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Alpacas are making headlines!!     

Sandy Creek Alpacas is busily humming along.  Read below to find out what we've been up to.

September 29 & 30, 2012: Come help us celebrate "National Alpaca Farm Day" on September 29 & 30th from 10:00AM to 5:00PM. There will be something for every member of the family to enjoy. Meet and feed the alpacas, learn about alpacas and why we love raising this profitable livestock, shop our farm store for unique, heirloom-quality products or take part of our raffle for some beautiful alpaca products. We hope to see you here! Join us on the alpaca country trail for a 30-mile alpaca adventure. Learn more at www.alpacacountrytrail.com

October 8, 2011: See us and some alpacas at the Kendall Scarecrow Festival. There is so much to do. You're sure to have a great time! For more information, visit: www.townofkendall.com/ScarecrowFestival.htm or see the Sandy Creek Alpacas Facebook Page.

October 5, 2011: Champers has been born! SHE is a beautiful, bright true black girl...and she has the feistiness of an animal five times her size. Congratulations Topaz and Taz for "criating" such a beautiful little girl for the farm!

September 18, 2011: So, it has been a long time since we've updated our news...pretty much because it has been quiet on the news front. It has been a long year and we are so ready to start a new year. We have just returned from the Finger Lakes Fiber Festival and boy did we have an awesome time. We met so many new people and the common denominator...we all love fiber and the animals that grow it for us. Can't wait to see everyone next year! Now, we are busy getting ready for our 8th annual open house and National Alpaca Farm Day...we hope you can join us!

October 13, 2010: FINALLY Sadie is co-operating with nursing and PlexXxico is much happier. The trick we found was to catch some of mom's urine on some hay and then wipe it on the cria's butt. It was like a light switch. As soon as we did that, Sadie nudged him under her udder and let him follow her all around. I know it sounds like something you wouldn't want to do to your cria and I didn't, but after eight days of bottle feeding every two hours I was ready to try anything...and it worked like a charm.

October 6, 2010: The little guy's IgG is really good even though we only got about 60cc of colostrum in him. He is very persistent in trying to get mom to nurse. We have been securing her to a corral panel to allow him to get under her to nurse. If we don't she cushes on him and he looks so sad and rejected. He is still a little interested in the bottle, but would much rather nurse from mom.

October 5, 2010: OK...Sadie is 380 days pregnant with our anticipated XXXtreme cria and we are supposed to leave for our honeymoon tomorrow and what do you think happened? That's right...she goes into labor...and she needs veterinary assistance due to a persistent hymen. Thankfully, both mom and cria are doing extremely well, with the exception of nursing. We had to take our little guy into the house to warm up and he must have been gone to long. Sadie, a first time mom, is rejecting him. It looks like we'll be spending our honeymoon right here on the farm.

October 2, 2010: We finally did it...we've tied the knot. We wore our beautiful alpaca wedding sweaters knitted by Cathy Hinze from Alpaca Play Pen and had a wonderful wedding ceremony. After the ceremony we toured the Niagara wine trail and enjoyed all the beautiful scenery Western NY has to offer this time of year. You can see pictures of the sweaters and the ceremony at www.mywedding.com/johnandtacha. Now, on to the honeymoon!

September 25-26, 2010: Another great National Alpaca Farm Days has come and gone. We've been really busy around the farm preparing for our wedding (next weekend) that will be held right here. We will be sharing our wedding day with our closest family and friends and our alpacas. Can't wait until the big day!

Spring 2010: All three babies due to be born this Spring have arrived. We've had two girls and one boy (Bronson - who we think is quite the looker). All of them are doing well...just one more to go for the year. Sadie is due August 24. Hopefully, it will go off without a hitch because we will be getting hitched in October and I want the cria to be nice and healthy before we leave for our honeymoon. We are expecting our XXXtreme cria and it seems like we've been waiting forever!

Welcome 2010!!!

