OK I'll admit it. I didn't know that there were so many Alpaca blogs out there. There are alpaca farm blogs, alpaca knitting blogs, alpaca care blogs, alpaca whispering blogs, alpaca picture blogs, alpaca organization blogs, alpaca blogs from all over the world. Google "Alpaca Blogs" and you get 708,000 results. The top two are Debbie's Alpaca Blog in Otterburn, Northumberland, England and Alpaca Overview in Bozeman, Montana, USA. Both of them are outgrowths of rather large Alpaca farms. At least from my viewpoint. Anyone running a herd larger than 25 should be considered a large farm but these folks run hundreds of animals. Rather large seems almost an understatement.
So why does the world need another Alpaca blog? Well a lot of people would say it doesn't. But after four years of trying to educate ourselves about raising Alpacas we discovered that there were limits to almost every website, book and farm owner we consulted. Each author/farmer has their own opinions about raising Alpaca's, some good, some bad, some helpful and some not so helpful. Some people's strong suit is genetics, some are strong in care and feeding, some have strengths in veterinary practices, some know everything there is to know about shearing, fiber milling, weaving and knitting. I'm not saying that this blog will answer every alpaca question with the correct and most proper answer but I will try and provide the best acceptable and most up to date practice when it comes to raising, caring and breeding alpacas. In addition I'll try and be as honest as I can about our experiences, both good and bad, in the Alpaca industry.
We began our search for information on Alpacas quite by accident. Andrea, my dear bride, and I both came from the rural part of the Central Valley in California. I was raised on a working farm and Andrea while not a "farm girl" was an accomplished equestrian at a very early age. We both had experience with livestock and as our retirement years approached we began to look for something that would get us back to our roots. We tossed around ideas about raising vegetables or fruit, even considered mushrooms. But we both loved animals and as I kept steering the conversation back to animals it became quite clear that, while I had raised two pigs that I named Lunch and Dinner, Andrea wasn't about to go for that type of farm. In late summer of 2010 we were at a farmers market in Goochland, Virginia looking for fresh vegetables for the week ahead. As we rounded a booth we came upon a wonderful sight. There in a small pen was an Alpaca and her baby, or cria as we later learned. While I have to admit they were too cute for color TV Andrea fell in love.
The next several months were spent visiting various farms, farmer markets, and anywhere else we could find alpacas being displayed. We talked with alpaca farmers, read books, checked out websites and tried to find out as much as we could about Alpacas. Unfortunately at that time, the Alpaca industry was riding high and mighty. It seemed like everyone we talked to wanted to sell us an alpaca. and it wasn't a soft-sell. It was the used car dealers sell, the standard question being "What can I do to put you into an Alpaca today?" And back then while the recession was just starting it apparently hadn't had any impact on the Alpaca industry. We could not find a decent alpaca or even a not so decent one for less than $10,000 US. And for those of you new to the Alpaca business you can't buy just one Alpaca. They are herd animals and a single Alpaca will pine away for company and eventually die. So it looked like the Alpaca business wasn't for us.
But every cloud carries a silver lining! In 2012 we were still interested and I began to wonder if the recession had any impact on the Alpaca industry. We were in Hanover, VA at the annual Hanover Tomato Festival on a scorching July day when we happened upon a lady selling Alpaca products. We talked with her at length and she invited us to visit her farm. We took her up on the invitation and met with her several times. We went to the VAOBA (Virginia Alpaca Owners and Breeders Association) show that winter and finally decided that we should talk to her about buying some animals. Up until then she had never even mentioned purchasing her animals. Well to make a long story short we now have an eight animal herd with another cria due next April/May and we did it for under $10,000.
Yes, there are still $10,000 animals out there, even more expensive. But you can get into this business with good quality animals at a reasonable cost. The days of $10,000, $25,000 and $50,000 animals may come back but that shouldn't be the goal for the industry. The goal should be raising quality fiber animals and the outlook for the industry should be the long range development of the breed. The fast talking, high flying, breeder is still out there but for someone to invest that kind of money in Alpacas when the only real commodity available to the Alpaca farmer is their fiber is bordering on the insane. Those prices were for the ultra-rich looking for a tax break. If you calculate the ROI those prices just don't make any sense. Alpaca raising isn't about a get rich quick scheme or even about a tax break deal. It's about developing an ecologically friendly industry with a valuable product that can be harvested annually and provide a farmer with a reasonable income.
