Farm News at Ideuma Creek

December 2005 - A Reflection of Ideuma Creek's Show Season - 19 Ribbons

The Scotsman - 3 blues in 2005!    

Scotty captured three blue ribbons in 2005 1st place at The Buckeye Classic, 1st place at PAOBA Breeder's Showcase and 1st place at the Empire Extravaganza.  He also earned two second place ribbons at The Buckeye Classic for Breeder's Best Entry and at PAOBA Breeder's Showcase Produce of Dam entry.  Add these ribbons to his existing ones, and Scotty proudly owns 10 ribbons including a Reserve Color Champion banner.  Scotty retired from his show career this fall with his blue at Empire which he earned in the mature male class after he had already started breeding!

SA Avenger's Accoyo Invasion 2005 - 2 Color Championships, 2 Reserve Color Championships and 7 Blues in 2005!

Invasion swept through the 2005 show season showing in tough light and sometimes white classes.  Even with the most fierce competition, his gorgeous crimpy fleece and perfect conformation earned him respect and admiration.  Invasion earned his color championships at the Western Ohio Triple Crown from two different judges, his reserve color championships at SEPA for his fleece and at the Buckeye Alpaca Show (2nd out of 61 white males!)  His blues came from the PAOBA Breeder's Showcase (white, 1st out of 12), the Buckeye Alpaca Show (white, 2nd overall out of 61), The Kentucky Classic (beige, 1st out of 7), the Western Ohio Triple Crown (2 blues from 2 different judges), SEPA (light, 1st out of 11) and The Empire Extravangana (white, 1st out of 12)  He also took home a 2nd place ribon at MAPACA (white, 2nd out of 12)

Ideuma Creek Cria Take Home Ribbons!

Ideuma Creek's Josh's Midnight Bandit takes home a blue for his fleece for Robin Kellogg of Kellogg's Alpacas

Ideuma Creek's Molly takes home a blue and a 4th place ribbon at MOPACA for Suzan Hillhouse of Hummingbird Ranch

Ideuma Creek's Cabellas takes home a 2nd place ribbon (out of 12) at Empire for Donna Rutkowski of Alpaca Fantasy World

November 2005 - The Gifted Lady now Offering Ideuma Creek Alpaca Products!

 We are pleased to announce that Ideuma Creek Alpaca products including our "I Love NY Collection" are now available at The Gifted Lady on State Highway 23 in Davenport, NY.  If you're familiar with our little area of New York state, The Gifted Lady is just past The Southside Mall in Oneonta and the brand new Lowes on 23.  It is a wonderful brand new, huge barn owned by Cathy and Barry Karlin who also own CNN Excavating, Landscaping and Nursery at the same location.  They specialize in ponds and pondless ponds.  In addition to the nursery and pond displays, visit The Gifted Lady and you'll be treated to wonderful local crafts and unique gifts including local pottery, stained glass, hand made soaps, blown glass, cement birdbaths and garden ornaments, whirlygigs, a permanent Christmas shop, a equine section, hand made furniture, benches, home made chocolates, and, of course, Ideuma Creek alpaca products!

October 2005 - Ideuma Creek Cabellas Takes Home a Ribbon at Empire!

On October 22, 2005, Ed & Donna Rutkowski, owners of Alpaca Fantasy World, took their alpaca, Cabellas to the Empire Extavaganza.  The competition was fierce, but Cabellas placed 2nd in a large class of 12!  Cabellas is a Solar de Peru son.  His dam, Ideuma Creek's Rosie, has also been purchased by the Rutkowskis, but his granddam, Ginger, is still here at Ideuma Creek.  Cabellas is actually a second generation Ideuma Creek alpaca, and as the judges would agree, is beautiful.  He has dense, crimpy fiber, great coverage, and a wonderful topknot and head.  In addition to his good looks, Caleb is also a sweetie.  It's great to see Donna and him work together.  This is now the second Solar yearling to place impressively at competitive shows this year.  We are so proud of both Cabellas and of Donna and Ed.  Congratulations on your ribbon!

