We are a small farm who has made a commitment to breeding some of the finest quality alpacas possible. We started out small and will remain small as far as herd count is concerned. As a breeding philosophy, we have recognized early on that the future for successful alpaca farms will be determined by the overall fleece quality of their animals. Quality can mean many things, here at Bucks Meadow Alpaca Farm, quality is determined by the overall fleece on the alpaca. Proper conformation and balance is a given and expected, but at the end of the day, fleece fineness and structure becomes the overall deciding factor that separates quality from average.

We have spent years of travel across the U.S. attending and visiting many shows to better understand why certain alpacas and farms are successful. We also have had the privilege of getting our hands on many winning animals and inspect their winning fleece. Our goal was to see first hand what fleece characteristics were evident on these show-winning animals. Another element we have noticed, after countless hours of offspring research, is not every breeding to a champion herdsire will produce a champion cria or even a cria that places in shows. This certainly is a good starting point but no guarantees, the selected dam will play a role. Research through the ARI database has shown that only a small percentage of crias produced from champion herdsires are as successful.

In other words, if a herdsire has sired 100 crias, eventually a successful cria will be produced. Would it make more sense to consider a herdsire that produced only 50 crias but had a significantly higher percentage of producing winning crias?  With this in mind, we tend to look more at the success of the offspring to determine the probability of a herdsire producing a quality cria. But since we are focused on fineness, we also factor in histogram results using multiple years to current year. Can the alpaca hold their micron count with age? The change in fiber characteristics is a trait that will be passed on to the cria. Lastly, we look at genetics as a marker since all past champions began here. 

Our goal is to continually gain knowledge and put in practice what we have learned over the years. We are always willing to share our knowledge with other farms or helping new farms get started.  Since we both have full time professional careers, we can afford to be patient and selective with our farm direction. By remaining small, we are able to have control of our breeding decisions and our decisions are a reflection of our commitment to only produce low micron elite fleeces. This belief has become our standard and we will not compromise on it. We also feel it is the best approach for the future alpaca industry.

Alpacas are a phenomenal animal that deserves great respect for what they have to offer. It is rewarding to have someone tell you how pleased they are with your products or animals because of their wonderful fleece! It is no wonder why alpaca fleece was considered royalty by the Incas, they had it right!

Dave and Julie Wroblewski
Bucks Meadow Alpaca Farm