Great article. I did not know that about cotton grown in AZ and the pumping of H2O. In fact, Learned a lot about alpacas and will have to buy more yarn from alpacas. Thanks so much! I did share on Gab.
Another facet to this is the demand for 'fast fashion': Semi-disposable clothing meant to be worn for a season then discarded or given away. I'm not saying we need to go back to when people had one set of clothes, maybe two with one for Sundays, but we need to seriously examine why we need to have endless fadddish clothes spun from oil (and often made to imitate items made of real fibers, heck, I can barely find anything in stores made of cotton except occasionally sheets and underwear.).
Amazing article. I loved reading about your alpacas. I’m a knitter so I have some familiarity with animal fibers but not so much about the production side.
I have backyard chickens. I think anyone can do it, I recently wrote about getting started brooding lots of chicks and selling off extras to offset your startup costs https://texbat.substack.com/p/how-to-get-started-with-backyard. Today I sold 6 chicks for $20 each and they’re not even 5 weeks old yet. I don’t vaccinate my birds and I give them quality feed and let them free range and they never have health problems (except for the occasional hawk attack)
And I made a conscious effort to buy organic cotton. It’s easy to find baby clothes in organic cotton but it gets harder the more you grow. For kids it’s mostly PJs. Good thing my 4 year old is in a “wear unicorn rainbow pjs 24/7” stage (hey, at least she’s wearing pants)
tee-riffic and facinatin' deep dive into fibers--beautiful pix of the alpacas an' info-wise much I didn't know 'bout (though fer long I have known about the "cotton con" and the pesky-cides an' all) Up here in the N. East there are quite a few folks that have alpacas an' sell their lovely wool, some also raise and sell grassfed meat (usually lamb) at our farmer's market--my younger daughter does spinnin' (spindle not wheel) and has made some nice yarn from alpaca--bee-u-tee-ful stuff! I love knowin' how it's so much better from a resources perspective too--never thought much 'about that... Not to resist a nice bit'o Fall cornball, folks gotta be "woolin'" to rethink their fibers--and give better'uns a big high-fibe(r)...
I became chemically sensitive to almost everything. Glyphosate is a terrible thing! Ruined my generation (56) along with the other junk in the air and food. It’s very difficult to find organic products, I bought feminine hygiene product , twice as expensive and once I read the fine print, only the top layer was organic. Even the certificied non gmo ( has a butterfly on the label) let’s a small amount of gmo in their certified non gmo label. I often wonder how much healthier I’d be if I’d lived in Europe..
Absolutely. I told an allergy specialist once I need a test for it. Got a blank stare. I believe morgellons disease is related to glyphosate. I often ponder if there’s a new breed of parasites related to it.( I had parasitic overload and heavy metal from biotoxin mold illness, dr helped me with a detox) insurance dictated doctor laughed at me and offered antipsychotic medicine when I asked. Blood work years later confirmed it. American doctors act like it’s only 3rd world country have it
Thanks for this in-depth look into the opaque world ( to us consumers) of big ag. I’ve lived rural most my life. Raised sheep beef goats pigs chickens horses and rabbits for meat wool and fun. Fed our family for years this way.
Eventually the feed costs got too high to afford growing our meat. You have just explained why. it makes no sense to grow backyard animals and use big ag products.
What a great view of the solution you provide. Still not sure how to do it here. But thanks so much for starting the conversation on this important topic. Food and fiber need to be freed.
The rising cost of feed is part of the agenda, forcing people into the controlled paradigm of cheap fake food, owned by the Gates and Blackrocks of the world. Then you get sick and become an even bigger money maker for the Gates and BlackRocks of the world through big pharma meds.
Look for local fiber farmers at your local farmers market. Ask other farmers at the farmers market. They're rare, but there are small, non-industrial scale organic cotton growers sending their fiber to small local and regional mills. There are many more sheep (wool) and goat (cashmere) farmers making homespun textiles or who are also sending their products to small local and regional mills to be made into textile bolts. Get some bolts and make your own clothes - they'll be better than anything you can buy. You can do it!
Thanks, Kyle! Glad to know this so I can prevent any future shelter cat I adopt from being injected with a toxic mRNA gene modification substance. The only shot required by CO govt is for rabies and Ninotchka was given this shot. No cat I've adopted has received any additional vax. Local vets are just as clueless about vaccines for animals as doctors are clueless about vaccines for humans. Unfortunately for me, there are no holistic vets in my city, so it's up to me to keep them healthy. Raw meat and NO grains are the FOUNDATION of health for cats.
