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| Blossom | Born: 31 March 2004 | Colour: white |
  | Blossom was Duchess's second cria and first daughter. When she first arrived in February 2007 she deferred to Duchess and both of them bullied Willow. Big and bossy, she took no nonsense from anyone. First in line at feeding time, Blossom was a bossy alpaca and we had to make sure the others got their share of food and she didn't get fat! Blossom gave birth to three daughters on the trot confirming her dislike of boys. Sadly we lost Blossom to cancer in 2009. |
| Casiphia | Born: 19 June 2010 | Colour: white |
| Casiphia is the result of a magical union between our premium alpacas Veruschka and Legend of Spartacus. She is Legend's (and Veruschka's) first daughter and we are very proud of her and excited for her future. Unsurprisingly her fleece has great character and density. Casiphia has a tendency to drop to the ground when handleded and is defensive like her mum. |
| Chiquita | Born: 2 August 2007 | Colour: fawn |
First cria (Spanish for baby) and daughter of Willow, she sticks by her side and exhibits two of her personality traits: she is slow to the feeding troughs and when she gets there she rolls around on her back kicking her legs about! Her name is Spanish for 'the little one' and she was certainly a small baby at 5.96kg. The birth was a long two hours (less than one is more normal), but she was up and feeding in about 15 minutes. Chiquita's fleece, inherited from her sire Blenheim Gideon is amazing with a bright copper/golden sheen close to her skin, the quality was recognised during the 2008 show season where she won ribbons in all four shows she attended, including Northumberland show where she was 2nd junior fawn female and reserve champion (details of shows can be found on the NEBAG website) at the Border Union show, Kelso, she was awarded 1st place junior fawn. In 2009 Chiquita was awarded 5th place (intermediate fawn) at the BAS National show and 4th place at the Northumberland show. Chiquita has acquired Willow's features and has the most adorable long eye lashes. Her weight fluctuated between 18 and 20kg for several weeks and we were concerned that something might be wrong. So we asked our vet to check her over and took advice from some fellow alpaca breeders. The vet confirmed she was in good health and over the next few days we gave her a vitamin B12 injection; increased her vitamin A, D and E paste; put her on the last bit of fresh grass available (the back lawn!), laid on the best hay and finally gave her some 'jump start' (more vitamins). We have no idea which one or combination worked but her weight stabilised and started to tick up (23.7kg on 10 May) and on 3 March she decided to eat from the trough for the first time. Although still quite small for her age she is healthy and has won ribbons at shows! Her size didn't stop her from being desperate to be mated and because she is such a good girl we put her to Gianmarco's Masterpiece in August 2009 the product was an absolute cracker, a fawn male we called Minimus who was a tiny 4kg at birth, but who doubled in weight in the first 3 weeks. Is he the cutist alpaca ever? | |
| Duchess | Born: 25 October 1999 | Colour: (very) light fawn |
  | Our oldest animal, and the most co-operative. Duchess had a calming influence on the other animals and was a joy to handle. Whether it's toe nail clipping, medicine, milking (contact Debbie for details if you want to know more) and even shearing, Duchess took life in her stride. She was also a great 'auntie' to all the cria, always the first to ensure they were all safe and well. During her time with us she deferred to her (much bigger) daughter Blossom, again she just seemed content to let the others argue among themselves! She gave birth in 2009 to a beautiful solid brown girl we called Princess Mallika. Duchess passed away peacefully in 2009. |
| Freyja | Born: 16 August 2010 | Colour: white |
 | Our first daughter from Gianmarco's Masterpiece, mum Oonagh has also done us proud with the last cria of 2010. Freyja was a text book delivery and weighed in at a healthy 7.6kg. Her name is from Norse mythology and is associated with love, beauty and fertility. We had better watch out though becuase in one poem, an 'aggressive exchange' takes place between Loki and Freyja - we hope not! |
| Gabby | Born: 21 May 2002 | Colour: medium fawn |
