00:00 - Once again, ladies and gentlemen, here, the sons of the American Legion Pavilion.

00:04 - We have a special treat for you.

00:07 - We have some young ladies here conducting

00:10 - an educational period.

00:14 - And they're going to be talking about our package.

00:18 - Not only are the animals really cool.

00:21 - Their products are really neat.

00:23 - And these young ladies are so well versed.

00:27 - It's almost amazing.

00:29 - I'd like to present now the O'Connor family.

00:35 - Do you know?

00:38 - Do you know how many cousins alpaca there are there?

00:41 - 22 natural colors.

00:43 - Alpaca and the Iowa Alpacas Owners Association

00:47 - recognizes 16 of those colors.

00:50 - The colors vary through white, beige.

00:53 - Don't fawn brown, two black.

00:56 - And they're also rose grays and silver dyes.

00:59 - Hi, my name is Caitlin O'Connor.

01:01 - I'm 14 years old.

01:02 - I go to center Columbia High School and I'm a freshman.

01:06 - Today I'd like to talk to you about alpacas.

01:09 - We'll go over where they came from and how they're related to the differences

01:14 - and similarities to, of alpacas and llamas.

01:18 - The breeds of alpacas,

01:20 - what you can make out of alpaca fiber,

01:23 - the differences between alpacas fiber and sheep's wool.

01:27 - Shearing them, breeding them the easy care about packers and showing them.

01:32 - Let's start with where they came from and who they're related to.

01:36 - They originated in South America and Peru

01:39 - and are related to the bacterium camel, Arabian camel, Menaka, Acuna

01:45 - and the most popular relative, their cousins, the llama.

01:49 - Speaking of llamas,

01:50 - do you know what the differences are between alpacas and llamas?

01:53 - Alpacas are also herd animals where llamas are more independent

01:58 - and I'll pack is average weight is around 150 pounds,

02:02 - where a lot of average weight is around 400 pounds.

02:06 - Alpacas eat 1 to 2% of their body weight,

02:09 - or llamas eat 2 to 4%.

02:12 - Alpacas descended from the vicuna or llamas descended from the guano, aka

02:18 - alpacas of China.

02:21 - And curious where llamas tend to be more aggressive

02:24 - and can be used as guards for other livestock.

02:28 - When you look at an alpaca, says, you'll notice an alpaca has a shorter

02:32 - nose than a llama, and a pack is also have pointed,

02:36 - slender ears where llamas have curved, banana shaped ears.

02:41 - Another thing you'll notice is not paca has a topknot,

02:45 - which is the floppy hair on the top of their head.

02:48 - Where llamas do not have a top knot.

02:50 - Instead, they have short hair on the top of their head.

02:54 - Now let's talk about some similarities between alpacas and llamas.

02:58 - Alpacas and llamas are both part of the Kamla family.

03:02 - They both have split up or legs.

03:05 - They both communicate using humming, clucking and ongoing noises.

03:10 - They will spit when written, angry

03:12 - and scared or to show dominance over each other.

03:15 - But the most common reason why they spit is when they're fighting over food.

03:21 - Alpaca,

03:22 - alpacas and llamas are both fiber meat.

03:26 - Show farm and therapy animal.

03:29 - They can both have one baby at a time.

03:32 - Their babies are called Cria, and it takes 11.5 months for them to have a baby.

03:38 - Does anybody have any questions?

03:40 - Before I move on to the next topic?

03:45 - Okay.

03:46 - Now we're going to talk about the breeds of alpacas.

03:49 - There's two breeds of alpacas, Siri and Makaya.

03:53 - Siri has soft, silky, long locks of hair,

03:56 - and Makaya has soft, dense and fluffy hair like a teddy bear.

04:01 - Did you know 19% of the alpaca

04:04 - world is makaya and only 10% is Siri?

04:08 - So if you go to an alpaca farm or see alpacas,

04:11 - you're most likely to see what Kaia and Siri here today.

04:15 - We have three Lucaya alpacas.

04:18 - This is firecracker, the light brown pumpkin, and the white one is Eve.

04:24 - Now let's

04:25 - talk about what we can make out of alpaca fiber.

04:28 - You can make hats, gloves, socks,

04:31 - felted ornaments, headbands, coasters,

04:35 - sweaters, and many other crafts.

04:38 - Does anybody have any questions?

04:41 - Okay.

04:43 - Now let's talk about what the differences

04:45 - are between alpaca fiber and sheep's wool.

04:48 - Alpaca fiber is completely hollow.

04:51 - We're sheep's will contain talk to there.

04:53 - That does not contain the heat as well.

04:55 - Alpaca fiber is lighter and warmer than shameful.

04:59 - It is also soft to touch with the silky sheen.

05:02 - Look.

05:02 - Finally, alpaca fiber is hypoallergenic,

05:06 - which means there's no lanolin and alpaca fiber,

05:09 - which is an oil and sheep wool that some people are allergic to.

05:15 - Next, we're going to talk about shearing alpacas.

