Does every farm need to have biosecurity measures?

Does every farm need to have biosecurity measures?

That’s a YES, 100%.

A biosecurity plan for your farm is essential. You should practice some measures now, but this will only prepare you to the extent that it's effective if everyone can understand and use these tools properly.

We will discuss our bio-security measures at our workshop and how we manage it at Little Valley Farm with our livestock.

Jump on our waitlist for our February and March 2022 workshops.

$159 per adult and $39 for children.

We do run adult-only workshops the first week of the month (subject to change) and then the last week of the month, adults and children.

Our workshops are kept small and are held outside on the paddocks to be Covid safe. Small groups of 6 people means we get to know everybody and learn and question time is maximised. The workshop includes our alpaca guidebook for you to take home.

We have been working with alpacas for ten years now and would love to be part of your alpaca journey.

If you are on Facebook this is a video we were asked to do by Hunter Local Land Service a couple of years ago. Watch here.

Jump on our Little Valley website to read more.

Dates coming up:

Sunday 13th February at 10:30 am - adults only

Sunday 27th February 10:30 am - adults and kids.

Sunday 6th March 10:30 am - adults only

Limited spots so book early and do send me an email should you have any questions.

We love what we do and want to share it with you.

Contact Daniela here.

Also, don’t forget to jump on our LVF mailing list for special events, updates and previews. We don’t spam as we prefer to be outside working with the alpacas - its much more fun!

Alpaca Suri Fleece available for sale

Shearing is done every October at Little Valley Farm. Fleece sorting is done randomly or when I get inspired to sort, spin and add it onto the website. It all takes time, and there is always a lot of beautiful fleece sort through.

So, where you can purchase our unprocessed fleece or handspun alpaca yarn? Jump on our website at @littlevalleyfarm.com.au or visit the stunning homeware and lifestyle shop in Laguna called @LagunaLuxe next to GNTP.

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I have just added three saddles of fawn SURI fleece to the website so you can order online and we will post them to you. P&P charges will be added to the shop cart.

Click here to order online as the next lot of fleece won’t be available until October 2022 after shearing day.

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Little Valley Farm is based in Laguna in the Wollombi Valley, Hunter Valley. We are only 90 minutes from Sydney but feels like a million miles away. To check availability for our couples only glamping experience contact Daniela via email.

Frequently Asked Questions here.

Little Valley Farm In the Media

Shelters for Alpacas

Alpacas need shelter, please don’t let others convince you of anything different to that fact. The most essential & basic shelter are trees, they can provide deep shade in Summer and protection from rains and wind in Winter.

A permanent structural shelter with sides, is extremely important particularly for the protection of newborn cria and recently shorn alpacas. Simple shelters of poles and shade cloth can be erected in the absence of trees, but we highly recommend having a permanent shelter or shelters.

We have several different types of permanent shelters at Little Valley Farm. A 4 x 4 metre or larger is useful and can be used on your annual shearing day or in extreme weather conditions such as rain and windy conditions. Not all alpacas will use the sheds but it gives them the option and is extremely useful for penning them when necessary.

Fresh drinking water is a must in or around each shelter especially if penned. Alpacas will drink two to ten litres per day.

Feed bucket to help keep the feed dry avoiding mould build-up and helps reduce feed wastage.

Alpaca ‘Summer Palace’

Here are some examples of sheds we have. Below is our Alpaca Summer Palace with lots of extra shade provided by the trees and excellent cross ventilation inside. The shed has 1/2 earth and 1/2 brick floor. They prefer the earthen floor, we like the brick which stays drier longer. The shelter has opening shutters to control wind and light. Cold rainy days we close them but mostly they are open. The back are has two gates which can be closed if we need to catch them. The alpaca’s love sitting out the front of the shelter looking over the paddocks and towards the house.

Below is our Twin Shed is nicely situated in between two paddocks, so it is convenient when we do our weekly paddock rotation of the alpacas and mini donkeys. It also provides us a couple of pens to catch the Alpacas.

