Forums

Do you think all alpacas should be registered?

kristi — Thu, 14 Mar 2019 05:01:00 +0000

This follows from our "Quick Poll #1" - DO you think all alpacas should be registered, and why?
How are they the similar to or different from other livestock in terms of registration?

Is alpaca registration a help or a hindrance to our alpaca industry growth?

kristi — Thu, 14 Mar 2019 04:58:00 +0000

This question follows from one of this week’s posts:
Alpaca Registration: Help or Hindrance to our Alpaca Industry Growth?

And please don’t think "alpaca industry growth" is US-centric - this is an international gathering place with members all over the world after all. It would be so interesting to gain a global perspective from you all.

Field Breeding vs Hand Breeding

laafpa — Sat, 16 Feb 2019 21:22:00 +0000

For those that practice field breeding (versus hand breeding with haltered male), have you observed an increase in first time settles and/or a decrease in problems settling a female?

My routine has been to put a male in with his harem and then I ultrasound beginning at three weeks after putting the male and females together. I only do cool to cold weather breedings.

My percentage of positive ultrasounds at three weeks post-breeding is almost 100% (I use flattened fleece as a gauge of initial breeding). Also of interest, my most "aggressive" males have become less so and seem more selective in the timing of breedings. And finally, it appears that a very high percentage of females are settled with the first breeding and I have a higher percentage of females breeding once and retaining the pregnancy to full term.

My female selection criteria is the same regardless if field or hand breeding, so even the field breeding males have settled difficult females.

It would make for an interesting study. Anyone else with similar and/or interesting observations?

Posionous Plants

kristi — Wed, 13 Feb 2019 18:01:00 +0000

Posting this article Poisonous Plants for Alpacas - the only one of 525 articles to date - inspired me to begin this forum topic!

That page has quite a comprehensive list, but we do have readers all over the world who may have less known indigenous species also poisonous to alpacas. Please do post here and spread the word.

Alternatively feel free to link to an article - whether one you’ve written for your own website, or one you’ve found in your travels - and we’ll most likely add it to the Library as well!

Is alpaca registration a business decision or a marketing tactic?

kristi — Thu, 14 Mar 2019 05:04:00 +0000

This follows from our "Quick Poll #2" - IS alpaca registration a business decision or a marketing tactic?

And how does the alpaca registration help or hinder your alpaca business?

The Difference Between an Advertiser and a Supporter

kristi — Thu, 04 Oct 2018 21:02:00 +0000

We’ve updated our page https://alpacalibrary.com/index.php/sponsorships-and-advertising-opportunities/ to clarify the differences between an advertiser and a supporter.

For twelve months, an advertiser gets a big bold colourful ad that displays in random rotation in a dedicated space on every catalogue page. Only one ad appears at a time on the catalogue pages - but if there are a small number of advertisers in a particular section, the next ad to appear to a visitor may well be yours again!
This same ad also displays in the dedicated Advertisers sections for twelve months. Ads on these pages display alongside all other ads. But for fun and fairness, they display in random order so as to give everyone a chance at the top spot!
Ads are for one year unless renewed.

Supporters on the other hand get acknowledgement for life, but this is limited to the Supporters section only.
Up to $20 donation: text only listing of your farm/business name with a text link to your website forever.
$21+ donation: logo plus text listing of your farm/business name with a text link to your website forever.

Sponsors who would also like to place larger, higher exposure advertisements on the Library site are entitled to a discount. Please get in touch should this interest you!

Help spread the word!

kristi — Thu, 04 Oct 2018 01:18:00 +0000

Thank you to all the people who have signed up to this site over the past few months. Despite the relative calm, Ian and I have been quite busy behind the scenes with many emails and phone calls! We hope these boards become an active place for people the world over to meet and discuss all things alpaca.

Please feel free to help spread the word by placing the image below on your website with a link back to us: https://alpacalibrary.com

Foundation Membership Closes December 31st!

kristi — Thu, 04 Oct 2018 00:59:00 +0000

We are closing our doors to this exclusive membership permanently on December 31st, 2018!

There is still time to make a once-only donation of US$950, for which you you will receive for life, with our utmost appreciation:

a large listing in the "Foundation Members" section of our Supporters Page - be as wordy and as picturesque as you like!
that same listing displayed on our Advertisers Pages (the main index page and relevant subsections)
your logo and a link to your website displaying in rotation with other Foundation Members atop every Library article and forum page in a special "Brought to You by Our Foundation Member:" section
a large banner ad with a link to your website displaying in rotation with other ads on every Library article page in a clearly marked "Sponsored Ad" section. You can elect to have that ad appear in specific sections of the Library only, if better for you. (For example you may wish to only appear in the Fiber Processing section)
your logo and a link to your website displaying in the scrolling marquee at bottom of the Donations home page
the right to display the exclusive "Foundation Supporter!" badge on your website
and did we mention lifetime recognition on the International Alpaca Reference Library website?!

All sponsorships and donations can be made online here: https://alpacalibrary.com/donations/

With much thanks,

Kristi and Ian