Open House for Alpacas

I read an article in the newspaper this week about an alpaca farm not too far from here that was having an open house for alpacas this weekend, and I couldn't wait to go. Yesterday we were busy with Michael's cross country meet, but this afternoon Bob and I, along with Mike and Emmy, went to the open house. I didn't get a good picture of the rare set of twins featured in the article , but we had plenty of photo opps with the other alpacas.

We learned that alpacas will spit at you if you make them really mad. Thankfully they were all very mellow today, despite the crowd milling around their barnyard. We also learned that only one in 1000 births result in twins like those described in the article. And did you know that alpacas don't like to have their heads scratched, but they do enjoy having their necks rubbed. One more interesting fact: they hum! That's right...hum! That's the only noise they make, and it was amazing to listen to the little white alpaca hum as her owner held her up for the photo opp. Her name, by the way, is Caroline. The other alpaca standing next to Mike and Emmy, and looking at them rather doubtfully, is named Niles for the TV character on "Fraser" (Not sure I spelled that right).

It was great fun visiting the open house. Alpaca farms all over the state, and maybe beyond that, were having open houses this weekend to introduce the gentle critters to the public and promote the idea of alpaca farming. Judging by the delighted visitors at this open house, the promotion was a success. The alpacas were humming, and the visitors were ooh-ing and ah-ing. Happy noises all around.