Julies Alpacas: Quarry Critters' Tad Lincoln the alpaca all grown up and ready.....

Xander, Wash and Tad
are pictured above. Let me introduce you to Tad.

Quarry Critters' Tad Lincoln ARI#31225878

Here at Quarry Critters Alpaca Ranch we are naming most of our cria after the Civil War or Gettysburg, PA theme.

As many of you already know Julie Wysong, owner of Quarry Critters is a retired Elementary School teacher with much of her career spent in first grade. So it was natural to use the alphabet to help think of names for the alpacas. So..... ABC order and theme names from Gettysburg and the Civil War is the way the alpacas get their names. It's fun.

Abigail Gibbons was the first alpaca born to our ranch in 2005. The second alpaca born here was Mary Todd Lincoln. I know, that doesn't follow our ABC order but we call her Beauty because she was so beautiful, and that does follow the ABC order.

When the alphabet came to "T" it turns out that Mary Todd Lincoln (ARI # 30415157) was the mother of our "T" cria in 2009. After reviewing history it only seemed right to make our "T" cria match the family history of their namesakes.

So Quarry Critters' Tad Lincoln was named.

This is 1 day old Tad Lincoln nursing and wearing his cria jacket.

Alpacas are great in every way. It's just amazing to see a brand new cria. You can

plan for color but you can't expect that you will get the color you want. Here we have a

brown mother with a snow white cria.

Tad's mother is called a dam and his father is called a herdsire. Tad's father's

name is Franklin's Liberty (ARI#30400160). Each alpaca in the country can be

registered at the Alpaca Registry in Lincoln, Nebraska. When an alpaca is born the

vet is called to check their health. The vet draws some blood for a bloodcard that is

sent to the registry. The alpaca registry checks the bloodcard against the dam and

sire to make sure that the family bloodlines are correct. Once everything checks out

then a certificate is issued. This is what Tad's ARI certificate looks like.

As Tad started to grow so did his career.

Tad and Wash went off the ranch to a neighboring church in Hanover, PA

to be part of a community event.

Can you see that cute white face on the right? That is Tad.

And can you see the cute brown face on the left that is Wash.

Julie Wysong is holding on to Wash. David Wysong is holding onto Tad.

Look at all the people that are holding signs that say "I Love Alpacas", they are smiling.

Tad, Wash and the Wysongs all had a great day.

The alpacas and the community got kisses,

because the event was called "Pucker for Pacas"

it was to help raise money for a worthy cause.

That was not the end of their travels

. Santa asked if they would help raise money for needy children at the Christmas in the Square in Gettysburg. Santa Claus needed raindeer since it was the middle of July he used "Reinpacas", that is alpacas with reindeer antlers. Can you see Tad and Wash wearing their antlers.

Santa and Wash on the Square at Gettysburg. That red door is in the

building called the "House of Bender".

Tad with Wash reinpacas at
Lincoln Square at the Gettysburg Farmers' Market.

We've been waiting 4 long years for Tad to be old enough to start his breeding career. This spring 2013 he will begin. We just can wait
to see what his cria will look like.

Tad has a beautiful fiber blanket of snow white. His mircon count as reported back from Yocom-McColl Testing Laboratories, Inc. for the year 2012 is 19.7, SD 4.7, CV 23.8 and % >30 is 2.7. What that tells us is that Tad has very soft fleece with very little guard hair in the blanket. That said, his fiber is wonderful to spin, knit and wear. He is what everyone wants in a herdsire. So please help us celebrate. Buy is fiber, yarn and a breeding. Put your order in for his cria. You can order ahead of time. Don't wait. There is only so much Tad to go around.

I'm so excited, can you tell?