Alpalcas attract visitors to Manakin-Sabot’s Thistledown Photo by Ken Odor Published: November 04, 2009 By Ken Odor In a light mist, three crias romped as visitors watched at Thistledown Alpacas last Saturday. It was the first day of the farm’s third annual Halloween open house. Sunday was canceled due to pouring rain, but has been rescheduled for Sunday, November 8. By the way, a cria is a young alpaca, and they evidently like to tussle with each other. like puppies in a litter, to establish who’s boss. Owners Malcolm Sheddon and Jane Christie have been raising alpacas on their Manakin Sabot farm for the last nine years. Saturday they let children walk the trained alpacas on lead ropes, taking them over jumps and having their parents take pictures of them with the alpacas. The animals are raised for their fiber, which can be spun and woven like wool. The Thistledown farm store offers a number of items for sale made from fiber from the herd. At Thistledown they also raise alpacas for sale. Malcolm, a former software engineer, credited his wife Jane, who has a background in law, marketing and management, for doing the research that led to the couple changing their lifestyle to raising alpacas. Their three daughters, Katie (14), Samantha (12) and Jessica (7) help out on the farm. They also show their animals. Recently Katie won the Youth Performance Champion at the largest alpaca show in Virginia. Samantha takes care of the family’s French angora fiber rabbits and has designed some of the needle felting kits for sale at the farm store and included them in her portfolio to be accepted into the County Gifted Art Program, said Jane. Jessica collects the eggs from the chickens and ducks and has been showing alpacas for three years. Jessica’s favorite alpaca is Meriadok. “He’s real cute and he’s my friend,” she said, as she showed fiber harvested from the animals on the farm. “Part of the attraction is that you don’t have to kill them,” said Malcolm of his herd, although he acknowledged that in Peru they are used for meat. Not so at Thistledown, where they have 13 acres, nine devoted to their 32 alpaca herd. Malcolm said alpacas, which can live 20 years, do well in Virginia except during the extreme summer heat. “They don’t like it,” he said. “We hose them down to keep them cool.” They also have a barn with fans for cooling. Jane said alpacas are social animals and they would not sell just one to a buyer “They wouldn’t do well – they might die,” she said. Malcolm said he knows of others who are clearing land and thinking about getting into the business. For more information on Thistledown visit their Web site at http://www.thistledownalpacas.com.
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