I am an Alpaca Farmer

I am an alpaca farmer.  I believe that this is the best thing I have done in years.  No, not just because of the money but because raising alpacas is different than than raising any animal I have ever had.  Yes there have been a few other animals.  There were cats when I was very young.  Ok, I didn’t really raise them they just appeared when they wanted and there was alway more than there had been before.  In some ways it was not long but in other ways far too long before my mother and I learned the benefits of nutering cats.  Then there were my sheep.  I loved those sheep, Daisy May and her son Buckey were the best.  At least I thought that until I started getting in trouble for Buckey’s behavior of hitting people with his head in their butts.  I must give Daisy May credit for giving me my first experience of seeing a birth, and it was twins.  I thought they were dead because they had this strange bag over there heads.  I cried and started to give them puffs of air through their noses. (I was always meant to be a farmer.)

Anyway, after the lambs came cows.  My brother had one called Betsy that served as a great riding cow.  I or my brother would get on her and the other one of us would slap her butt with board.  She would look as us and gently take two or three steps.  Then we would repeat the process.  This activity in itself would entertain us for hours.  Betsy was not always so entertained so she would lay down when she was through with us.

After the cows came most every girls dream, horses.  I had a couple of them Chuck and Dolly  Ok, actually Chuck was meant for my brother but his interest in riding lasted only as long as it took for Chuck to throw him on the ground and he was over it.  I on the other hand loved the horses.  There were many summer days when just as the sun was coming up I would load up my saddle bag and head off.  Chuck and I would explore every inch of my family’s farm.  We knew where the animals burrowed and where the best place to have lunch was.  We even came to believe that there was one area of the woods where the Indians had lived.  Chuck and I spent hours searching for proof but to this day the secret of that special place is being held for other generations to find.

I raised and showed horses until I went off to college and there was no one to care for them.  It broke my heart to let them go but they went on to raise other girls into adulthood.  I think of them often even now.

As I have gone through life I there has always been a piece missing.  I tried to fill it by become the manager for a family farm.  I didn’t stick with it long but you know while I was there I learned a great deal about birthing cattle and I manage to adopt a calf named “Sweet Cheeks”.

My next try to fill the hole was raising and showing Golden Retrievers and then  French Bulldogs.  I love these dogs.  They make me laugh and I have enjoyed showing them.  We have had our share of success in the show ring and more then our share of pleasure from living with and raising these fabulous  creatures.
To this day I love every moment I spend with them.  You haven’t lived until you lived with a French Bulldog.

When I least expected it I was introduced to Alpacas from a good friend who also raised French Bulldogs.  No, I said I do not want to raise Alpacas!  Of course within a month I was on the internet looking at farms and looking at animals.  I fell in love!  Her name was Avalon’s Mystic Melody.  I know she had the look and she was intended to be mine.  My partner in the dogs and soon to be partner in the alpacas, Shirley, convinced me to drive the eight hours to see her.  I told Melody  when we first saw her she was meant to be mine.   We looked at a lot of alpacas that day.  When the time came to make the purchase I was told that I could not buy Melody.  They were having trouble getting her bred and since I needed to make this work as a business she would not be a good risk for us.  We purchase our first alpacas that day and Melody was not one of them.  We were in the alpacas business with Sharona Rose and Lilly.

A year later Melody did come to live with me.  She never did get bred but she has from the very beginning been my soul mate in this business. I adore her today as much as the day I first saw her on Alpaca Nation.  And so we a herd of 17 animals I clean poop and haul hay each day and love each minute of it.  I am an Alpaca Farmer and I love it!

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