Shelters have 2 objectives: 1. Have their animals adopted quickly and 2. Receive donations and enlist volunteers. IF mRNA rabies shots are the new standard, I can and will make a donation (in addition to the fee) if the shelter will give the cat the old-fashioned rabies shot. Then, I'll administer the antidote to the rabies shot when I know more about homeopathy.
A propos textiles is this interview with Megan Meiklejohn with Land to Market, an initiative started within the Savory Institute, whose focus is connecting regenerative growers to brands. By designing supply chains from the farm forward, she has helped brands source natural fibers that support ecosystem functioning and local communities.
What a WONDERFUL article is this. Your trials and triumphs experimenting with regenerative farming in the hot and dry AZ desert are IMMENSELY interesting and inspiring. More in this line, please.
Humans of all stripes can be arrogant in their use of nature and can also be very wise. Interesting reads are "The Dawn of Everything", "1491", "Web of Debt". There was a Pre-Inca culture in arid Southern Peru that used irrigation to grow cotton. It took its water from rivers flowing from the Andes. They grew cotton. The main use of the cotton was to make nets. Their diet was mainly fish. They made exquisite fabrics, but like the Hohokam climate got them. In this case probably torrential rains and floods that wiped out their crops and abodes. When humans rely on agriculture they are exposing themselves to eventual disaster. If you herd, fish or hunt you can move with the animals. Not so with crop fields.
As Jared Diamond. the author of "Guns, Germs and Steel", said: "Agriculture is humanities greatest mistake." Before the invasion of the plow, the carbon rich and moisture laden top soil of the Great Plains was 6 ft deep; held more carbon than the Amazon with its thin and easily depleted top soil and supported more than 100 million large grazing animals, innumerable small and medium size herbivores, countless water fowl and other birds, their predators and scavengers including humans and the rivers ran clear year round and were teeming with fish. If that environment had not been destroyed, it would be able to feed the entire US population in perpetuity.
The destruction or massive reduction in agriculture led to the Little Ice Age. First there was the 14th century plagues in Eurasia that killed many and reduced agriculture. Then there was the 15th & 16th century devastation in the Western Hemisphere that reduced the population by up to 98%. Archeaologists estimate that before 1492 there were 25 million living on the Mexican plateau. Being arid and the building materials being stone and mud and not degraded, that estimation is probably accurate. A 1638 census by Spain counted 700,000 residents. That is a 98% reduction. Other parts of the Americas are difficult to count because of more moisture and plant growth. We have little idea of how many lived in Meso America or the Amazon.
The abandoned gardens and fields reverted to weeds, grasslands and where appropriate forests. The grazing animals proliferated without the apex predator. That drew so much carbon from the air that worldwide temperatures dropped by 1C. Humanity could duplicate that but corporate/government fascism is not likely to respond quickly enough despite the scientific support for regenerative agriculture being able to reverse global warming. Corporations and their governments have no soul or empathy so they continue the pathological narcissism that characterized royalty of the age of the divine right of kings.
On a positive note back yard chickens and bees are easy and fun hobbies that provide good food. The Russsian dachas, their equivalent of backyard gardens, but outside cities or suburbs, provide more than 50% of the vegetable and animal food for the people. The same is true of Cuba.
I was vaguely aware of the benefits of Alpaca clothing until I moved to Ecuador. It is incredible. Unfortunately the Ecuadorians are subject to the same propaganda and maybe even worse than Gringos. They are very likely to clothe themselves and their children in nylon and acrylic. It is sad to see their babies in PJs, blankets and baby slings made of artificial fabrics when they could be using alpaca. Thank you Kyle for your holistic thinking and action. There is no better lesson than example.
I read "1491" and Diamonds book around the same time. Eye popping info.
Where I grew up some of those plains soils were over 50' deep.
I've also seen reconstructions of another Inca farming system that was somewhat similar to the floating bogs the Aztecs used.
When Columbus and Cortez first set foot on the North American continent they gazed across a landscape that had never been touched by a plow, and yet that unplowed landscape fed the 25 million you referred to just in the highlands of Mexico and countless millions of others across NA.
When I write about something other than the hot topics of the day I often wonder if anyone will read it. Thanks for doing so and for spreading the love.