September 2005 - Add Reserve Color Champ, The Scotsman, to Ideuma Creek's Herd Sire Line Up

When we saw the opportunity to purchase half ownership of The Scotsman, we jumped before anyone else could!  This true black solid full Peruvian male had already won 3 first place ribbons and a reserve color championship.  His dam is the AOBA National Color Champ in true black.  When John traveled to Highland Alpaca Ranch in Grove City, PA, to look at him, I just knew he would want to purchase him.  I didn't expect him to come home as excited as he was.  "Scotty is just awesome! he reported on a cell phone update."  I figured John would be just as impressed as Jude Anderson, Amanda VandenBosch and several other judges who liked Scotty.  Scotty's got that very typey build and wonderful head.  He's got amazing fleece - and it's staying amazing as he ages.  His most recent blue ribbon was at The Empire Extravaganza in October in a Mature Black Class.

September 2005 - Victor Grandson, Perucoyo Icon Makes Ideuma Creek His Home

Elated.  That's the best word to describe how John and I feel about our acquisition of Icon.  Elated.  He has everything going for him.  He's half Accoyo.  He's full Peruvian.  He is out of two grey parents.  His sire is multi-blue ribbon Accoyo McGwire.  His grandsire is the legendary Accoyo Victor.  His granddam is Accoyo Rosemary who has produced several champions.  Icon lives up to his name and up to his bloodlines.  His solid, true black fleece is amazing.  It is incredibly dense, soft and wonderfully Accoyo-crimpy.  We can't wait for shearing day, a day I usually despise.  But with Icon's sire and grandsire both having produced some of the most magnificent fleece weights on record (over 14 pounds!), we'll have the scale ready and waiting for Icon's second fleece.  He's a very large boy at just one year of age.  He stands tall and straight and has a perfect bite.  Future herd sires with Icon's genetics, conformation, and fleece quality in true black are very rare, indeed.  We're elated he's at Ideuma Creek.

August 2005 - Quolus, Our Guellermo Son, Finally Arrives

We have owned Quolus for quite some time, but he had been trapped behind Canada's borders.  Until now.  Now, we are proud to shout from the rooftops, "Quolus is here!"  We have wanted to purchase Quolus for years.  We were introduced to him when we purchased females with cria at their side whose sire was Quolus.  These three cria were knock-outs.  We couldn't get over the improvement from dam to cria in just one generation because of Quolus.  He was able to add density, fineness, and coverage to each of these dams without sacrificing color.  Although Quolus is light beige, he covers black, and has produced every color cria - including black and grey.  Quolus comes from well-known and well-respected bloodlines.  His sire is the infamous, Guellermo, the most recognized and respected herd sire out of Canada and is now half-owned with Heart's Desire Farm.  Quolus's dam is Acero Marka's Isabella, coming from the most respected alpaca ranch in Bolivia.  Quolus is a super dense, compact male with a gorgeous head.  His neck is so dense, it is actually difficult to penetrate the fiber with your fingers.  He has excellent conformation, and a typey, stout build. 

July 2005 - Ideuma Creek Alpacas Introduces Our Collection" to Our Product Line

Originating from alpacas living in New York, from fiber spun at a mini mill here in New York and created by fiber artists who live in New York, our "I Love NY" collection is made from 100% alpaca and made 100% right here in New York State!  Each garment in this line is a unique, one-of-a-kind piece of hand crafted art.  Each product is made from the fiber from one (or more) or our alpacas here at Ideuma Creek and each product contains a special "I Love NY" label along with a label and picture of the alpaca whose fiber was used to create it.  Our "I Love NY" Collection includes 100% alpaca yarn, roving and garments all made from alpacas raised here in Unadilla, New York.  From fiber to fashion, our "I Love NY" collection is completely made here in New York State.  We're proud to offer this hand-crafted, 100% alpaca line, from our own herd.  If you'd like to see a sampling of what this collection offers, visit our I Love NY Collection at our on-line store.

June 2005 - Pirate Comes Aboard the Ideuma Creek Herd Sire Line Up

We are so pleased to add Pirate to our suri herd sire list.  He's a gorgeous,  solid,  dark maroon suri male with blue ribbons in halter, fleece, and obstacle.  Originally owned by Gail Campbell of Ameripaca, Pirate was sold to Karen Dewhirst, fiber judge, as a future herd sire for her herd.  Pirate became the back bone of her suri breeding program producing 21 cria, all suris for her.  Since Karen has decided to sell her herd, we have been lucky enough to be able to acquire Pirate.  his locks are a beautiful dark maroon color with lots of luster.  Judges have commented on his uniformity of lock, excellent conformation, and fineness.  He has a perfect bite.  Pirate's first Ideuma Creek cria are due this summer.  We are so anxious to add his genetics to our herd.  For Karen he has produced ONLY suri cria.  With 21 cria on the ground, it is a good bet that Pirate is one of the very rare colored PURE SURI males in this country. 

