Arcadian News

ARCADIAN NEWS

January 2012

Well, the Arcadian News page has been left unattended for so long that it is a new year ! How slack is that ??? I guess one can only say that the 2nd half of 2011 was 'interesting' in the 'interesting' manner of the old Arabic curse "May you live in interesting times...." Herewith a summary of show results.

We travelled fairly far and wide with the sole aim of supporting the improved status of Fancies in AAA shows. Our team varied a little as the year progressed and the youngest ones came in, but Appaloosa Faux Pas, Arcady Lillypilly, Appaloosa Movie Star and Appaloosa Archipelago all had success.

Shows supported with the Fancies were :

Mt Pleasant (SA) Faux and Lillypilly both won 1sts. Faux won BEST FANCY

Alpacafest (Werribee) Faux won 1st and a close runner-up Best Fancy

Colour Classic (SA) Movie Star and Faux won 1sts

Colourbration (Bendigo) Movie Star, Faux and Lilypilly all won 1sts

Royal Adelaide Show (combined classes there) Faux won 1st, Movie Star 2nd, Lillypilly 2nd. Faux won BEST FANCY

Royal Melbourne Show (combined classes) Lago was 2nd of 5 jnrs, Faux won 1st Inter

Strathalbyn Show (SA) - this clashed with Royal Melbourne. Lillypilly won a 1st and then BEST FANCY

Clare Show (SA) Lago won 1st jnr, Movie Star 2nd behind him and Faux won 1st Inter. Lago then won BEST FANCY

Appaloosa Faux Pas, Denise & Arcady Lillypilly. Archipelago

Other colours shown during the year :

Silver stud male, Arcady Paua, had a couple of sorties into the show ring during 2011 and was awarded with 1st placings both times. At Alpacafest in Werribee (VIC) he won Snr Grey Male and then was awarded Premier Grey Male in the show. At Royal Adelaide he again won 1st place in Snr Grey/roan (combined colour) We also showed Paua's 2010-shorn fleece at RAS and it won 1st in its age colour class and then Champion grey/roan fleece (Formidable's fleece also won its age group grey/roan class and was only 0.5pts behind Paua's.

Paua's CHAMPION GREY / ROAN FLEECE

Toblerone, a brown roan son of Paua, made his show debut at RAS and won his Jnr grey/roan class. Toby has a very sweet temperament and made a big impression with Taiwanese visitor, Mandy Chiu, who declared she was his No.1 fan.. it's not every alpaca gets his own fan club !

Arcady Toblerone pre-shearing Toby with 'No.1 fan' Mandy Chiu

Spartan, a dark fawn son of Arcady Corinthian, was show at RAS in halter and fleece classes. He was placed 3rd in halter class (adult) - halter classes will always be a problem for Sparty as he has a white face. His Jnr fleece was shown, and won its jnr Fawn fleece class (all fawns combined) then won CHAMPION FAWN FLEECE with a score only 0.5pts behind the eventual Supreme Fleece winner (white)

Spartan's CHAMPION FAWN FLEECE

We showed Corinthian's fleece at RAS too, winning 1st in his age group of 48 months and over. It should be noted here that Corinthian is also sire of Faux Pas, the BEST FANCY winner.

Strathalbyn Show saw a couple of new juniors hit the show ring, and with great success too.

Arcady Rainforest, a rose grey El Gordo daughter, won 1st in a competitive Jnr grey/roan female class and Arcady Toowoomba was placed 2nd in Jnr light Fawn males, then RESERVE CHAMPION JNR MALE behind the 1st placegetter (who subsequently took out Supreme too).

Arcady Toowoomba

Clare Show had another newcomer enter the show ring. Arcady Saltimbanco, a solid fawn roan son of Arcady Tarantino, won great accolades from judge Pam Baxter, as a 'complete package and very macho young male' winning 1st in his Jnr grey/roan class, then, at end of the day, taking out BEST GREY / ROAN ahead of 5 other blue-ribbon grey/roans. A pretty good effort. Toowoomba won 1st in his Jnr Light fawn class and both he and Banco were in close contention for Reserve Champion Jnr Male, behind the whites.

Arcady Saltimbanco winner of BEST GREY/ ROAN at Clare Show

Our most interesting-coloured alpaca born in 2011 is, of course, Arcady Le Cadeau, the full brother to Appaloosa Faux Pas. (Cadeau was just too young to show in 2011) Cadeau is simply an ethereal roan, and, when shorn, showed variations in intensity of colour, similar to a horse 'varnish roan' which, on research, comes up as not true roan genetics but of the appaloosa gene family ! So ! that explains the 2 boys' apparently odd colour difference. More points of note, look for eyes with white sclera (both Cadeau and his dam, Ooh-la-la! have that). This is an appaloosa trait in horses, and, maybe, in alpacas too ? I have been peering into the eys of most of my aniamls since then and find a few greys who do seem to have this trait.

