Photoshoot at Little Valley Farm

Yesterday we had the most magical photo shoot at Little Valley Farm. Neve, the friendly Laguna Alpaca did not disappoint. Soon as she met the kids, she gently ate from their hands and then plonked herself right in between the kids and posed for the camera.

Neve, the friendly Laguna alpaca is amazing with her desire to be with people. She picks her people and will happily sit with them for hours in the paddock. The look of disappointment when we get up to leave is hysterical and yesterday she just wanted to sit with the kids under the huge liquid amber tree and just smile away. There are times and its always on her terms, that when she is done, she simply gets up and walks away but she really loves hanging out with people.

Before we introduce Neve and the other alpacas whom are mostly pregnant and a couple of cheeky weathers. Our working stud is in another paddock watching over us. Our advise to people when meeting our alpacas for the first time is to walk slowly to the alpacas, no loud talking and try and whisper, don't try and pat them on their head but when they are ready gently stroke their necks. Moving slowly and quietly the alpacas feel calm and relaxed and will come up to you. One thing for sure is that we keep the working stud (entire male) away from the alpaca herd and especially when we have guests over.

Alpacas are inquisitive and gentle creatures but will occasional spit when food is present. They really don’t have the the desire to spit at you but you could always be standing in the line of fire! Maybe our Little Valley Farm alpacas are just well behaved, beautifully treated and know that they are very much loved.

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Little Valley Farm is a member of the Australian Alpaca Association and sells registers and unregistered alpacas. We sell wethers as guards, alpacas as pets and or breeding females. Our alpacas are shorn every October and are regularly groomed - nails trimmed, teeth check, fleece check, vaccinated and wormed.

If you are a small farm owner and are looking for alpacas, simply let us know what you are looking for and how your farm is set up ie., shelters, fencing, water and small pens so we can give you the best advise for housing alpacas.

Spinning 2018 fleece collection

At Little Valley farm we are getting ready for Alpaca shearing day so looking at what colours we should spin together. Should I keep our yarn knitting balls one colour or add colours to our fawn yarn ball. Here is a sample we spun which is 100% Alpaca fleece in fawn with black. Do you like? Hmmm should I do both or stick to one colour?

#littlevalleyfarm #alpaca #alpacas #australianalpacas #instaalpaca #knitting #alpacafleece #lagunaNSW #visitwollombi #touristdrive33 #myopenkitchen #myopenkitchenstories

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Shearing day is 13th October, 2018 at Little Valley Farm, we will be shearing 14 alpaca's in white, fawn and one chocolate brown alpaca. We can't wait.  If you would like to help out and get some hands-on alpaca experience please contact us. 

We also have the train and shepherd's hut accommodation available for that week. 

Alpaca cuddle anyone?

Say hello to Majestic and Suki Oberon. They are the sweetest alpacas you will meet and they will come up to you to eat out of your hand. Their fleece is outstanding with lovely crimp and we look forward to shearing them in October and then spinning their fleece.  Its glorious!  

Both girls are pregnant and due early 2019 so we will have three different blood lines at Little Valley Farm. 

Book your farm stay with us at Little Valley Farm.  Couple farm stay for 4 adults so book online before Spring 2018 books out. Alpaca cuddles are free.  

www.littlevalleyfarm.com.au

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Photo taken by Daniela 31st July 2018. You can see how dry the grass is here. We are so looking forward to some rain.  We have only received 2 mls for July. 

Drought2018

Its just on six months since we did the ABC Newcastle drought interview.  It was a stinking-hot summer and I looked like I had enough.  I had never felt so un-glamourous in my life! 

But now looking back to February 2018 after my interview, we luckily did receive some rain but definitely not enough and definitely not constant rain.  We are lucky, as we are a small farm but we all have livestock and produce to grow so it all affects us - whether you live on a farm or in the city, the produce quality will decline and our grocery costs will slowly increase, I won't even mentioned the hay costs for us! 

So I think its time to do another interview as after our ABC interview it rained two weeks later and we received some good rain with 104mls for that month but sadly not enough. March onwards it reduced down to 69mls and April was 26mls, May 15mls, June 72mls and July only 3mls.  So maybe if I do another un-glam interview I will make it rain! 

We finally managed to sell our mini-cattle only two weeks ago and buying hay was getting harder and also feeding the 15+ alpaca's who are all pregnant so that will expand quickly up to 25+ alpacas, which means a lot of lucern hay for my babies next season. 

Hope you have all seen the images of the Upper Hunter drought and how worse it is across NSW and QLD.  The good team at Buy a Hay Bale have been working non-stop delivering goods to large farmers who need help.  You can make a small donation to them here

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Photo taken June 2018 its all very crunchy under foot. The alpaca having brekkie on lucern hay and they love it. 

Click here to read the February 2018 ABC Interview. 

No Monday Blue's here....

Its such a glorious Monday at the farm. So its time to kick off my oh-so glam boots and get relaxing in that outdoor bath on the famous red rattler train deck. 

The alpacas have been moved to other new paddock so we can now rest the creek paddock for a couple of weeks before they return there.  From the bath, I can see the boys neck wresting the day away. Boys will be boys!  

Check out my glam red boots by Merry People - they are made by an Australian company who produce fabulous, comfy and warm - yes, finally a pair of boots that are warm!  Thank you Merry People Rainwear. We love them. 

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T4615 RED RATTLER

Rustic farm stay glamping style: Satisfying your craving for the outdoors and your penchant for a good meal, nice glass of wine, and a comfortable bed. Its nothing like a hotel, your room does open up to a beautiful landscape instead of a lobby.

Our off-grid farm has a 1950's Sydney Train carriage, the famous Red Rattler plus our petite Shepherd's Hut.

A unique 'glamping' farm stay experience for 4 adults plus its the perfect place for star gazing and so much more.

Read more about our farm stay here 

 

Photo by Daniela at Little Valley Farm

 

Dry Drone!

On a stinking hot day in January 2018, Doggie Drone visited our farm and we just managed to stand out in the stinking hot sun for twenty minutes otherwise we were going to roast away!  Anyways, Perry captured how dry our little farm is during this drought. I do have to say, looking at vid from this angle, the farm was looking worse than I thought and yearned for some rain and long long green grass. 

And as I write this, we are still waiting for rain. Still waiting!

Thank you to Perry for this amazing drone clip.