About Us & Buying Alpacas
For me, the first time I saw
an alpaca it was love at first sight.
I
spent the next 48
hours straight surfing the internet. I began gathering
every bit of information about alpacas that I could find.
I emailed over a dozen farms from Ohio to Maine. I
wanted to know everything about owning these fantastic
animals.
Through
the internet, I located an alpaca farm about 5 minutes away
from us. I emailed the owners and scheduled a farm visit. I wanted to see if
these animals were really too good to be true. I
thought there had to
be a catch. The more
I investigated, the more convinced I became that these
animals were for us. My husband was not so easily
convinced.
I began working
at the neighboring farm whenever there was some herd
maintenance to do. I was determined to get as much
hands-on experience as possible to see what managing alpacas
would be like. I read as much as I could, building my
bank of knowledge about alpacas.
I brought
my 4 children with me on training days. We all learned how
to walk animals on a lead. We worked with them on an
obstacle course. The first show we entered was two months
after I saw my first alpaca, long before we ever owned an
animal. My daughter Megan, who was 8 at the time, after
only 3 training sessions, competed in the youth division of
the Big E Alpaca Show in Springfield, MA using a borrowed
animal.
I watched
my children becoming alpaca savvy and comfortable with the
animals. They could answer basic health questions.
They enjoyed working with the public. They loved working
with the animals. My oldest daughter, Rachel,
was photographed with an alpaca by a local newspaper for a
feature article about an upcoming local farm event. It
was pretty exciting.
 Barry
came to realize that this alpaca thing was not going away.
It had already become part of the family. It took 10 more
months before we bought our first animals.
During
those 10 months, Barry dissected the finances of owning
alpacas. He’s the financial half of our team. He carries
the number-crunching gene in the family. He manages our
investments, plans the children’s college funds, and
calculates how many years until his retirement from
corporate America. Alpacas are going to get him there
faster!
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