Expanding the Herd

September 2021

In June this year, we decided to expand our herd and purchase additional girls and a stud male to expand our breeding program. After looking at multiple studs and a range of alpacas, we decided to purchase from Yaringa Alpacas in South Australia.

No one could have prepared us for all the hurdles we had to cross to make this purchase happen. The day we were to have a video call with Yaringa and go through a range of available girls the big wind storms hit the Dandenong Ranges. We encountered several trees down and were blocked in our road. So our video call was cancelled.

We were so thankful to Susan and James for filming each of the alpacas individually and sending us a video of each of them. This allowed us to see their teeth, toes, conformation, temperament and how they responded to handling. We were pleased that our choice of stud, Starstruck, handled well, presented beautiful and still showed great fleece at seven years of age. We then evaluated each of the girls and narrowed down our choices to the four we selected: Camilla, Emilia, Paige and Leisel.

Next was getting the alpacas to Victoria. We locked in the mid-year school holidays as the date and were excitedly awaiting their arrival. Sadly the day before they were set to depart South Australia, Victoria went back into a snap lockdown and the border was closed between South Australia and Victoria.

A couple of months later and a permit was finally granted enabling Susan to come across the border and back. We met in Broadford, VIC and transferred the Alpacas to our float and drove them home.

A massive thank you to Susan for organising the permits and driving the long-distance!

The girls we selected are:

Yaringa Camilla was our first choice. We were looking for a solid true black who had good confirmation, straight teeth and dense fleece. Camilla is the perfect addition to our herd.

As a granddaughter of Canchones Ferrari Black, we are looking forward to seeing what she will produce.

D.O.B: 26/1/2020

Colour: Solid True Black

Sire: Yaringa Black Watch (Solid True Black)

Dam: Yaringa Bianca (Solid Light Brown)

Fleece Statistics

2020 - SF 18.4, Micron 18.6, SD 4.3, CV 22.9, CF 98.9, SL 95, Curve Degree 33.7

Yaringa Emilia has good confirmation, straight teeth, and a placid temperament. Emilia has good herd instincts and will sound the alarm when she sees danger or something unknown. We look forward to adding Emilia to our breeding program.

D.O.B: 10/02/2019

Colour: Solid Medium Fawn

Sire: Pentland Giorgio (Solid Dark Fawn)

Dam: Yaringa Cecilia (Solid Light Brown)

Fleece Statistics:

2020 - SF 19.4, Micron 19.8, SD 4.2, CV 21.3, CF 97.9, SL 100, Curve Degree 44.4

2019 - SF 19.3, Micron 19.3, SD 4.6, CV 23.8, CF 98.3, SL 95, Curve Degree 39.2

Yaringa Paige was one of the first alpacas we saw advertised on Yaringa's website. We fell in love with her different coloured neck.

D.O.B: 30/12/2020

Colour: Dark Fawn/White

Sire: EP Cambridge Voyager (Solid Dark Fawn)

Dam: Yaringa Penelope (White)

We can not wait to see what her fleece is like after her first shearing this year.

Yaringa Leisel was an unexpected gem. Upon opening her fleece, we got a lovely surprise at her fleece colour and feel in love.

We look forward to seeing her cria in 2022.

D.O.B: 25/02/2017

Colour: Solid Medium Fawn

Sire: Yaringa Commander ET (Medium Brown)

Dam: Yaringa Lady Louise (Bay Black)

Fleece Statistics:

2020: SF 19.3, Micron 20.2, SD 3.9, CV 19.3, CF 98.6, SL 70, Curve Deg 48.3

2019: SF 18.1, Micron 19, SD 3.5, CV 18.3, CF 99.5, SL 70, Curve Deg 51.1

2018: SF 17, Micron 17.6, SD 3.5, CV 19.9, CF 99.9, SL 80, Curve Deg 46.7

2017: SF 17.3, Micron 17.9, SD 3.7, CV 20.4, CF 99.9, SL 65, Curve Deg 44

The Stud Male:

Yaringa Starstruck

There are lots of things to consider when picking a stud male. Are you looking for fleece density, good temperament, genetics, etc.

The reasons we chose Star were primarily because of his fleece colour, genetics, conformation and show record. We can not wait to see his progeny at Dulce Alpacas in 2022!