May 2005 - Another Ideuma Creek Cria Ribbons!

John and I don't show our alpacas.  It isn't that we aren't proud of the cria that we are producing, we certainly are.  The reason is much more simple.  We're homebodies.  We love it here at our farm.  We don't like to leave.  And although we really enjoy visiting with other alpaca breeders, we just hate to leave our herd and our dogs alone all weekend, even with the best of "farm sitters".  The good news for us is that some friends who purchased Ideuma Creek cria have been showing them, and they've been taking home ribbons!

Last fall Robin Kellogg of Kellogg's Alpacas entered Ideuma Creek's Midnight Bandit's (a Bolivian Mr. Joshua son) true black fleece at AOBA nationals in Kentucky.  Here, competing against 12 of the best black fleeces in the country, Robin and Bandit came home with a second place ribbon.  This spring Suzan Hillhouse of Hummingbird Ranch in Missouri took Ideuma Creek's Molly (a Solar de Peru daughter) to two shows and ribboned each time in tough white classes.  Suzan and Molly took a fourth place at MOPACA, and most recently a first place ribbon in the shorn class.  The judge commented that Molly was the perfect example of an alpaca.  That her conformation was perfect and that she flowed when she walked which meant everything below her back is exactly right.  He also commented on how perfect her bite is.

We're really proud of our cria, and we sure appreciate our friends who take the time to show them!  Congratulations Robin and Suzan!

April 2005 - The Accoyo Invasion

John and I knew we wanted to add more Accoyo genetics to our herd.  The best way for us to do this, of course, was to add a full Accoyo herd sire.  The search was on!  We asked our friends Ann and Andy Merriwether for their help in choosing just the right full Accoyo herd sire for our farm.  Dr. Andy Merriwether is a geneticist, and he and Ann specialize in Accoyo genetics at their alpaca farm, NYALA which is in Vestal, New York, only an hour away from us.  There were a couple of boys that caught our eye in Ohio, so John and Andy set off for a road trip there one rainy Saturday.  We could compare these Ohio boys to the fiber samples we had received from other Accoyo possibilities out west.

We were looking for a full Accoyo male with color.  We have been breeding colorful alpacas for eight years, and although Accoyo males with any color at all are rare and therefore expensive, we really wanted to add the Accoyo genetics to our herd without having to sacrifice color.  We also were looking for a male ready to do the job now, right now.  We were anxious to have more Accoyo cria next spring in our pasture.  Andy and Ann weren't looking for a male at all.  They already have two beautiful fawn full Accoyo males on their farm.  They were simply helping us in our selection process.  Then Andy and John met Accoyo Invasion at Anthony Stachkowski's farm, and everything changed.

Invasion is only eleven months old, not exactly what were looking for, but Andy and John really looked him over anyway.  They were impressed with his size.  He is a huge beige boy, a son of multi color champion,  fawn Royal Avenger.   It's when they actually touched him that they knew they didn't need to look any further.  Invasion has loads of crimpy, crimpy soft fiber that is dense, fine and has a silky handle.  Invasion also has that wonderful Accoyo coverage.  In addition to this, it is not only John and Andy that were impressed with Invasion.  He already had several blue ribbons and two color championships!  Andy and John had a five hour trip to work out just how we could own this wonderful male . . .together.

Invasion continues to be shown by the Meriwethers and has a current show record of 4 First Place Ribbons, 1 Second Place Ribbon (at MAPACA), 2 Color Championships, and a Reserve Color Championship.  We are so proud to be co-owners of this beautiful full Accoyo future herd sire and can't wait until he is ready to start breeding.

January 2005 - Ideuma Creek's "Golden" Year!

