Feb. 12, 2009 - On a ranch located near the Hill Country town of Medina, champions roam the land. At Hill Country Alpacas, Leigh and Chuck Thomas are breeders of champion huacaya alpacas from award-winning bloodlines. For the Thomases, a six-week-old cria named Dundee’s Stonewall Jaxon helped bring success to their new business — which had a rough start.
“We had some difficulty at first,” Leigh said. “We got some female alpacas that were pregnant that never produced for us. So, we decided at that point, let’s either get out or get in.”
After making the decision to try again, Leigh said they went to ranches in Colorado in November of 2003 and found Stonewall.
“He was just so cute and looked so good. We knew his sire was a well known alpaca and ribbon winner so we bought him. He has ended up bringing us five championships. He has about twelve ribbons to his name now in different categories of show,” she said.
According to Leigh, Stonewall’s championships have been in full fleece, halter, composite and fleece. He has also won ribbons in a new category called “spin-off.” Spin-off, she said, occurs a few months before a show.
“(You) send two ounces of fiber off to hand spinners. They’ll spin it up and they grade how easy it is to work with, how clean it was when they got it and the health of the fiber. He has won blue ribbons in that too, so he’s a pretty well-rounded guy.”
In 2005, Leigh said Stonewall retired from the halter show circuit to “pursue his career as a herd sire.”
“Now he has babies on the ground that are winning ribbons and championships, so we are happy with him. We bought some nice females and we are just working on our breeding program at this time.”
For the couple, life on the ranch involves a daily routine of feeding hay and grain and general care of their herd of 30 alpacas. They also agist (board) and care for alpacas from other ranches. Leigh’s time is also spent halter training and getting the animals ready to be shown. Then, once a year on the ranch, “a hair raising event” occurs. In late March or early April, the place is “buzzing” with activity as a crew of shearers set up their equipment and shear the fleece. According to Chuck, shearing time is a matter of preference for each breeder.
“There are some ranches in this area that wait until May,” he said. “We like to get the fiber off before there is any chance that it gets really hot. At the time we shear, they’ve got 3 to 4 inches of staple length and that’s a lot. That’s layer after layer of sweaters if you can imagine that on yourself. We can get really hot in April, so we like to get it off.”
When it comes to the tasks to be done on the ranch, Leigh and Chuck do everything themselves except the shearing. To ensure that the shearing is done quickly and correctly, the Thomases rely on professionals.
“The animals enjoy getting the fiber off but it’s not without some stress because they are being man-handled. They are physically being handled which they are not crazy about. So these guys can do it fast where as we would take a long time.”
The other important consideration, he said, is the commercial viability or usefulness of the staple of fiber which depends on its staple length.
“If you are really good, you’ll get three inches of fiber off in one length. If you are not very good, you might get 2-1/2 inches off and then that final half inch is worthless. So the usefulness of the fiber is really dependent on the quality of the shearing job.”
Once the alpacas are shorn, the fleece from each animal is bagged into categories and tagged. According to Leigh, some of the fleece is then sent off to agriculture cooperatives.
“Last year, we had certified fiber sorters come out here and sort our fiber. The majority of it went to a new co-op called North American Alpaca Fiber Producers. They pool all this fiber together from all over the United States. They contract out mills and commercial producers to do all the work.”
Some of the fiber is sent to the mills themselves to be made into yarn while some is kept and entered into fleece shows throughout the year. According to Chuck, the benefit of entering a fleece show is to get an objective third-party opinion.
“If (they say) it is really good then it tends to point to our ability to breed for nice animals,” he said. “In shows, there’s an interest in the conformation of the animal but it is ultimately a fleece business so the quality of the fiber is something that is really important. If we can show to an objective third-party that we can produce great fiber, then that not only improves the value of that animal but, if it’s in the case of a male - the breeder, then people will come and say, ‘I’d like those genetics.’”
For the Thomases, life with alpacas has been a positive experience and they have enjoyed making new friends along the way. At the ranch, Leigh said she enjoys watching the babies grow up and play and Chuck looks forward to attending the shows.
“There’s lots of really fun and good people there. The competition is fun.”
But, with any livestock business, there are heartaches as well.
“We’ve lost animals. We’ve lost pregnancies. We’ve lost time,” Chuck said. “Things that, if you were kind of the architect of life you wouldn’t draw in, but they happen.”
For more information, visit www.hillcountryalpacas.com or call (830) 589-7750.
