Heritage Farm Suri
Alpacas
Tim & Beth Sheets
Flora,
IN
(765) 566-3077 tim@ourheritagefarm.com |
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ALPACA Works
Valuing the Past...Breeding for the
Future
Spring 2010 -
Vol 5, Issue
1 | |
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| Dear Tim,
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As I
write this, the temperature outside is pushing
into the mid  50's, the alpacas are
suning themselves and looking for tender
shoots of emerging grass and the remnant
patchwork of snow cover is rapidly fading
into memories of a long winter. Spring is
definitely in the air!
Spring
brings a fury of activity to Heritage
Farm. Birthing season is fast approaching
and show season starts for us in a matter of
days. Thoughts of fixing fences and
repairing barns take a higher priority after the
relative inactivity of winter.
Sure,
winter has pleanty of activties as well.
Alpacas continue to need feed, water and care; but
I tend to use the winter months to update herd and
financial records, plan the next season's
breedings and to stragegize how to better our
alpaca business in the new year.
I also
spent a lot of time this winter updating my alpaca
management software, Alpaca Herd
WORKS. I just released a
new version with added features and
enhancements. I originally developed Herd WORKS to
help us manage our herd of 40 suri alpacas.
As the alpaca industry continues to evolve, I
think the necessity of keeping more thorough
records will become even more important.
Those buying our alpacas will want to see data
that backs up the marketing hype and farms that
can produce that data will be better positoned for
success in the future.
An enhancement to Alpaca Herd
WORKS that I am particularly excited
about is a new module called myHERD.
myHERD is an acronym for my Herd
Evaluation Records Database and is designed to be
a tool to help you evaluate each production alpaca
in your herd on characteritics such as fiber,
conformation, and maternal or paternal
traits. After scoring each alpaca, the
software automatically complies a report that
displays a sorted list of the scores each alpaca
received on these traits. By analyzing this
report, you can make more objective decisions on
your breeding program. Learn more about
Alpaca Herd WORKS in the
article below.
On
another topic, this issue of Alpaca
WORKS contains the next article in a
series called "Farming the Web'. The
article explains the basics of a social networking
tool called Twitter. Find out that
twittering is not just another sign
of spring! Please check it out
below.
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| Importance of
Maintaining Good Herd Records |
| No matter how frenetic
outside life becomes, or indeed how much the sun
shines, it is important to take time for the
"boring" bit! Record keeping! No
matter whether you have 2 or 200
alpacas, record keeping is essential. Not
only will good record keeping enable you to
manage your time and your herd efficiently, but
will be of great benefit when a potenial
buyer asks for medical and breeding history
on the alpaca they are considering buying.
There are several catagories of
records you will want maintain.
Read on for more information:
Health and
Management Records This
category covers everything that goes on with
the Alpacas. You should record details of all the
following things:
- Medical treatments, whether administered by
you or your vet. This will include all on-going
treatments as well as one-offs. This is vital
for spotting recurrent problems within both
individuals and your herd. If we as breeders,
large or small, are all conscientious we should
one day be able to collate our knowledge and
share it with others. We will discover and learn
more about these animals if we record our
observations and treatments, no matter how
inconsequential they seem - they could be a
fundamental cog in the bigger picture!
- The health records will also
record the date of vaccinations,
de-worming, vitamin injections, and any other
medication.
- Toenail trimming, shearing, teeth
trimming.
- Movements around the farm. (As your herd
grows you will find it useful to keep a written
record of where each Alpaca is.)
Weights Records
Alpacas are very stoic animals and weight is
a very good way of monitoring health. It can
determine many things from readiness for mating
(when coupled with DOB) to poor growth in a cria.
Develop a protocol for weighing and body scoring
and stick with it.
Breeding Records
You should develop a system of recording
all breeding activities for each
production alpaca. This should
include the date and record of activities
such as breeding, tease testing, ultrasounds,
etc. You should also record the confirmed
conception date so that you will know when the
female is due.
Alpaca health record keeping is a very
important part of your farming or ranching
operation. Whether you keep records with a pen and
paper or on a computer, your information should
include: registration data, weight entries,
medicines, dosage rates, breeding history, notes,
etc. for each alpaca. Alpaca record-keeping
software programs are available that are user
friendly and very helpful. Printouts of these
records can be kept in a notebook and used in the
barn while you are working with your
alpacas. Good records are critical in
working with your vet since both of you will be
sharing in the care of your herd. Before you
get busy with spring tasks, take some time to
update your alpaca herd records. You'll be
glad you did! |
| Farming the
Web - Why Should I Tweet? |
Alpaca farms are direct
marketers. They are in the business of
relationship marketing with each
customer or
potential customer that visits
their farm or website. Every
interaction with your customers should
reinforce how you differ from
other farms and make the customer feel
compelled to visit and do business with YOU. This
is a very difficult task for a busy farmer. I
challenge you to take your relationship
marketing into the 21st century and
consider using a social media platform such as
Twitter.  There has been a lot of
buzz in the past year or so
about Twitter. If that sounds like something
a bird does, you may want to read this Twitter
primer. A twitter message is
much shorter than blogging. They are really just
fragments of a sentence along the lines of "this
is what I am doing now." It has the
advantage of being less time-consuming than
blogging and it is easy for customers to follow
the posts. This has become so much of a
trend that professional athletes and other
celebrities have Twitter accounts. Twitter has
even led to
mistrials because jurors were
Twittering their thoughts. We just started
using Twitter and are still trying to understand
the concept! Some farm Twitter accounts I
looked had as many as 3-4 posts per day,
but most just tweet
occasionally. They are limited to
140 characters, so I suppose it is not a huge time
sink. That's the beauty of it, I
guess. A farm Twitter post might look like
this:
" Our dog has taken to eating
chicken feed, right alongside the chickens. This
is better than eating chickens but still not
ideal. " -5:10
AM Apr 2ndThere are
many alpaca farms turning to the
platform because it is such a low stress way and
easy way to communicate. It is a completely
different concept and takes a while to understand
and appreciate what is going on with Twitter. Here
are few alpaca farmers using Twitter: AlpacaFarmGirl and SuzAlpacas.