Very interesting, informative and inspiring article. Those alpacas have such sweet faces, how can you rear them for meat?
However, although viable on a small local scale, I don't see how such farming could be sufficient for current population numbers in terms of suitable available land.
That's where the local movement comes in. We all need to stop thinking globally and think about supporting our local cottage industries that make fine fiber products from locally farmed sheep, goats and alpacas. They do exist.
Another great piece, Kyle. The globalist black magicians will lose in the end, it's just so hard to see fearful people holding on to these systems of enslavement and destruction.
Kyle, You mentioned your alpacas were not vaxxed or drugged. Last week I adopted a shelter cat who soon developed an upper respiratory infection. Runny eyes and nose, sneezing, not eating or drinking, lethargic, then deep coughing. I knew from experience that vets will give antibiotics, which I refuse to use because they damage the immune system. Googled Dr. Pitcairn, who – SURPRISE - uses HOMEOPATHY for treating animals. I know NOTHING about what to prescribe, so more googling led me to HomeoPet HOMEOPATHY products. Bought and administered the Nose Relief and 4 days later Ninotchka has recovered 100%. If we, the unvaxxed, are forced by the Globalists to be our own doctors, HOMEOPATHY is how we’ll help ourselves overcome and heal from whatever health problems come our way.
I'm now reading 'Homeopathic Care for Cats and Dogs' by Don Hamilton, DMV. He, like Dr. Pitcairn, is anti-vax. Just like people, vaccines are making animals sick and shortening their lifespans.
Came upon this quote on pg71 in 'Homeopathy...' by Dr. Timothy Dooley that goes to the GERM theory vs TERRAIN theory: “Patients ask homeopathic practitioners, ‘Do you treat candida?’ The simple answer is, ‘No. We treat patients who have candida, but we do not treat candida.’
Those of us who re opting out of the allopathic medical industry, who are going to take responsibility for our health, who are changing our diets to maximize nutrition and build a strong 'immune' system, we will still get sick, occasionally, due to toxins, parasites, chem trails, etc. Our bodies will then need help to restore health. HOMEOPATHY is the ultra-alternative treatment for those of us who know that vaccines and drugs are not the solution to ridding our bodies of 'disease.'
Because all shelter cats and dogs will be up to date on jabs before being turned over to new owners, and because most jabs now are mRNA jabs, I will never get a pet from a shelter.
That's especially true of livestock. And when we eat pork, beef, chicken or tilapia that's been vaccinated, we ingest it through them. Food and medicine is sooo messed up.
Re: "Some of my original alpacas came from a sizable pen-based operation. ..."
This industrial animal operation had high expenses for vet bills, high mortality, lowered birth rates, high feed costs, high debt to finance the operation, high vulnerability to market forces, etc. This business model is headed for bankruptcy. For the consumer, high production costs explain the high price of alpaca products, and so it will remain a niche market targeted to the rich. Eliminate all the unnecessary production costs and the fleece from a small herd of alpacas can be one of several sources of farm income.
The mystery is WHY industrial farmers don't see that there's a better way to raise animals and make a profit while doing so. Are they deaf, dumb, and blind to all the info available about regenerative farming?
That's certainly part of it. But the story is more complicated... there are a lot of aspects about alpacas I left out of the story because they weren't pertinent to the tale I told.
Like the fact that there are only 3.5 to 4 million alpacas on earth, verses 60 million sheep just in NA alone. This is one of the primary drivers of the value of alpacas and their fleece.
Then there is the Spanish history of nearly destroying the ancient alpaca herds in SA because the Spaniards thought the natives could never breed any fine fleeced alpacas. Not true. The Inca had developed alpacas to the point of having the finest fleece of any domestic animal on earth. We know this from alpaca burial clothes that have been recovered by archeologists. The Spaniards brought in their sheep with their much cruder fiber and began slaughtering alpacas for meat. Over the course of several hundred years the Inca breeding program was abandoned, the alpaca population was decimated and the fine fleeced animals were all but destroyed.
It's only been in recent decades that breeding programs (mostly here in the US) have been able to duplicate what the Inca had accomplished with alpaca fleece. This is what I was working on with my herd. To this day there are still very few of them that have a really high quality fleece. Consequently, they are very expensive.
In the same way the big oil and big car and tire makers bought up trolly cars to bring forth their favored form of transportation, the powers that be are keeping the alpaca market suppressed because they like the return they are now getting from their massive investment in the cotton infrastructure. This is why its so important to support small, local fiber farmers and fiber mills.
