Alpacas Make it Happen!
Honey! Guess what! We've got a new manure spreader!
Ten years ago, if someone told me that I would have called my husband at work to make such a pronouncement, I would have assumed that they had been smoking their t-shirt. But it happened. Alpacas made it happen.
When we considered buying a couple alpacas for our small farm we just thought it would be fun. Today, with 15 more acres and nearly 50 alpacas, I'm a full time alpaca breeder and my husband divides his time between his job as an at-home training writer and doing the bidding of the "Barn Goddess."
We couldn't be happier. There is no end to the learning, the creativity, the opportunity for new friends, and the wonder. Most of all, the wonder of alpaca farming.
There is also no end to the effort it takes, but what may look like work to some seems like privilege to us. As the people who have the luck and responsibility of caring for these incredible creatures we participate in their very creation. We're there when they're conceived and when they stick their toes and nose into this world. If an alpaca momma mourns the loss of her baby, we mourn with her.
This is a life pregnant with moments of awe. A usually stand-offish alpaca female lets us caress her neck...a crop of wriggling weanlings bounce around our feet...elated juveniles race into a field delighting in their very existence. And we're right there with them. It's an honor. The stuff of dreams. To us it's even spiritual. And alpacas make it all happen.
There is, of course, an intensely practical side to the alpaca business. For us, it's not a hobby, but it is a record-keeping, barn-cleaning, article-writing, manure-spreading, contract-making business punctuated with the wonder and delight of life playing itself out to the fullest, calling from us all that we have become, and challenging us to be more than we ever thought we could be.
Contact us. We'd love to help you find your own alpacas to make it all happen, too!
Downloads
- AlpacasUSA_Application_FORM.doc – Complete this simple Application form to let the A/USA Family know more about you. Then mail your Application fee and email the Form to alpacas@zoominternet.net; or send it, along with the Application Fee ($50), to: Alpacas in the USA! Moon Ivy Hill, 4526 Olmstead Rd., Woodhull, NY 14898 and you'll be notified within a week to ten days of your confirmation for the License. We look forward to welcoming you into our close-knit family!
