News and Events

Snowmass Males

We are pleased to announce that in conjunction with the Alpaca Stud, Pure Alpacas and Melford Green Alpacas, we are taking delivery of 4 stunning males (3 white and 1 brown) from the world famous Snowmass herd. These are due to arrive in March 2010.

The Snowmass herd is recognised as one of the best studs in the USA. Their alpacas display super density along with fineness, culminating in alpacas which have fleece cutting weights not yet currently experienced in the UK. Needless to say we are extremely excited at the prospect of introducing these males to our breeding programme and will be offering stud services which can only advance alpaca breeding in the UK.

Devon County Show 2009

This year’s show was a phenomenal success. The weather could not have been kinder, which was welcome after a cold and wet spell. Newly qualified judge Mrs Vicky Agar judged the 200 alpacas over three days with both visitors and exhibitors enjoying her professional and friendly approach in the ring and clear oral reasoning which was a pleasure to listen to.

Langaton Alpacas were successful in being awarded overall champions with both Suri and Huacayas.
 

Show Winners

Langaton Micah 14th
(Sire Accoyo Costello)

Langaton Calantha 3rd
(Sire: Costello)

Langaton Lois 8th
(Sire: Quetchuan Frottle)
Langaton Aladin
(Sire: Golden Gun)
Langaton Demetrius
(Sire: Golden Gun)
Langaton Dostoyovsky
 

1st Junior brown female
Champion brown female
Reserve Best British bred
1st Junior fawn female
Champion fawn female
Best British bred
1st Junior white female
Reserve Champion white female
2nd Intermediate white male

3rd Intermediate white male

Champion white male
1st Senior male

Langaton Suri Caitlin
(Sire: Accoyo Suri Don Juan)
High Plains Alexander

Langaton Suri Tabitha 9th


Langaton Scooby Doo
(Sire: Accoyo Suri Don Juan)
Langaton Suri Tarquine



 

2nd Junior fawn female

Champion Show Suri
1st fawn intermediate male
Champion white suri female
Reserve Show Champion suri
1st Intermediate white female
2nd Junior white male

1st Adult white male
Champion White suri male


 

Pompadour Alpaca Show, Southern France - October 2009

Show Winners

Langaton Pablo
(Sire: Langaton Dostoyovsky)
Langaton suri Razzmatazz
(Sire: Accoyo Suri Don Juan)

1st Intermediate white male
Reserve champion white
Champion White suri
1st Intermediate white suri

Langaton Suri Tarquine
(Sire: Accoyo Bulleyman)
Langaton Suri Prince
(Sire: Accoyo Suri Don Juan)
 

1st Adult white suri male
Reserve champion white suri
1st Intermediate fawn suri
Reserve champion fawn suri
Reserve show champion

South West Alpaca Spring Show – April 2009
 

Langaton Michah 14th

Langaton Lois 7th
Langaton Demtrius
Langaton Lois 4th
Langaton Dostoyevsky

Suris

Langaton Caitlin 3rd

Langaton Suri Prince

1st - Junior Brown Female
& Champion Brown Female
2nd - Intermediate White Female
3rd - Intermediate White Male
4th - Adult White Female
1st - Senior White Male

1st - Junior Fawn Suri Female
& Champion Fawn Female
2nd - Junior Fawn Male

British Alpaca Futurity 2009

Having outgrown the site at Newbury Racecourse after two years it was time to move, and the new location was the RASE premises at Kenilworth. This spacious venue housed alpacas with vast conference and exhibition area for the seminars, handicraft exhibition and the Black Tie dinner.

As our girls are pretty self sufficient we decided to go as a family. Daisy and Tabitha learned to knit for the junior sections of the competition and many wet weekends had been taken up with drawing and painting – all was rewarded with several rosettes and the all important cash prizes – so come on anyone with children – encourage them to enter next year!

The judging of the alpacas was carried out by international judge Amanda VandenBosch from the USA. Our main success with Langaton Micah, a junior brown female ably shown by Daisy, age 11 and the youngest exhibitor, returning home to Devon under the halo of ‘Champion Brown Female’.

Show Winners

Huacayas

Langaton Micah 14th

Langaton Calantha 3rd
Langaton Una 3rd
Langaton Lois 7th
Langaton Lois 4th
Langaton Pegasus
Langaton Fabricio
Langaton Demetrius

1st Junior Brown Female
& Champion Brown Female
4th Junior Fawn Female
2nd Junior White Female
2nd Intermediate White Female
2nd Adult White Female
4th Junior White Male
5th Intermediate White Male
6th Intermediate White Male

Suris

Langaton Suri Caitlin 3rd
Langaton Suri Caitlin 2nd
Langaton Suri Tabitha 9th
Langaton Suri Tarquine

2nd Junior Fawn Female
2nd Intermediate Fawn Female
2nd Intermediate White Female
2nd Adult White Male

July 2008 - Ian’s Trip to Chile

An expenses paid Alpaca selection trip to Chile with Geoff Scott was the draw prize I was fortunate to win at the British Alpaca Futurity in 2008.

Having been to Peru some 8 years ago the opportunity to visit Chile to gain an idea of what alpacas were available was extremely appealing. Obviously having accepted the prize I was obliged to select some alpacas whilst there – the minimum to economically fill a crate would be 15 animals. At Langaton the majority of our alpacas are white and I was keen to add some more coloured animals of which Chile is renowned to have a large proportion.

My journey started from our local town by bus to Heathrow, then by air to Santiago via San Paulo where Geoff Scott met me. After a quick shower and coffee we headed back to the airport to fly north to Arica – and after a total travelling time of 36 hours I was eventually permitted to climb into bed. A 5.30 am start the following morning saw us driving north again to Putre close to the Peruvian border and up into the Altiplano at a height of around 4,500 metres.

By mid-morning we reached our first farm (if you can call it that!). The Altiplano is VAST – much being sparsely covered with a Lleylandii like shrub interspersed with clumps of coarse grass. In areas where there is running water there are flat areas called ‘Bofodels’ where the available water source is spread over as large an area as possible to encourage grass growth. July is winter in Chile and contrary to this country rainfall is very extreme in the winter months.

In the area we visited there were no visible signs of any fencing and each farm appeared to have an area around their living quarters where the alpacas grazed – often unsupervised – returning themselves in the evening to be shut into corals. Corals are yards with an earth floor surrounded by a stone wall – they provide some protection at night from predators such as big cats, or from being stolen.

Our alpaca selection took place in these corals, which was quite challenging as it meant walking through 50-150 alpacas trying to pick a good one. Once an alpaca was spotted it was a 2 or 3 man operation to catch it, which on some farms involved lassoing the animals.

We saw hundreds of alpacas – but I must admit that some were of dubious quality and then out of the blue we would spot a stunner which was quickly checked over for faults, fibre samples taken, ear tags applied and photographs taken. It was not unusual to drive one or two hours to locate one good alpaca amongst a group of 100 or more.

After three full days spent visiting farms reached by graded stone roads I had selected 15 alpacas - we look forward to their arrival at some future date in the UK.