Thanks for this background info. Since there are only a few alpaca and of them only a few have a really high quality fleece, the high price for top quality is justified. BUT, how is the consumer to know if the fleece offered for sale is high quality? How to avoid the tricksters selling mediocre quality fleece at high quality prices? Is there an alpaca association that certifies the quality of the fleece?
The same question can be asked of any product made from wool or cashmere. Its up to the buyer to look into the product. Better quality ones will cite the micron count of the fiber. Anything below 30 is passable, anything below 20 is pretty fine and anything below 15 may be out of your price range:) Those familiar with high quality wool or cashmere will also be able to differentiate poor quality alpaca fiber from good quality. Typically most alpaca clothing is made from pretty high quality fiber. If it feels rough, its not good quality and you wont want to buy it. If it feels smooth and doesn't snag on the skin of your hands, it's pretty good. If your buying a hand made piece from the maker, she or he will likely be able to tell you what the micron count is.
Great article. I did not know that about cotton grown in AZ and the pumping of H2O. In fact, Learned a lot about alpacas and will have to buy more yarn from alpacas. Thanks so much! I did share on Gab.
Alpaca fleece is warmer than wool, warm when wet, stronger than wool and has a better hand than cashmere.
Writing this made me realize how much I miss my alpacas. They are an amazing animal.
Another facet to this is the demand for 'fast fashion': Semi-disposable clothing meant to be worn for a season then discarded or given away. I'm not saying we need to go back to when people had one set of clothes, maybe two with one for Sundays, but we need to seriously examine why we need to have endless fadddish clothes spun from oil (and often made to imitate items made of real fibers, heck, I can barely find anything in stores made of cotton except occasionally sheets and underwear.).
The opposite of fast fashion is slow fashion, a more ethical approach.
https://goodonyou.eco/what-is-slow-fashion/
So is linen the most ethical choice for plant fibers?
I would rank linen above cotton, but hemp also ranks pretty high. But none of the plant fibers can hold an ethical candle to animal fibers.
Amazing article. I loved reading about your alpacas. I’m a knitter so I have some familiarity with animal fibers but not so much about the production side.
I have backyard chickens. I think anyone can do it, I recently wrote about getting started brooding lots of chicks and selling off extras to offset your startup costs https://texbat.substack.com/p/how-to-get-started-with-backyard. Today I sold 6 chicks for $20 each and they’re not even 5 weeks old yet. I don’t vaccinate my birds and I give them quality feed and let them free range and they never have health problems (except for the occasional hawk attack)
And I made a conscious effort to buy organic cotton. It’s easy to find baby clothes in organic cotton but it gets harder the more you grow. For kids it’s mostly PJs. Good thing my 4 year old is in a “wear unicorn rainbow pjs 24/7” stage (hey, at least she’s wearing pants)
tee-riffic and facinatin' deep dive into fibers--beautiful pix of the alpacas an' info-wise much I didn't know 'bout (though fer long I have known about the "cotton con" and the pesky-cides an' all) Up here in the N. East there are quite a few folks that have alpacas an' sell their lovely wool, some also raise and sell grassfed meat (usually lamb) at our farmer's market--my younger daughter does spinnin' (spindle not wheel) and has made some nice yarn from alpaca--bee-u-tee-ful stuff! I love knowin' how it's so much better from a resources perspective too--never thought much 'about that... Not to resist a nice bit'o Fall cornball, folks gotta be "woolin'" to rethink their fibers--and give better'uns a big high-fibe(r)...
Hee hee... good stuff DMCC.
You need to get your daughter a foot operated spinning wheel:)
She might like to watch this. This gal has a wheel and a loom and dies her own stuff with plants from her farm.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TcdEXcmK6mw
I became chemically sensitive to almost everything. Glyphosate is a terrible thing! Ruined my generation (56) along with the other junk in the air and food. It’s very difficult to find organic products, I bought feminine hygiene product , twice as expensive and once I read the fine print, only the top layer was organic. Even the certificied non gmo ( has a butterfly on the label) let’s a small amount of gmo in their certified non gmo label. I often wonder how much healthier I’d be if I’d lived in Europe..
Glyphosate will go down as one of the most dangerous things ever perpetrated upon the human race.
