Request the Best's Annie

Anyone who knows anything about High Point Farm and our alpacas will know how enthusiastic we all are about the herd. Even more so now we have an exciting new addition; ‘Request the Best’s Annie’. Annie came to us on Saturday, February 17, 2007 when Steve Pike and Keith Winchell drove for eight hours round trip to Weedsport New York to collect her from A.L. Pacas. She was boarding there from another farm, Huggable Hill Alpacas, who had decided to sell off all their alpacas and close their farm.

The decision was made to bring some grey into the herd as it needs some variety in color. We already have a selection of color, ranging from dark brown/true black through dark to light fawns and whites. It was time to turn the herd around. Steve and Abi had previously visited A.L. Pacas Farm to see Annie. This meant we had a real ‘hands on’ look at her. The owner let us hold her and get close enough to feel her fleece which is dense and soft. When we looked at her we could only describe her as ‘statuesque’ with correct conformation (straight back, head held high, and lovely long straight legs) she looked like a model! We decided it was too good an opportunity to miss.

When she first came to the Farm we had to keep her in a separate quarantine pen for two weeks to make sure she was healthy. We had the vet come and check her over and she was placed in the maternity barn not far from the other females. They could see her and she could see them and they were very curious of one another. After two weeks were up we let her in with the other females and they established their ‘pecking order’. This involved a lot of sniffing, a bit of pushing and shoving and a tiny bit of spitting. However, once they established they could all get their fair share of the food, everyone was happy.

Annie has an inquisitive temperament, she likes to come and sniff us when we go to feed her and will eat straight from our hands. She has settled in with the other females in the maternity barn and seems to get on well with them. So far there have been no fights and no spitting!

Some facts about Annie

Annie is a beautiful light silver grey female, her sire (father) is ‘Request the Best’, a light rose grey male owned by A.L. Pacas. Her dam (mother) is ‘O’Mya’, a true black female owned by Salmon River Alpacas. She was born on 9/26/00 which makes her six years old. She has been bred in the past and has had two crias. A girl (Sadie) and a boy (Cobre), these crias are owned by other farms. She was pregnant when we bought her and has been bred to Snowmass Casanova's Frost (dark rose grey), owned by Huggable Hill Alpacas. She has recently been confirmed pregnant by ultrasound and is due in October 2007.

We are excited about this new addition to the herd and look forward to sharing Annie’s progress with everyone in Fountain House.