AOBA Certified

2010 MOPACA Invitational

It's that time of year again! The snow is finally gone (hopefully). There's just a hint of warm weather on the horizon. And... now it's time for the first big show of the year in our area. The 7th Annual MOPACA Invitational is March 19th - 21st at the American Royal/Hale Area in Kansas City Missouri.

We won't be taking any of our own animals. However, we'll be assisting our good friends at Osage Alpacas by showing a few of their boys (Turbo and Nate).

Hope to see you there!

More information available at MOPACA »

On behalf of the entire Missouri alpaca community, Cornerstone Alpacas would like to thank Dr. Tibary for being gracious enough to speak at the upcoming MOPACA meeting on January 16-17, 2010, held at the Univeristy of Missouri, Columbia, MO.

Dr. Ahmed TibaryProfessor Tibary graduated in Veterinary Medicine from the Institute Agronomique et Vétérinaire Hassan II, Rabat, Morocco, in 1980. He was awarded Best Veterinary Graduate of his class by the Sociéte Parisienne D’Expansion Chimique et Industrielle, Paris. Four years later he gained a Master of Science (M.Sc.) degree in Theriogenology from the University of Minnesota Graduate School, Minneapolis, USA. He returned to the Institute Agronomique et Vétérinaire Hassan II to study for a Doctorat es Sciences (equivalent to a Ph.D), which he completed in 1988. A year later he graduated with a Ph.D in Theriogenology from the University of Minnesota.

Professor Tibary has contributed considerably to both undergraduate and postgraduate education in reproduction of domestic animal species, in particular ruminants and horses His current research projects include an investigation into the effect of anti-sperm antibody on fertility; the use of controlled breeding in llamas and alpacas, and investigations into infertility in llamas and alpacas. Professor Tibary is a member of many professional societies, most notably the American College of Theriogenologists, the National Association for Animal Production (Morocco), the Society for Theriogenology, the American Association of Sheep, Goat and Llama Practitioners, the American Association of Veterinary Informatics, the American Association of Bovine Practitioners, the American Dairy Science Association, and the Moroccan Association of Veterinary Educators and Researchers.

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More information available at MOPACA »

Here's a straight forward article about establishing the ideas of how you want to participate in the alpaca community and we encourage you to comment via email with questions or input. We'll be sure to post any input we receive.

Identify Your Business Plan: Fiber Only or Breeding

There are many variables that will help you find the alpaca right for you. Firstly, where do you want your alpaca business to be and where do you want it to go? Fiber only or breeding? If interested in developing a fiber only business, then finding the best quality non-breeding fibered animals is the way to proceed. Having a variety of color will help as well diversify your product. Do you want to prepare, spin and knit or weave yourself or do you want to sub-contract these processes out? When sub-contracting out, you will have to work your cost into the cost of your product. Most craftspeople do not truly get compensated for their efforts adequately, but the love of working with the fiber and the end-product from your own animals is extremely rewarding in itself.

If interested in developing a breeding business, know what your goals are. Where do you want to see your business in five years? Ten years? What do you want to build your herd toward? Excellence in fiber? Excellence in confirmation? Particular colors? Have a game plan of which to begin. Know that plans change as events change and allow for that flexibility in your business plan. Everything looks good in black and white, but know when dealing with any business, shades of gray can appear.

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Read the full article at ALPACA NATION »

This is a pretty great article and we encourage you to comment via email with questions or input. We'll be sure to post any input we receive.

One theory of alpaca coat color inheritance stands apart from all the others. Researchers William L. Wall and Ron G. Cole, of Australia, who both own alpacas, propose that Mendel's rules of dominance and independent assortment do not entirely explain the inheritance of coat color in alpacas.

Wall's area of interest is agricultural sciences, especially genetics; Cole comes from a mathematics background. They propose a model of inheritance based on gene linkage.

The Wall and Cole theory of inheritance grew from their statistical analysis of matings that were registered by the Australian Alpaca Association's registry. In all, they studied the color of more than 10,000 cria from registered parents whose coat color was known. The results of these matings were compiled in two sets of coat color tables: Version 1, which compiled the coat colors of over 7000 cria, and Version 2 which included the coat colors of an additional 3,000 cria.