September 26-27, 2009: National Alpaca Farm Days was a great time. We had hundreds of visitors who came out to visit with the alpacas and shop in our on-farm store. The winner of the Alpaca Country Trail gift basket (valued at over $250) was Gina S from Hilton. The winner of the Sandy Creek Candle Co. candle gift basket was Sue T also from Hilton. We met a lot of new people, and were happy to see friends we have made over the years. We hope to see you all again next year!

Welcome 2009!!!

October 25-26, 2008: Buster Keaton and his little sister Yakira both took ribbons in tough classes at a very large (1010 alpacas) Empire Alpaca Extravaganza in Syracuse, NY. Buster took 3rd in a class of 9 and Yakira took 5th in a split class of 18. Competition was fierce this year and we are very proud of both of them. While we were away at the Extravaganza, the cell phone rang...it must be an emergency, because we only use the cell phones in case of an emergency...the news was good...a cria was born. However it was raining and a little cold. Our neighbors (and friends) Wendy, Darren, and Andrew Lang noticed a pair of small ears sticking up behind the dam. Within a few minutes, they were able to get to the cria, start to dry her off and get her out of the rain. We can't say Thank you enough for helping to save our little girl. In honor of their help, we have decided to name the new cria Sandy Creek's Langley. You can take a look at her here. It has been an exciting weekend to say the least!

September 27-28, 2008: Sandy Creek Alpacas celebrated National Alpaca Farm Days! We had a blast with our visitors taking advantage of the Alpaca Country Trail. Everyone said they enjoyed it and learned so much. I know many of our visitors were especially interested in talking with the handspinners (from the Genesee Valley Handspinners Guild) who demonstrated how to make yarn from the alpaca's fiber. Thank you everyone for coming out and celebrating with us! The winner of our $300 alpaca product basket raffle is Joyce Sackett from Brockport. Congratulations!

August 31, 2008: Sienna has arrived...and she is soooo CUTE!!!

August 26, 2008: The future Barn Yarns Country Store building has arrived and the new pastures are in full swing. Check out the pictures we've posted.

August 23, 2006: We held our first Alpacas Dollar$ and Sense Seminar...we had a blast!

July 19, 2008: Coal B. arrived with his mom. This little boy is a cross of Mercury Rising and QAI Spanish. The genetics in this little guy's pedigree are just waiting to be unleashed. He's a little fella now...but we're pretty sure you'll be seeing his name on herdsire row in the future. Pictures will be posted as soon as we have some - which shouldn't take long!

July 13, 2008: We've just returned from the Western New York Alpaca Show! What a great time it was. There was some great competition and we talked with a lot of new people. All of our alpacas did really well! We took a 1st, two 2nds, and a 6th on halter. This was the first group of alpacas we can say were truly bred by us. We are so excited that they had a great showing. Thanks also goes to their sires and dams :).

April 21: Welcome R-Fancy Nala and R-Rae of Sunshine to the Sandy Creek alpaca herd. We've been looking for some light fawn girls to add to our herd...and we finally found the perfect ones! Learn more about Nala and Rae.

January 2: Anika has found a new home! Anika was sold to Marty Murphy and Debra Ludwig of Brackel Creek Alpacas. We know Anika is going to be very happy in her new home! Congratulations Marty and Deb!

Welcome 2008!!!

October 22: Cinder gave birth to a 19 lb baby girl at 7:45 AM. Sandy Creek's Yakira (which means precious or dear in Hebrew) is a beautiful Dark Fawn. You can feel the crimp in her fleece already. She is a vigorous baby. She had a beautiful day to be born too...the sun was shining and a small breeze kept down the heat. She was running around at only an hour old because she was so happy to be alive. Check her out.

