Making our way (slowly) up and over, AKA: Adventures in Exportation

This past week was a bit of a crazy one here for the Lutz clan at CCNF. Two separate trips into Canada (the second of which involved hauling alpacas), one snow day for our kids, and one stubborn-ass three day Nor’Easter storm later, we are now all good though!

This whole adventure had its genesis back in 2013 when we sold several bred females to Ole Erik and Laila Sjølli of Alpacajoy of Norway. Those alpacas had originally been scheduled to leave North America in the early part of last summer but through some circumstances out of our control — involving an animal in the export from another farm generating a false positive in a test for Infectious Bovine Rhinotracheitis (IBR), the Europeans don’t have it and don’t want it — our females all had to temporarily stay in Canada and birth out there instead. Bummer, obviously, but you learn to just roll with the punches because, frankly, it’s all that you can do. In any case, it didn’t mean the animals would never make it to Norway but it did mean a significant detour for them, and particularly their new crias…

We pause here for a primer on exporting alpacas to Europe and Norway and particular. The United States is viewed by all of Europe (though Norway is not in fact a part of the European Union) as a generally dirty place when it comes to the importation of alpacas. For that reason, animals making there way to Europe from the US must first go through Canada, spending 3 months in quarantine here in the US (to make the Canadians happy), another 6 months in Canada to establish residency there (of which the final 40 days are a quarantine in preparation for travel overseas), and then finally going through a further 6 months quarantine once they arrive in Norway. The other major piece in this whole equation is that alpacas coming out of quarantine in Norway must be at least 2.5 years of age unless they are crias that were born after their dams arrived in Norway. That is why when the Norway-bound animals were unable to board a plane to Europe in June, some of them just weeks before their due dates, things became exponentially more complex.

Fast forward almost 5 months and by now there is a solid plan in place. In addition to the females and crias that are in Canada already, the Sjøllis have also since purchased another group of animals from us that either just finished, or are finishing, their US quarantine here at CCNF. That in and of itself has been an educational experience, as the first US quarantine that ended in December of last year had been hosted by our friends and partners at A Paca Fun Farm in Maryland. Needless to say, Jennifer and our vet, Susan Johnson, are  now far more knowledgeable in the regulations and bureaucratic quirks of the USDA and the Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) than perhaps they would truly like to be.

Alpacajoy’s new crias that were born over the course of the summer will now be staying in Canada until their 2nd birthday – though their dams will be heading to their new home sometime in 2015. Of course, not wanting to wait almost 18 months to see the newest members of their herd, the Sjøllis came back over here for a week to actually see, amongst other things, what the females they had purchased from us and A Paca Fun Farm had produced for them. Ole Erik and Laila had been here in April during the weekend of the North American show with their three very cool kids in tow and though we had a hoot at that time, for reasons of scheduling (read: school) this time around, they came without the kiddos. The plan was for them to fly into Montreal on 12/5, with us meeting them up at Ariya Alpacas in Quebec, where that first group of females and babies was in residence. We spent the better part of 24 hours up there, staying over Saturday night looking at and talking about alpacas and alpaca fleece, and partaking of the generous hospitality and good cheer of Ariya’s owners, Janette Archambault and Gérald Perron. Though I was quickly reminded on Sunday morning that Quebec and Vermont can be two very different places climactically in early December (I froze my ass off until Janette very graciously lent me one of her old coats), we had a blast!

Though Jen and I headed home early Sunday afternoon, the Sjøllis would follow us back to CCNF the following day to spend a night with us and to see some of their other animals that they had purchased here. Part of that group — made up of 4 Herdsires, though more on them in a minute or two — was in fact just then getting ready to leave their US quarantine and head north, part of the whole reason the Sjøllis had timed their trip the way they did. Of particular interest to our Norwegian friends though, was their youngest alpaca still on this side of the Atlantic, a CCNF Elixir son already anointed Alpacajoy Excelsior, whom is very much starting to live up to his name. Ole Erik and Laila had purchased the little dude and his dam, Chiquita, when he was only a couple of weeks old. That they did so primarily on my word, I will freely admit has given me pause at times. So I was certainly relieved when the first parts of his fleece produced audible intakes of breath and knowing smiles. There might be some small measure of hope for yours truly just yet!  

