​Blog 16 - We Are All The Same!

Did you know there are 28 official different colors of alpaca fleece?  At least that is what I have heard.

All I know is my fleece is like my dad’s and the color is called light fawn. My fleece looks white but have a fawn streak through it. I was told that is why my full name is “Salted Caramel Biscotti!”   The salted for white and the caramel for the fawn color. But guess what? That doesn’t matter! I am a light fawn, Huacaya alpaca and proud of it. In the end, we are all the same. Alpaca fleece has been called, “The fleece of the Gods,” so that is a lot to live up to. We are proud of our fleece and how we look, but we also like it when we are sheared because we feel cooler afterwards. Shearing itself can be a little scary and loud, but when it is done, we love it! 

As I mentioned in the past, all of the alpacas on our ranch are Huacayas with the exception of my buddy, Tali. He is a Suri alpaca. Suri’s have different texture of fleece than Huacayas. While our fleece is soft and fluffy, his fleece is shinny and luster. His true color is light brown, but to me he looks golden, which is not a real alpaca color. I call him "Golden Boy", but I am not sure he likes the name. I say it as a compliment and most times he just smiles! That is what friends do,
 
Our llama, Glacier also has Suri fleece and his fleece is white. I think they share a Suri bond, but in the end, we are all just best friends. We look a little different, even act a little different, but we are family.

I personally can be a little shy, but I also like to see what is going on outside of my pasture. They say the “grass is always greener,” and most days I try to find out. A couple of times, I almost was able to open the gate, but then I got caught and in a little trouble. They decided to tie the gate closed so I couldn’t open it. I don’t want to break the rules, but I do want to be adventurous! Some of my herd mates are different. They are quite happy to be in the pasture and I tell them it is OK to be different!  

So yes, we have different looks and different personalities too.
Even though we all know Louie can be grumpy at times, we still love him. Sure, he sometimes acts like he doesn’t like us, but we know he would protect us no matter what because it is his job and he takes his job very seriously!  We do give him a hard time, now and then, so I guess we could be nicer. He knows we like him and deep down he likes us too! I think he acts grumpy just to make us scared. Louie is a little different than even Glacier, but that is fine with us, because we are all part of the same herd!

Llamas and Alpacas, Hucuayas and Suris, we are all different, but we are all the same. We live together and take care of each other. It doesn’t matter the size, color or type of our fleece, we are family.
When one of us is sick, the others pick up the slack. When one of us is happy, we are all happy! We like to kid around, but we would never be mean to each other. We are brothers in our herd!

I know my herd is also always ready to help my mom’s herd because they are also part of our family.
Yes they like girl things and have different ways they graze and manage their pasture. We even have different views of the world outside our pastures, but we are still one big happy herd!
​In the end they do a great job and we learn from each other.
Yes we live in separate barns and separate pastures, but we are really one big herd of Guardian Angel Alpacas!


- B