It has lot of cross ventilation and plenty of trees for deep shade on the northern side. The summer western sun is an issue but they move towards the large trees down the paddock on hot and sunny afternoons.

The drinking water trough is close by and they love the dirt floor to roll about in.

Twin Shed placed in between two paddocks

Twin Shed lot of gates to help create small pens and plenty of ventiliation with a solid wall to avoid the wind and rain.

Want to read more about managing your own herd? We have some great reading material to get you started. Click here. Attending one of our weekend workshops. Click here for workshop info.

More about Daniela and Euan at Little Valley Farm here.

Take it slow in 2022 in Laguna Hunter Valley

Welcome to 2022! Happy New Year to everybody.

What’s happening the year.

Get in early and book your Valentines Day midweek escape with us or Easter with your buddies on the Train and the new Shearers Studio. Enjoy our early bird discount when you book for four adults.

Farm Workshops

Alpaca workshops are back and better than ever. Our workshop will help new alpaca owners get started or provide the opportunity for people who already have their hearts set on owning a herd to learn more about these majestic animals.

It is a great way to introduce yourself to an entire herd of wool-bearing friends at your feet? So book in for our first workshop for the year on January 9th. Check dates with Daniela as we will add more for Summer and Autumn 2022.

Train Stay

Imagine a life without stress, where you can do nothing but relax on the train hang out deck overlooking the beautiful scenery of alpacas and mini donkeys. Imagine never having to answer any calls or check your phone!

Spend your evenings enjoying wood-fired pizza and the glow of bonfire and evening stars: nothing but great friends, good wine and excellent food.

So now is the perfect chance to experience our unique getaway with your loved ones. The four-person country escape in the vintage Train and new Shearer's Studio. Two adults in the train and two adults up in the Shearers Studio. Early bird bookings get 20% off - $1200 only $960

Dates for Easter 2022 are currently available from Thursday, April 14th for four adults.

Valentine’s Day from Monday 14th February for two adults currently available.

PROMO CODE: EARLYBIRD20% for 4 adult bookings only.

Photo Charlotte Curd for Riparide and Matt Hoospool

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Little Valley Farm is based in Laguna in the Wollombi Valley, Hunter Valley. We are only 90 minutes from Sydney but feels like a million miles away. To check availability contact Daniela via email.

Frequently Asked Questions here.

Little Valley Farm In the Media

Photo Shoot Location - 'Alpaca parkland'

If you are looking for a great location or backdrop for photo shoots consider our picturesque working Alpaca farm with a great diversity of spaces and buildings. Each season has its charm from colourful Autumn, lush Summer, crisp Winters and our brief welcome Springs. We have hosted major fashion brands, music video clips and some incredibly talented overseas photographers who have stopped in here on their tours in Australia.

Typical Autumn colour, misty mornings with blue clear skies and first frosts. 3rd week of May is peak colour.

Winter with Felix. 50 acre farm with Red Rattler train is a well loved feature.

Summer with Local Land Services, small farm educational video and shoot.

Spring Wedding photo shoot.

Summer Music video using paddocks, creekline & train.

Do platypus live in our creek? How many wild dogs are roaming the hilltops?

With the help of Hunter Region Landcare Network, Wollombi Valley Landcare, and Local Land Service, we’ve set up a few motion-sensitive cameras in critical locations around our bushland and creek-line.

We aim to monitor and track wild dog, feral pig, feral cats, and feral goat activity and hope to monitor platypus activity.

This year we have noticed an increase in dog visits and several native animal carcasses have been left on our paddocks including wallaroos and a wombat. The most recent attack was a wombat found early on a Monday morning following an alert from the Alpacas. He had been badly mauled by a Dog so we took him to Cedar Creek Wombat Hospital for treatment. He survived thanks to the great work at the Hospital.

We have never seen the elusive platypus in our creek but know they were there once here. The good news is that they were spotted two kilometres down the creek last week and they are known to live further up Watagan Creek.

