Raising Alpacas

EPDs and histograms are tools available to the alpaca industry that help alpaca breeders improve the genetics and health of their livestock.

Wondering how alpaca shearing is done and what you should expect during your first shearing day? Let me walk through our shearing day so you can get a good feel for the process, planning, and execution.

When purchasing a starter alpaca herd, it’s important to consider a variety of factors from fiber characteristics and lineage to the reputation and experience of the breeder. Doing your homework and working with a reputable breeder is the key to a successful purchase and a happy herd.

Making friends with alpacas is a lot easier than you think. The gift of time, gift of time, respect, and love are critical. Here are my 11 tips for making friends.

Alpacas are fun, quirky, and lovable. Here are 20 reasons why you’re going to love these magical animals. This list comes from first hand experience and years of interaction.

How do you know when your alpaca is ready to begin labor and delivery? Are there clear signs an alpaca is ready to deliver a baby? Here is my list of signs.

In this article, we cover information new farms need to know about breeding alpacas. It will help you learn about the process and if it’s right for you.

This is a web-friendly version of a alpaca color genotyping presentation provided by Lynn Edens at the Parade of Champions Auction in June.

Understanding how alleles work greatly improves our ability to predict color outcomes and increases the quality in produce black alpaca offspring.

If you are considering purchasing an alpaca online, know it is buyer beware. You have to do your due diligence or you will be scammed out of your money.

A lot of people assume if you mix a white alpaca with a brown alpaca you’ll end up with fawn alpaca. Well, that works in mixing frosting, but it doesn’t work in breeding alpacas. There is a lot more science that goes into the color outcomes of alpaca breeding.

The question would seem straightforward, however, you have uniformed hobby farms raising these species together not realizing the mental, physical, and genetic issues they are introducing to their livestock.

This summer we’ve had a lot of farm visitors and we’ve sold quite a few alpaca. One of the questions we receive with each visit is which gender is better for pets and fiber animals – male vs. female?

Starting an alpaca farm doesn’t have to be scary. Here are 44 resources and tips to help you create a business plan and get you started down the right path.

You’ll have a very good understanding of each alpaca’s demeanor and temperament if you spend a lot of time interacting, listening, and watching.

It appears the larger our alpaca herd grows, the happier the alpacas become. I am apparently adopting herd mentality, because the more alpacas we own, the happier I become.

The revenue opportunities of alpaca farming vary greatly from farm to farm, however, alpaca cost and care is fairly consistent. Let’s breakdown the numbers for startup costs and ongoing expenses.

The most common questions we receive and provide some other alpaca facts you might want to know. These data points include everything from history and population to personality traits and tips on raising alpacas.

Not sure how to tell an alapaca from a llama? In this post we cover 30+ different elements from arrival to the US and fiber quality to lifespan and personalities.

On May 25th, Gina and Bill brought Princess, Dolly, and Reba to our farm. We were all thrilled with the new arrivals and were also excited for Princess to deliver her cria.

When she went into labor on May 15th, it was a completely different story. While she did wait for my husband to leave, she slowed her birth down and waited for assistance. She did so because her baby wasn’t positioned correctly and she knew she was in trouble.

I didn’t know what to expect when we adopted Faith and Stormy, but I’m sure glad we took the chance and brought our adopted alpacas home. Now that they are farm residents, I simply cannot imagine what life would be without them.