Where Gabby leads, Imala follows. She joined us on 5th October 2007 and is not the easiest alpaca to catch causing havoc in the field shelter, although she is fine when we do get hold of her. Athletic, strong and with a well defined physique, Gabby is also blessed with a beautiful fawn fleece: 21.9μ, SD 5.8, CV 26.4%, 7.3% > 30 microns (2003). Gabby is very partial to browsing the tree line. We have noticed that Gabby spends a lot of time looking over the paddock fence - we wonder what she can see?! Gabby gave brith to a male cria in 2009, Duke who now lives with Jayne at Zanzibah alpacas in Scotland. On 3 July 2010 Gabby gave birth to Lady Godiva, sire Golden Guinea, and what a friendly character she is - not like her previous two mummy's boy siblings! | |
| Geena | Born: 12 August 2002 | Colour: black |
| Geena is a very vocal alpaca, she can be nervous around strangers and is a protective mother who is very close to her offspring and dislikes change. During the first week at Barnacre Geena hummed constantly, but is now very settled, so much so that close encounters like the one on the left are not uncommon! Geena has multiple prize winning progeny and a great solid black fleece: 25.9μ, SD 4.4, CV 16.8%, 11.7% > 30 microns (2003). Geena struggles to produce enough milk for her cria so they require topping up by bottle, this proved to be challenging with Gaussian and Rory, you can read all about it on our blog. On 27 July 2010 Geena gave birth to Rory, a cream boy from Gianmarco's Masterpiece. |
| Imala | Born: 1 July 2004 | Colour: medium fawn |
| Imala has a great pedigree winning 2nd place as junior (6-12 months) fawn female at the 2005 Northumberland show and then first place as intermediate (12-24 months) fawn female at the 2005 Scottish national show. She is a very calm alpaca and will let you stroke her in the paddock, especially if you have a carrot! Imala is glued to the side of her (unrelated) friend Gabby. She had her first cria, Aodhfin ("Ay-fin") on 17 June 2009. She has a fantastically soft and dense fleece: 22.3μ, SD 5.4, CV 24.4%, 9.6% > 30 microns (2005). On 15 July 2010 Imala gave birth to Wynfor ("Win-vor") a super white boy from Legend of Spartacus. |
| Kate | Born: 1 January 2005 | Colour: medium grey |
Allegedly an adult, Kate loves to play chase with the young alpacas, even though she is the resident grump and spitter. She was expecting her first cria in March 2008 (hence the 'bump' in the January 2008 photo) from Hornblower of Farrlacey. Unfortunately she gave birth over a month early to a very small 4kg black girl that only lived for a few minutes. Sometimes alpacas hold on to 'problem' babies like this and it is not very nice for all concerned. Kate was remated to Hornblower again and on 20 May 2009 gave birth to Star, an energetic little dark grey girl with Kate's white face. Kate loves to throw herself at the haystack in the field shelter, much to the annoyance of everyone else. She also thinks that she is entitled to her own 9 foot trough at meal times and refuses to share with anyone else. Despite, or maybe because of travelling thousands of miles with Mary, they have regular disagreements and 'spit offs'. Kate has a lovely soft fleece (2nd fleece): 21.3 microns with 3.2% > 30 microns, this was acknowledged at the 2008 BAS Hope fleece show where she was awarded third place (grey fleece). At the 2009 BAS National show Kate was awarded 2nd grey fleece. Kate produced a lovely brown son called Ochre in 2010 from Golden Guinea. Kate is now pregnant to Loki. |   |
| Kealani | Born: 1 September 2009 | Colour: white |
| Kealani was our last born cria of 2009 but she has plenty of attitude! Her sire is the supreme champion EP Cambridge Samson of Wellground Alpacas. She was just like her mum, Oonagh, and refused to eat hard feed for months, even after weaning. Her favourite past-time was neck wrestling with Sandstorm and is now following her mum round the paddock... |
| Lady Godiva | Born: 3 July 2010 | Colour: dark fawn |
| What a super combination from Gabby and Golden Guinea. Lady Godiva is a very uniform shade of fawn with good character in the fleece. Her darker skin features are a welcome bonus too. As with all the Guinea cria she is also super friendly and is one of the first to come and greet you in the paddock! |
| Layla | Born: 3 June 2010 | Colour: mid brown |
| From the union of Willow and Inca of Fowberry, Layla is a shade of brown that will be a welcome addition to the Barnacre knitwear range. Note her dark skin features. She has a healthy appetite and is close to her mum at all times. Her eyes quite often 'roll' is a mesmorising way! |