Over the next thirty days, the infrared cameras will hopefully pick up some activity. The programme is managed by HRLN and LLS and is accessible to Wollombi Valley Landcare owners. If you wish to get involved please drop an email to Victoria from Hunter Region Landcare Network on the email ~ lowerhunterlandcare @ gmail.com

Alpaca Fleece For Sale - Little Valley Farm

We have just completed our shearing for Spring 2021, and now our alpacas are ready and relaxed for the hot Summer days ahead. Freshly shorn and out of the sun, they enjoy the shade of the old Liquid Amber trees.

Biscuit and Flirty pictured here.

I will be spending the week sorting out which fleece we should spin and felt for our Summer 2022 projects. So far, we have counted 40+ saddles to work with and more for me to clean and sort out.

So if you love spinning or felting alpaca fleece, we have a range of white, fawn and brown fleece for your home projects. We have mostly Huacaya and some long fawn Suri fleece available.

Our alpaca fleece sale will start early November, and we will have saddles ready for spinning from $10, $15, $20 and $30. Our saddles have been partly skirted, (we have removed the neck and leg fleece). But, of course, there will always be some vegetation matter and dirt as they love to roll in the ground just before shearing.

Huacaya or Suri fleece?

Alpaca garments are often sought after for their softness and warmth. The two types of alpacas, Suri and Huacaya, offer different qualities in wool that can be used to create unique pieces of clothing. Learn more about the difference between these animals, so you know which type is best suited to your needs!

Alpaca fleece sales

Our sale day will be held up at our house, and please note, we are open via appointment only. Our fleece sales do not include feeding the alpacas as we are limited with our time and workload already. Also, please do not bring your dogs to our farm due to our strict bio-security policy.

As we are a COVID safe business, you will be required to QR code check-in on arrival.

Feel free to email us for raw fleece sales and what you are looking for. If you can’t make it to our farm we can post our fleece to you. Jump on our shop cart to view prices.

We will also have some more alpacas coming up for sale November-December. Simply email to be added to our livestock waitlist.

www.littlevalleyfarm.com.au/shop

Check out these adorable faces below?

Alpaca workshops in the Hunter Valley

Alpacas are fascinating animals, but they require special management. Join us for our unique alpaca workshop that is perfect for people living on small farms or acreage. A great introduction to see if alpacas are the right fit for your farm.

Date available:

Sunday 10:30 am November 14th - Now booked out.

Sunday 10:30 am November 21st - Booked out. *

Saturday 10:30 am December 4th - Booked out. *

• email us to be added to our waitlist

Click on the photo below to book.

Book online click here.

Why Miniature Donkeys?

Miniature Donkeys are a recent addition to the farm. They are cute, fun, highly inquisitive and just a bit silly. So why not have them! However, the main role of these little beauties is to help us in the application of a ‘regenerative system’ to manage the farm.

Alpacas are excellent small farm or acreage animals. But as the herd grows potential issues with animal health and pasture management becomes more problematic. When we started our journey on the farm we always had multi animals on the paddocks; free-range chickens, low line Angus and Belted Galloway Miniature cattle and even some Dorper sheep. Each had their issues and advantages.

Free Range Chickens; there is nothing better than real free range eggs and when chickens roam you really get to know their wonderful personalities. They were great at breaking down manure on the paddocks, especially older manure the dung beetles didn’t get to. But Chickens are excavating machines, we lost gardens, grassy areas and spent large amounts of time keeping them out of vegetable patches.

Sheep; we never really bonded with the sheep. If you eat meat they have an advantage, but our lush summer rainfall meant constant problems for their feet. They also leave manure everywhere which was ignored by chickens and dung beetles and an additional worm-risk when running alpaca. They also require different fencing, usually 6 plain wires with a low electric strand, which we did not have. It took a year but they figured that out and soon ate every edible tree they could find. They did not lost long.

