Damp dudes...on the ranch

Another damp day at TOFT today after what seems the dampest Xmas holiday ever. The mud is sucking at our wellies like a live animal and our beautiful pedigree alpacas look like damp dishcloths on legs. Hey ho...

TOFT show team drying out in anticipation...

The first elite TOFT combatants in 2015 alpaca show season are busily standing on the hill in the wind drying out for the British Alpaca Society National Show this weekend. The dry spell this week couldn't have come at a better time. Hopefully by the time they leave for the Telford Exhibition centre on Friday for the Nationals these fine fleeced boys and girls will be dry enough to show of their best. 

However they will be competing against almost 400 of the best alpacas in the UK so we shall be very pleased to find our boys and girls in the frontline never mind being placed. If we knew the outcome before we attend it wouldn't be worth going. Regardless of the results we are getting excited now and really looking forward  to catching up with everything alpaca over the weekend.

TOFT Suris glow too, you know!

Yes, they do and the winter sun really does a job on their lustre...We have a very select prizewinning  Suri Herd at TOFT which is always worth a look at if you are passing. The Cornflower Cafe is open Wed-Sunday and offers some of the best Cappuccino and Cake in the Midlands!

A burst of colour through the chill of winter at TOFT ...

When that low early morning winter sun breaks through into the weaner paddock at TOFT it lights up the natural colour pallete of the Alpaca like a box of fireworks.

Toft Ikrit finds a new harem in Holland

Toft Ikrit our prizewinning Light Brown Stud Male left us last night in the cold and dark to travel to Holland where he will  standing on the Alpacamundo Stud owned by Anniek Van Djk and Auke Wesselink. Toft Ikrit is a fine upstanding example of the Toft Jaina bloodline resulting in a beautifully conformed male with a very fine consistent fleece. With a solid medium brown father and a solid black mother I think we can safely say Toft Ikrit will add some quality colours to the Alpacamundo herd. We wish him and his new owners well and trust Toft Ikrit will soon learn the language,cosy up to the Dutch ladies,  and put some very impressive cria on the ground in years to come.

TOFT the next generation...

TOFT weaners and adolescents enjoying the pale winter sun and looking forward to 2015? I don't think so... Let's get real these champions of 2014 and candidates for 2015 are just looking ahead to longer days and sweeter chomp... as all alpacas must.

Jobs on...

We've been at the fencing on the new alpaca pasture for almost nine days solid and can now see the light at the end of the tunnel but it's still small and a long way away. We're probably at least another week or so away from getting the alpacas onto the new pastures which are currently growing  like they're on speed with this warm autumnal break. The number of posts in the stack are diminishing but still  a daunting pile remains. If the weather holds we get there quick and if it breaks we get their later but at least we know now we shall get there.

TOFT Alpaca husbandry day...

Whoever arranged the weather today deserves a medal. I've known a lot worse in July. The sun shone on the Manor today in all its glory as we met a whole herd of alpaca enthusiasts and introduced them to the glories of these wonderful creatures. A great crowd, a lot of fun and we trust that no one made the journey home without the information they needed to consider making alpacas part of their future. All the best and see you soon. Rob & Shirl.

TOFT Adele Champion Brown in the Heart of England Fleece Show

Nice surprise during Sunday dinner when our fleeces returned from the Heart of England Fleece Show. TOFT Adele an adult Lavender Park Tulley girl came back with the Champion Brown Ribbon.

True to form TOFT Timogen took first in the Junior Browns- considering his 14 micron fleece was full of veggie matter and was felted in places his fleece results confirmed his National. Brown Champion Status for 2014.

There are coloured rosettes in the rest of the bags but no  time this morning to scrat through the other bags -more on that later.

 Thanks to the organisers and judges for the. Heart Of England Fleece Show with over 190 entries this has got to be the biggest alpaca fleece show in the UK and probably Europe! 

Well done H of E and thanks to Young Lordy who helped sort the winning fleeces! Couldn't have done it without you- xxx

Woodcock's gang playing woodsmen at TOFT

Three generations of Woodcock were playing woodsman at Toft today. A big thanks from Toft alpacas to Grandad John, his stepson Jonathan and his son William for getting to grips tidying up the new acreage at Toft. There was a large dead ash tree which is now In Mr Woodcock's woodshed. There must have been at least three tons of logs in the trailer by the end of the day to keep the Woodcock cosy this winter. 

No excuses now, as soon as the rain softens the ground a little I will have to get on and fence off the new paddocks. Hey ho a fencing we will go!

TOFT Whites...

Never mind those coloured boys grabbing the limelight this week. These white guys know they are the bedrock of the UK Fibre industry as quietly await their turn to shine again.

Introducing

TOFT Anatolp- AFD 17.2, SD 3.5, CV 20.3, %>30 0.6

TOFT Vlad-  AFD 17.4, SD 3.6, CV 20.7, %>30 0.4

TOFT Ajax-  AFD 18.1, SD 3.4, CV 19.4., %>30 0.7

TOFT Caesar -AFD 19.9, SD 4.0, CV 21.3, %>30 1.8

TOFT Light Brigade on Parade...

Never to be outdone by the darks of TOFT TT the boys from the TOFT Light Brigade are also strutting their stuff looking for alpaca breeders who will appreciate their elite genetics.

Introducing two two year old Light Fawn TOFT stud males with phenomenal fleece stats who will be ready to sort out the girls in 2015

TOFT Deimos, Light Fawn, AFD 18.1, SD 3.8, CV 20.9, %>30  0.7. 2014

&

TOFT Nautilus, Light Fawn, AFD 16.0, SD 2.8, CV 17.4, %>30 0.4.  2014

TOFT Timogen working had on his modelling portfolio...

National Champion Brown Male of 2014 TOFT Timogen is working up his modelling technique as he matures ready for next season.

Ever since his first Fleece stats came back  with an AFD of 14, SD 2.3, CV 16.3 and 0.1 >30, he's been readying himself for the catwalk with a sense of purpose. I think someone made the mistake of telling him he was elite- hey ho and here we go!

We start them young at Toft alpacas...

Here we have young Lordy, all of two years old, helping to sew grass seed in the new alpaca paddocks. Couldn't do it without him!

It's all in the colour...

The late September sun yesterday  lit up the young stud males with a glow that was truly 'quad stopping'. The colours glowed like a New England fall and the phone camera had to suffice. There wasn't time to rush and get the real camera. The moment came and went and at least A taste remains of that autumnal glow amongst our young stud males.

 These elite young studs are really coming into their own now with the fleece outgrowing the shearing ridges. A number of these stunning males now grace the Toft website awaiting new homes.

The Chosen Men....

Frank and Jed -the Chosen Men of Toft Alpacas ready to go and inspect the alpacas on this fine and sunny late September day- Perfick!

Major works...

It's called child exploitation but he is no longer a child but he is family. Bandido Scottino legendary Alpaquero is having to turn his hand to all the projects that need to get done in the dry before rain eventually stops play. 

We are catching up with ourselves big time at Toft Alpacas fuelled by Cappucino and Cake at the Cornflower Cafe!

Yesterday we moved about 12 tons of old bonfire ash to a new location well away from the alpacas, freeing up about twenty hurdles. Day before we were repairing farm tracks next month will be fence work. We might need some rain before then as the ground is taking on the consistency  of concrete.

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!