Token Creek Alpacas

Snowmass Escobar’s Marvel

From Marvel’s pervious owner Lynn Edens of Little Creek Farm:

Congratulations to Elden and Ronelle Harms of Token Creek Alpacas on this new addition to their herd. There are some dams that come along that are just amazing across the board and impossible to pass up–one of these is Snowmass Escobar’s Marvel, dam of our herdsire, Snowmass Elite Hallmark. She’ll be traveling to Wisconsin to be a great producer for Token Creek. After she delivers her cria from Snowmass Crystal Code she’ll be ready to breed to the Token Creek’s awesome herdsire, PacaParadise Peruvian White Walker, I can’t wait to see what that breeding produces!

Check our Marvel’s histogram below and note the test was when she was 12.5 years of age. The cria from the Crystal Code produced an exceptional male, Token Creek Crystal Elevation, aka Eli. Marvel is bred to Paca Paradise White Walker for a July 2024 birth.

Trieste is an new addition to our farm having recently purchased her directly from Lynn Edens at Snowmass Alpacas. We specifically chose her based on her extreme uniformity (SD) and excellent fineness (AFD) as detailed in her histogram. Follow the link below to view the histogram. Trieste is bred to our champion white male White Walker. That combination of genetics should produce a stellar cria with excellent SD and fleece weight. Oh, the anticipation!

Expression of elite fiber characteristics is the hallmark of any elite breeding male, and White Walker checks every one of the boxes.  He sets the standard with a complete package of fineness, density, staple length, and a remarkable degree of uniformity. All this and a solid conformation. Both his dam and sire lines bring these traits through Snowmass Elite Legend, Snowmass Defiance, Accoyo America Tronador, and STLR Angeltron–each with exceptional EPD statistics. What isn’t shown on his histograms and density/skin biopsy report are his well-balanced frame and pleasant disposition.

The EPD information provided shows that White Walker is number six. He actually tied for number five of all male alpacas in the AOA EPD database for standard deviation of average fiber diameter. But it gets better. Of those top five, White Walker is first in EPDs for both staple length and fleece weight. Astute breeders understand the importance of these traits in advancing the fleece quality in their herd. White Walker gives up nothing in average fiber diameter (AFD 18.9µ at 35 months of age), ranking in the top five percent of all males in the EPD program. His first crias have hit the ground here at Token Creek Alpacas and we couldn’t be more pleased. We are excited and eager to now offer him for outside breedings.

The care of your female while at our farm is of utmost importance to us. Our local veterinarian is only 15 minutes away and the University of Wisconsin Veterinary Teaching Hospital is a quick 40-minute drive for those times when a higher degree of expertise is needed. All pregnancies are confirmed on the farm via ultrasound. The breeding fee includes 30 days of boarding after a confirmed pregnancy.

Fantine was awarded the brown Reserve Color Championship at the 2020 Alpaca Owners Association National Show at only eight months of age. We are so pleased with the fleece quality of this girl. Great brightness, crimp from base to tip with wonderful uniformity of fineness. All of that carries across her full blanket and onto her legs and neck. Her dam is our own bred and raised TCFA Tawny. We went outside our herd in choosing Fantine’s sire and decided on JLFA Millenium’s Peruvian Ventura (aka Vinnie). He’s an eight time champion with award winning offspring, with EPDs in the top 1 and 5%. This guy is stellar and has produced a stellar female in Fantine. We’ll be breeding her to our two time Reserve Champion white male, PacaParadise Peruvian White Walker.

Cosette was incredibly thriving as a cria, having what I think is the highest weaning weight of any alpaca born here at Token Creek Alpacas, a whopping 90 pounds (at 7 months of age)! We love those robust youngster. She has continued to be just that while sporting a very nice frame and fleece. Her dam is our own MFI Sandles who births some of the best offspring we see here, four females and one male to date. We chose Snowmass Accoyo Elite Ice for Sandle’s breeding that produced Cosette. Both the dam and sire lines are heavy with white and we were surprised with Cosette being light fawn but we’ll take it when it comes with the fleece she has. Nice brightness, long staple and wonderful bundling. Cosette is bred and confirmed pregnant via ultrasound to our PacaParadise Peruvian White Walker for a June 2024 birth.

 

Julep is the daughter of our Judge’s Choice and Color Champion foundation dam Token Creek’s Derby Girl. We leased her sire, Bravado’s Allianza Medallion back in 2010 to bring uniformity to a few of our females and that’s exactly what he did. Take a look at Julep’s histogram at the link below to get a sense of her fleece qualities. We sold Julep a couple years ago and through a change of circumstance with the buyers, we were able to purchase her back. Julep is currently open but a complimentary breeding to either Paca Paradise White Walker or Avalon’s Majestic Peruvian Talisman is included. Julep is a perfect light fawn color and will bring very correct conformation and high quality fleece qualities to your breeding program.

I enjoy weather changes, I can’t see myself living in a place without seasons, Wisconsin suits me just fine. My favorite season change is summer to fall, I know I’m not the only person that loves the cool weather, beautiful colors and the end of fly and mosquito season. And, crazy as it sounds I embrace the clean up after summer. By September my vegetable garden is out of control; I have slacked off on weed pulling, my plants are overgrown, dying back and blooming is past on everything but a few late season flowers. This year I enjoyed vacation the last week of September and just like almost all farmers, we didn’t take a vacation, we stayed right here. Fortunately the rain held off for most days and I was able to begin my fall cleanup.

Here are my two gardens this summer, you can see I have lots to clean up!

The tomato and cucumber garden.

The tomato and cucumber bed cleared out.

