Alpacas!

A way back in 2003, while teaching English in South Korea with Beth, I saw an ad for alpacas in a Canadian Geographic magazine. The ad touted these animals' pleasant demeanor, ease of care, and hypoallergenic attributes. I'd never raised an animal before, excluding Brandy the family dog, which we  gave away due to everyone being allergic to her. But alpacas really appealed to me then and I decided I'd like to have a few in the future. Not knowing much about camelids I read a bit about them while still in Asia and received an information package from Alpaca Ontario. The only previous experience with these types of creatures was in Argentina where I saw a few Vicuna's from a distance while travelling in the Andes. 

Vicuna - a relative of the Alpaca

A bit later when Beth and I were travelling through Mongolia we took the opportunity to ride a Bactrian Camel. These are relatively rare compared with the single humped Dromedary camel.

My interest in alpacas grew once back in Ontario and I visited several farms to learn more about them. Without any land, job, sense of permanency anywhere at the time, the interest waned for a few years until we bought this farm.

As luck would have it though, this place came with Esther, our guard llama. 

She's a great animal. Though very timid, standoffish and temperamental at first, we've developed a pretty good relationship and she now follows several voice commands. My hope is to one day outfit her with hiking bags and go for a trip nearby. She's a big girl and could likely carry about 80-90lbs without any difficulty.

In spite of now having a llama I am still interested in having alpacas and just recently was able to purchase a couple females from Hilltop Oasis Alpacas, which is actually just down the road a bit. In 2006 I helped these folks with shearing and have been in contact since then. These two females came up for sale as the farm is trying to breed for different coloured animals. So Domini (fawn) and Ivanka (white) are here now and we expect another shortly as Ivanka is pregnant, due on the 24th of August. 

 The overall intent of keeping these girls is simply to have a pair of nice, friendly and cute animals around. Their fleece will be sent away to be processed and we'll receive it back in the form of socks, skeins of yarn or other items to be sold locally. Though they won't be major money makers for the farm, as I have no interest in becoming a breeder/shower, they'll be fun to have around. They hum to each other quietly and are always side by side.
When asked, "What does an alpaca say?", Ella is already quick to respond with an enthusiastic, 'Hum'.

So far they have been a lot of fun to watch. They have added a different dynamic to the flock/herd here and seem to be forming a bridge between the sheep and Esther. They like Esther and follow her around, despite the fact that Esther hasn't quite warmed up to them yet. The sheep are fairly aloof about the alpacas, which is to be expected.

It's fun to see a dream come to fruition after such a long time. It's been nine years since I decided I'd like to raise alpacas and now here they are! We feel lucky everyday to have the space and freedom to do what we want out here in the country.