Arcady Le Cadeau pre-shearing & his unusual fleece

September 2011

INTESTINAL PARASITES in alpacas : For those interested in learning more about the health of their herd, we can recommend a worm testing service from the Primary Industry Dept in NSW. They provide kits which come with 10 sample screw tops, and postage prepaid. Cost for faecal egg count is under $60 for the 10 and includes postage of the kit to you and postage back to their NSW lab. They process them within 24 hours of receipt. You can also have the eggs cultured to further identify the type of worm, this is just over $70, and covers the initial egg count and then the culture. This is a fabulous service - faster and cheaper than the usual laboratory costs encountered in SA. The invoice is sent to you after the work is completed.

Phone 02 4640 6327 and ask to have one, or several, Worm Test Kit/s sent to you. We found our adult animals had very low or nil counts, but the weanlings and yearlings showed a surprising worm burden in some individuals, and not necessarily the ones you would have suspected.

If you don't worm test yet, then we strongly recommend that you take up this great service and do so. Any drenching programme should be done under your vet's guidance. One thing we have also become aware of this year, from Dr Ian Carmichael who is a parasitologist with much experience with alpacas, is that drenching alpacas should be done at double the dose rate recommended for sheep. AND ONLY DRENCH WHEN IT IS NEEDED and WITH AN APPROPRIATE PRODUCT !!

The very long wet summer season encountered across SE Australia in 2010/11 was perfect for worm proliferation, so you might well have a problem where one has never existed before. Apparently Liver Fluke has cropped up in otherwise 'clean' areas too, and the NSW lab can test for those too. So, DON"T BE AN OSTRICH WITH YOUR HEAD IN THE SAND ! get testing, NOW !

May 2011

Autumn cria drop finished with a very large % of male crias alas ! This makes nominating females for sale rather difficult at present. We'll be on the warpath for a few new girls to increase our bloodlines. Due to 2 separate and bizarre events, we have been left with 2 young orphan crias to bottlefed this year too. One of the dams somehow managed a dislocating fracture of her upper neck - very distressing to all. She died within 24 hours leaving her 11 day old cria for us.

April 2011

re: Website animal data display : We have had some changes with our website hosting and are now finding some layout anomalies in our animals' database display, so please, bear with us as we try to sort it out.

Great excitement has been had with the arrival of a full brother to Appaloosa Faux Pas - a superb, subtley-coloured rose/roan. Born on Denise's birthday, he has been aptly named Arcady Le Cadeau ('the gift').

Appaloosa Faux Pas in summer Newly-born Arcady Le Cadeau & dam, Ooh-la-la!

March 2011

Mt Pleasant Show saw our first 'Appaloosa' prefix animal in the showring. Appaloosa Faux Pas won his class and was later awarded the Best Fancy broad ribbon with enthusiastic praise from judge, Steve Ridout, for his colouring and great fleece style and evenness. Arcady Lillypilly was also a blue ribbon winner in her Fancy class.

March births have provided a run of male crias including another lovely appaloosa, Appaloosa Archipelago (aka Lago). He is the first progeny by Peerless Marlecchino, for Arcadian Alpacas. Also very pleasing are the crias by Arcady Tarantino from some coloured dams, and more Diesel crias, born in Victoria. It seems that both these males are having a positive impact on the quality of the progeny. A very special male cria by Hope Downs El Gordo was also born, Arcady Camillio (aka Milo). He is a most unusual chocolate brown but with a silver shimmer. He is a mass of tight, tiny, curling wringlets. Time will tell what colour he really is !

Appaloosa Archipelago by Peerless Marlecchino Cria by Arcady Diesel (SLBR dam)

Arcady Quidam (<L) & Arcady Saltimbanco (R>) by Arcady Tarantino

Arcady Camillio (& fleece) by Hope Downs El Gordo from SMF dam

February 2011

Arcady Formidable ! (a solid black roan, aka Darbi) is now a Certified Stud Male and has his first 4 females all spitting off. He is now available for outside matings. He proved fertile when tried at just over 20 months old. He is keen and mating well. See Certified Stud Males page for more details.

Arcady Formidable ! in his 2nd fleece. Sire: Hope Downs El Gordo (LG) Dam: Murrumbung Antoinette (MG)

Summer matings have finished at Arcadian and we now cruise through until mid-March when our autumn cria drop will begin. Paddock feed remains good, altho starting to gradually dry off at last. The lactating females are just starting to want something extra. The dry girls are still doing very nicely on paddock feed alone. What a change this is from the years of drought when we were all reliant on handfeeing stock!