We would part ways again temporarily with the Sjøllis on Tuesday, knowing that we had big travel plans for early the next day, even though Mother Nature was contriving to make that journey a bit more of an adventure than we would have liked. Ole Erik came down into our kitchen that morning genuinely incredulous that school had been called off for our kids and that there should even be such a thing as a “snow day,” particularly as there had been no actual snow of note until almost 10 that morning. Apparently the Norwegians are made of tougher stuff or, at the very least, are a far less litigious society!  In any case, the Sjøllis headed back up to Montreal for that night, leaving just as the snow did finally start to fall in earnest. Thankfully, cars in Quebec (including those owned by rental companies) are legally required to have true winter tires mounted by this time of year, so even though we had a chuckle or two at the mini-van that they had been saddled with, it did get them safely north again. They had a date to keep, as they were to be amongst the lucky 20,000 or so people who that evening would get to witness the Montreal Canadiens’ somber but celebratory pre-game ceremony to honor the passing of their legendary player (10 Stanley Cups as a player, another 7 as a club executive), captain, and humanitarian: the great Jean Beliveau. It was a hockey game that we had long planned on seeing with them (we’ve had season tickets in Montreal for 10 years now and Ole Erik is a self-professed sports nut), but owing to the fact that we had to be at the Champlain, NY-Lacolle, Quebec border crossing on Wednesday morning with alpacas in tow, hockey wasn’t really in the cards for us this time around.

With Jen’s dad, Rod, coming over here late Tuesday to stay with the Lutz boys while we were away, we woke up the following morning at 4AM (yeah, yeah I know Padgetts: stop whining, 4AM departures are for wimps) and drove through the central part of the snow storm and up to the border, a drive that would normally have taken only 3 hours in good weather. As it turned out, we made it just barely in time for our appointment with the veterinarian from the CFIA, pulling in just short of 10 AM. After a two hour stay at the border station, we finally had our paperwork properly signed, stamped, and in order though, and began the longer part of the journey that would take us to the lovely little city of Peterborough, Ontario. Though long ago, the plan had been to temporarily house all of the Sjølli’s various animals in Quebec at Ariya while they worked on “becoming” Canadian, circumstances had arisen that forced a change of venue. Thankfully, Kathy McConnell and her friend and partner Donna Simmonds at Hubbert Farms had agreed to step in and take this latest batch of critters on relatively short notice.

Jen and I finally arrived in Peterborough around 6:30 Wednesday evening, having driven probably 80% of the way from home on either snow or ice covered roads. Ugh. I will say, that the drivers north of the border were a more cautious and courteous bunch (proving that some stereo-types hit awfully close to reality) as we made our way west-southwest through Quebec and into Ontario. The equivalent snow-covered journey down the I-95 corridor here in the States for instance, would undoubtedly have had a much higher percentage of tense moments. So though we were ever so grateful for the studded snow tires and 4-wheel drive of our truck, to say nothing of the relatively flat and straight highways between Lacolle and Peterborough, in the end, slow and steady was what really did the trick.

We spent that evening at Hubbert Farms getting to know Kathy and Donna’s respective families and doing that thing that alpaca breeders always do when first they meet: just talking shop and sharing war stories. Our Norwegian friends had left Montreal that morning and had beat us to Peterborough by several hours (they did not need to stop and get any papers from Canadian Customs in triplicate!) and I think that there was great relief on all of our parts to have gotten this first group of 4 males (Hyperion, Nazareth, Marick, and Wayfarer, by the way) over the border and settled into their new, albeit temporary, Canadian home! Many thanks to the McConnells & Co. for all of their hospitality (red wine I swear had never tasted so good) and for showing us some of their herd. There is little doubt that 18 years into this whole alpaca breeding venture of ours, that it remains a driving passion for both Jen and I. That it has led us to make new friends across international borders, and ultimately across oceans, is really just a huge bonus. In any case, it’s a good thing that in the final analysis we enjoyed our little trip north…since we’ll get to do it all over again in January when we hope to bring Excelsior and “his” girls up as well! 

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