Absolutely. I told an allergy specialist once I need a test for it. Got a blank stare. I believe morgellons disease is related to glyphosate. I often ponder if there’s a new breed of parasites related to it.( I had parasitic overload and heavy metal from biotoxin mold illness, dr helped me with a detox) insurance dictated doctor laughed at me and offered antipsychotic medicine when I asked. Blood work years later confirmed it. American doctors act like it’s only 3rd world country have it
Morgans and who knows how many other diseases.
What it might be doing is weakening part of our immune system that protects us from parasites, making us more susceptible to them.
The insurance and medical industries are two criminal peas in a pod.
Absolutely! The glyphosate affects the gut biome . Sets stage for a host of problems. Stephanie Senneff has some great talks out there & research
I’m noticing the same thing with cotton pads. Hard to find, expensive, and only the top layer!
Thanks for this in-depth look into the opaque world ( to us consumers) of big ag. I’ve lived rural most my life. Raised sheep beef goats pigs chickens horses and rabbits for meat wool and fun. Fed our family for years this way.
Eventually the feed costs got too high to afford growing our meat. You have just explained why. it makes no sense to grow backyard animals and use big ag products.
What a great view of the solution you provide. Still not sure how to do it here. But thanks so much for starting the conversation on this important topic. Food and fiber need to be freed.
The rising cost of feed is part of the agenda, forcing people into the controlled paradigm of cheap fake food, owned by the Gates and Blackrocks of the world. Then you get sick and become an even bigger money maker for the Gates and BlackRocks of the world through big pharma meds.
Yes I’ve seen this. Just have to figure out how to feed with out using their system. Gonna take some thinking. This is a great post. Thanks.
I had no idea that "organic cotton" is not environmentally inert. Good to know.
I don't think there is any grain, bean or fiber monocrop currently being grown today that could be considered environmentally inert.
But what am I supposed to buy for clothing then? No linen? Wool for the summer, I don't know...
Look for local fiber farmers at your local farmers market. Ask other farmers at the farmers market. They're rare, but there are small, non-industrial scale organic cotton growers sending their fiber to small local and regional mills. There are many more sheep (wool) and goat (cashmere) farmers making homespun textiles or who are also sending their products to small local and regional mills to be made into textile bolts. Get some bolts and make your own clothes - they'll be better than anything you can buy. You can do it!
Thanks, Kyle! Glad to know this so I can prevent any future shelter cat I adopt from being injected with a toxic mRNA gene modification substance. The only shot required by CO govt is for rabies and Ninotchka was given this shot. No cat I've adopted has received any additional vax. Local vets are just as clueless about vaccines for animals as doctors are clueless about vaccines for humans. Unfortunately for me, there are no holistic vets in my city, so it's up to me to keep them healthy. Raw meat and NO grains are the FOUNDATION of health for cats.
Shelters have 2 objectives: 1. Have their animals adopted quickly and 2. Receive donations and enlist volunteers. IF mRNA rabies shots are the new standard, I can and will make a donation (in addition to the fee) if the shelter will give the cat the old-fashioned rabies shot. Then, I'll administer the antidote to the rabies shot when I know more about homeopathy.
A propos textiles is this interview with Megan Meiklejohn with Land to Market, an initiative started within the Savory Institute, whose focus is connecting regenerative growers to brands. By designing supply chains from the farm forward, she has helped brands source natural fibers that support ecosystem functioning and local communities.
https://www.westonaprice.org/podcast/slow-fashion/#gsc.tab=0
Another good project I wasn't able to mention.
What a WONDERFUL article is this. Your trials and triumphs experimenting with regenerative farming in the hot and dry AZ desert are IMMENSELY interesting and inspiring. More in this line, please.
A lot of useful info about clothing fabrics and how to avoid synthetics made from chemicals is in this article by John Moody, a homesteader in Kentucky who writes frequently for WAPF: https://www.westonaprice.org/health-topics/health-issues/the-clothing-conundrum-safe-warm-winter-dressing/#gsc.tab=0
Thank you Judy.
I've read some of Moody's work elsewhere. But this was a good piece.
Humans of all stripes can be arrogant in their use of nature and can also be very wise. Interesting reads are "The Dawn of Everything", "1491", "Web of Debt". There was a Pre-Inca culture in arid Southern Peru that used irrigation to grow cotton. It took its water from rivers flowing from the Andes. They grew cotton. The main use of the cotton was to make nets. Their diet was mainly fish. They made exquisite fabrics, but like the Hohokam climate got them. In this case probably torrential rains and floods that wiped out their crops and abodes. When humans rely on agriculture they are exposing themselves to eventual disaster. If you herd, fish or hunt you can move with the animals. Not so with crop fields.
