Out with the old...

Just when you think there is time to take stock we are off again. The contractors arrived a couple of weeks ago to dismantle the old hay barn and prepare the ground for our new storage shed. Yesterday the new shed turned up and like magic the steels spring into the air and suddenly we can see what's coming. Excited? Oh yeah, just a little. This shed will make a huge difference to TOFT in the coming years as we reorganise yet again. Weather permitting we'll start moving our stuff in in by the beginning  of November. Watch this space...the roof should be on by the end of the week.

Busy weeks of summer

There's been no let up at TOFT this past few weeks with animal deliveries and shows taking up the whole of August. Last week we took a lovely trio of pet males up to North Berwick to fulfil a long standing dream of the new owners. Those boys are going to be spoilt rotten up there in Scotland. Along the way there we dropped off a few females for mating and on the way back picked up a few that had already been mated. All told a round trip of amost 800 miles. No sooner had we got home and we were off via Copenhagen to Oslo to judge the first Norwegian Fleece show- more on that later.I'm sat now in Copenhagen airport writing this and catching up after a fabulous three days in Oslo. Much more on that later. Needless to say we are both looking forward to a solid week on the farm to catch up with our alpacas. It's been a blast these last three weeks but a little downtime is now needed in earnest to recharge.

Boys yo to Scotland....

For a warm if soggy welcome...

Girls back down to TOFT with just enough time to pack and head to Norway to judge the first Norwegian fleece show. We wouldn't have it any other way!!!!!

Floodlights on for extra time at TOFT

Our Champion girl TOFT Nashira  had a sticky time yesterday evening  finally giving birth at 7.45pm producing a stunning fawn LAVENDER PARK TULLEY  boy TOFT TYPHOON. All well in the end but the trauma required a few stitches so the vet was called off the bench in Towcester floodlights erected and extra time was played until 10pm.  All well this morn and the boyo looking very impressive blissfully unaware of the effort his Mum put in to get him here. 'Twas ever thus.

Doing what you must to thwart the bad boys...

Putting the final touches on the new TOFT quarantine paddocks and doing what I must to keep the bad boys from stealing the kit. We mark all the moveable kit with the TOFT herd prefix. Does it work? Maybe...The upside of sharing the farm with the public is the way the people have adopted our alpacas and take a keen interest in the alpacas and the general well being of TOFT. The downside is occasionally a bad un turns up and walks off with some kit...'twas ever thus. 

Alpaca stars emerging...

The new borns are starting to fill out as their secondary fibre comes through and it was such a magnificent evening last night that a few summer photies are a must at this special time

And the winner was...

A white Huacaya intermediate male took Supreme at the Ireland Alpaca Association Halter show, Bellurgan Park, County Louth Agricultural Show. A structure and handle to die for on a male which now needs sheared and the sun on its back ...Congratulations 

Irish Alpaca Association halter show at the County Louth Agricultural Show

Great day yesterday at Bellurgan Park in County Louth,Eire judging the halter classes at the Irish Alpaca Association halter show. Great weather, good humour and plenty of challenges in the black and brown classes to get the judge thinking. Terrific turnout in the young handler section. Huge crowds on the Showground. A massive thanks to Berie Neary of Mullagh Lane Alpacas for organising and her friend Siobahn who managed rosettes and microphone like a real pro. Thanks to all the exhibitors and helpers who made this showcase for the alpacas. 

Thanks to the Alpaca Association of Ireland for inviting me. I have so much fun in your wonderful country -I will be back.  Have a great season, may all your cria be girls and see you all soon.

Judging fleece at the Three Counties Show...

Just returned from Malvern where I have been judging the alpaca fleeces at the Three Counties Show. Off to Ireland in two hours with the companion animal to judge halter show at the Dundalk Show tomorrow for the Irish Alpaca Association.

