Twinkle and Braun Moreno’s cria was born March 6, 2010.
Our Daughter named her Sarah, after herself, because of her long skinny legs and talkative, active nature. (She was up and about “pronking” within a couple of hours.)

Twinkle had her solid brown female cria yesterday on a cool and drizzly afternoon…The Sire (Father) is Braun Moreno. She weighed in at 21 pounds, that was our heaviest cria born yet! (The average is 12 – 16 pounds) She’s all legs!

After having mostly boys last year, it was a pleasure to see two very nice females born on the ranch! The white girl is almost pure Accoyo from Rosita, the most expensive Alpaca we bought when we started…

We had 2 years worth of sheared Fiber processed into yarn at A Simpler Time Mill in El Cajon…So beautiful!

Sonja Lisenby and her Llama friend

Thank you for visiting our website.  We are one of the newest alpaca ranches in Southern California and are enjoying the growth of our starter herd. We welcome visitors and would be glad to give you a “live tour” if you are living in or visiting North County San Diego.

We chose the name Old Castle Alpacas because our ranch is located just 15 minutes up Old Castle Road from the 15 Freeway above Escondido. While driving up scenic Old Castle Road if you look to your right in the Valley below the curve, you can see the old Castle Turet.

We currently have 26 alpacas, 4 Llamas, 2 horses, an Alpine Dairy goat, 8 chickens, 5 dogs, 2 cats, a rabbit, 2 Russian Tortoises and a Canary to share with you and we have been told by former guests that they truly enjoyed their visit with us!

My son Joel created our website to be a blog so check back often for updates on “what’s happenen on the ranch!” Click on the links to the left for directions and information on the alpacas we have for sale, and thanks again for stopping in!

Sincerely,

Sonja and Robert Lisenby, Hans Klahr and Heinz and Christel Lueck

Old Castle Alpacas Starter Herd and Boarders

Querida and her Cria one hour after being born!

I was lucky I had my camera when I spotted a nose coming out of Querida’s back end! I have had the pleasure of watching 9 crias born here since we took on this Alpaca adventure, and an adventure it always is! (Sorry about the poor quality filming! It was a little nerve wrecking trying to film and be ready to help if I was needed…Luckily my Dad Heinz was there to take over the filming for me

Click “read the rest of this entry” to watch. Parental supervision is strongly advised.

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One of our 2 Great Pyranees dogs taking care of Alexander. There are only 2 types of dogs that can be trusted to live with the alpacas. Great Pyranees and Anatolian Shepherds. They are sooo sweet!

We had a Camelids of California Club meeting at our house on September 13th with Dr. Anita Dennison from Los Caballos Veterinary Hospital as the guest speaker. Since Camels, LLamas, Alpacas and Vicunas are a special type of breed, it’s nice to know there are vets such as Dr. Anita and Dr. Linda Byer who are nearby and are taking a special interest in these animals.

Special thanks to our club founder Robin who shared the tragic story of a “birth gone bad” with one of her Llamas…Dr. Anita had slides and explained what happened so we would know what to look for when things go wrong.

Thank you to everyone who came to the meeting so we could share our ranch with everyone!

COC Meeting at Old Castle Alpacas

The day after Kaiana had King Kamehameha, Dr. Byer was here to check on them when Maizy (Also a Kahuna daughter) went into labor and Dr. Byer helped deliver her female cria “Princess Ann.” She is true black with a white chin just like her granddam “Twinkle.”

Maizy and her true black cria girl born October 29, 2008

Kaiana and her Cria

Kaiana is an Accoyo Alpaca, known for their very fine but dense fiber. Her Sire is the famous “Kahuna” owned by Dennis & Bea Miller at Alpaca Palms ranch in Riverside County. Kaiana was bred to the famous accoyo alpaca “Achilles”, so we have high hopes for this little Cria “King Kamehameha!”