October 20-21: This weekend, we took part in the Empire Alpaca Extravaganza. We had a great time, but Tacha was so busy. John stayed home on cria watch waiting for Cinder to have her baby. She is now two weeks overdue and we are all getting anxious. We brought Buster Keaton and Charmaine to the show and both of them we good representatives of our farm. Buster took a blue ribbon in the Shorn Male Yearling Fawn class. He was the only alpaca in the class, but the judge stated it was too bad he didn't have some competition. She said he was a very nice little boy and that the blue ribbon was well-deserved. (Note: A judge at an alpaca show does not have to award a blue ribbon to an alpaca unless they feel it would have been able to win the blue against other alpacas. The judge doesn't have to award any ribbon if they don't want to.) It still would have been nice to have some competition. Charmaine was so GOOD in the ring. She didn't act up once...and those white classes take a LONG time. She was standing tall and proud the entire time...but there was some tough competition and Charmaine was shorn late in the year giving her shorter staple length than her competition. We won't give up on Charmaine yet. She is a beautiful girl and many people watching her were disappointed she did not place. You'll be happy to know that Charmaine will be shown again in the spring. The alpacas met many new people and I'm sure would tell us all about the antics in the barn after the show closed if they could. We look forward to the 2008 Extravaganza next year!

September 30: This past weekend we celebrated National Alpaca Farm Day with alpaca farms across the country. This was truly a national event with over 1180 alpaca farms participating in every state in the country! New York State Governor, Eliot Spitzer, signed the NAFD proclamation and officially made September 29 National Alpaca Farm Day in New York. We received a very nice letter from the governor encouraging the alpaca industry as an important part of NY state's agricultural future. To read the letter, click here. We had over 300 people attend the open house and the alpacas had a super time meeting everyone. Click here to see pictures of the event. We raffled off a basket with alpaca socks and gourmet tea and coffee...and the winner is: Michael Loefstedt of Hamlin, NY. Thanks to all who joined us and made the day so successful. We are already planning for next year's event! Hope to see you again next year.

August 31: Sandy Creek's Sadie is now pronking in the pasture. Golden Starr's first cria has hit the ground is a beautiful little girl. To see Sadie up close, click here.

April 28th: Buster showed at MAPACA 2007. The competition was fierce and Buster was the second youngest in the class, but he held his own and placed 6th in the large field. The judge had a hard time placing the 5th and 6th place winners. She came back to Buster three times before her final decision. We are proud of Sandy Creek's Buster Keaton and we look forward to showing him again in the Fall at the Empire Alpaca Extravaganza in Syracuse, NY.

April 13th: I can't believe how fast this year is going already. Cody will be graduating from high school soon and it doesn't seem like we've had any time to prepare. We are looking forward to showing Buster at MaPaca and going to Louisville for Nationals. In addition, Tacha's been busy with the both the National Marketing Committee and the Empire Alpaca Association Marketing Committee. We were very excited to hear that there will be a National Alpaca Farm Day this year. The alpaca industry is definitely a booming one...there's excitement at every turn!

Welcome 2007!!!

December 22nd: This really has been a whirlwind of a year. There is a lot of promise in the paddock and we can't wait for next year's show season to see old friends and make new ones (and of course show our new crop of alpacas). We look forward to 2007 with the anticipation of a child at Christmastime. We wish everyone a happy holiday and a very prosperous New Year.

September 19th: Lily has delivered her fourth healthy cria with little assistance from us two-leggeds. She is a great mom...I always forget how wonderful she is with her babies until this time of year. She has plenty of milk and is letting her little bugger run throughout the pasture. He darts from corner to corner already, moving all the little girls out of the way - isn't that a typical boy! Because of his darting and his perfect little mask, we couldn't help ourselves...we had to name him Zorro. He is a sweet , talkative little thing. One more to go this season and we will be done until next year. We are looking forward to showing the little ones to visitors at our 3rd Annual I LOVE NY Alpaca Weekend Open House. Hope to see you here!

July 30th: This past weekend was a hot one, but the Knox Farm Alpaca Festival was in full swing. We brought Anika, Autumn, Starr and Taz. We also entered our first fleece event with Autumn and Taz's fleeces. Autumn wasn't quite ready to strut her stuff in the ring, so instead of stressing her (and ourselves) out in the heat, we decided to withdraw her from her class. But, here is how everyone else did:

  • Starr - 2Yr, Light, Males - 4th
  • Taz - Yearling, MB, Males - 5th
  • Anika - Juvenile, Gray, Females - 3rd
  • Autumn - Fleece - J, LB - 4th
  • Taz - Fleece - Y, MB - 3rd

Way to go everyone!

