Friday, June 1, 2012

Writing in pink because the Cria are coming and so far I am 2 for 2 girls!!!!!


Rosie Beau K delivered a med. fawn beauty on day 357 ( May 30th)
Darling Darla delivered a med/dark brown beauty on day 358 ( May 31st)


Both of these girls were sired by my Kaptain Jack, who by the way is available for lease...


So far he has sired 6 Cria and 4 are girls. I am awaiting the arrival of two more very soon so we will see what we get!!!!


Kaptain Jack can be seen here: http://openherd.com/alpacas-for-sale/15068/kaptain-jack



The new girls can be seen here too: http://openherd.com/FarmList.aspx?Farm=1446&page=afs


Here is a little sneak peak, they are so cute I just have to share<3





Wednesday, April 11, 2012

Here I am not keeping up with my Blog! I always have the best intentions but we all know how life is! April is here and Spring is in the air, we have actually had some Summer like weather for a bit up in the 80's which is unheard of here in Michigan. All of the pregnant girls are looking nice and round. Birthing time will be here before we know it. As always I have been spinning up my handspun yarns trying to use up the remainder of lasts years shearing. As you know I always have raw fiber available for sale.
Just let me know what colors you are looking for.

You can view my herd listings here, I have a super package deal available if you are looking to get started with your own little herd.

http://openherd.com/farms/1446/koehlers-4-star-alpacas

Rosie took another blue ribbon at the AlpacaPalooza spin off and Darla and Sophie each took a third place. Several more entries out awaiting show time.

Monday, March 5, 2012

New Marketing program for American Alpaca

http://www.fibre2fashion.com/news/textile-news/newsdetails.aspx?news_id=108562
New marketing and sales program for American Alpaca fiber!





This weekends Hand Spun

Here is the yarn I spun up over the weekend and a picture of my wheel!




Looking to clear out my remaining fleece. I do process most of my own into handspun yarn, felted scarves and knitted items but have quite a bit left and shearing time is coming soon so I will have a bunch more. Please take a look at my farm page and if interested in any fleeces let me know. Right now I know I have a lot of whites left, dark browns,Bay Black and some rose grey. I will get pictures up of each. I will sell by the pound or ounce let me know what you want and I can price accordingly. See my herd
http://openherd.com/farms/1446/koehlers-4-star-alpacas

Tuesday, February 21, 2012

For the serious grey breeder I am offering two of my very best girls! Act fast before I change my mind!
Rosie is a 6 times ribbon winner, beautiful rose grey girl.
Cadi is a fawn out of 2 greys and is herself developing some darker spots on her. Carries a AFD of only 17 at 2yrs of age.

Cadi is bred to my ribbon winning Rose grey male Chewpaca.
Rosie has been bred to our grey maker Kaptain Jack.

http://openherd.com/alpacas-for-sale/14753/4-stars-rosie-beau-k

http://openherd.com/alpacas-for-sale/16727/4-stars-arcadia

You can see my entire herd here:
http://openherd.com/FarmList.aspx?Farm=1446&page=afs

Monday, February 13, 2012

Exciting -  I am looking at adding a new Herdsire to my herd and boy I have found some nice males! One that I am really leaning towards is a 1/2 Bolivian Dark Fawn male. He is very unique in that he is solid dark fawn except for his two front legs. They are light fawn. He is beautiful, Very fine even at 3yrs of age he is holding at AFD of 22 - SD of 4 - CV of 18 and comfort factor of 97.7% WOW
Very impressive<3
Here are a few pictures of him. Let me know what you think. His Sire is a 2x color champion and has won 12 Blues!



Monday, February 6, 2012

So excited, just started adding items to a great new site.
http://www.alpacafleeces.com/shop/Koehlers4Star

Here I will be listing handspun yarns, hats,scarves and even an Alpaca or two!
2012 Has arrived and brings with it many exciting changes.
I have acquired another grey female to add to my foundation herd. Very much looking forward to bringing her home. WRA Peruvian Domingo is also going to a new home. He is going to be taking his place on Herdsire row over at Clear Sky Alpacas. Very happy that he is going to be staying in Michigan! I have retained 2 breedings as he produces beautiful babies.