The main vegetable garden

When people visit our farm in the summer they almost always say, “Oh, your flowers!”. And, I reply, “Flowers are my thing”. I give credit for my love of flora to my Grandmas, Minnie Ackerman and Lena Lender. Minnie had a huge vegetable garden, raspberry patch and sweet peas that grew on the side of her garage. BTW, I don’t think I’ve ever tasted raspberry pie or raspberry jelly like Grandma A’s, nope never. Lena had flowers, flowering bulbs and flowering shrubs in her town yard. Oh, her Lilac’s were so fragrant and beautiful, I had them at my wedding 43 years ago. I have a soft spot for yellow tulips, they were at Grandma L’s back door; always the first burst of color after a long Northern Illinois winter. What sweet memories I have of my Grandmas, I’ll need to write a blog post on them, but back to clean up!

Our granddaughter Freya with a bucket of blooms ready to arrange.

My husband, the all-knowing and wise farmer tells me, “You have too many flowerbeds and garden spots to keep up”. Like usual, he’s right but, don’t tell him I admitted this. Clean up is the price I pay for walking out to the garden and harvesting veggies for dinner or cutting a huge bouquet of blooms for my table. In late September I start cleanup with my vegetable gardens; growing fences and tomato cages need to be taken down, plant debris carted off and compost spread for the winter. Thank goodness I have the bucket of the tractor, it makes clean up so easy and I feel so accomplished when it’s finished.

After clean out of the vegetable garden; our tractor Gabe and the very helpful bucket.
Flowerbeds are harder for me to clear out, I just can’t say goodbye to the possibility of a late bloom on one of my flowers. I do clean out my perennial beds early, they won’t be blooming again this year, but I am holding out on my annual beds. With the shortened sunlight and cloudy days (and rain) my late summer gardens aren’t as beautiful as they normally are. One of my favorite annual plants is the Victoria Salvia and it is still sending up purple spires, my marigolds are bright and pretty although the blooms are not as huge as they were this summer. My red geraniums are looking poorly, the question – bring them in for the winter or let them go – a gardener’s fall dilemma.

My big flowerbed past its glory.

Once we have a freeze, I’ll have no choice – everything will be frozen back and cleanup will resume in my big flowerbed. Until then, I’m enjoying every last hint of color.

Thanks for reading my ramblings of life on our little farm.

Token Creek Alpacas has a history of supporting the University of Wisconsin School of Veterinary School in general and in particular the Small Ruminant Club; we love having these students visit our farm. Once or twice a year we invite the club for our monthly herd health day. With nearly 40 animals of assorted ages, both sexes and with females in different stages of pregnancy it’s an opportunity for the students to have hands on experience with alpacas. Elden corresponds with the club president, we set a mutual date and we begin to plan for their arrival.

Elden aka the Farmer and I print health records, prepare our barn and gather supplies. On the day of our clinic we begin by welcoming everyone in the house for a morning beverage and quick overview of the day. Once in the barn Elden fills everyone in on what is ahead and gives them basic information on alpacas. The Farmer works through the particular procedures he’s developed over the past several years, always taking all the time necessary for questions from students. From the importance of weighing each alpacas to drawing up injections, checking eye membranes for anemia to checking under tails – it’s all covered.

Students rotate through procedures, they learn about body scoring, check for tooth abscesses, ear problems, skin issues and we explain stages of alpaca life. Toe nails, teeth and utters are checked as well.  Each animal has a place on the herd health form, details are written by a student, weights are recorded, injections are given, vitamins administered as needed and every health detail taken care of.

After several hours in the barn filled with firsthand experience and questions we all gather in the house for a hearty lunch together. This time is especially enjoyable as we greet returning students, rotate around the tables asking everyone’s name, where they hail from and ask everyone to answer a few quick questions: Why Vet School?  Do you expect to practice large or small animal care? Why the small Ruminant Club?  Answers are as varied as the personalities and often surprising.  From the student who was raised on a dairy goat farm in New England to someone interested in small animals from L.A., it’s great hearing everyone’s story.

Students are always thankful for a little time away from campus and a meal they don’t have to prepare!  Elden and I want them to feel relaxed and at home here. We explain our farm has a pressure free zone around it and we hope everyone can enjoy the experience, food and fellowship. After finishing in the barn, we even take time for a group photo op!  When we stand on our back steps and wave as the students drive away, our hope is the day has been as much of a blessing to them as it’s been to us.

Talisman is a beautiful dark fawn son of the well known Jeremiah’s Peruvian Jumanji from Majestic Meadows and a two time Reserve Color Champion. His overall conformation is excellent, including an upright posture, perfect bite, and handsome head. Judge Amanda VandenBosch commented on the excellent soft handle of his fiber and the overall great degree of brightness. Be sure to check out his histogram at four years of age, the link is below. We have a few offspring from Talisman and all have shown great uniformity and brightness. Bring some color and brightness to your breeding program with Talisman.

This is from a hand spinner that we had spin up Talisman’s second or third fleece:

“This was an absolutely exquisite fleece. Everything about it was amazing. It was a super long staple and a nice even crimp. It’s extremely soft but also extremely silky. It’s incredibly shiny and the color is just gorgeous. I’m pretty sure I just kept saying “wow” the entire time I was spinning it. Really, really beautiful.

It took a bit of time for Melody to show the fleece quality we expected from her. As a cria and juvenile, fleece architecture was certainly there but not showing the consistent crimp we expected. Her second fleece is very nice, showing the base to tip zipper crimp we had hoped to see. That display of fleece character earned her a first place out of eight entries in the fawn yearling class at the 2018 AOA National Show. Melody is bred to our stellar white male, Paca Paradise White Walker for a fall 2024 cria.