June 12th: Today a group of students from Rochester came to visit...and boy did they get a surprise. Topaz (on day 359) delivered Charmaine a 17 lb white female, with beautiful fleece, only 45 minutes before the group arrived at the farm. By the time the students were here, Charmaine had already nursed and was finding her way around the pasture. The students thought she was pretty cute.

April 16th: Starr arrived on Easter day around 10:30 AM. By 11:00 he was sharing hay, grain, and the waterer with all the other alpacas already here at Sandy Creek. The transporter said Starr was a complete gentleman being the only male on board for his 7-day trip. Starr came off the trailer and was happy to see other alpacas in a field. He was so easy to lead over to the pasture. In the afternoon, the boys got to go out onto the yard and Starr found a way to break out of the temporary electric fencing - He's a smart one!!! Thankfully, our Aussies did their job and herded everyone back into the pasture within just a minute or so. All-in-all it was a very eventful day for Starr and the other boys. By night time, all the boys laid together in the field to bunk for the night. Starr is a beautiful boy and is fitting in very well already.  Here are pictures from his first day at Sandy Creek Alpacas - Welcome Home Starr. Click here to see pictures of Starr's Homecoming.

March 1st: The Sandy Creek Alpacas family is growing. We have just had the opportunity to acquire an exquisite herdsire from Michigan...his name is Golden Starr. Starr is the product of two wonderful genetic lines...on his dam's side...the world-renowned Guellermo and on his sire's...4Peruvian Legacy 6016...the world's first "million dollar" alpaca and two-time highest-selling male alpaca (this is the second time he has broken the record). With these two powerhouses behind him, Golden Starr is bound to live up to his name. You can check out his bio here.

January 2nd: Our exclusive line of Alpaca Angels apparel and gift items takes flight! You can buy Alpaca Angels items here. Do you believe in Alpaca Angels? We sure do. We have ten of them in the pasture right now ;) Our little angels posed for all the images in our line.

Welcome 2006!!!

October 23rd: Taz takes fourth in the Yearling Shorn Medium Brown halter class at the Empire Alpaca Extravaganza! Way to go Taz!

September 23rd: Our second little girl was born the day after the new harvest moon, therefore it has been decided that our little dark fawn beauty will be named Autumn Moon. She and Anika are having loads of fun playing in the field and just being crias.

September 19th: Our second bundle of joy has arrived. It is another GIRL!  She is dark fawn and we think she is just beautiful. To see her, click here.

September 18th: We have deliberated and decided on a name for our little girl. Her name is (drum roll please...) Sandy Creek's Anika (a-knee-ka...meaning very beautiful and graceful). We couldn't think of a better name for her. We are still waiting patiently for Cinder's new arrival.

September 15th: Well, today was one of the big days we have been waiting for...Lily had a 17 lb ROSE GREY FEMALE!!!! She is just about a carbon copy of Ortiz. We couldn't ask for anything more. We have been truly blessed. We haven't named our precious girl yet...stay tuned. For now we are calling her the little girl. She spent most of the day today trying to find her legs, but is already showing that she will be a bossy little girl in the pasture. She stomps her foot whenever her mother doesn't give in to her...but she is such a sweetheart. To see pictures and more information about her, click here.

September 10th: Wow...the summer has flown by.  The chicks are all big now and fly off the roof of the barn. Topaz will be coming home soon and will get to know Cinder and Lily once again. Today we separated the girls from the boys to prepare for the babies that are on the way. We are so excited we can hardly wait to see our first crias. We are thinking pink, but any healthy cria will due.

June 8th: The chicks from Mrs. Bouwes' class arrived at the farm today. Boy are they cute.  The class hatched the chicks themselves and took VERY good care of them! They fed them three times a day. The chicks had started trying to fly before they came to the farm. One of the chicks looks like a chipmunk - It is cute. I know the class will be very happy to know that one of the little yellow chicks flew to the top of the box they came in today. The class sure must have given these chicks a great start. The chicks have joined the other chickens in the barn in the alpaca pasture. To see pictures of the chicks and their new home, click here.

