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**Welcome Wagon:  New Alpaca Farmgirl  |
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Alpaca Farmgirl
True Blue Farmgirl
59 Posts
Katy
Fairhope
AL
USA
59 Posts |
 Posted - Oct 09 2008 : 08:21:57 AM
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Hi! I recently found this site and just joined!
I am new to the Farmgirl Connection, but have been raising/breeding alpacas on a farm for nine years now. I came to farming from a brief career as a psychologist. I had no farm background whatsoever when I started. Fortunately alpacas are pretty easy and the learning curve wasn't too steep. We now have over 40 alpacas on our farm and are running out of room. Suburbia has also caught up with us so we are going to move the farm. Oh my! That will be my big project for the next year or so. I have started a blog about the alpacas, our lifestyle, and farm business matters. I love hearing from other farmgirls. Can't wait to meet you!
Katy
Visit me at www.alpacafarmgirl.blogspot.com |
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kristin sherrill
True Blue Farmgirl
11303 Posts
kristin
chickamauga
ga
USA
11303 Posts |
Posted - Oct 09 2008 : 08:56:55 AM
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Hey Katy. Welcome! I had to look on the map to see where you are. It's near Mobile? You are way down there.
How'd you get started in Alpacas? Sounds like lots of work. Lots of shearing?
Enjoy the forum!
Kris |
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Alpaca Farmgirl
True Blue Farmgirl
59 Posts
Katy
Fairhope
AL
USA
59 Posts |
Posted - Oct 09 2008 : 09:51:04 AM
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Hi Kris,
Thanks for the warm welcome! We are close to Mobile, AL and Pensacola, FL. A little too close to the hurricanes. Our new farm is closer to you. It's between Dunlap and Soddy Daisy, TN. We are crazy about the Chattanooga area. It will be great when we get settled there. But that will be a LONG project, relocating.
How did we get started with alpacas? Well, my husband had always wanted to live in the country. That was fine with me. So I started looking for an animal for us to have as a pet that would be different from what we could have in the city. A friend recommended alpacas, and I had never heard of them. But I quickly learned and fell in love with them. They are cute AND profitable. So it went from being a backyard "pet" idea to being my full-time job. Having a herd of 15 alpacas and under is not much work at all. It's like having a few pets in the yard. Once we got over 20 it started to feel like "work". But more fun for me than working for someone else or having a desk job.
The alpacas have been great for our family. We have 4 kids who have grown up with the alpacas. They have learned numerous life lessons from the animals, and they even have shown them.
We only shear once a year. At this point we have neighboring alpaca farms bring their alpacas over for shearing day. We all get together and harvest the fleece. It's a great time of fellowship and reward. A professional shearer comes and does the shearing. It takes him around 6 minutes per alpaca! We need to have many hands to hold the animals, gather the fleece, sweep up between animals, etc. But it's all over in one day. This year we sheared over 80 alpacas on shearing day. Shearing day is one of my favorite days of the year. There's nothing like the feeling of having a barn full of fleece and happy, naked alpacas pronking in the fields!
Visit me at www.alpacafarmgirl.blogspot.com |
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GreenAcreGal
Farmgirl in Training
17 Posts
Bev
DeGraff
Ohio
USA
17 Posts |
Posted - Oct 09 2008 : 10:49:36 AM
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Hi Katy! Welcome! I'm new here too!
I want to know more about your alpacas or alpacas in general. I've been wanting to buy one but have no clue what to look for. I'm thinking mostly for the grandbabies who love any animal but "Gram" wants an alpaca! What would you recommend? How much care do they require? Anything I should know upfront?
Thanks!
Bev |
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Contrary Wife
True Blue Farmgirl
2164 Posts
Teresa Sue
Tekoa
WA
USA
2164 Posts |
Posted - Oct 09 2008 : 10:57:41 AM
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Welcome Katy from the Pacicif NW.
Teresa Sue
Farmgirl Sister #316
"Learn the rules so you know how to break them properly." The Dalai Lama |
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ddmashayekhi
True Blue Farmgirl
4745 Posts
Dawn
Naperville
Illinois
USA
4745 Posts |
Posted - Oct 09 2008 : 11:32:57 AM
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Welcome Katy! Glad you joined us. You'll find lots of farm girls here who raise sheep and spin their own wool for yarn. Good luck on finding a new farm to move to. It sounds like a huge project!
Dawn in IL |
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kristin sherrill
True Blue Farmgirl
11303 Posts
kristin
chickamauga
ga
USA
11303 Posts |
Posted - Oct 09 2008 : 11:38:18 AM
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Hey, you will be close when you move. It's maybe 50 miles from me to Soddy.
So do you use your wool after shearing? It's really expensive to buy, I know. I would love to learn to spin wool.
Kris |
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Tapestry
True Blue Farmgirl
1223 Posts
Cheryl
Wisconsin
USA
1223 Posts |
Posted - Oct 09 2008 : 1:41:48 PM
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Hi Katy and welcome to the forum! I am so jealous of you gals who do live on farms and get to raise animals. Alpacas are so sweet looking. My problem would be making pets out of every animal I had....LOL I hope you love it here!
Happy farmgirl sister #353
Look for rainbows instead of mud puddles
http://tapestrysimaginings.blogspot.com/ |
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electricdunce
True Blue Farmgirl
2544 Posts
Karin
Belmont
ME
USA
2544 Posts |
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berryhill
True Blue Farmgirl
132 Posts
Linda
Troy
TN
USA
132 Posts |
Posted - Oct 09 2008 : 6:53:50 PM
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Hello Katy, and welcome to the farm! Looking forward to hearing more about your farm move and your alpaca babies!