Miniature Cattle; we loved having the cows, and even loved our temperamental and destructive lowline bull. We produced some wonderful calves and even experimented with on-farm butchering (with some purchased steers). Once you get to know cows well, you soon turn off meat-eating and just love being around them. Cattle manure is easily spread and the dung beetles did a beautiful job putting nutrients into the ground. In 2019 feed costs skyrocketed, and a small farm like ours with a heavy winter frost and very little winter rain does not stock cattle so easily. In good years we were fine, but bad years made it unsustainable.

We sold all our cattle in 2019 and have had a much larger Alpaca herd even since. But a single breed of animal has its own issues.

Alpacas have some incredible advantages, they are gentle on the land with soft feet, they eat comparatively little for their size, they have a couple of limited manure piles, they don’t break fences, are easy to handle with lower infrastructure costs and they are selective grazers who are gentle on the pasture. But from a regenerative process pov many of these advantages are disadvantages. Eventually the pasture has highly productive areas around the manure piles and very little nutrients is put back into the other areas. They also prefer shorter grass and when our summer grass gets to knee high they will often avoid it and over graze other areas. In a short time we noticed they were forced to eat closer manure piles and in March 2021 we had our first ever problems with intestinal worms.

The system we ran with the cattle and alpaca was perfect to help control worms and manage feed and pasture fertilisation with limited mechanical intervention. Bovines and Equines actually help break the worm cycle for the Alpaca. They also ate grass and hay the Alaca would not eat, and we ‘harrowed’ their manure, or it was spread out by dung beetles and chickens, returning nutrients more evenly to. the pasture. We did not strip graze, but we were able to use 22 acres split into 13 small paddocks very effectively for rotational grazing.

So why Miniature Donkeys? in short they will help us for the same reasons as the cattle, but with a few other advantages: they are wonderful with people, they are small (150kg vs a 300kg cow), and they have great personalities. In the end they are the next evolution of finding and perfecting a sustainable system on the farm. They are not the only part, our planting system is also key - but that’s for another post!

Dates for next alpaca workshop for new owners

Our alpaca workshop is an intensive couple of hours introducing you to the benefits and management including animal welfare and general information about wanting to start up your own herd or run a couple of alpacas on your new or future hobby farm.

Jump on our website for full workshop info including costs.

Workshops are kept small due to COVID29 safety precautions. The following dates are pending lockdown restrictions. If you require accommodation for adults only, let us know, and we will check availability for our glamping accommodation.

• Sunday 26th September, 10th October, 17th October, 17th November & 5th December 2021.

Little Valley Farm is located in Laguna and is only ten minutes from Wollombi Village and 40 minutes from Cessnock. We are not open to the public for feeding, and all visitors to the farm require an appointment due to our strict biosecurity policies. Also, please do not bring your dogs to our farm to protect our alpacas and our native wildlife.

We have been working with alpacas since 2012 and breed Huacaya and Suri alpacas. We use and process the fleece from our alpacas into yarn and garments.

We are not the biggest breeder of alpacas but are the breeder with the biggest heart. We love what we do and hope to share it with you.

Alpaca Transportation Service

Our compartmental alpaca float can move up to six (adult-sized) alpacas within the Hunter & Central Coast area.

Talk to us for more info and price based on pick up and delivery location and the number of alpacas.

Please only enquire about A L P A C A S. As we don’t move any other animals.

Please ensure paperwork and livestock movement certificate is all in order before pick up. No documents. No pickup.

We are alpaca breeders based in the Hunter Valley and have worked with many small farms and hobby farms over the years. So if you have any questions please feel free to drop us a line. Thank you

Cleaning our alpaca fleece at Little Valley Farm

Super busy weekend cleaning our alpaca fleece before we sit down to start spinning it.

We have some raw fleece for you to get your paws on for felting or spinning. Sale from $25 per saddle and we will put it in the spinner for you.

If you’re starting out and you want to try Alpaca fleece for the very first time we have some (limited) saddles from $10.

Our Suri fleece has sold out. Currently available white and some brown Huacaya fleece. Pick up via appointment only. Watch the video below on how we clean our fleece before spinning.

