'You've bought WHATTT????'
Our Story
My passion for the outdoor life style stems from my farming roots laid down in the Cumbrian hills and fells working alongside my Grandfather, Robert, a traditional hill farmer. At 80 he still had over 200 sheep, 3 dogs, was fitter than me and showed no signs of stopping. He was taken very suddenly from our lives and with the loss of him came the loss of my sanctuary, my freedom and my happiness.
I knew I could never live up to my Granda when it came to sheep farming so I decided to walk my own path. Raising animals for meat was always going to be an emotional struggle so I began to explore different options. I had found alpacas endearing and knowing they are kept for their fleece it meant they could stay with me until the day they died.
At a loose end one May Saturday and still very much in the depths of grief for my Grandfather, I attended a sale of alpacas 'just to look'. A few hours later, much to the alarm of my partner, I had bought 3 girls out of pure excitement. In 2014 we now had the alpacas, Pep, Moss and Baby to add to the dog, the cats, the chickens and the quails.
The Stony Pasture Name
The name Stony Pasture is the name of my Granda's favourite field out of his hundreds of acres of Cumbrian farmland. I am thankful that this field was a favourite because the Well Field, the Bull Field or the Front Field don't really have as nicer ring to them for a herd name! The name of the herd is a tribute to his wisdom and a token of my gratitude that he passed on generations of knowledge & countryside awareness to me. I could never match his greatness and it was my privilege to walk his land with him chatting, listening and learning.
With this in mind, I aim to build a reliable business of the highest standards from the animal care to the quality of the knitwear.
The Alpaca Journey
'You've bought WHATTT????' 'Yes mum, I've bought alpacas'
The alpacas had arrived and we had no land! We spent the next 5 years searching the Tyne Valley for land within our price range and were always priced out. During this time we made great friends in the alpaca world and agisted (housed) our alpacas with a couple of local herds. I made the decision to go self-employed in my career as an ecological consultant so I could spend more time with my animals. I spent 2 days a week for the next 2 years helping with a very large herd and it was a rapid learning curve. Alpacas are nothing like sheep! I am so grateful for the way I was exposed to so many different scenarios, illnesses and issues that I never would have experienced with only the 3 girls.
During the next few years the herd grew from 3 to 5, then 7, then 8 and now (2023) we have reached 20.
Of course having fleece producing animals meant I needed to learn to knit and crochet. I have recently learned to felt and will keep adding in new skills such as spinning and weaving.
We welcomed our first cria (babies) in the spring of 2015; one boy and one girl. I witnessed the birth of the male cria. It was a very panicky time! It didn't help that the alpaca in labour was also new to birthing a cria. She coped beautifully and I was instantly in love.
Then followed deep lows and amazing highs. In 2016 we had terrible luck at birthing time. 1 cria was stillborn and the second cria died on the operating table at 4 days old. I was ready to chuck in the towel and broken hearted. But we had committed to some alpaca shows with the 2015 cria and our boy Orinoco kept taking firsts and championships at every show he attended. Then at Westmorland Show in September 2016 he won overall Supreme Champion. On the way home 'Eye of the Tiger' came on the radio and BANG - IT HIT ME THAT I HAD AN ALPACA WORTHY OF A SUPREME CHAMPIONSHIP!! There had to be another year in it, didn't there?
In 2017 we welcomed 3 more cria. In 2018, 3 more which were all boys and became the first alpacas which we had bred that went up for sale. They found a wonderful home in Alston. Of all the places in all the world they now live about 6 miles from my Grandfathers hill farm. In 2019, we welcomed two females sired by our homebred stud, Orinoco. It was so exciting to own both mother and father. All of our other cria to date had been the result of outside matings using extremely high quality stud males from other herds.
2019 turned out to be a pivotal year for the Stony Pasture gang. In March we were down in the dumps thinking we were never going to be able to afford our own land. My partner mentioned this in passing to a work colleague. It turned out that her parents had some land for sale. We saw it, we loved it and we spent the next 6 months persuading a mortgage lender to help us achieve our dream. On the 1st of October 2019 we became the official owners of our own slice of paradise.
After 6 months of getting a track laid, electric hooked up and putting in the first phase of a lot of fencing, we brought the girls home in March 2020, just as the global pandemic sent us into national lockdown.
In June 2020 arrived our first 3 home-birthed cria. After almost 6 years, everything we had worked so hard to achieve became our reality.
Through the quiet years of covid, several more cria have joined the gang and we are looking forward to getting back to showing in 2023.
We also have our very own herd of breeding Guernsey goats. The boy goats form our walking team.
In 2023, we have added Phantom, our first walking Llama.
Now the hard work continues to keep the animals happy and healthy as well as to turn the business into a success.