We are considering 2005 to be the golden year here at Ideuma Creek.  No, we haven't been raising alpacas for 50 years, but we will hit some important "50" milestones in 2005.  At the tail end of 2004, we actually hit our first big 50.  We sold our 50th alpaca.  Donna and Ed Rutkowski, owners of Alpaca Fantasy World, purchased Maddie, the first suri cria ever to be born here on our farm.  Maddie is an incredible true black pure suri female with beautiful penciled locks.  Thank you and congratulations, Donna & Ed for your purchase of Maddie, our 50th alpaca sold!  Sometime this May, Ideuma Creek will experience another important 50.  We will have the 50th cria born here on our farm!  We simply can't wait!  We have 5 girls due between May 14th and May 16th, so who will have the title of Ideuma Creek Cria Number 50 is going to have to remain a mystery until May.  As soon as it happens, we'll let you know!  The final 50 milestone we will hit in 2005 is the total number of alpacas here on our farm.  With 20 cria due this season, for the first time ever, our farm will be home to more than 50 alpacas.  We can't believe it!  We started only eight years ago with three pregnant females, and hopes and dreams.  We have always intended to stay a small, family-run farm.  John and I do virtually all of the work here on our 140 acre farm.  We're a great team.  It's just the two of us taking care of all of these alpacas.  We know and care for each one individually.   One of the most repeated comments we hear from visitors to our farm is just how friendly and curious our alpacas are.  It's because we spend so much time with them.  It's been eight wonderful years, and we have never once looked back on our decision to invest our money or our time in the alpaca lifestyle.  Now we are just focusing on what's ahead of us in 2005 and all of the 50s we will be experiencing - 50 alpacas sold, 50 alpacas born, and 50 alpacas nestled snug and safe in our barn.  Happy 2005!

October 2004

Ideuma Creek Opens Its Doors for The NY I Love Alpacas Tour!

For the second year, Southern Tier Alpacas, a division of Empire Alpacas, has taken part in the "I Love NY Alpacas" tour.  Ideuma Creek is proud to be a founding member of Southern Tier Alpacas, a group of eleven alpaca farms in Broome, Chenango, Delaware, Otsego and Tioga counties.  One of our primary purposes is to promote this tour which always takes place on Saturday and Sunday of Columbus Day weekend.   We open the door to our barn, our store, and our home to alpaca lovers everywhere this weekend.  Again, this year, it was a huge success!  John was in the barn both afternoons sharing our seven years of experience & success as well as giving informal presentations about the general care and maintenance of alpacas as well as the investment opportunities that exist.  My father, Jack Harrison, greeted everyone at our front door.  He had all sorts of pamphlets and brochures to give away as well as sign everyone up for the Ideuma Creek Raffle.  Linda Sperry of Oneonta was the winner of the alpaca teddy bear.  Ken Doremus of Albany was the winner of the alpaca scarf.  Geri Mott of Sidney Center won the alpaca hat.  Tom and Ann Simons of Nichols won the alpaca double knit socks.  And finally,  Charles Bosco of Morris was the lucky winner of the double knit alpaca mittens.   Ginny Lang, of Snow Crest Alpacas in Virgil, New York was in our living room on Saturday, giving spinning demonstrations for everyone.  She brought some of her hand spun, hand made items from her herd for people to touch and purchase.  Ginny also displayed pictures of several of her alpacas for sale.  We had refreshments in the kitchen and of course, our huge alpaca gift shop, located upstairs, was open for everyone to wander through.  We offered many holiday specials and decided to extend their sale through January 1st, 2005.  If you can't make it up to our shop, these Holiday Specials are available through our on-line store as well.  It turned out to be a wonderful weekend.  The leaves were brilliant; the rain held off; and people from all over the area were able to experience the joys of alpacas, up close and personal . 

August 2004

15 Beautiful New Crias Here at Ideuma Creek

15 pregnant moms delivered 15 beautiful crias for us this year.  We ended up with 9 little boys including Darbee, a solid black huacaya, Jake, a solid brown huacaya, Thoreau, a rose-grey huacaya, and Milo, a bay black suri, all of whom we will be keeping as future herd sires here at our farm.  Our six little girls are equally beautiful.  Our big star is Maddie, our first suri cria to be born here at Ideuma Creek.  We were more than elated with her, a black female.  Our two other suri cria were Milo, the bay black male and Mooney, a fawn girl.  We are very proud and pleased with the colorful suri herd we are building.  All of our crias are healthy, strong and already growing some fabulous fiber.  John and I are already looking forward to next cria season.  We should have 20+ cria born here next year.  To read more about any or all of our 2004 crias, visit 2004 Crias.