| Little Miss Irraquoy | Born: 3 September 2006 | Colour: white |
| EP Cambridge Little Miss Irraquoy was acquired by us at the 2008 British Alpaca Futurity elite auction on 16 February 2008. She is the stunning result of multi-award winning Australian sire Eringa Park Peruvian Irraquoy (sire: NWA Ltd. Ruffo) and dam EP Cambridge Yola (sire: Jolimont Picasso). Irraquoy was pregnant to Australian import Cambridge Buckingham (sire: Jolimont Commisario and dam: Cambridge Trinity) but unfortunately did not hold it. This meant a 14 hour round trip in May to start again. Irraquoy is correct in frame and has an extremely fine, dense fleece, justifying 'best white female' at the 2007 Three Counties Show and 3rd white junior female at the 2007 South of England show. From the minute Irraquoy arrived at Barnacre she settled in and knows she is very special! Her first fleece at 11 months was: 18.2μ, SD 4.6, CV 25.3%, 1.9% > 30 microns (2007). In 2009 despite being one of our smaller girls Little Miss Irraquoy clipped the heaviest fleece which was awarded 2nd place (intermediate white) at the 2008 BAS Hope fleece show - pipped at the post by our very special white stud male, Legend of Spartacus, to who she gave birth to a son, Niveous on 4 July 2010. LMI was awarded 4th place at the 2009 BAS National fleece show. |
| Lualeni | Born: 25 June 2008 | Colour: white |
| A beautiful white girl from the exciting combination of Mr and Mrs Muscle (EPC Top Account and Blossom), the future is big and bright for Lualeni. She popped out in classic rapid Blossom style and was up and about in minutes. Lualeni was 8.72kg at birth, by 12 July had risen fast to 14.2kg, including 2.3kg in one week! On 23 August she was 23.3kg and posted the fastest weight gain of all our cria - that's the power of Blossom's milk for you! Big sister Oonagh was her constant chaperone - no wonder the boys stayed clear! She was weaned on 14 December 2008. Lualeni, just like her sister Oonagh has inherited Blossoms 'grumble', but unlike Oonagh, Lualeni began eating Camelibra supplement at an early stage. With a fantastically bright white fleece, Lualeni had a great start to her showing career. She was awarded 3rd junior white at the 2009 BAS National show in a huge class, 2nd at the Northumberland show and 2nd intermediate white female at the 2009 Kelso show. At the 2009 Yorkshire show she was 1st intermediate white female and champion white female. Lualeni also achieved 4th place intermediate white at the very competitive (268 entries) 2010 Scottish National fleece show. Her second fleece stats are amazing at 16.0μ, SD 2.9, CV 18.4%, 0.4% > 30 microns and a 52.9º curvature. As a special reward we mated her in 2010 with Gianmarco's Masterpiece. |
| Lucia | Born: 21 May 2010 | Colour: black |
| Lucia is our first ever black girl born at Barnacre, from Mary and Warramunga Downs Miguel of Fowberry. Just like her mum, Mary, she is super chilled out and likes to come and say 'hello' when you enter the paddock. Black fleece shots are so difficult to take and we hope the one shown her does her justice. We are really excited about her potential. |
| Mary | Born: 1 January 2004 | Colour: black |
| Mary, Mary quite contrary. Mary is tolerant of humans, dislikes all alpacas (except for her current cria) and is usually second to last at feeding times, sometimes by several minutes. When she does arrive she insists in eating from our hand and is at the centre of any disagreement, which then results in her spitting her food everywhere. When she joined us she was very thin, since then good eating and the later stages of pregnancy transformed her shape as you can see in the pictures opposite. Mary has a wonderfully soft fleece (3rd fleece): 19.3 microns with 2.8% >30 microns. In 2007/8 Mary was pregnant to Hornblower of Farrlacey, she was due on 12 March 2008 and on 5 May the big day finally arrived when Horatio (solid black) was born - contrary Mary indeed! Mary has produced us a super black daughter in 2010 called Lucia from Warramunga Downs Miguel. Mary is now pregnant to Loki. | |
| Meketaten | Born: 15 June 2010 | Colour: brown |
| If you are up to scratch on Egyptian Pharaoh history then it will not be a surprise to discover that Nefertiti's second daughter we called Meketaten. She has a lovely crimpy brown fleece and a trusting personality inherited from her sire, Golden Guinea. |