June 4th: Glimmerglass Cinder was delivered today. Since she is half sister of Lily and Topaz (different halves) she settled in nicely and acts like she has always been a part of Sandy Creek Alpaca herd. To see pictures of her homecoming, click here. Cinder was delivered in a trailer with a shearing table. That's right...all the alpacas were shorn today (Thanks Lynn!) and they look BEAUTIFUL! Rizzo's signature 'do' is now gone, but he emerged a very handsome young man (and ready for action). To see pictures of shearing day (Norman on the table), click here.  The first day of being shorn, the herd had visitors. Andrew and Matt stopped in to say "hi". Click here to see pictures of the whole herd shorn. Topaz has gone back to Glimmerglass Alpacas for breeding to Derwydd Accoyo Pacha. The herd will miss her, but she should be back soon.

May 9th: Lazy's Tazmania (or Taz as he is affectionately known) has come from Mark & Sharon Gilbride's Lazy Acre Alpacas and now calls Sandy Creek Alpacas home. A Chaos son, Best Ala' Best grandson, and Caligula great-grandson...this little guy is sure to be making headlines for himself soon. We are so happy he has joined us and can't wait to begin showing him. Click here for some homecoming pictures.

April 22nd: Ortiz took 2nd in the Huacaya Full Fleece Dark Rose Grey Juvenile Class. Dr. Julio Sumar said that his conformation was superior to the alpaca standing above him, but that his fleece lacked the staple length and density of the first place alpaca. At 7 months old, we know that fleece is something we can work on with Ortiz.  We are very excited about this prestigious award. Look for Ortiz at the Empire Alpaca Extravaganza in October. We can't wait to show him again!

February 5th: Ortiz has started halter training for MAPACA Eastern Alpaca Jubilee. After only a few sessions, he is already following our lead and standing like he has been doing this for a while. The big boys want to know what all the fuss is about. They've been there and done that!

Welcome 2005!!!

December 18th: 'Paca Print Design Services virtual office is officially open.

November 21st: The ladies are in the house! Sandy Creek Alpacas is expanding and we'd love to introduce you to Lily, Topaz, and of course Ortiz. Take a look at the trio's homecoming photos. As you can see in the pictures, we have been very busy expanding our pasture and facilities for our new herd additions.

October 25th: 'Paca Print Design Services are now part of our offerings at Sandy Creek Alpacas. We have a full offering of marketing solutions for you and your budget. Click here to read more about the marketing solutions that don't cost the farm.

October 23rd-24th: Our first REAL alpaca show (The Empire Alpaca Extravaganza)! We had a great time, saw old friends, and made many new friends. We took home three Honorable Mention ribbons for our photos that we entered in the Photo Contest. Now we know what an alpaca show is all about. Thanks to all of those that made this year's show a success!!

October 9th -10th: Our 1st annual I Love New York Llama and Alpaca Days Open House. This statewide program encourages New Yorkers to get to know the alpaca and the products these beautiful creatures produce. We had a number of visitors that came to see the boys and they had lots of questions.  We hope everyone had a great time and can't wait to see you again at our next Open House.

September 15th: At 3:00 in the afternoon, our first cria was born. He is 17 lbs., ROSE GREY, and ohhhh so cute. Click here to see his first picture.

September 7th: Our online stores are open to the public! Feel free to browse our online catalog through Touch Alpacas or check out our fleece sales.

August 8th: Our first Open House.  We had over 50 people attend to check out what these alpacas are all about.  We had a great time meeting all the new people and the boys behaved themselves well allowing us to show demonstrations on haltering and walking alpacas as well as having Swoosh's soft fleece to handle.  The day went  too fast and we can't wait to have another!

July 18th: Rizzo joins the herd to shake things up.  He has been a great new big brother.  He even lets Norman "think" he is in charge.

June 26th: The "little boys" arrive and Sandy Creek Alpacas is really born.

 

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