Had a lot of laughs the past two days at the the Three Counties, Julia Corrigan Stuart of CS Alpacas was my apprentice for the show and did a very fine job indeed.  A huge  TOFT thanks to Pauline and Trisha for their dedication in laying out, putting away, scribing and secretarial work. We were a little short handed at times but we got there in the end. 

Ashwood alpacas will be delighted with the results as they took both Supreme and Reserve in the Huacaya. Top score was 95 points with a handle that took your breath away as it swam in your hands- congratulations.

Thanks to Roger Mount of Snowshill, Jay Holland of Pure and Val Fullerlove of Hanley Hall ( show committee) for inviting me. We saw some quality Huacaya and Suris in all colours and had a fab day yesterday talking and educating the schools. Good luck everyone with the halter today I hope the weather holds.

TOFT Alpaca Studio team the stars of the show

Shearing has now been declared officially over for 2015. The weather held off Linda and Freya did a fantastic job of herding, walking and ferrying the TOFT herd, all 200 of them to the shearing shed and back again without any major incident. The stars of the shearing shed were the young ladies for the TOFT Alpaca Studio led by Emily( seen here in red all scrubbed and clean) Petra, Caroline and Liz. All new to the shearing they have been on a steep learning curve over the past three days. Undaunted they rolled their sleeves up and got stuck in learning the flick, sorting the fleece, packing, picking, brushing wiping and sweeping with good humour and commitment throughout.

 Thankyou ladies one and all from all at TOFT Alpacas- you will dine out on this experience for years to come!

Caroline working on her flick...

The reputation of a good roustabout is his or her ability to take the fleece from the table or floor and flick it onto the sorting table. Caroline joined us yesterday in the shearing shed to practice her flick and by the end of the day she looked born to the job. Day 3 today- 158 down 42 to go..

Archie gets the stand up treatment...

Exhibition stuff from Mr B D Wheeler yesterday as he took his portable shearing pack to TOFT's resident Llama Archie and sheared him standing up. He made it look easy and was given a round of applause by all the watchers on completion.

Wonderwool Wales for me...

Spent Saturday and Sunday working with Kerry entertaining  the Yarnies, Darnies, Spinners, Felters and Dyers in a hall at the Royal Welsh Showground in Bulith Wells at Wonderwool Wales.

There I am for two days with two young boys a Suri and Huacaya entertaining hordes of creatives from all over the UK who have descended on this textile festival with a hunger to touch and feel the most colourful, creative and wonderful materials created in the UK.

 I have to say I had a ball.  The show is really well organised, the setting idyllic, the people are delightful, the food was very good indeed. Oscar the Suri  was the star of the show. Nearly all the crafters and creatives knew the fibre well but found it a real treat to meet the source of their luxury fibre munching hay and haughtily staring them down as only Suris can do. I had a blast.

Unfortunately as we set off at the crack of sparrowfart on Saturday  I left my I pad and phone at Toft by accident so  couldn't take any good pics. Maybe next time.

Alpaca road repairs...

Busy week this week repairing and sorting. 20 tons of MoT type one to fiddle in and roll into holes in the access roads around the farm to enable the great and good into the Toft alpaca Studio without negotiating puddles during the winter. 

Big help, much appreciated, from Bandido Scottino the legendary Toft Alpaquero who has taken to the roller like he built the M 25!

We don't just breed pedigree alpacas at Toft...

We do a fantastic line in Lord's and Komodo dragons too!

Toft Alpaca fleece stats for 2014 make happy reading.

All good news on the return of the 2014 fleece stats which cheer me up no end as the summer fades on another fantastic season and autumn makes its presence felt.

Every year we test every breeding alpaca, and all thejunior and intermediates both male and female at Yocom McColl testing labaratories in the USA.We have done so for almost ten years now and although it takes a month or two for the results to arrive it provides a vital benchmark to monitor our progress.

The finest Toft alpaca on the farm actually belongs to one of our clients Snapdragon Alpacas. Congratulations to Liz and. Terry Davies whose Toft Bootes, a champion light female in the BAS Nationals in 2014, returned an amazing result of 13.4 microns.

