Boundary Waters Alpacas is headline news

What a fun surprise. Along with the bills and the advertising we received a wonderful bit of news in the mail a few days ago. We opened the envelope to find pictures of our beautiful Kikisan, Party Girl, Hersey Kiss and their respective offspring along with the headline "Ely Farm Home to Gentle Alpacas" on the front page of one of the sections of the Sunday edition of the Mesabi Daily News. It was just so fun to see our critters in the paper--and Kikisan was born on our farm so that was doubly fun.

It was a lovely article and helps to promote the lifestyle and benefits of alpaca ownership--not to mention the marketing opportunities this type of publicity can create. Jan is a busy real estate executive (contrary to what the article says--she may have sold the business but she still puts in a full week's work at the real estate office) so if she can find the time to take care of these wonderful critters most others could do the same.

Congratulations to Boundary Water Alpacas for reflecting what is best about this industry.

Husband and Wife "Qualified Joint Venture"

Leave it to the feds to name a husband and wife unincorporated business as a "qualified joint venture". What that really means is that if you and your spouse are operating an unincorporated business jointly then you don't have to be treated as a partnership any longer. Prior to the Small Business and Work Opportunity Tax Act of 2007 a husband and wife who were operating a business together were technically a partnership and were required to file a partnership return. The change made in the recent tax law was designed to make filing our taxes easier.

LLC's are not a federal designation. They are a state recognized entity. A single member LLC is viewed by the IRS as a "disregarded entity" and the income or loss is reported as part of the individual's Form 1040. We made an assumption that the change made in the 2007 law would also apply to activities operated by spouses through a Limited Liability Company--that is not the case--this law does not apply to LLC's unless they are located in a community property state. If so, the rules are addressed at Rev. Proc. 2002-69.

From a practical point of view you only need to file your business activity in your personal Form 1040 as either a Schedule C or Schedule F activity and the election is made. More details on the election can be found by clicking on the title above.

Please feel free to let us know if you have questions on this or any other tax topic. Also let us know if there is a topic you would like addressed in a future posting to this blog.

Two more cria this week

The cria additions for this week were both from client females--Izett for Jim Supple out of Cool, CA and Brandy for Stoneberg Alpacas, LLC out of Hillsboro, OR. For each of these females it was their first delivery and they were text book--not a glitch for either and both are excellent moms.

Izett's little male is out of Sun Tzu, has lovely crimpy fiber and he looks like he will be beige. So far we are calling him Jim as the owner has not yet given us a name. As our friends at Snowy River Alpacas can share with you--those "temporary" names can stick with them as we all still call Shadow by the name of Parker as they took too long to come up with an official name. His blood draw was done as Parker, his microchip, for just about all those early cria activities he was called Parker. If we aren't careful this little guy Jim could be in the show ring still being called Jim.

Brandy was bred to Pacific Crest Accoyo Paul Revere and her male cria is medium fawn. This photo taken by Doc Hunter of his granddaughter, Belle, holding Firecracker was just too cute to pass posting. Belle was helping while her grandfather drew Firecracker's blood for his IgG and DNA tests as well as while he was implanting his microchip. What a great little helper. Belle is planning to be a veterinarian like her grandfather--she is already in training.

Wilson Cria Number Two is a Girl

On June 30th at 12:32 pm Jasmine layed down in front of us and presented us with a beautiful baby girl--as you can see from the photo her cria is just a much smaller version of herself. Carrie Hull of Coarse Broads came up with the perfect name for her while she was sorting Jasmine's fiber--Carrie thought her fiber reminded her of Cherry Garcia. Now considering that Cherry Garcia is one of my favorite things--the name was perfect. Cherry was up and nursing within 35 minutes and trying out her running legs within an hour.

Each of Wilson's cria demonstrate a little bit of him--his stance, his interest in everything, his overall presence. We still miss him--but it is nice to have a part of him in our pastures. Two more of his cria are scheduled--one next month out of Autumn Sunshine and one in October out of Bo Jangles.

Cria Season Has Begun at Tucker Creek

To say that cria season is one of my favorite times of the year is like saying that dark chocolate is just another food group.

