MEON VALLEY ALPACAS was established in 1998 by Karen and Peter Oglesby. They live at Grooms Cottage, Droxford, in the beautiful Meon Valley, with their daughter Rebecca, dressage horses, dogs, cats, various small pets and their lovely herd of alpacas.

Starting Up We moved to Grooms Cottage and its rather neglected 22 acres and stables just before Christmas 1997. The farm was in a sorry state, but we worked hard and gradually got it sorted. We had alot of horses in those days, but not enough to eat all the grass that we had, so we looked at various different options such as sheep and dexter cattle but all seemed loaded with problems and we didn't think our ancient fencing would be adequate.

Like many people just starting the price of females seemed rather daunting. We decided to buy two boys and see how we got on. We loved them and just over a year later we bought two pregnant females with female cria at foot. We became hopelessly hooked! What started as an interest soon became an obsession and "Meon Valley Alpacas" gradually became a herd.

Hampshire's Leading Herd of Quality Alpacas Over the years we have been constantly striving to improve the quality of our herd and whilst we have been very successful both at home and in the show ring, winning many rosettes and Champion Ribbons, we are only too aware that the industry is moving on at a pace and we are very keen to not only keep up, but to be one of the best. We have confidence and believe in the alpaca industry in the UK and with this in mind we have invested in some of the best stud males available from the UK and overseas, and are using them across our females knowing that they will have a fantastic impact on our herd. Take a look at our stud pages to find out more. We always have a good selection alpacas for sale - pregnant females, junior and proven herdsires as well as field pets and sheep guards and are able to offer very competitively prices packages and starter herds. Pictures...

Cria 2009

Imports & Uk Bred Alpacas Many of our alpacas have been selected from imports from Peru, Australia and the USA and over the years we have become more and more selective with our choices, always striving to improve our breeding stock with correct conformation, and superior fibre characteristics. We are now up there with the best, breeding our own Show Champions. Our most recent investment has been a share in a group of 4 stunning stud males from the World Renowned Snowmass Herd of Idaho in the USA. All our alpacas are registered with the BCL or BAS and although we have quite a few we know them all individually, handle them frequently and love them all.

Biosecurity We are doing our very best to keep our herd safe from diseases and parasites and take every precaution in our biosecurity, such as separate paddocks for our show team and shared males. Matings are carried out in our concrete yard under very close supervision and the yard is disinfected afterwards. We will undertake mobile matings by arrangement and offer drive-by services, but no longer take visiting females to stay as we want to minimise risks to our own herd. Our herd is routinely vaccinated against clostridial disease and Blue Tongue Virus and we take faecal tests and worm regularly.

We are also proud co owners of Classical MileEnd Tulaco Centurion (below) the multi Champion Fawn who is consistently producing winners and will be standing with us and at Classical MileEnd for the next season. His crias are coming now and we are delighted with them and will be using the Snowmass males over his daughters. We also have our own Champion white males Meon Valley Sir G and Meon Valley Meonstoke, and our lovely mid fawn Supreme Champion Fleece winner Meon Valley Goldrush and our dark grey Meon Valley Ardingly, who has produced two of his first crias, both female and grey.

All our studs are available for mobile, and drive-by breedings by arrangemen, and we offer discounts for returning females and multiple breedings. .

Training We are constantly learning about these wonderful animals and have attended many management, judging and training courses. We are more than happy to pass on this information and we give regular Husbandry Courses on our farm.

BEGINNERS COURSES

Saturday 24 July 2010

Saturday 25 September 2010

Sales .. Training .. Information .. Help and Guidance .. After-Sales Support 24/7 .. Sponsorships .. Fleece

We have an excellent selection of Alpacas for sale - pregnant and young females for breeding, proven and Junior herdsires and pet quality males for fibre, companions and pets. We are happy to advise newcomers in their setup for keeping alpacas as pets, or for breeding and starting an alpaca business. We offer support and training in all aspects of husbandry to our clients, and we're always just a phone call away. We are stockists for Camelibra and Alfalfa Pellets. We offer educational visits to schools and groups. We sell baby fine fleece to hand-spinners and craftsmen and we sell our own beautiful knitting yarn in double knit - available in natural colours. Also available - alpaca throws and luxury cosy duvets from our own animals. Please do not hesitate to contact us for more information.

Southern Alpaca Group In January 2007 we got together with other breeders in our area to form a Regional Group affiliated to the British Alpaca Society. Our aims are to offer support and training in all aspects of alpaca in Hampshire and surrounding Counties. We hold Clinics and meetings 3 or 4 times a year, these give alpaca owners and enthusiasts the opportunity to share knowledge and experiences, make new friends and contacts and to learn more about alpacas. This year we had a day on Stud Male Selection held at The Alpaca Stud, West Sussex. And Camelidynamics here with us at Meon Valley Alpacas, plus a Fibre Day and our Annual Veterinary Day. Dates are currently being planned for 2010 and will be posted shortly.

