For Angie Baloun, raising alpacas is a family affair.
Her farm, Baloun’s Alpaca Acres in Manitou, Man., is home to 30 of the curious, calm and wooly-coated camelids.
Baloun and her twin daughters Kaila and Ashley began breeding alpacas in 2008. This past weekend, they showed off the best of their brood at the 21st annual Manitoba Keystone Classic Alpaca Show.
“Alpacas are a very addictive, enjoyable livestock,” Angie said. “You see a lot of mothers, daughters, fathers, sons, whatever… it definitely does carry on through the generations.”
The Alpaca Classic is the only alpaca show in Manitoba and one of a handful in Western Canada, Angie said. She and her daughters compete every year and even book their holidays around making the annual pilgrimage.
The Balouns are one of 16 farms bringing more than 70 alpacas to the two-day event, where animals are sorted by age and colour and judged on the colour and quality of their fleece.
Alpacas are safe and easy animals to work with, which is why they were a good fit for her family, Angie said. They’re smart, have a gentle temperament and unique personalities and the fibre from their fuzzy fleece creates beautiful products like toques, scarves and socks.
“It’s just been so nice with the family getting to grow up with them. We’ve spent countless hours out in the barn together just talking purely alpacas,” Ashley said. “It’s lots and lots of fun.”
A family affair
Angie was a stay-at-home mom living on Manitou farm when they first got alpacas almost 20 years ago. She wanted an animal her four children could work with that was both safe and offered a challenging learning experience.
“We weren’t really interested in having to butcher our animals or that side of things … I was excited about the idea of raising animals, processing fibre,” Angie said. “The kids grew up [in] animal husbandry, breeding, birthing, sheering, knitting, and selling our products… It’s a whole journey.”
The Balouns give the animals an annual haircut, which comes with a sense of pride nurturing and creating beautiful fibre, Angie said, adding it’s neat seeing the fibre they processed being used for products people in their community can wear.
It’s been exciting being in the industry because it has slowly grown over the years, Ashley said. Each Keystone Classic feels like a reunion where they can be with other breeders who are part of their extended “alpaca family.” She said it remains a cottage industry in Manitoba because there is no mass production of garments in the province, though there are mills breeders use to produce yarns from their herd’s fleece.
Visiting the show also offers insights into the industry and best practices for the animals.
“You can think about how you maybe want to change your own breeding program to make an even nicer alpaca,” Ashley said.
Angie said one of the biggest changes in the industry has been the quality of alpacas and their fleece.
“Coming to show is the best way to see what other breeders’ best animals are and what they’re doing,” Angie said.
She’s excited her daughters love the animals as much as she does and continue to come to shows and help grow the industry.
“I love it. It’s what keeps me going,” she said. “We’re constantly talking about breeding decisions, where we want to go with our herd. It’s very much been a family adventure that’s going to continue.”