| Midnight Star | Born: 20 May 2009 | Colour: dark grey |
| Midnight Star is the first alpaca visitors comment on here at Barnacre. She has distinguished markings passed on from grey mum, Kate. From almost the minute she was born Midnight Star has been running, pronking and doing her trademark leap in the air followed by a click of her back legs. She is bonkers! Star has been mated to Loki. |
| Molly | Born: 30 April 2004 | Colour: white |
A pretty British bred solid white female, Molly has a good substance of bone and dense fleece. Like her larger half-sister, Milly, she is a laid back alpaca and happy to hold a mid position within the herd. Molly gave birth on 5th April 2009 to a fantastic white female cria we nick-named Palm-Olive, her sire is the renowned stud Accoyo Remarque of EP Cambridge. Molly and Palm-Olive are both for sale and Molly has been mated to Gianmarco's Masterpiece, one of our elite stud males. |
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| Nefertiti | Born: 8 August 2005 | Colour: dark brown |
| Barnacre knitwear is created using natural alpaca fleece with no dyes. We are keen to explore the 22 recognised alpaca colours and so on 27 August 2008 welcomed Nefertiti (sire: Peruvian Kim), who is dark brown, to our herd. A bit of a loner on occasions, Nefertiti spends a lot of time round the hay manger, she is very easy to handle. We named her first cria Sienna (after burnt sienna, a warm mid brown iron oxide pigment) and she is light brown in colour with a beautifully soft fleece. Nefertiti produced a super brown daughter in 2010 we have called Meketaten from our brown herdsire Golden Guinea. |
| Oonagh | Born: 18 June 2007 | Colour: white |
| Oonagh is Irish for 'lamb' and derived from the Latin una meaning "one". The first cria of Blossom (and Barnacre Alpacas) from the union with Blenheim Fernando, she is very placid and is happy to be stroked in the paddock. She used to follow mum into the field shelter at feeding time and preferred Blossom's milk to our camelid supplement - complaining continuously if she wasn't allowed any. Blossom got a bit fed up with Oonagh's constant drinking and kept sitting on her head so we weaned her and within two weeks she started eating camelid supplement with an appetite her mum would be proud of! Oonagh, more than any of our other alpacas, loves to roll in the dirt, we think she secretly wants to be brown! Oonagh was 4th place (junior white) at the 2008 Northumberland show and 2nd (intermediate) at Kelso. Oonagh went on 'holiday' in 2008 to see her boyfriend EP Cambridge Samson (SW), the 2008 BAS Spring Fiesta Supreme Champion at Wellground Alpacas home of our dear friends Rob and Les Rawlins. She subsequently gave birth to Kealani, a fantastic white girl. Oonagh hates to share a trough and would rather go without than get involved in the pushing and shoving that occurs at meal times. She will come and see if you saved her any food to take from your hand, if not she will wander off 'grumbling' back to the hay. |
| Palm-Olive | Born: 5 April 2009 | Colour: white |
| Palm-Olive is a well grown girl with excellent conformation from the world renowned Accoyo Remarque, who has certainly stamped his mark on this daughter. As you would expect from such a well bred female Palm-Olive has a fabulous bright white fleece full of character. Cutting just under 3kg of baby fleece she will be a great addition to our knitwear range as well as a highly regarded breeding female. Palm-Olive is a quiet, easy to handle girl who has decided that she would like to be mated; we decided for her though and she will be mated in Spring 2011. |
| Princess Mallika | Born: 21 July 2008 | Colour: brown |
| Our last born cria of 2008 and what a cracker! Colour genetics are so tricky and unpredictable in alpacas so the dark fawn spot on (mum) Duchess could have presented challenges. However, we were blessed with a beautiful solid brown girl from the union of Duchess and Inca. Birth weight was 7.6kg however she quickly put on weight and her first ten days saw the fastest weight gain of all that years cria. By 3 August she was 10.9kg and had overtaken Gaussian who was 2 weeks older and had a heavier birth weight! By 30th September she had risen to 22.4kg. When weaned, Mallika, just like her mum took things in her stride and was not in the slightest bit concerned by the separation or the ride on the quad! At the 2009 Yorkshire show she was 2nd intermediate fawn female and reserve champion fawn female. Princess Mallika has now been mated to Legend of Spartacus who should add density and fineness to her cria. |