Last year we moved several animals and currently I have my herd down to 12.
That will be changing as the birthing season gets closer as I an very excited about the pending births we are expecting.
Ellie has been bred to our Kaptain Jack in hopes of drawing out some of that color from her again.

Rosie, we are hoping can give us another beautiful rose grey cria as she too is bred to Kaptain Jack.

Darla and Cadi our going to be first time Mom's this year.

Darla was also bred to Kaptain Jack and Cadi with our Chewpaca.

Candy, who has always took on her first breeding has me wondering this year. She was put back with Domingo as we are so thrilled with their son Dominator, but she was also exposed to Kaptain Jack as we had him in checking some other girls and she did go down for him.
Can not wait to see this years crop of New Cria. Really hoping that Kaptain Jack comes through and brings us many more greys!


Thursday, September 22, 2011

Fall

Once again I seem to be slacking on the up keep of a blog. I do enjoy sharing what has been goin on here on the Farm and what I have been up to with my spinning and knitting projects. I am really, really going to try to at least update weekly.
I have just signed on 5 spinners to do some spinning for me. Great concept, I give them 2 pounds of fleece they spin one up for me and they get to keep the other for them selves. I am very excited to see the finished results.
All of the Cria from last fall are doing great, been blessed to have a happy and healthy herd this year.
I am going through something with one of my males that has me very concerned.
If any of you are familiar with the term Berserk Male or Abberant syndrome you know what I am talking about.
This is very rare, but can be caused by having to bottle feed a cria and allowing that Cria to get too friendly. Sometimes the Cria was just friendly to begin with and they are so hard to resist hugging and kissing.

I have learned my lesson the hard way. My first and only bottle baby Dipper has matured this year. HE is now 3 and full of male hormones. He has decided that he is no longer allowing me into the males side without a confrontation. he runs to the gate tail raised and head up pacing back and forth. He has so much as knocked me into the wall and fence, bumped into me when I was bending over. He will not allow me to enter through the gate, he stands in front of it as if daring me to come in. I have been trying to make myself very big, carring a plastic stick with me or a rake at all times. I am always yelling NO in a very loud and firm voice. Sometimes this works and sometimes not so much.
Been doing a lot of reading and searching for information but there is not a lot out there. If this can not be stopped the outcome is not good as these males can become a real threat, as it is now I do not trust him and will never, ever turn my back on him.
I am also hoping that will fall here and breedings done for the year that maybe the hormones will settle down a bit and we can get on track with some more learning for both of us. Dipper needs to re learn his place and to respect mine. This is very important and I will be updating any and all results we make.



Tuesday, February 22, 2011

Items of the week.

Alright as promised I finally got the baby snugglie done and did a hat to match. Could not be happier with how it turned out. Here are a few pictures. Only wish I had a real baby to try it out on.
I think this would be a wonderful shower gift for the new parents.And what a wonderful keepsake item.





I have also gotten brave and tried my hand at some new yarn techniques.
Core spun yarns are so unique and I really wanted to give it a try so after much reading and searching the web for how to's I gave it a go.

Let me know what you think of my first core spun... I really like how it turned out and have a few ideas for some more.






Check back soon as I will be posting more pictures.

Friday, February 11, 2011

The week in review

Hello friends, just wanted to share a update on the week.
Been working on a project that I am really excited about. I am knitting up a baby snuggly. It should be very nice, made of 100% alpaca yarn hand spun by yours truly.Can not wait until I get it finished so that I can share some pictures with you.