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Spring Show Season
Alpacas |
Spring show season has
begun! We had great success with our
yearling Telamon last year  taking two seconds,
three firsts and a color champion in very tough
light color classes. Our true black
Jericho son, Joshua, started his show string
at the AOBA National show taking a second place at
6 months old. He finished the fall season
with 4 firsts and a color champion!
Telamon has transitioned
from show alpaca to stud and has settled two
females. We're looking forward to what he'll
produce. Josh,
on the other hand, will continue his
showing this spring. He still looks great
with bright luster and dense, well-defined
locks. He should have a great spring!
 Here are the shows we
will be attending this spring:
If you
come to any of these shows, make sure
you look us up. We would love to show
you our youngsters and talk
alpacas. |
| Save Time.
Reduce Errors. Make Better
Decisions |
Distinguish your alpaca
from from other farms with improved herd records
that aid in sound decision making. To
stand out in the alpaca industry, especially in
today's difficult econominc climate, you need
a solid record keeping solution that provides
flexibility and assists in creating and organizing
your alpaca records for important management
decisions. 
Whether you
are in it for the profit, the lifestyle or a
little of both, the survival of your alpaca
operation hinges on your ability to make good
decisions. And good decisions start with good
information. Does your current record keeping
system give you access to what you need, when you
need it? Is it accurate? Is it quick and easy to
use? Is it fun?
Alpaca Herd
WORKS™ is all those things. That is
why we think you will find it to be the most
wide-ranging, easy-to-use record keeping system
you have ever experienced.
Alpaca Herd
WORKS™ offers you:
- The first herd management
sofware to provide quick and easy intitial
download of your entire alpaca herd data from
the ARI website.
- Pleasing Graphical Interface -
easy to navigate and attractive screens!
- Unlimited Document and Photo
storage
- Group Herd Procedures - a
function that allows you to easily record
procedures on multiple alpacas with just a few
clicks
- Weight Graphs - lets you
monitor weight gains (or losses) at a glance.
Plus, reports that summarize birth, weaning and
1-year weights of crias produce by your dams.
- Breeding Planner - lets you
create a breeding plan and study "what if"
scenarios.
- Show Planner and Records -
helps plan the shows you want to attend,
assciated costs and alpaca show records
- Feature-packed Contact database
- Extensive Calendar Module -
schedule events, create to-do lists, manage
projects and maintain a farm journal
- The first herd management
software to offer a web interface to online data
such as weather, maps, Peruvian import
records, ALPACANATION and your ARI alpaca list.
- A herd evaluation tool
(myHERD™ ) to help
you score each production alpaca on your
farm
And much more! Check
out all the features, enroll in a free online
webinar and download a free 30 day trial at www.AlpacaHerdWORKS.com
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| Our Heritage
Cornerstones |
Heritage
Cornerstones is a selection
of noteworthy quotes centered around a theme
that is important to us and many alpaca breeders.
This issue focuses on...
Our American heritage is
greater than any one of us. It can express
itself in very homely truths; in the end it can
lift up our yes beyond the glow in the sunset
skies.
BRUCE
CATTON
Family faces are magic
mirrors. Looking at people who belong to us,
we see the past, present and future. We make
discoveries about ourselves.
GAIL LUMET BUCKLEY
Let us never
foget that the
cultivation on the earth is the most important
labor of a man. The farmers, therefore,
are the founders of
civilization.
DANIEL WEBSTER
Our heritage and ideals,
our code and standards -- the things we live by
and teach our children-- are preserved or
diminished by how freely we exchange ideas and
feelings.
WALT DISNEY
How will our
children know who they are if they don't know
where they came from.
JOHN
STEINBECK
There is nothing better
than that a man should rejoice in his own works,
for that is his heritage.
ECCLESIASTES 3:22
The measure of one's
character is not what they get from their
ancestors, but what they leave their
desendants.
It
is absolutely imperative that we protect, preserve
and pass on this genetic heritage for man and
every other living thing is as good a condition as
we received it.
DAVID R.
BROWER | |
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That winds up this issue of
Alpaca
Works. We hope that
this issue has provided you with information you
can use to help you better manage and market your
alpacas. We look forward to seeing many of
you at some the shows this spring. Be sure
to look us up!
As always, you are welcome to stop by for a
visit. Best wishes for a
great spring season!
Until next time,
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Tim & Beth Sheets
Heritage Farm Suri Alpacas
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