| Sienna | Born: 29 May 2008 | Colour: light brown |
| We named Nefertiti's first cria Sienna (after burnt sienna, a warm mid brown iron oxide pigment) and she is light brown in colour with a beautifully soft fleece. Her sire is Yellowstone of Purston (deceased), a fantastic Chilean mid fawn imported from the US. Sienna is a little squealer when handled and was was weaned on 14 December 2008. At the 2009 Westmorland show she was 1st intermediate brown female and at the Yorkshire show she was 1st intermediate brown female and champion brown female. Just like her mum Nefertiti, Sienna has now been mated to Golden Guinea so we are eagerly awaiting the outcome. |
| Ursula | Born: 16 March 2007 | Colour: medium brown |
| Born in quarantine and with a beautifully consistent brown fleece, Ursula is the first cria and daughter of Mary, our black Chilean import. She is friendly, trusting and extremely nosey. Ursula is usually second in line at feeding time (and first to meet you at the gate) and has a ravenous appetite! Any new objects that appear in the paddock must be investigated and if at all possible attached to her fleece...Ursula was our first attempt at halter training and after a little encouragement (food) was a natural. Her scheduled walks include stepping over a fallen log and the occasional trip up our lane, much to the amusement of the local farmer, Alan. Ursula self-weaned at about 7 months and in May 2008 was re-united with the main herd, mum and her new half-brother, Horatio. Ursula seems to have increased her self-confidence and is more assertive with the adult alpacas at mealtimes. At the 2008 Border Union show, Kelso, Scotland Ursula was awarded 3rd place intermediate brown female. Ursula delivered a gorgeous light fawn son, Pearson, in 2010 from our brown herdsire Golden Guinea. With these parents he is of course chilled out and very nosey! |
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| Veruschka | Born: 20 August 2005 | Colour: white |
| Our desire to build a herd of fantastic quality alpacas with fleeces to die for took a huge step forward on 27 August 2008 when Purston Veruschka joined the Barnacre herd. Sired by Wessex Fernando (sire: Purrumbete Ledgers Dream), her second fleece was placed 2nd to the Supreme champion (130 fleeces, judge Cameron Holt) in the 2007 Royal Fleece Show. Veruschka's fleece scored 89 marks, the second highest ever score recorded in the UK. Her abundant fleece is incredibly fine, dense and with an ultra soft handle. In 2007 her skirted blanket alone (11 months) weighed 2.5kgs and in 2008 it weighed 3.08kgs! Her 4th fleece achieved a stunning 3rd place in the hugely competitive adult white class at the 2010 British Alpaca Futurity. Veruschka gave birth on 19 June 2010 to the first cria and stunning white daughter of our supreme champion, Legend of Spartacus . Show circuit, watch out! Despite being our biggest girl Veruschka is well down in the pecking order with Willow. |
| Willow | Born: 11 July 2004 | Colour:(very) light fawn |
| One of the first three alpacas to arrive on site, you may have noticed that Willow is the 'face' of our website banner. She has very appealing facial features and is alwalys noticed by visitors. Alpacas are very observant and Willow is usually the first to notice any 'danger', at which points she pretends she hasn't seen anything, looks at the floor, moves to the back of the herd and waits for Blossom to make the alarm call and then lead a 'charging party' comprising of Duchess, Oonagh and Kate! When it comes to the herd pecking order Willow is firmly at the bottom of the pile, although when heavily pregnant with Chiquita she decided to stand up for herself and 'fight' with Blossom and Mary. She is last to arrive at feeding time, usually by several minutes, after stopping en-route to answer the call of nature. Willow is very gentle and nervous. Despite our concerns she proved to be an excellent mother to Chiquita with whom she has remained very close. Willow gave birth in 2010 to a lovely brown girl called Layla from Fowberry Inca. |
| Boys |  |
| Girls | |
| Barnacre photos | |
| 2010 Cria photos | |
| 2008/9 Cria photos | |
| 2007 Cria (babies) | |
| Alpaca movies | |
| The other animals | |
| Sheep movies | |
| Field shelters | |
| Updated on 11th March 2011 |