News

News No: 5

Fleece, Food & Fashion 24th June 2007
A visit to AAFL ( Australian Alpaca Fleece Ltd.) in February with bales of fleece was the trigger for this On-Farm event

AAFL had relocated offices upstairs and were in the final stages of setting up a shop to showcase and sell alpaca product. I was just blown away by the quality and range available.
I'm alwys being asked - "But where can we buy alpaca garments Jen?" Well we don't have an On-Farm shop or retail outlet but we are very proud to be able to bring the shop, the commercial arm of our industry, to you in June at Merungle.–
Details of 'Fleece, Food & Fashion'
Sunday 24th June, 2007
EVENTS

News No: 4

Sale Agricultural Show 2006
Merungle has not attended many shows in the last couple of years but how could we miss a show so close?

Our small grey team of 3 came away with 2 blue and 1 red ribbon, which considering the standard these days, was an excellent result.
We outdid ourselves in the fleece section though with CHAMPION HUACAYA FLEECE of the show.

The fleece was produced by –
Merungle Sandman
IAR 66035 DOB 05/06/2005
SIRE – ILR Peruvian Don Julio
DAM – Merungle Legend’s Dream
G’SIRE – ILR Peruvian Legend

Judge – Karen Caldwell

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News No: 3

An extra 60 acres and 2 paddocks

Extra room to roam	Becoming accustomed

Its been planned for a while but the very dry conditions have made it a necessity.

February finally saw the fencing completed, including laneways to facilitate easy movement of stock. All the females with crias have gone into one paddock and all the weanlings (8-11month olds) are now moved to the second paddock.
All are grazing happily though the grass is very dry and we're getting desperate for rain.

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News No: 2

Shelley - ' A Vet Student'

Shelly and Jen

Shelly came to me in Sept '05 for 'on-farm, hands -on' farming experience as a compulsory part of the requirements for her Vet. Course.
I'm not one to miss an opportunity. Shelley was brought up on a dairy farm in this area and was extremely comfortable with animals and was only too happy to work here during her summer break, helping with routine animal maintenance, shearing , feeding and halter training.

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News No: 1

Visit to the USA June 05

This trip gave Jen a great chance to experience 'Alpacas in America'

The trip started with the AOBA Conference, Show and Auction in Salt Lake City, UTAH Three judging rings and over 400 animals.

AOBA Conference	Salt Lake City
3 Judging Rings

A visit to Colorado gave me the chance to see a good selection of alpaca operations plus a chance to attend the Annual Estes Park Wool Expo which also involved an alpaca Show and Llama Obstacle classes. The breeders living in the mountain areas have to contend with bears and coyotes so a lot of the alpacas are shedded each night.

Colorada	In the Rocky's
Lots of animals to see	On the plains
Estees Park	Viewing Stock
VICUNA	Estees Park

It was then off to near Seattle and another breeder who has, like us, done very well with their rose grey stud male. Spokane, then up to Sandpoint, IDAHO. Being able to visit Snowmass had a special interest as our stud male, ILR Peruvian Don Julio, originally came from Snowmass.

Rose Grey Male	Seattle
View of Sandpoint	View of Sandpoint

Base camp during this trip was with our good Australian friends, Jude Anderson & Al Cousill, Pucara Alpaca Stud , Australia and Pucara International, McMinnville, Oregon.

Pacura International	Pacura Alpacas
A fabluous Stud

In between alpacas we had a wonderful weekend at Mt. Hood and Hood River where we could have gone snow skiing, wind surfing and kite skiing, among other things, in the one day and only about an hour and a half out of Portland, Oregon.

The Hood River	Mt Hood
Slopes of Mt Hood

The finale of the trip was 'The Parade of Champions @ Pacific Crest Accoyo America in Oregon where 66 animals from 4 'Ranches' went under the hammer to gross over $3 mill.

Parade of Champions	Pacific Crest Accoyo
A fantastic event

I was home 2 days later and back to the grind stone.