Store Hedegård

Interview with Helle from Store Hedegård

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How many sheep and alpacas do you have? What kind of sheep and alpaca do you have?

We had two danish merino sheep and a danish merino ram. They had lambs every year, which we sold to other shepherds.  In total we had six sheep and rams. Today we have 19 alpacas, 10 of them are Huacaya alpacas and 9 are Suri aplacas. 

 

Since when do you have sheep and alpacas?

We have the alpacas since 2014, and since then we have grown the herd. We got sheep in 2018 and had them until 2022.

 

Why do you have sheep?

We live on former farmland with a lot of property around our house. We wanted to have some animals, so they could keep the grass short and we did not want to have them just for the meat. Therefore it made sense to have animals, which are perfect for yarn production, so we still have "a little more" benefit of having animals.

 

How much land can your alpacas access?

We own around 1.8 hectare, so that we can switch between pens.

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Do you have a stable for the alpacas?

In the beginning we had only a shelter to protect from rain and storm, which works perfect for alpacas. Later when we had more and more alpacas and started to breed them, we have converted some of our buildings to stables. These we can use if the animals need special care or supervision. 

 

How often do you shear the sheep/alpacas per year?

Both need to be sheared once a year. 

 

How much wool do you get per sheep/alpaca?

Per alpaca we have around 1,5kg fine wool for yarn. Per merino sheep we have around 3,5-4kg of fine wool.

 

What have you usually done with the wool?

Some of the Suri wool was used for making dolls. Besides this I have unfortunately not really used the wool. I dream of spinning yarn myself or use the "worse" wool from legs and neck to felt.

At some point I got yarn in a alpaca - merino blend spun, for this I used the light and darker wool from our Huacaya alpacas and danish merino sheep.  But I also have animals in light brown. So I still have this wool and Suri wool on stock.