05:18 - We shear alpacas once a year, typically between April and June.

05:22 - This helps to keep them from overheating in the hot summer months.

05:27 - Alpaca fiber is collected and three

05:29 - main categories first, seconds and thirds.

05:33 - First is most commonly known as the main blanket.

05:37 - It consists of their back and both their sides.

05:40 - Well, second is the neck, the up

05:43 - and the upper leg and thirds is the lower like and belly.

05:47 - Now we're going to talk about breeding alpacas.

05:50 - When breeding alpacas they can have one baby at a time.

05:54 - Their babies are called Cria.

05:56 - It takes 11.5 months for them to have a baby.

05:59 - And when an alpaca gives birth, it's called unpacking.

06:03 - Alpacas are just layers, which means they don't have a breeding season.

06:08 - Instead, the males will make an ongoing or clacking noise

06:12 - to put the females in a state where they can then breed.

06:15 - Take a farm with your alpacas. Pregnant.

06:17 - You can put the female and a male and the pen together,

06:20 - and if your female is pregnant, she will split off,

06:23 - which means she will spit back at the male or she'll slowly and run away.

06:27 - If your female is not pregnant, she will lay down in a position.

06:31 - Does anybody have any questions?

06:36 - Okay.

06:36 - Now we're going to talk about how we care for our alpacas.

06:39 - It's actually quite simple.

06:41 - They get two cups of their alpaca pellets each day.

06:45 - Free choice orchard grass hay second and third cuttings,

06:49 - free choice minerals, pasture grass and clean water.

06:54 - You also can give them a shot of ivermectin or doctor

06:57 - Max to prevent illnesses.

06:59 - Speaking of illnesses, some common illnesses in alpacas

07:03 - are similar to sheep and goats, such as ninja mites

07:07 - parasites, and they can also get sick from poisonous plants.

07:11 - But that's just to mention a few.

07:13 - Now, Kyle is going to tell us a little bit about alpaca poop.

07:18 - Hi, I'm Kylie.

07:19 - King, and today I'm going to talk to you about it.

07:23 - A part of it is often called magic beans or black girl

07:27 - alpaca boosters.

07:28 - Nutrients such as n, p and k I'll talk about

07:31 - will not run your plants like chicken because it is low in nitrogen.

07:36 - Did you know you can make.

07:37 - I've had tea bags to make it a bag of tea bag.

07:40 - You take a plastic bag, put some pockets within it,

07:43 - filling it with water and let it sit in a day for sun.

07:46 - Then to pour on your plants.

07:47 - It will help them grow better.

07:50 - Alpacas, you community dung piles.

07:52 - So basically they take all of their poop and they just put it in one pile together

07:56 - and they never go anywhere else unless, besides,

07:58 - they do not like that pile anymore.

08:00 - Got to form.

08:01 - They don't like it, and then they move somewhere else.

08:04 - Alpaca poop does

08:05 - not smell, but but deer can smell it.

08:09 - So if you want to know

08:10 - if you have deer problems with, like your ring in your garden, use put some.

08:13 - Been there and the deer will go away.

08:15 - And that's all about.

08:16 - And that's as well. Sorry.

08:18 - And as you bump into Caitlyn.

08:24 - Thank you Kylie.

08:26 - Now we're going to talk a little bit about showing alpacas.

08:30 - When showing alpacas there's two different sections.

08:33 - Youth showing an adult showing.

08:35 - Youth showing is an obstacle course.

08:38 - Well they'll work for how well the youth can handle.

08:41 - And control the alpaca which is in and shows is known as showmanship

08:45 - and how well the alpaca can navigate through a variety of obstacles.

08:50 - Adult showing is the design of the animal was a look for the conformation

08:54 - and form of the alpacas body and the look for the fineness,

08:58 - density, luster or brightness or crimp and the alpacas fiber.

09:04 - Now I'm going to demonstrate what I use.

09:06 - Also, of course, we look like in a show up.

09:09 - First we have the come

09:11 - weaving through the tight or enclosed spaces can scare some alpacas.

09:15 - Come on.

09:16 - Yeah, yeah.

09:25 - Up next we have the teeter totter.

09:27 - The up and down movement can scare the alpacas.

09:34 - Over here we have the tarp.

09:36 - The sun reflecting off the tarp can scare the animals.

09:39 - And it also makes a crinkling noise as you walk over it.

09:45 - Up next we have the tires.

09:48 - Alpacas don't like placing their feet in small or enclosed spaces, and it's also

09:52 - a different texture than what they'd be used to out in a pasture.

09:59 - Next, I'm going to back her up

10:01 - along this lead rope line, and it's all just.

10:12 - That girl

10:14 - now she's going to do the limbo.

10:35 - And now she's going to go over the top.

10:40 - It's time

10:42 - for me.

10:55 - And now she's going to go through the hoop.

11:09 - Let's try that one more time.

11:11 - Okay.

11:12 - Ready?

11:18 - Does anybody have any questions?

11:22 - Thank you.