Monday, September 26, 2011

National Alpaca Farm Days



The Alpaca Owners and Breeders Association declared National Alpaca Farm Days on September 24-25 2011 to give people the opportunity to visit and learn about alpacas and meet people living this satisfying and rewarding lifestyle. Every farm has their unique style of welcoming and educating visitors.

Alpaca is a domesticated spices of South American camelid. It resembles a small llama in appearance. Alpacas are considerably smaller than llamas and are bred specially for their fiber. Alpaca fiber is used for making knitted and woven items, similar to wool. These items include blankets, sweaters, hats, gloves, scarves, a wide variety of textiles and ponchos in South America, and sweaters, socks, coats and bedding in other parts of the world. The fiber comes in more than 52 natural colors.

The first picture was taken in an Alpaca Farm at the Central Coast of California by my son who visited this farm with his wife on the National Farm Day.

One of my granddaughters is a Graduate student of an University in Cleveland, Ohio, and she took advantage of the occasion to visit a near-by Alpaca Farm.