1Elk Rapids NewsMarch 21, 2019

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BY BARB MOSHER , CONTR IBUT ING WR ITER

Just call her the Alpaca Whisperer. That’s the reputation Masha Speckman is beginning to develop as she learns to care for and show the animals her family breeds and sells.

“I love them,” said the Cherryland Middle School 8th grader. “I like training them, getting them used to human interaction. They’re kind of shy and cool and collected.”

Masha’s parents, Dave and Kari Speckman, say other breeders have taken note of the knack their 13-year-old daughter has with alpacas. “She’s starting to show for other farms,” Kari said. “They’re also paying her to help care for their animals at shows.”

Because alpacas are social animals who thrive on each other’s company, removing one from a pen to enter the show ring can cause anxiety for those remaining behind. Masha is often called on to take a stressed animal for a calming walk.

“I like spending time with any of them,” she said of the naturally curious and gentle animals. “They’re just great in general.”

Alpacas are members of the camelid family, closely related to, but about half the size of, llamas. They are native to Peru, Chile, and Bolivia and have been domesticated in South America for thousands of

An affinity for alpacasyears. They were fi rst imported into the U.S. in 1984.

The Speckmans breed, train, show and sell huacaya alpacas, the more common of the two species of alpacas. Their thick, fl uffy fi ber gives them a cuddly, teddy bear appearance and is prized for its cashmere-like softness and warmth. “Alpaca fl eece is two to three times softer and warmer than sheep’s wool, and it’s hypoallergenic,” Dave said.

“Our goal is to breed and sell animals with an ideal body type who will produce high-quality fl eece appropriate for the textile industry,” Kari said of their farm, Northern Blessing Alpacas, which they operate on seven rolling acres surrounded by cherry orchards in Milton Township.

But that wasn’t the original purpose in purchasing their fi rst two alpacas in 2010. Dave and Kari had adopted Masha and her older brother, Sasha, from Kazakhstan a

year earlier. The children had spent years in an orphanage, and the transition to their new home and family came with the predictable challenges.

A counselor suggested caring for animals as a means to instill self-confi dence and a sense of structure and purpose.

“We did a lot of research and visited a lot of farms,” Dave said. “We really liked alpacas.”

The Speckmans currently have a herd of seven adult huacayas, including three pregnant females due this summer, and one cria (baby alpaca). They’re sheared once a year, in the spring, with each adult yielding fi ve to ten pounds of fi ber per shearing. Kari washes and hand cards the fl eece, separating and straightening it into lofty batts ready for spinning.

Some goes to local mills to be turned into yarn and rug cording that Kari sells online and at alpaca shows and craft fairs along with the dryer balls and alpaca-felted goats milk soap she makes at home. Some of the fl eece is sent to a fi ber pool in New England where it’s combined with fl eece from other alpacas and made into

Kari Speckman makes alpaca fl eece-felted goat’s milk soap from the family’s alpacas and goats. Photo by Dave Speckman

Masha Speckman shares a beautiful winter day with two of her family’s alpacas, Majestic’s Skully (left) and Pronking Acre’s Edison. Photo by Dave Speckman

Helping return crias (baby alpacas) to their mothers after shearing brings joy to Cherryland Middle School 8th grader Masha Speckman. Here she works with a herd at Majestic Meadows Alpacas in Media, Ohio. Photo by Dave Speckman