This year has started off with three wonderful additions--each with their own story. Each year we select a theme for naming these little critters and this year we are naming them after different types of candy (unfortunately not all of them are dark chocolate--but they are still really fun names).

The first one arrived on June 2nd and what a moose--22.2 pounds at birth. She is a beautiful medium fawn out of our matriarch, Queen Amidala, and Sun Tzu. The crimp on this little one is absolutely gorgeous. Sun Tzu's attributes are definitely showing up on this very controlling cria (just like her mother). Seemed only appropriate that one of them be called Candy.

Then on June 12th we got the first of only four cria bred from our beloved Wilson who died this past February. Wilson was only two and a half when he died and was one of the most precocious mischievous gorgeous males born on our property. He was co-owned with Rising Moon Alpacas in Preston, NV. 2007 was his first breeding season and we have been waiting patiently for his offspring to arrive. His first was out of Coastal Moon's Katrina (a medium silver grey). He is dark brown with a wonderful white and black face. He may be younger and smaller than Candy--but he is every bit his father's son and presents some stiff competition when it is time for cria races. Seemed only appropriate to name him after this sire--this is Tucker Creek's Wilson, Jr.

The most recent arrival is another Sun Tzu progeny out of our other matriarch, Tequila's Marcella, (she and Amidala don't fight--they just rule autonomously). He is the first true black born on the farm--should be exciting to see if he stays that color. His name is Sugar Daddy. Could this be the black herdsire Hailey Parker (Snowy River Alpacas) has been searching for?

The next one scheduled to arrive is Tucker Creek's Brandy owned by Stoneberg Alpacas. Eric is scheduled to be here on Monday to help us with nails and topknot trimming--maybe she is waiting until he arrives to deliver her Paul Revere female cria. We will keep you posted.

Fiber Sorting Seminar & Shearing

The Fiber Sorting Seminar was scheduled for Saturday, June 7th. Carrie Hull, one of the Coarse Broads, arrived on Friday afternoon and immediately started to help us plan the best flow for the seminar and our shearing which was to occur on the two days following the seminar. Participation for the seminar was well received and several decided to enroll in the classes Carrie and her partner, Robyn Kuhl, present in Idaho.

Probably the most telling comment as to the success of the weekend was after it was over, David and I scheduled Carrie for next year's shearing weekend. Her seminar will be an annual event and her services were what we have been looking for since we finished our first shearing in 2004.

Here is what Carrie accomplished in a very short amount of time (certainly when compared to what I would have been fretting about). When she arrived on Friday evening we had fiber in 44 bags from prior shearing days. By the time she left on Tuesday morning she had presented a full-day seminar on Saturday; starting sorting the fiber in the bags Sunday morning until the shearing crew arrived; sorted all the fiber shorn on Sunday; sorted the remainder of the shearing completed on Monday and then finished sorting the remainder of the fiber in the bags--all before she left. The end result is bags of fiber ready to go (no more processing on our end). To say that our first shearing with fiber sorting was a success is definitely an understatement. We also made notes on what could be done differently next year to make the process even more productive in 2009.

If you want to learn more about the services of a certified sorter or want more details on the North American Alpaca Fiber Producers Cooperative follow the links below:

http://www.fibersorting.com/

http://www.naafp.us/

We are happy to be members of the cooperative and will be soon be adding the Certified Sorted logo to our website.

IRS Increases Mileage Rates through Dec. 31, 2008

In case you have not yet heard the good news (if it can be called that), today the IRS announced an increase of 8¢ in the optional standard mileage rate for the remainder of 2008. As you may recall this is normally adjusted annually and announced in the fall for the following tax year. Guess they are taking pity on us due to the gas prices painfully being felt all across the country.

In summary, starting July 1, the following rates will apply:

• Business Mileage 58.5¢ per mile
• Medical Mileage 27¢ per mile
• Moving Expense Mileage 27¢ per mile

Unfortunately, an increase in the standard mileage rate for charitable mileage was not increased as it is set by statute and not by the IRS. It remains at 14¢ per mile.

If you want more details, or are having difficulty falling asleep, the full text related to optional mileage rates can be found in Rev. Proc. 2007-70. Here is the link.

http://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-drop/rp-07-70.pdf

Suffice to say, the above increase is appreciated!