As Jared Diamond. the author of "Guns, Germs and Steel", said: "Agriculture is humanities greatest mistake." Before the invasion of the plow, the carbon rich and moisture laden top soil of the Great Plains was 6 ft deep; held more carbon than the Amazon with its thin and easily depleted top soil and supported more than 100 million large grazing animals, innumerable small and medium size herbivores, countless water fowl and other birds, their predators and scavengers including humans and the rivers ran clear year round and were teeming with fish. If that environment had not been destroyed, it would be able to feed the entire US population in perpetuity.
The destruction or massive reduction in agriculture led to the Little Ice Age. First there was the 14th century plagues in Eurasia that killed many and reduced agriculture. Then there was the 15th & 16th century devastation in the Western Hemisphere that reduced the population by up to 98%. Archeaologists estimate that before 1492 there were 25 million living on the Mexican plateau. Being arid and the building materials being stone and mud and not degraded, that estimation is probably accurate. A 1638 census by Spain counted 700,000 residents. That is a 98% reduction. Other parts of the Americas are difficult to count because of more moisture and plant growth. We have little idea of how many lived in Meso America or the Amazon.
The abandoned gardens and fields reverted to weeds, grasslands and where appropriate forests. The grazing animals proliferated without the apex predator. That drew so much carbon from the air that worldwide temperatures dropped by 1C. Humanity could duplicate that but corporate/government fascism is not likely to respond quickly enough despite the scientific support for regenerative agriculture being able to reverse global warming. Corporations and their governments have no soul or empathy so they continue the pathological narcissism that characterized royalty of the age of the divine right of kings.
On a positive note back yard chickens and bees are easy and fun hobbies that provide good food. The Russsian dachas, their equivalent of backyard gardens, but outside cities or suburbs, provide more than 50% of the vegetable and animal food for the people. The same is true of Cuba.
I was vaguely aware of the benefits of Alpaca clothing until I moved to Ecuador. It is incredible. Unfortunately the Ecuadorians are subject to the same propaganda and maybe even worse than Gringos. They are very likely to clothe themselves and their children in nylon and acrylic. It is sad to see their babies in PJs, blankets and baby slings made of artificial fabrics when they could be using alpaca. Thank you Kyle for your holistic thinking and action. There is no better lesson than example.
I read "1491" and Diamonds book around the same time. Eye popping info.
Where I grew up some of those plains soils were over 50' deep.
I've also seen reconstructions of another Inca farming system that was somewhat similar to the floating bogs the Aztecs used.
When Columbus and Cortez first set foot on the North American continent they gazed across a landscape that had never been touched by a plow, and yet that unplowed landscape fed the 25 million you referred to just in the highlands of Mexico and countless millions of others across NA.
We have much to learn about the carbon cycle.
Beautiful farming world you live in. I envy you, not in a bad way; on the contrary, I wish you the best. Thank you for sharing, much much appreciated.
When I write about something other than the hot topics of the day I often wonder if anyone will read it. Thanks for doing so and for spreading the love.
Very interesting, informative and inspiring article. Those alpacas have such sweet faces, how can you rear them for meat?
However, although viable on a small local scale, I don't see how such farming could be sufficient for current population numbers in terms of suitable available land.
That's where the local movement comes in. We all need to stop thinking globally and think about supporting our local cottage industries that make fine fiber products from locally farmed sheep, goats and alpacas. They do exist.
"Pigs being fattened in a warehouse CAFO."
😭
Another great piece, Kyle. The globalist black magicians will lose in the end, it's just so hard to see fearful people holding on to these systems of enslavement and destruction.
Thanks Sharine.
Kyle, You mentioned your alpacas were not vaxxed or drugged. Last week I adopted a shelter cat who soon developed an upper respiratory infection. Runny eyes and nose, sneezing, not eating or drinking, lethargic, then deep coughing. I knew from experience that vets will give antibiotics, which I refuse to use because they damage the immune system. Googled Dr. Pitcairn, who – SURPRISE - uses HOMEOPATHY for treating animals. I know NOTHING about what to prescribe, so more googling led me to HomeoPet HOMEOPATHY products. Bought and administered the Nose Relief and 4 days later Ninotchka has recovered 100%. If we, the unvaxxed, are forced by the Globalists to be our own doctors, HOMEOPATHY is how we’ll help ourselves overcome and heal from whatever health problems come our way.
