Barnaby

Born: 6 June 2008

Colour: white

Fourth cria of Gabby, who was infatuated by him, and her second son. The arrival of Barnaby saw the bond between Gabby and Imala strenghen, or rather Imala take on full time baby sitting duties until her own baby arrived. Barnaby was our first EPC Top Account cria. He was also our second heaviest cria at 9.2kg and by 23 August was 22.9kg - watch out Chiquita he's catching you up! Barnaby was weaned on 14 December and we have noticed he tends to be the last one to rise in the morning, he obviously likes his bed! Barnaby has an abundance of fine fleece which Debbie is looking forward to working with later in the year.

Gaussian

Born: 6 July 2008

Colour: white

Our first cria from Bozedown Viscount, and taking the record heavyweight title from Barnaby by 0.1kg to weigh in at 9.3kg at birth. This is a great example of alpaca colour breeding being an art not a science. The same combination of dam and sire two years ago produced a brown female! His birth caught us on the hop when we went to show Carol and Dave (our regular manure collectors and gardening enthusiasts) the herd to see him lying on the floor, kushing (sitting) immediately and feeding within minutes! Like his mum, Geena, he was humming loudly from birth and has hardly stopped since. We wondered what the definition of white noise was and apparently, "the term Gaussian white noise is commonly applied to a noise signal in the spatial domain which has an autocorrelation which can be represented by a delta function over the relevant space dimensions" so Gaussian it was! Unfortunately Geena was light on milk in 2008 so we tried to top Gaussian up with powdered alpaca milk and then with full fat Goat's milk. His appetite is low, but growing so we have nicknamed him "Colin" (family joke...). You can read about our 'challenges' with Gaussian on Debbie's alpaca blog, and see the progress he is making on our cria growth chart. By 14 December his weight peaked at 15.9kg  but then fell back until 4 January to 14.3kg. Since then he has been gaining weight slowly and on 1 May was over 21kg and he has now been weaned. Gaussian is halter trained and has even started eating camelibra!

Gianmarco's Masterpiece

Born: 9 Sep 2006

Colour: white

Gianmarco's Masterpiece is a real pleasure to have here at Barnacre Alpacas. Sometimes in life you are in the right place at the right time and this happened to us when we had the chance to acquire him and the amazing Legend of Spartacus at the same time. The combination of stunning phenotype (physical characteristics), genotype (his sire is Jolimont Gianmarco who is one of the most decorated and consistent males in the Australian show ring, and who cost a record AUS$165,000 for a half share) and a fleece to die for make him a super herdsire with a very promising future. Gianmarco's Masterpiece is Legend's best friend although he tends to lead when it is time to move around the paddock. He enjoys the company of his 'lady friends' and is enjoying a busy 2009. We can't wait for the results in 2010... Please visit his stud page for more information.

Golden Guinea

Born: 21 June 2005

Colour: light brown

Full details of the charming Golden Guinea can be found on his stud page. We searched long and hard for a herd sire to bring colour to the Barnacre breeding programme, and with Golden Guinea we got solid colour; a big, soft fleece; a well proportioned, athletic body; and a friendly, inquisitive personality. Golden Guinea enjoys the attention of visitors and is quite vocal, happily humming away. His favourite past time is watching the 'ladies' over his fence. He has covered 3 females so far and we are very much looking forward to the arrival of his cria in 2009 especially from Ursula our beautiful medium brown alpaca.

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Horatio

Born: 5 May 2008

Colour: black

Second cria of Mary and first son, Horatio was the first Barnacre cria of 2008. He was a healthy 7.94kg born to the great entertainment of Becky and Pete on Bank Holiday Monday, causing them to get home many hours later than planned. He is certainly not a retiring character in fact he is Trouble with a capital "T". Since he was two weeks old he has been jumping on the pregnant females, and he started eating (adult) Camelibra (food supplement) at 12 days old! When your dam (mum) is Mary you are hardly going to be 'normal'! His sire (father) is Hornblower (of Farrlacey) so what else could he be called other than Horatio (Latin for time, and he certainly took his arriving with a 13 month gestation period)?!  Horatio grew fast and on 12 July was 22.5kg - we stop weighing around this level and use other ways to measure growth and health. Horatio was weaned on 14 December and is halter trained. He was awarded 3rd place (intermediate black) at the Northumberland county show.

Hughie

Born: 28 June 2007

Colour: light fawn

Fourth cria of Duchess and third son, Hughie was the first boy of the Barnacre herd and was sired (fathered) by Blenheim Gideon. He was born premature and required Debbie's helping hand and 24 hour care for the first few days of his life. Perhaps because of this, if it's a butch male alpaca you are looking for then Hughie is definitely not your man. He's very vocal and enjoys the attention of anyone who enters the paddock. If you only meet one alpaca in your life, make sure it's Barnacre Hughie, he is super inquisitive and loves meeting 'his public'. Catching him in the open isn't very difficult when he's stood by your side with his head under your arm! Hughie has a dense buttery apricot coloured fleece with great brightness. He won third place in the junior fawn class at the 2008 Kelso show, Scotland. He was also awarded the best fleece at the 2008 Slayley show - gold star Hughie, very well done! Hugie ended 2008 with 2nd male fawn alpaca at the Westmorland show. 2009 has started with 4th place (intermediate fawn male) at the Northumberland show. Hughie has continued his international superstar status with an appearance in the Morpeth Herlald, and on 15 March 2009 appeared on BBC Countryfile with the rest of the Barnacre herd.

Legend of Spartacus

Born: 16 November 2006

Colour: white

We had been aware of Legend of Spartacus for many months when one day we happened to be in the right place at the right time to aquire him and his best friend Gianmarco's Masterpiece. If we were given the opportunity to 'design' a fleece then it would probably look and feel just like Legend's. It is fine, soft, crimped and very bright. Inquisitive visitors are very welcome to come and experience his quality for themselves. Legend has awe inspiring genetics that you would be hard pushed to replicate anywhere in the UK, with the famous Jolimont Commisario for a grand sire enhanced by the amazing EP Cambridge Peruvian Spartacus, arguably the number one Australian herdsire with a super fine, dense fleece and a presence to make you tremble! Full details of Legend can be found on his stud page. Although Legend tends to follow Gianmarco's Masterpiece when it's time to move, he has started to dominate the trough at meal times. Don't ask how we found out but he does like to have his chin tickled - what are we like...oh yes and did we mention that he has a neck that is so thick and powerful you wouldn't believe it?

Loki

Born: 12 June 2007

Colour: black

Loki is the third cria and first son of Geena. He is the result of Griffin (blue black) and was a big 9.4 kilos at birth. He has a blue black fleece of extreme softness with good character. He is following in the footsteps of his elder multi prize winning half sisters with a 2nd place (junior black) at the 2008 Northumberland show; 1st intermediate black male and black champion at the Scottish National, the Border Union show in Kelso; and 2nd intermediate black male at the Westmorland show. In 2009 Loki was 1st intermediate black male at the Northumberland show. We have great expectations for Loki's stud career on the back of his fantastic pedigree and show success. Loki has come on leaps and bounds in the last few months and is now taking an interest in the girls. His first 'date' is with Kate, our medium grey girl.

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