Wall and Cole's theory of coat color inheritance in alpacas formed as result of analyzing Version 1 of the tables. They then used their theory to predict the color distribution among the additional cria. These are the figures charted in Version 2. The accuracy of their predictions lends considerable credibility to their ideas.

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Read the full article at NORTHWEST ALPACAS »

Our farm has finally brought all of our animals home. After working with Osage Alpacas over the last several months and preparing our pastures and paddocks, we were able to look out the window at home and see our starter herd all at once.

What started with getting four boys to inspect the pastures and in-turn finding all the cockleburs that we missed, ended with the return of two of the original boys after a visit with the vet and a playful reunion. While Hondo and Endo (no longer intact) were on "sabbatical", Drakkar and Britton welcomed an up-and-coming herdsire, Kaiju, and three females to the farm. With Britton’s vigilant watch over the girls, and Drakkar and Kaiju finding hay increasingly interesting, the farm dynamic started to shift to a hierarchy of the experienced herdsire, Drakkar, and the young hopeful, Britton.

Finally, yesterday evening we were able to return Hondo and Endo, the two largest boys, to the herd and see the reaction we’d been waiting for… and it was great. Drakkar greeted the two returning boys with hugs and a happy step, while Britton trotted up to engage in some playful neck wrestling. While Hondo expressed his lack of interest in mucus form, Endo was quick to accept the invitation. All in all, there’s a new sense of family on the farm as well as excitement for things to come. We’re looking forward to the potential for crias next fall and bringing a couple of the boys into their own [cough... Britton... cough cough]. We hope that helps the love-struck Britton return to normalcy anyway. Teenagers. Geez.

Our Friends and Alpaca Resources pages have been growing pretty rapidly and we have more content waiting in the wings. Also, be sure to check us out on Facebook and Twiiter!

We have updated the pictures for all of our animals. Herdsires have relevant photos now... and you can get more upon request if you've got questions about any of them. Our Foundation Girls have also had their pictures updated, but there is still more to come for all of them.

Also, we completed the girls paddock over the weekend. Now all of our animals will be able to come and stay with us instead of hanging out at Osage Alpacas. There should be some pictures posted of our facility pretty soon.

We have hopes of getting Libby and Bandita bred this weekend for the final breedings of the year at our farm. Lookin' forward to next Fall’s crias!

Wow... we had a great time in Topeka at the MAAS show. Erin and I ended up showing 3 juvenile boys for Osage Alpacas and they did pretty well. Turbo and Nate took red ribbons in their respective classes and they actually ended up getting beat by the Color Champion and Reserve Champion for those colors. No shame there!

We also got to meet some new people from other alpaca farms and we have yet to be disappointed with the kindness and hospitality of the alpaca community.

The folks at Garden Thyme Alpacas and Wilkins Livestock LLC seem to be a really special bunch of folks. I look forward to working with them in the future. Also, Knoblock’s Prairie Ranch had a great looking pen of animals at the show. That was the first time that I had gotten to see their animals and I was really impressed with their colors. I hope everyone had as good of a time at the show as we did!

Check us out on Openherd.com.
"We're a new farm that is excited about growing into something special within the Missouri alpaca community. We concentrate on Huacayas and are working on a Grey / Dark Color breeding program with a strong focus on low SD and CV fiber traits. Also, we’re working in conjunction with Rob Long at Osage Alpacas on other aspects of herd and farm development. "

Cornerstone Alpacas is a newly established Huacaya Alpaca farm located in Eugene Missouri. My wife and I decided on starting the farm for a few different reasons. She has a very strong interest in the fiber industry (especially the alpaca end of things) and I have always intended on having a hobby farm. So, after much research and combining our two desires, we decided to start Cornerstone Alpacas.

With a lot of help from Rob at Osage Alpacas, we were able to finally get some animals in the summer of 2009. We may be small now, but we've got big plans.

Check back soon for updates to our site and our farm!