I love using our spin cleaner! Email Daniela for more info or purchase the fleece online.

Hunter Valley Alpaca Farm Workshops

We are getting busy just like the crazy Guinea Fowl! They can fill up an entire day just simply running up and down the farm.

Sunday, July 11th is our next alpaca workshop for new alpaca owners. A great way to find out if alpacas are suitable for your farm or acreage.

Workshop dates: July 11th or August 8th.
Limited places so
Jump on our website for full workshop info and prices.

www.littlevalleyfarm.com.au/shop/alpacatraining

Little Valley Farm Laguna in the Hunter Valley under two hours from Sydney.

When Bec & Bridge came to Little Valley Farm

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Little Valley Farm Alpaca Farm (@littlevalleyfarm)

Happy International Women's Day!

In celebration of #InternationalWomensDay and to all the women working in Ag in the rain, hail and shine. We say thank you!

Never in my life have I worked so hard and we are on a small farm!

These photos were taken for Hunter Local Land Services as part of the Every Bit Counts program.

The program has been developed to provide small landholders with workshops, field days and resources on topics including weed management, habitat protection, pest animal control and opportunities to develop skills in sustainable land management. All the things we live and breath 24/7 so come join us as Every Bit Counts.

Matt Horspool for Hunter Local Land Services Every Bit Counts. @etchd

Discover more about Little Valley Farm here.

Mansionair MORE

So where do you record a music video about the “frustration of always wanting MORE”? At the little valley farm which is all about having and wanting LESS!

We love being part of the new cult and the train being their new home.

Mansionair has great talent they were grounded and curious guys! We are big fans.

Be a LVF VIP member

Piaf says... sign up to our LVF mailing list for all VIP events and something special coming to LVF next season.

Be the first in the know, just like Piaf!

Subscribe here

All VIPs events will now be on our website and mailing list. We will only email you when we have something to say... otherwise, we are working outside with the alpacas - and that is soo much more fun than spamming people!

Baby Piaf at Little Valley Farm, Hunter Valley.

Little Valley Farm is based in Laguna in the Hunter Valley. We are not open to the public as we like to keep it exclusive for our farm stay guests.

We do, however, open for Australian Alpaca week and for special events including our monthly alpaca workshops for new alpaca owners.

For intimate eco-weddings, corporate events and girls weekend getaway please feel free to contact us with your enquiry.

New items to our Little Valley Farm online shop

Hi there, we have now added new products to our shop cart this week.

You can now purchase online our raw alpaca fleece which is great for spinning or felting.

Alpaca fleece for craft projects is also available and of course, our alpaca yarn which is spun in the Wollombi Valley where we live.

Delivery is via Australia Post anywhere in Australia.

www.littlevalleyfarm.com.au/online-products

Thanks, Daniela

Every Bit Counts Local Land Service featuring Little Valley Farm

Proud to be part of the Hunter Local Land Services - Every Bit Counts programme. A bit of a passion project for me,...

Posted by Little Valley Farm - Alpaca Farm on Sunday, February 14, 2021

Owning a few Alpacas and enjoying the serenity of your lush green pasture is the dream for some landholders.

Daniela Riccio and Euan Wilcox from Little Valley Farm in the Hunter Valley are living that dream.

It's been a big lifestyle change adjusting to life on the land, and Daniela understands the importance of reaching out for help.

Every Bit Counts is a program for small landholders looking to connect to hundreds of like-minded people trying to improve their land, production capacity and environment.

Visit our brand new Every Bit Counts website, to find resources designed especially for you: www.lls.nsw.gov.au/ebc

Sign up to our Small Landholder Network, and keep up to date with upcoming events and issues: https://hunterlls.wufoo.com/.../every-bit-counts-small...

Register for our Blockies’ Bootcamp, kickstart your land management know how: https://www.lls.nsw.gov.au/.../every.../blockies-bootcamp

And enjoy these beautiful animals!!