The first time I laid eyes on those strange and wild looking Dr. Seuss creatures…I had no idea about Alpacas. But then an idea came to mind… I had to have them!

I must say, that the old saying “don’t put the cart before the horse” always rings true when it comes to the way I do things. But that’s ok. I tend to force myself into endeavors this way. Who knows, I might have spent my life only dreaming of them, and visiting other farms to get to see them.

So I bought the best 4 Alpacas I could afford, 2 girls and 2 boys. Now, remember the gestation is 11 months to have a Cria (baby alpaca) and that’s only IF they are pregnant. Yes, back then I relied on the ole’ spit check method. Generally if a Hembra (female alpaca) is pregnant she will spit off the Macho (male alpaca) and that means she’s pregnant! Otherwise, she will cush (lay down) and allow the macho to mount her. Ohhh dear. Believe it or not…Hembras love to be pregnant.

So then I spent the next 10 years working in a bank, and coming home to my side gig. I learned how to properly feed, care, medicate, shear, breed, birth, intervene with birthing, wrapping legs, tube feeding, needles, fiber sorting, skirting, grading, washing, spinning, outsourcing processing, felting, and whatever I’ve forgotten to mention!

Lots to learn about alpacas and what your actually going to do with them once you have them! Oh…you can breed for the best quality studs, and offer “travelling stud service” sell the cria to other growing alpaca farms, breed for girls to create lots of fiber (that’s what I do) and I keep the little machos until their breeding career starts at 3yrs old. At that point I sell them unproven…or proven. Meaning, they have cria’s on the ground or they don’t. Of course they fetch more money if they are proven, and its nice for potential buyers to see the offspring.

So for us, the main thing at the end of the day is happy, healthy animals with nice fiber, and great yarn. And that is what we have!!