I'm now reading 'Homeopathic Care for Cats and Dogs' by Don Hamilton, DMV. He, like Dr. Pitcairn, is anti-vax. Just like people, vaccines are making animals sick and shortening their lifespans.
Came upon this quote on pg71 in 'Homeopathy...' by Dr. Timothy Dooley that goes to the GERM theory vs TERRAIN theory: “Patients ask homeopathic practitioners, ‘Do you treat candida?’ The simple answer is, ‘No. We treat patients who have candida, but we do not treat candida.’
Those of us who re opting out of the allopathic medical industry, who are going to take responsibility for our health, who are changing our diets to maximize nutrition and build a strong 'immune' system, we will still get sick, occasionally, due to toxins, parasites, chem trails, etc. Our bodies will then need help to restore health. HOMEOPATHY is the ultra-alternative treatment for those of us who know that vaccines and drugs are not the solution to ridding our bodies of 'disease.'
Because all shelter cats and dogs will be up to date on jabs before being turned over to new owners, and because most jabs now are mRNA jabs, I will never get a pet from a shelter.
That's especially true of livestock. And when we eat pork, beef, chicken or tilapia that's been vaccinated, we ingest it through them. Food and medicine is sooo messed up.
Re: "Some of my original alpacas came from a sizable pen-based operation. ..."
This industrial animal operation had high expenses for vet bills, high mortality, lowered birth rates, high feed costs, high debt to finance the operation, high vulnerability to market forces, etc. This business model is headed for bankruptcy. For the consumer, high production costs explain the high price of alpaca products, and so it will remain a niche market targeted to the rich. Eliminate all the unnecessary production costs and the fleece from a small herd of alpacas can be one of several sources of farm income.
The mystery is WHY industrial farmers don't see that there's a better way to raise animals and make a profit while doing so. Are they deaf, dumb, and blind to all the info available about regenerative farming?
That's certainly part of it. But the story is more complicated... there are a lot of aspects about alpacas I left out of the story because they weren't pertinent to the tale I told.
Like the fact that there are only 3.5 to 4 million alpacas on earth, verses 60 million sheep just in NA alone. This is one of the primary drivers of the value of alpacas and their fleece.
Then there is the Spanish history of nearly destroying the ancient alpaca herds in SA because the Spaniards thought the natives could never breed any fine fleeced alpacas. Not true. The Inca had developed alpacas to the point of having the finest fleece of any domestic animal on earth. We know this from alpaca burial clothes that have been recovered by archeologists. The Spaniards brought in their sheep with their much cruder fiber and began slaughtering alpacas for meat. Over the course of several hundred years the Inca breeding program was abandoned, the alpaca population was decimated and the fine fleeced animals were all but destroyed.
It's only been in recent decades that breeding programs (mostly here in the US) have been able to duplicate what the Inca had accomplished with alpaca fleece. This is what I was working on with my herd. To this day there are still very few of them that have a really high quality fleece. Consequently, they are very expensive.
In the same way the big oil and big car and tire makers bought up trolly cars to bring forth their favored form of transportation, the powers that be are keeping the alpaca market suppressed because they like the return they are now getting from their massive investment in the cotton infrastructure. This is why its so important to support small, local fiber farmers and fiber mills.
Thanks for this background info. Since there are only a few alpaca and of them only a few have a really high quality fleece, the high price for top quality is justified. BUT, how is the consumer to know if the fleece offered for sale is high quality? How to avoid the tricksters selling mediocre quality fleece at high quality prices? Is there an alpaca association that certifies the quality of the fleece?
The same question can be asked of any product made from wool or cashmere. Its up to the buyer to look into the product. Better quality ones will cite the micron count of the fiber. Anything below 30 is passable, anything below 20 is pretty fine and anything below 15 may be out of your price range:) Those familiar with high quality wool or cashmere will also be able to differentiate poor quality alpaca fiber from good quality. Typically most alpaca clothing is made from pretty high quality fiber. If it feels rough, its not good quality and you wont want to buy it. If it feels smooth and doesn't snag on the skin of your hands, it's pretty good. If your buying a hand made piece from the maker, she or he will likely be able to tell you what the micron count is.