June 2004             The Spring Crias have Arrived!

Every year we plan for two separate sets of crias - the spring crias and the summer crias.  The spring crias arrive in May (in an ideal world, that is!) and the summer crias arrive in July and August when John and I are off from school.  This year we have our largest "cria crop" due ever.  We should have 15 crias romping around the pasture before the leaves start to change.  All of our spring crias have arrived, and boy, are we proud!  We have six new additions to our herd, three boys and three girls.  Birthing was carefree (well, for John and I anyway!) with no problems or complications.  Birth weights varied from 16 pounds to a farm record of 25 pounds!  Gestation was anywhere from 327 days to 351 days.  IgG levels were all great ranging from 1482 to a whopping 5928!  And colors, did we get colors!  All shades of brown and fawn, black, even our Peruvian, half Accoyo cria has fawn spots!  If you'd like to see individual pictures of each cria and read about their first few days here on our farm, click on 2004 Crias.  Keep checking back.  We still have nine more crias to be born this summer!

April 2004   Shearing Day

On April 22, friends and family gathered to help us with the day I hate most. . .shearing day!  The first couple of years we owned alpacas, John and I did the shearing.  Back then we only had a little over a dozen alpacas.  As our herd grew, we decided it would be wonderful for the animals (and for our marriage!) if we could hire someone to shear.  The next couple of years, we hired a sheep shearer to come to our farm.  And now for the past three years, Scott Young of Hilltop Alpacas has done the shearing for us.  It's quite amazing that with some help, we can get the entire herd done, about 40 animals, in just one day!  It's an exhausting day, and they all look pretty funny for quite a while, but it's wonderful to have hundreds and hundreds of pounds of feathery soft, colorful alpaca fiber to turn into yarn and garments.

April 2004       In the News!

On April 17th, The Daily Star, the newspaper out of Oneonta, NY,  featured an article about alpacas in the lifestyle section.  Many area alpaca farms were mentioned, and Ideuma Creek was lucky enough to be one of them.  If that wasn't good enough, the photographer came to our farm, and we were delighted to see pictures of our alpacas all over the front page of the lifestyle section.  It is a very upbeat article which includes many quotes by Empire Alpaca Association president, Scott Young of Hilltop Alpacas.  The focus of the article is the incredible growth the alpaca industry is experiencing, especially here in New York.  Click here if you'd like to read the entire article and see the pictures of our girls.

January 2004    Suris, Suris, and More Suris!

In the middle of January 2004, we decided to add suri alpacas to our herd.  It's been a wonderful experience!  We love watching their flowing locks and regal stature.  We have seven suris now residing at Ideuma Creek, five adult females, a female cria and a  male weanling.  Xena is a beautiful, large boned white Bolivian female with her September '03 cria, Little Xena, by her side.  Festiva and Tapestry are our two light fawn suri females.  Both are due this summer.  Tapestry's '03 cria, Adam, is also here at our farm.  Our dark fawn girl, Hanna, is just the sweetest, prettiest alpaca you could imagine. Our final purchase (well, so far this year. . .it is only February!) was Mimi.  Mimi has long, incredible locks of dark brown.  They almost touch the ground when she walks!  Although none of our suris are for sale at this time, you can see individual pictures and additional information about each one when you visit our sales list.  We are expecting three suri crias this summer.  Keep checking back to see the first suri crias born here at Ideuma Creek!

December 2003   Our Farm Just Got A Whole Lot Bigger!

At the very tail end of 2003, we were able to expand our farm - by a whole lot!  Our original farm sat on about 20 acres.  Our house, our barn, about 5 acres of wonderful fenced in pasture, a pond, a stream, and quite a few gardens fit on this piece.  In December, we purchased the surrounding 120 acres of land to our farm.  This includes about 30 acres of hay fields, 30 acres of meadows, and 60 acres of woods on both sides of the road.  We are delighted to have acquired all of this land.  Although we don't plan to expand our herd size, (we truly do like being a small, "hands-on" farm) we are excited about the possibility of adding more pastures,  growing our own hay, and never losing our beautiful view!