Cas-Cad-Nac Farm Chronicles
News from the Farm
The Great Wean-A-Rama of 2021
As I have covered before in this space, the infrastructure here on our farm means that the act of weaning crias from their dams here, when it finally does take place, is done in one move, with the youngsters leaving their dams’ side at the Arena and moving down and out of sight and ear…
Flying Under The Radar But Completely Worthy: CCNF Moonraker
Over the 24 years that we have been breeding and selling alpacas, we have had 2 or 3 genetic lines that have just shown again and again, generation after generation, their ability to consistently produce quality. It doesn’t mean they always hit (to wit: 3x Futurity Herdsire of the Year, CCNF Elixir, has 3 maternal…
Weaner Time
I hope everyone reading this has had a safe and enjoyable Holiday season given the challenges and realities of the world as it currently stands. The most recent (and in relative terms, welcome) drama around these parts, was going from having 41″ of snow fall on 12/17, leading to what could have potentially been the…
Research conducted at CCNF published in Frontiers in Veterinary Science
We are pleased to announce that the peer-reviewed journal, Frontiers in Veterinary Science, has published the article titled “Birth of a Live Cria After Transfer of a Vitrified-Warmed Alpaca (Vicugna pacos) Preimplantation Embryo.” Though the conception, vitrification, implantation, and birth of CCNF Exuberant Frost Blossom-ET (that being the registered name of the cria that resulted,…
Shifting Into Cold Weather Mode
As we commence our 24th year of operation here, there is an undeniable seasonal rhythm to the management of the farm that we have grown accustomed to. Though some things are obviously different in the autumn of 2020 — our lack of a fall show season, training the 2019 yearlings in short-sleeves on November 29th,…
In Honor of a Reproductive Metronome: CCNF Marguerite
The arrival of November has meant that we are now officially commencing our 24th year of breeding alpacas and being in the alpaca business, arguably the last 10 years or so spent at our current size and rate of production (200-300 total animals at any given time, approximately 70 crias born each year). As one…