Holding Pattern

So, are we all having fun yet? Back in the late winter as we watched the annual Futurity show in Kansas City get justifiably cancelled due to the pandemic, I’m not sure that we had any real notion that we’d still be staring into that same proverbial gun barrel come the fall of 2020. Naivete, like a good old denial mechanism, perhaps gets a bad rap in some circumstances? The virus of course cares nothing for our desires, business goals, lifestyle choices, or notions of convenience though. While we personally count ourselves fortunate to be living in Vermont, a state whose government has done about as well as could have been reasonably expected in leading us thru this debacle, the world outside of the Green Mountain State is having far greater and graver struggles.

All too aware of those realities which lie a mere couple of hours drive in almost any direction from the farm, we have recently made the difficult decision to not attend any halter shows, auctions, or any industry gatherings of any kind in person until the spring of 2021, at the earliest. Quite frankly, the health of this family, by extension the four households that are dependent on the health of our staff members, and consequently the health of the alpaca herd itself here at CCNF, are far more important than any ribbon, banner, or animal sale that might result from going back on the road right now. Every alpaca business out there is of course welcome to make their own judgement in that regard, deciding what their level of acceptable exposure and risk is but within the walls of this operation, it was never really a debate – more just a sense of quiet resignation at the reality we were facing.

This too shall pass of course…eventually. In the mean time, the beat will go on here on the farm with an eye towards being able to take ourselves and our animals to events again some time in 2021 (crosses fingers, toes, legs, pinches salt, knocks on wood, etc…). After what can only be described as pound-for-pound the most mentally and physically bruising birthing season in our farm’s 23 year history, we are expecting a full slate of 75+ crias here in ’21. Damn the torpedoes. And though taxing this past spring and summer might have been, it also represented the first birthing season that the females of the CCNF herd had been bred the year prior to all be due within an especially compacted window, between late May and early September. While that led to many a fatiguing day and night, when multiple challenging situations cropped up simultaneously within the ranks of our maternity groups — 2020 feeling an unerring obligation to stay on-brand apparently — it also meant that by the 13th of September, yours truly was facilitating the final in-house breeding of this breeding season (all things being equal, we re-breed our proven females 21 days post-partum, so feel free to do the math). It is 3 to 4 months of controlled chaos we have chosen to bring upon ourselves each year now but with the undeniable and welcome payoff being states of relative calm on either side of it.

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There are still fleece shows of course we can enter and Jennifer has managed to submit entries to the AOA Nationals (you can read our results post here), PAOBA, and Empire Alpaca Association fleece events. It’s not ideal, obviously, but we will find a way to promote our alpacas and our breeding program nonetheless. The farm’s ever-present (if somewhat neglected) social media feeds will become even more important in a world where we don’t get to go out and make face-to-face contact with our fellow breeders and other potentially interested customers. At this moment in time, you can find our updated sales listings here, ranging from entry-level production animals all the way to a National Fleece Champion. The first crias sired by CCNF Bataclan — the undisputed lead Herdsire in our breeding program at present — continue to develop and impress us a year after they first hit the ground. One of his offspring, CCNF Krystal Maeve, who had originally been slated to represent us at the Parade of Champions auction in May before Covid had its say, can be found there in our sales listings as well, and of course Bataclan is always a future breeding option for any unrelated maiden female we offer for sale. 2020 did also bring us the first crias sired by CCNF Declan and several of those have us dreaming of the potential that lies ahead, as do the first kids expected in ’21 ever sired by CCNF Snow King (whose maternal sister, Electra, tore it up at the National Fleece Show). Plan, promote, and mask up? It is admittedly not the slogan we would prefer to be living and managing our farm and business by but given the realities of the world around us, it is the hand we have been dealt and will play for the time being.

With the pandemic gaining steam again in late October in much of the country, current Vermont state restrictions curtail the ability of most out of state visitors here to the farm at present. While there is ideally no substitute for putting one’s hands on a given alpaca, thankfully we live in the 21st century, where the wonders of smartphone videos and the farm’s YouTube account allow us to at least create customized virtual farm visits. And obviously fiber samples can be taken and mailed too! As such, we encourage folks to please reach out if there is something you want to see here, or for that matter just want to talk shop. We wish you all a healthy and safe time in the weeks and months ahead and hope that we will get to see many of you in person in the not too-distant future. More again soon, take care…

Follow me on Twitter at @CCNFAlpacas on Instagram at ccnfalpacas. You can find also find and follow CCNF on Facebook here.