Since it is so darn cold here in Michigan I have been spend a lot of time this week working on things inside. Been spinning up some yarn, sent a fiber sample pack out to a new friend that is just getting into spinning, hope she enjoys it. Received one of my pass it forwards this week a bunch of beautiful yarn from Sandy Kunath.
Thanks a bunch, I now have to decide what I am going to create with it. Will keep you all updated on my progress. The Pacas are doing well despite this cold. I have some girls that still would rather be outside than in, they have shelter but I always give them the option of where they want to be.
Will have to get a few new pics up of the Cria, they are growing fast and so darn cute... Sophie is still my little love. Hope you are all staying warm and keeping busy this cold winter.





Would love to see what everyone has been up to, share a link or photo please.

Thursday, February 3, 2011

Getting a late start, but here's to a New Year

Ok I just made a new friend and she asked if I had a blog. I was embarrassed to say yes, as I have not been very good at updating. Jeannie is my new motivation to make at least weekly updates.
Most of you know that last year was a terrible year for me and my family. Many losses, my Dad, my Grandfather and my Father in law. Also had a very sad outbreak of Barber pole worm and lost a couple of my beloved animals.
2011 is going to be better, and I remind myself of that every day.


Been busy carding up some of my fleece, just listed several batts in my Esty shop.
http://www.etsy.com/shop/Koehlers4StarAlpacas
It has been a very cold and snowy week. Had 5 ft drifts to try to shovel out of Wednesday as did many States.
The Pacas were very happy to see the snow blower coming as they could not get outside as the snow was too deep. Once a path was plowed everyone was happily running around again.

Well that is it for today, but I promise to make regular updates and post pics of what I have been up to. Just brought a couple bags of fleece in I need to spin up some yarn from my Kaptain Jack. I just love how his fleece spins.

Thursday, June 10, 2010

Sad sad day.

 The post below was on my facebook profile. I am so sad to report that we lost this girl. It all happened so fast and I will never know for sure what happened. We believe that the Cria must have twisted and turned during the night and ended up in a uterine torsion or breech position.

I want to thank all of my dear friends for the support during this  time.


 I have a Dam due June 4th. Last night she started walking in circles, doing the leg lift thing, front feet up and down then back feet up and down. Would start to cush down then get right back up and circle again.


She is a small framed girl and as big as a barrel. She ate fine yesterday, hosed bellies which she loves.
Very bulging back end puffy and loose. Checked on her several times through the night as I thought we may be having a night baby.
This morning she is cushed, did not get up when I brought out hay. She is not humming, I put a bucket of water in ... See Morefront of her and she is drinking but she will not get up. Her breathing does not look rapid.
I tried to get her to stand but got a face full of spit as I tried to lift her up.[xx(]

Should I wait through this morning and see what progresses? I am concerned that she will not stand, but I have only had 3 births here so am not real experienced , she has had a cria before no problems say the previous owner.
Do you ever have a Dam that just stays cushed until delivery?

I also have hay in front of her she does not want it, but it is there.

Do you think there is a problem or is she just miserable and does not want to move?

Open Herd

 As always I invite you to take a look at Openherd for Alpaca listings.
Please take a look you can help me win.



Tuesday, May 11, 2010

Glad my babies still have their fur coats on.

Wow, it is May isn't it?
29 degrees at night, wet and rainy and damp.

I am so very glad we have not sheared the Alpacas yet.
This year we are going to be doing the shearing our selves. So I am sure I will have some stories when we actually get to do it. I will be sure to post before and after pictures too. If I can stop laughing long enough to take them! No really it should not be bad, you have to give it a try to learn how to do it.
I figure, I was a hair dresser, I have clipped many heads of hair.
Why not give our Alpacas haircuts myself?
And when I do get this done I will have more fleece to get creative with.
http://www.etsy.com/shop/Koehlers4StarAlpacas
Please take a look at some of the items I have created.
You can also always find me on Facebook 4 Stars Facebook.

Tuesday, May 4, 2010

For the want to be Alpaca owner

If you have been thinking about purchasing this is the opportunity you have been waiting for.
With this package the more you buy the more you save.
All of my bred girls have been drastically reduced.

Need to make room for all of the Cria coming this year.

