About Us and About Alpacas...

The Long Story
Mission Statement
Alpacas Facts

The Long Story

We are professionals whose goal was to have a gentleman's farm in 10-15 years. Joe is an electrical engineer and I (Susan) am an occupational therapist. We both felt that we should work a little longer for financial reasons and to accomplish professional goals; mainly to get our professions out of our systems. Little did we know that our bi-annual trip to Joe's home turf (Upstate New York) would lead to a major life change.

We were having lunch with some good friends on their far in Cato, NY. (Joe lived on a farm there as a young boy.) They told us that their neighbors down the road were raising these “alpacees” that sold for over $15,000 a piece . Of course, we couldn't believe the price and had to see this! $15,000 for a goat?!
We laughed all the way over to the farm with the alpacees and continued snickering as we fell in love with them. Dick and Debbie McCoy explained to us how easy they are to care for compared to other live stock and how the business works. Although the price still continued to cause spasms of snorting and snickering. We finally controlled our giggling enough to pay closer attention when Dick proceeded to tell us that he used to be an electrical engineer and is now making more money now than her ever did at a 9-5 job.
For the next few weeks, we could not talk about anything else. As soon as we got home to San Diego, we began to visit alpaca farms in our area. We did intensive research and found out about alpaca shows in our area. In about a month, we purchased 4 production females (Peaches, Calico, Delta and Penny). We quickly became addicted as we learned about and interacted with them. Instead of finding an AA group (Alpacas Anonymous) we bought some more animals (Belkis, Summer, Gwen,...). We now have a herd and are still giggling.


Mission Statement

1. We believe that the most important part of the business is the attentive care of the alpacas. We will do everything in our power to educate and train our clients and ourselves about practical day-to-day care, breeding and the most current health issues and concerns.
2. We are committed to providing professional service to our clients with consideration of their business goals, finances and time. We will assist clients in building a solid, manageable infrastructure for their businesses.
3. We know that the most rewarding work is work that is loved. We will do all we can to facilitate alpacas as a way to realize financial success and emotional well-being.

Fascinating Facts About Alpacas

1. Really cute members of the camelid family. They are related to camels, llamas, vicunas, and guenacos.
2. Alpacas generally do not spit at people although they spit at each other. They will spit at a human if abused or if caught in the cross-fire.
3. Although their feet look like cloven hooves, the feet are actually soft on the bottom with nails on top.
4. They have no upper teeth, just a hard pallet for chewing and teeth on the bottom.
5. The males grow fighting teeth around breeding age; around 2-3 years.
6. Females produce 1 cria (baby) per year.
7. Their pregnancies last 11 ½ months and are receptive to being bred in 2-4 weeks after giving birth.
8. An alpaca will spit at the male when she is pregnant. She will also spit at the human that exposed her to the male if she is really cranky.
9. Alpacas are induced ovulators. This means that it is the sexual act that stimulates release of the mature egg.
10. One egg becomes mature every 3-4 days.
11. Alpacas generally give birth before 1 pm.
12. An alpacas fleece is strong and warm as wool but soft enough to wear against the skin.
13. Alpaca fleece is hypo-allergenic.
14. The fleece comes in about 20 natural colors but can easily be dyed to achieve any color.
15. Alpacas tend to poop in a community pile, making clean-up easy.
16. Alpacas are native to South America (Chile, Bolivia and Peru) and are the oldest domesticated species in the Western Hemisphere. They were raised by the ancients for their fine fleece which was worn by royalty.
17. Alpacas were first imported into the US in the 1980's. Today, the registry is closed to imports and there are approximately 100,000 registered animals in the US.

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