The coarsest of the breeding  Toft Alpacas male and female was only 31.6 Microns

The average micron for the whole breeding herd is 23.3 Microns.

The average micron for the breeding herd minus the junior breeding stock is 24.8.

The average micron for the 2013 offspring is 18.58 with only one of them over 20.

The average micron for the 2012 breeders is 19.3.

Always room for improvement but in reality we will be happy if we can maintain these results year on year whilst developing  the improved stock to maintain their fineness for as long as possible.

It's good to know as we reach the third and fourth generation of selection that the. Toft Herd is improving in quality throughout year on year with the young elite alpaca stock taking us to places we could only dream of when we set out in 1997.

Congratulations to all the Toft Team for a great set of stats! If next year we can improve the handwriting so we get the alpacas names spelt correctly it would be appreciated...slexos rule ok!

Oh, oh, there goes my wardrobe...

The fleece fairy is at it again. Kerrry is busy sorting alpaca fleece for the mill again. Unfortunately for me it looks like my ski jacket went west at the same time. Will it ever recover? I doubt it. Will. I ever ski again? Unlikely. Looks like I've made another wardrobe donation to the Toft Alpaca Shop.

Young alpaca stud males eager for a partner...

These young boys are doing some serious fence time on the off chance that a young maiden or a 'cougar' may come knocking on the door.

 At just over two years of age they are not that fussy as long as she is willing. 'Twas ever thus! Pretty clear they are obviously maturing fast and taking an interest. These elite prizewinning stud males will soon be appearing on the for sales pages of our website now their fleece stats are back from the laboratories. And they make great reading, watch this space!

Will you look at what's in our back garden, the day!!!!!!

Tanks Trucks and firepower enthusiasts are camping out on my neighbours property in their hundreds this weekend. Some are dug into the ground and living like its WW 2. Others are driving round, stroking old metal and talking tanks and trucks forever. Disco last night, fireworks and rock band tonight. All in all a joyous weekend of whizz bangs and celebration for the fans of camouflage. This is what made this country great, methinks.

No, not the firepower fetishists but the great English eccentrics. All this kit has got a home to go to. Somewhere  there is shed of love for all this old army kit and in it a wee Englishman who's life is dedicated to tinkering and polishing to restore and renovate. The skills ...the skills we must have locked away in unassuming dedicated engineers with shed fulls of old machinery just covered in love. Get these people together and they could no doubt make a spaceship from an old Massey tractor and some sticky backed plastic.

I might not share your obsession with your military avatar boys but I admire your eccentricity! Some might find it bizarre, and it is a little, but it's not a lot less weird than sitting by a river all day and sometimes half the night with stick and a hook on a bit of string chasing £6 worth of fish! Whatever drives your tank!

Have a great weekend one and all and keep the noise down, the chosen men quiver in their kennel everytime a shell goes off.

Mated maidens all grown up...

As we approach Autumn we are busy scanning all the mated girls for an estimate of next years crop of elite cria. These former show girls have now given up winning rosettes in the glamour of the ring for maternal duties back on farm. 

These are all first timers daughters of Barrabinda Flinders Star, Toft Jaina and Lavender Park Tulley and form the elite  centrepiece of the  Toft Herd. They are now all pregnant for the first time and will settle down for the winter, chomping hay and grass and nurturing future Champions. Well one can only hope at this time of the year, next season will reveal whether our choices bear fruition. 

Hey, ho. It's a long old job but a gud un!

The old fella surveys the stud males for sale...

Had company this week in the form of me Dad, up for a week with me Mam to see their great grandchild and generally catch up. 

Here he is admiring the potential stud males for sale and giving of his expertise - ' Eeeeh , son well they all look well!' 

At 83 he can be excused. When we first started breeding alpacas in 1997 he thought they were a breed of dog. 

He's learnt a bit since then but mostly they just make him grin!