A Day In The Life Of An Alpaca

This weekend Bozeman's local Alpaca Farm held an open house for all to come to their facility to pet/feed the Alpaca's and "window shop" (I say window shop because everything was VERY pricey) their beautiful Alpaca products. Dan was hoping to meet us there and he got within 20 feet of the entrance when he got dispatched to a motor vehicle accident, which really was a bummer because it was nearly impossible to take pictures of Kailer with the Alpacas by myself. Not to mention there was a lady literally following me around, talking about random nonsense and asking me irrelevant questions, so that also made taking pictures difficult! Nonetheless, it was a neat experience and we'll definitely do it again, when Kailer's older and can understand a little bit better. Today I don't think he quite knew what to think of these tall, lanky creatures ... and therefore, he affectionately called them "puppy."

This is the first Alpaca that came up to us (we had food to give it) and stuck around for a few minutes .... there's that look of uncertainty on Kailer's face.

Love the spiked 'do!

Kailer not realizing that an Alpaca was pulling a sneak on him.

Getting closer- and Kailer looking like he's going to jet outta there!

Pretty black one.

A couple of babies. Aren't they cute?

*Alpacas are 100-190 lbs. as adults (12-20 lbs. when born)

*Gestation is 11 1/2 months, usually giving birth between 10 a.m. -2 p.m.

*Alpacas are from South America, first imported to the U.S. in 1982

*The average growth of the coat is 5-10" per year; average yearly weight of a shaved adult alpaca coat ranges from 7-10 lbs. (Shearing is done 1/year)