ALPACAS
Our Herd
The Broadgate herd started with a small group of 6. Two castrated boys – Ollie and Dexter and four girls Georgia, Marzipan, Beau and Caramel. They came from a lady near Oxford who had lost her husband and could no longer keep them.
Since then we bought a beautiful grey stud male – Riccardo and four more females – Octavia, Frieda, Sweetpea and Star. We very Sadly lost Georgia and Marzipan due to old age. We have successfully produced a number of cria and I hand-reared a tiny baby Cria whose mum had rejected her on a friend's farm called Button. Caramel, Octavia, Sweetpea and Star are all pregnant and we await their offspring with bated breath.
The Girls
Button
Broadgate’s Star of the Show. Button was born on a friend's farm near Glastonbury. Her mum accidentally fell pregnant and was really too old to cope. She had abandoned Button at birth and she was rescued by the farmer who was hand-rearing her but didn’t really have the time. So Button came to Broadgate Farm when she was only a few weeks old. It was winter and she was tiny so Button stayed with us at night in the farmhouse until the weather improved and she was 5 months old. As a result, Button loves people, she comes on walks around the farm with the dogs and she will do anything for a few grapes and a cuddle.
Beau
Beau is one of Dexter's daughters. Before she came to Broadgate farm she had problems with mites on her legs which had gone untreated. We quickly sorted that out but Beau will always have thick scaly skin on her legs as a result. Beau got pregnant and gave birth to a beautiful female Cria who was very sadly born deformed and had to be put to sleep. She was examined by the UK’s leading alpaca specialist who said there was no reason why she shouldn’t successfully have another Cria but Beau just hasn’t let a male near her since (clever girl).
Caramel
Caramel is another one of Dexter’s daughters. She seems to take after her present owner….she is FAT…and no amount of trying to get her to lose weight seems to work, she loves her food and will do anything for a bucket with a few nuts in it. We were concerned that Caramel was just too fat to get pregnant but finally, on our fourth year of trying, she fell pregnant and produced our lovely boy Cosmo. The following year Caramel fell pregnant to Riccardo and produced a lovely boy called Magic. Magic was born with a front foot in the wrong position and spent his first month in a series of splints to correct the issue. Magic has gone to live at an animal therapy centre. Caramel is pregnant to Riccardo again this year and we await the result!
Octavia
Octavia arrived with Riccardo. She was pregnant but they had no idea when the mating happened so we did not know when she was due. Octavia had a beautiful female Cria we called Opal and it broke all of our hearts when we lost her.
The following year Octavia produced a beautiful boy called Orion whom she doted on. What a great mother she turned out to be. In January 2023 Orion and his pals Paco and Amadeus went to live on a lovely farm in Leicestershire. Last year she produced a beautiful girl called Luna who has become a part of our herd. She is pregnant again this time to Cosmo, we await the result.
Frieda
Frieda is our only Suri Alpaca, she is an older lady and has replaced Georgia as the herd matriarch. Her old boyfriend Jupiter was brought to her as a stud for her very last chance to get pregnant before she is too old. This was not successful but we love her anyway.
Sweetpea
Sweetpea and Star came from a farm in Cumbria. They were pals before they came, so travelling and settling in together was pretty easy. Sweetpea is the quieter of the two, but to date the least tame. They are both halter trained and reasonable to handle. Sweetpea was mated with Riccardo and had a beautiful cria named Merlin. She is pregnant again and we await this years cria.
Star
We bought Star and Sweetpea in the summer of 2021 so that Button would have some female company her own age. Star is the troublemaker of the herd now. She is always kicking her heels and charging about, chasing the others and trying to bonk the older ladies (who are not best amused). Star was mated with Riccardo, a risk since mating two greys can result in miscarriage. Unfortunately, it did, so this year we have mated her with Cosmo and await the result.
Luna
Luna is Octavia's third cria and our first successful female cria born at Broadgate Farm.
The Boys
Ollie
We have no history about Ollie but strongly suspect he is an alpaca x llama. Ollie is a protector of the young alpacas and ran interference when Cosmo joined the male herd to stop him from being picked on by the older boys. What a superstar. Ollie has had some problems with jaw abscesses and has had a long course of antibiotics. We are hoping they don't reoccur.
Riccardo
We always wanted a grey alpaca, we fell in love with his photo online and when we enquired he was already spoken for…..and then the sale fell through ….yippee. So to his forever home he came, wild as the hills, terrified of humans but loving his new girls. Riccardo needed no help learning how to mate and on his first attempt scored a hole in one. He's become pretty tame and handleable now, but perhaps only to us.
Dexter
Dexter is father to Caramel and Beau and grandfather to Cosmo. Although now gelded he still behaves as if he is entire and clearly wishes he was.
Cosmo
Born in the summer of 2020. Son of Caramel and Mungo. Grandson of Dexter and our firstborn here at Broadgate Farm. In 2022 we tried to mate Cosmo with Star, it took him a while to get the hang of it but she was very patient but even with some human interference, he did not succeed. Last year Cosmo was mated with Octavia and Star, and we are hoping for great results.