Purchase one girl as priced, purchase two and take $1,000 off, purchase all three and the savings are huge. Only $15,000 for three bred females that are all due this year- thus giving you 6 and will be rebred so next year you will already have 9.

Superb way to get a jump start on your herd. Diverse genetics, all different colors. Act fast as they are priced to sell now!



Showing off some of my Handspun Yarn

I would love to share some pictures of my Handspun yarn.
All of my yarns are 100% Alpaca, most are natural colors but I have really had a lot of fun doing some dying.
I would love to hear any feedback that you may have to offer.


Cria watch is almost here

Well we are now into May and Cria watch is about to begin.
Our first two Cria of the year are due the end of May.

I am so excited as these are going to be the first Cria on the ground from our Herdsires.
Matches I made, heres to hoping I made good choices.

Really excited about getting out first Domingo Cria from Ellie. Ellie lost her first Cria last year due a a placental detachment so I am nervous, will be keeping a very close eye on her.

Andromeda is a new girl and she is due the same day as Ellie, sure that wont happen but would be wonderful. Andromeda ( Drama girl as I call her) is bred to a Aussie Rockford son so this is a exciting birth as well.

You can see all of our Herdsires and our girls here:
http://www.openherd.com/farmPage.aspx?farm=1446

Wednesday, March 10, 2010

WRA Peruvian Domingo - Koehler's 4 Star Alpacas

WRA Peruvian Domingo - Koehler's 4 Star Alpacas

4Star's Spartacus Gold Fleece Shot

I somehow managed to get the best fleece shot I have ever taken yesterday.
This is from our Sparty. I will have him in the show ring this year.
From all of the great comments I have received on his fleece I am sure will be bringing home a ribbon or two!

Friday, March 5, 2010

Koehler's 4 Star Alpacas

Koehler's 4 Star Alpacas


March Madness Sale

This month only:
2 Proven Bred females Artic Boots and Princess Grace
This years Cria
Free breedbacks for next year

Super starter herd- One black female,one fawn female, this years cria and nexts years will give you a total of 6 for an unbeatable price.

Wednesday, March 3, 2010

Felting a Vest

Just wanted to check in and let you know what I have been up to today.
I have been wanting to try this for a while and decided that today was as good a day as any.
I am almost finished with my felted vest.
It has been an all day project as this is the first one I have ever done and am learning along the way.
I will have some pictures up tomorrow for you all to see.

Tuesday, March 2, 2010

Koehler's 4 Star Alpacas

Koehler's 4 Star Alpacas

All listings have been updated, we have some amazing bloodlines and what we believe are beautiful Alpacas!

Vote for Alpaca Love

OK if you have not seen this yet you have to take a minute and vote. We have already gotten over 400 votes today. You can vote once per day for the next 10 days.
Car with the most votes will be in the Nascar race.
Vote away and tell all your friends!!!

http://www.sponsafier.com/#/gallery/view/97080

Things I have made with my fleece!





The year 2010

Ok here it is already March and I was bound and determined that I was going to make regular posts to this blog. Ok starting now!

Well so far this year I have just been learning how to do many thing with my fleece.

I have done a lot of carding and spinning, really looking like yarn now!

I really love felting, have made some really cool items that I will post pictures of here too.

I have opened my very own Esty shop:
http://www.etsy.com/shop/Koehlers4StarAlpacas

My shawl has been entered into the natural fiber showcase, you can see it and vote here.
http://www.llamas-alpacas.com/Showcase/ShowcaseDetail.asp?ShowcaseID=34&SCLCat=fashion

Wednesday, September 23, 2009

Getting nervous about the show




Well I have decided that I must be crazy. I am really starting to worry about taking three boy's ( breeding age boy's) to the show.
Really hope I am not stalled next to a bunch of open females. YIKES!!!!

Wednesday, July 15, 2009

Welcome to 4 Star Alpacas






Just getting started with this Blogging so bear with me until I get the hang of this.
Here are pictures of this years Cria!