January 2011

If there is any wonder about why Arcadian animals are healthy and well-grown, just take a look at the feed we have in our paddocks this January. Unlike parts of Victoria, NSW and QLD, we seem to have had just the right sort of rain to maintain the perennial cocksfoot grass in a state of greenness and growth. Undoubtedly it will dry off soon, but for mid-January, this is extraordinary ! It is also a good example of what can be achieved by nursing your best perennial pastures in times of drought through light or nil stock rates over summer. Management of broadleaf weeds (esp water-hoarding capeweed) by use of selective herbicide control in autumn has also helped enormously.

November 2010

2 new crias born from our appaloosa lines - a female, Appaloosa Movie Star, from appaloosa Arcady Glamour and sired by Arcady Tarantino, and a male, Arcady Tiger Eye, a surprise solid roan, from appaloosa Arcady Tiger Lily and sired by Arcady Corinthian. Tiger was quite premmie, after only 316 days gestation, but has thrived and is all 'boy' now. His floppy newborn ears were pretty cute !

Arcady Tiger Eye, newborn Tiger & Movie Star @ 7-10 days old

October 2010

On October 24th, a new stud male arrived at Arcadian Alpacas. Morning Star Meriadoc is a 6 YO solid black roan still displaying a wonderful fleece structure and remarkable lack of guard hair throughout the saddle. He will be of interest to black and grey breeders. See the Stud Males' page for more information.

Meriadoc's 6th fleece style Meriadoc in full fleece

Success was had at Clare Show with Arcady Lillypilly again winning a blue ribbon and Best Fancy, Arcady Sequoia winning blue in Jnr Female Roan and the fleeces of Arcady Hoax (Best Roan Fleece) and Arcady Paua (Best Grey Fleece). All our animals are now shorn.

Our most local show, Strathalbyn, was held on the first Monday in October. Very pleasingly, Arcady Formidable ! won his class (Intermediate Roan Male) and was later awarded Best Roan in Show. Again, the judge, this time Helen Fritsch, commented at length about his exceptionally soft-handling fleece and good frame. Our 'giant' junior, Arcady Spartan (sired by Arcady Corinthian) surprised with a 2nd place in a class of 6 jnr med-dark fawn males. Despite his white face, the judge admired his softness and stylish fleece production, all on a great frame. And dear little Arcady Lillypilly continues to win blue in her Fancy classes.

Both Darbi and Spartan were shorn soon after Strath Show and have both cut in excess of 4kgs fleece for 12 months' growth. Darbi's fleece, in particular, was exciting to shear, with very high lustre and loads of condition in it. When newly shorn, he shows very coal black and roan. His developing frame is well-muscled and beautifully proportioned with a great topline.

Arcady Hoax's fleece again won Best Roan Fleece.

September 2010

Royal Melbourne Show saw us entering only one fleece, a super-handling, very lustrous dark grey fleece from Arcady La Paz, a daughter of Hope Downs El Gordo. This fleece won the blue ribbon in its age/colour class (Jnr grey/roan)

Royal Adelaide Show has been and gone with good results for Arcadian entries, both animals and fleeces.

In the animal classes, Arcadian exhibited 3 animals.

Arcady Formidable ! - 1st place Intermediate Grey/Roan male. Judge Paul Garland fron NZ, repeatedly praised Darbi's big, very soft-handling fleece and described him as a 'big teddy bear'.

Arcady Lillypilly - 1st place Jnr Fancy, plus Best Fancy.

Arcady Sacrebleu ! - 1st place Jnr wether.

In the fleeces, Arcadian exhibited only 2, but both were placed 1st in their classes (Grey/Roan section) with good scores.

Arcady Hoax won the 6-9 months section with a score of 71.5 points and Arcady Paua won the 18-30 months section with a score of 70 points, with Hoax being awarded Champion Grey/Roan fleece. Both fleeces scored very well for weight, with Hoax on 12 points and Paua on 12.5 points from a possible 15 points.

In the second half of the Show, we had Arcady Shilling, Arcady Loki and Arcady Corinthian on display, with Shilling winning over the crowds with his handsome look and placid nature. He posed patiently for 100s of photos with happy show-goers.

August 2010

Strong winter sales has left us with no females for immediate sale. In summer we look forward to releasing some of our first Appaloosa Alpaca lines. June and July have been very dry and although the pasture is good, the dams are still low. Let's hope for a very wet August and good spring rains. Blaydon Stormcloud is now at his new home in Western Australia, at Goldleaf Alpacas at Merredin. Brett and Kelly Fallon are sure to give him plenty of opportunities to produce good things.