage, but with increased Lustre, increasing the frequency of crimp, and heavy staples, preferring the matchstick style staples.

With Australia's Ultra Fine fleece bale in Mind, a great detail has been taken this year to prepare all the fleeces, and although the alpacas had previouslt been sorted out in the colours and microns prior to shearing.

The rain, gale and storms we had this weekend, proved that all the alpacas had to put together as a herd for protection from the winds and rain.

Elyse though had made detailed planning on how she was going to manage the shearing shed.

She had studied shearing shed managment at her wool classing courses at Deakin University in Geelong. Elyse has also assisted in fleece sorting at AAFl, which has given her a great understanding of fleeces, and how it is expected the fleeces to be handed in.

We are also very lucky at this farm, that are fleeces keep considerably clean from debris. they can be dusty though, especially over the past couple of years, after almost 10 years of drought, our land like others is drying out.

and although we do get good rainfall, this year is the first time, i have seen dust come off our alpacas, even just after a rain storm.

this video is of Adele', who is on her way to Canada, although the pictrure may not be overly clear, as i took this with my mobile phone, you can still identify the high lustre her fleece holds.

super soft handle, and superb high frequency, even crimp style. I hope you enjoy the video.

The shearer is Mike Snow, my husband ROb, and a friend and fellow alpaca breeder Ed, also assisted in handling the alpacas, placing on tables, and feeding the alpacas to the shearer.

You can see here, that Mike is shearing with two tables, so as one is being shorn, the other table, the shorn alpacas is unloaded off the table, and the the next one is placed on the table.

We were lucky today to Have also a fellow alpaca breeder Rose Thorougood helping us, that was fantastic, as it was her birthday. Sam was not feeling well, but she was really wanting to come and help, thanks Sam, we really appreciate that you have a great heart, and wanted to help us.

And of course, if it was not for elyse, what can i say, she is the heart beat of our alpaca ranch, both Rob and I are so grateful to have such a gorgeous daughter that is always there for us both.

Alpaca shearing 2008, Mariah Hill Alpacas & Exports

The past few days, we have been shearing most of the herd. With heaps of thanks to Ed Hunt, and of Course Rose Thorougood, and of course my husband ROb, and ELyse as shed manager, sorting fleees, taking fleece samples, organisation of the shearing shed, and alpacas to be shorn.

The alpacas were really looking to be shorn, they just laid on the table and just were almost begging for the shearing. Monday was cold, and still drizzling, yesterday it got up into the 20's and today we were up to 25 degrees, but then they are predicting really bad thunder, lightenng, halstones, rain, and gale force winds for 3-4 days. We really do not know how the weather is going to pan out, so all alpacas bhave been moved to safe protected areas of the farm. Thanks Mike Snow also, he has been fantastic, and made sure that our main herd, especially our super and ultra fine alpacas were shorn before the really hot weather comes. We really appreciate him, and would recommend him as an alpaca shearer to anyone looking for a reliable shearer. Already, some of the alpacas have been sweating and their fleeces were really ready to be shorn.

Black Onyx, is such a georgeous male, although he now knows how to work, he is starting to be a bit of a macho.

One of the finest Black working males icurrently in Australia, Black onyx is now on his way to being another top stud male for the Alpacalandoged in Belgium.

One of the leading Alpaca studs in Belgium, run by Yvonne and Olivier .

Just before he was shorn and has gone into Quarantine for New Zealand first, we took him down to a lake just near our home. He really loves posing for photos, and has the most georgeous personality. He has started working young, and we do have a number of females now pregnant to him, so although he is on his way to Europe, we hope that we will be able to still have a part of him in his future offspring. as i am writing this blog, i have the rainbow lorikeet dancing on my arm, tickling my finger, and smooching up to me, it is a bit difficult to type and have a loriket balanced on your hand.

You can see him in a previous post

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.

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.

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.

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.