Shows 2010 We took a very small show team this year to the British Alpaca Futurity in February, the South of England, BAS Nationals and the Royal Bath & West and were placed every time. We will be exhibiting at all the usual shows in our area - Alton, Singleton, Alresford and Romsey. Do come and say hello to us, we'll always be happy to see you. Pictures

Cria 2010 We are expecting 13 (lucky for some) this season, all going well so far and some stunning cria from CME Tulaco Centurion. Some are for sale with their mums. Can't wait for the crias of 2011 - isn't that exciting - Snowmass crias!! Pictures

Shows 2009 A Very successful season!! Our gorgeous Grey Intermediate Male "Meon Valley Ardingly" came 2nd in his class at the BAS Spring Show. International Judge Val Fullerlove commented on the high standard of the class - equal in qualities to the whites and fawns. He came 2nd again at the Heart of England Show and also at the South of England where he also went on to win Reserve Colour Champion. Meon Valley Goldrush was second in the Fawn Intermediate Male and Meon Valley Oak judged as a Black Junior Male this time was also 2nd. At the BAS Nationals at Newark we walked off with the Supreme Champion Fleece from Goldrush, he came 3rd in his Adult Fawn Class too with huge competion. Ardingly won his class in Adults this time. At the Royal Bath & West Ardingly came 2nd, Oak 3rd in Black and we won Best Multi with little Elder. The star of the show was Rebecca our daughter who won Best Junior Handler again - ahhh.

Cria 2009 We now have 14 (10 of them girls) Centurion and Sir G cria running around as well as a few from specially selected outside studs. They're all looking very promising and we look forward to showing them during 2010. Some are for sale, so please contact us for information and check out of sales pages. We have recently scanned all our girls and have 23 pregnant, many to Centurion and some to Sir G, Goldrush and Ardingly - can't wait for the cria of 2010!

Open Day 2009 Our Annual Open Day was held on Saturday 8th August. More than 300 people came and enjoyed a relaxing and sunny afternoon amongst our alpacas. There was a Farm Walk with lots of information and young crias to watch playing. The Hampshire Guild of Spinners and Weavers gave a brillient demonstration. There was a shop, offering beautiful knitted and woven alpaca fibre products, yarn and raw fibre for handspinning, all from our own herd. Also alpacas for sale at Special Prices, plus our Stud Males with their progeny on show. Afternoon teas with yummy homemade cakes rounded it off. Please keep an eye open for the date of our next Open Day....

Shows 2008 We took two of our weanlings to the British Alpaca Futurity 2008 Meon Valley Bon Bon a White Junior Female who came 6th in a very large and very high powered class and Meon Valley Ardingly, a Grey Male Junior who came 3rd. We were very pleased.

At the BAS Spring Show held in Bristol at the end of March, Bon Bon came 3rd in a huge class of Junior White Females, Ardingly came 4th in Junior Grey Male, Goldrush came 5th in Junior Fawn Male. Then on Sunday it was seriously exciting - our lovely Adult White Female Bonita won her class and the Champion Adult Female, Meonstoke won Intermediate White Male and then the Intermediate Male Champion, Ocho came 3rd, Sir G won his class of Adult White Male, and then to crown it all off Meon Valley Bonita won Supreme Champion and Best White - we're thrilled. We had to miss the South of England Show, because we were in the wrong Blue Tongue Zone.

At the 2008 Royal Bath & West, we won the Champion Huacaya Fleece with Sir G and he then went on to win Senior Male Champion. Bonita took Reserve Champion Adult Female, Ardingly 1st Intermediate Grey and Swallow's Return won his brown fleece class. All in all another great show for the Meon Valley Herd. We have alpacas for sale with these genetics, do please contact us to arrange a visit.

Cria 2008 We had 16 in all, all gorgeous, strong and healthy. We are particularly excited about Sir G's progeny and have used him over more of our females who will be due this summer. Many are for sale, as field pets and potential breeding stock- see our sales pages. We halter train all our crias and handle them regularly, so they become easy as adults. We have selected our 2009 show team and are busy halter training them whenever we get the chance.

Shows 2007 Our Show team has been very successful during this season, gaining prizes at the BAS Spring Show in March, South of England and BAS Nationals in May and the SWAG Bath & West in June. Sir G, La Croix and Swallow's Return have done particularly well.

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