The Journey Begins!
The first time I saw an alpaca was about four years ago on one of those late-night tv commercials. Of course I thought they were adorable but that was as far as it went.
Shortly after seeing the commercial my mother-in-law gave me a book on alpacas. They have an incredible history and are fascinating creatures. Still, I was dubious about the alpaca market.
About a year and a half after seeing the commercial, we visited friends in Virginia. She announced we were going to visit an alpaca farm so I went along for the ride. That's when I got hooked and started browsing the internet for infomation on alpacas, the market, and what to do with the fiber. I now had alpaca fever.
After visiting several farms and several months later, the decision was made that this is what we wanted to do, land was cleared and a shelter went up. We were able to purchase two females, Miss Mocha and Angelita, from a wonderful farm in Gloucester, Virginia.
Appropriately named, "Angel" is gentle with a sweet disposition and has proved to be an excellent mother. She gave birth easily and knew just what to do, which was very fortunate because the rest of us were nervous wrecks! Phantom Kit was born on September 4, 2005 at just over 12 pounds. Being a "newbie" to the business (and farm life in general!) I was concerned that Kit was not gaining weight as he should. An interesting trip to the vet (try getting two alpacas into a Scion xB!) aleviated all concerns when we got the results of the IgG test. After that he started growing in leaps and bounds and already shows promise of being herdsire quality.
Mocha is my high-spirited girl with great stature and stunning fiber. She is definitely a girl that knows her own mind and has been a wonderful playmate for Kit. She can be aloof so I was thrilled when she walked up to me and touched her nose on mine, perhaps I've finally received her approval! We're looking forward to Mocha giving us a healthy, beautiful cria next fall.
And then there is Harry! Harry is our guard llama who is always on the job. After Kit was born we made a move toward him when Harry stepped between us and the cria! His intentions were quite clear! Harry keeps us entertained with his antics and gently nudges me along in the morning when he feels breakfast is just too slow in coming.
We are now trying to secure funds to enhance and build our business which has proven to be a challenge. In general, banks and the SBA are not interested because they consider it a farm/livestock enterprise, the FSA denied our loan request because they consider it a "non-farm enterprise." Talk about being between a rock and a hard place! However, we have appealed the denial of the FSA and they are taking it under consideration. Hopefully, sooner than later, we'll be able to build our herd and start our farm/non-farm enterprise!