Linda from West Tenn. |
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Alpaca Farmgirl
True Blue Farmgirl
59 Posts
Katy
Fairhope
AL
USA
59 Posts |
Posted - Oct 09 2008 : 7:59:47 PM
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Wow! You gals are so great. Thanks for the kind words. I'm feeling at home here already.
Bev, alpacas are fun. A few things to know about them. Alpacas are super herd oriented. You always have to have at least two alpacas together. To illustrate this point, when we buy one alpaca - we have to take two to pick up the one. That way one alpaca is never by itself in the trailer. This comes from their being a prey animal. Alpacas have to be shorn once a year, usually in Spring. Ours eat free choice hay and have pasture grass. We give them an alpaca feed pellet once a day and see that they have fresh water. We pick up their manure (great fertilizer!) daily but if you have more space, you can do it less often. Luckily, they go to the bathroom in a community poop pile which makes cleaning up so much easier. In the South where it's hot and humid in the summer they need fans to keep them cool. In other parts of the country this is not as much of an issue. A 3 sided shed will be sufficient shelter for them. I haven't raised other livestock, but I think alpacas are fairly easy to keep. The fact that I am addicted to them may make me somewhat biased.
Kris, we do lots of different things with our alpaca's fiber. We sell some directly to handspinners. We send some of it off to be processed. This can go to either a mill that will process our own alpaca fiber into yarn, or to a mill where they pool lots of alpaca fiber from different farms together and we get back yarn from a pool rather than your own animals. We like having yarn from our own alpacas, but the mill that does a pool works with dyes and some of our yarn customers like that. Personally, I like needlefelting. Wish I had the time to do more of it. We sell alpaca products, and I am currently working with a local knitter to make alpaca scarves (shaped like alpacas) and to make the kits so that people can knit their own. Hope to have that ready by the holiday season, but who knows...
Katy
Visit me at www.alpacafarmgirl.blogspot.com |
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lilyblossom
True Blue Farmgirl
416 Posts
Donna
Evansville
IN
USA
416 Posts |
Posted - Oct 11 2008 : 7:15:47 PM
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Hi Katy, welcome to the group. I love alpacas, especially their fiber (I spin and knit). Can't wit to hear more from you and your big move next year.
Donna...true blue KY farmgirl, farmgirl #86 |
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Alpaca Farmgirl
True Blue Farmgirl
59 Posts
Katy
Fairhope
AL
USA
59 Posts |
Posted - Oct 12 2008 : 05:08:49 AM
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Thanks Donna! One of my stud males (herdsires) "summers" in Kentucky. He stays cooler and works up there while we swelter down here in L.A. (lower Alabama).
Katy
Visit me at www.alpacafarmgirl.blogspot.com |
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lacisne88
True Blue Farmgirl
1181 Posts
Chelsey
Lake Stevens
Washington
USA
1181 Posts |
Posted - Oct 12 2008 : 6:22:08 PM
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Hi Katy! It's nice to meet you! It was really funny reading your intro because you said you are now farming alpacas after having a brief career as a psychologist. It's funny because right now I am studying at the University of Washington to be some sort of psychologist, but I really would LOVE to have an alpaca farm some day. It is my dream to have an alpaca farm and to spin the wool into yarn! Anyway, I hope you like the farm connection!
Chelsey
Farmgirl Sister #283
http://farmgirlpleasures.blogspot.com/
http://aminiatureworld.blogspot.com/ |
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Alpaca Farmgirl
True Blue Farmgirl
59 Posts
Katy
Fairhope
AL
USA
59 Posts |
Posted - Oct 12 2008 : 8:44:49 PM
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Chelsey!
That's a hoot! We'll have to chat more soon. I love the farm connection already. Thanks!
Katy
Visit me at www.alpacafarmgirl.blogspot.com |
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Shirley
True Blue Farmgirl
734 Posts
Shirley
Olympia
Wa
USA
734 Posts |
Posted - Oct 13 2008 : 12:29:09 AM
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Hi Welcome Katy,
We have raised about every kind of farm animal, including Alpacas and Llamas and they are fairly easy to have. We have raised Llamas since 1979, with alpacas in between, just got rid of the alpacas 1 1/2 years ago, now just have llamas and sheep.
Do you spin and knit ? I sent some alpaca and sheeps wool to have it spun, and it is so nice. I wonder where it is, LOL I gota locate it and make something
I spin and knit but dont do much with the llamas because of the guard hair. takes to much time to seperate it.
sounds like you have a good business going there. keep it up
Shirley |
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Alpaca Farmgirl
True Blue Farmgirl
59 Posts
Katy
Fairhope
AL
USA
59 Posts |
Posted - Oct 13 2008 : 08:35:21 AM
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Hi Shirley,
Thanks for the kind welcome. I love llamas too! When I have more property, I'd love to have some guard llamas.
I cannot find enough hours in the day for the fiber arts. My girls are learning but they are still so young...If I had the time I would needlefelt. But for now, it's mostly laundry, cooking, and tending to the 4 kids and all the alpacas. As they get older I will have more time for my alpaca fiber. For now, we sell most of it and the yarn.
Hug a llama for me today!
Katy
Visit me at www.alpacafarmgirl.blogspot.com |
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sherone_13
True Blue Farmgirl
2460 Posts
Sherone
Evanston
WY
USA
2460 Posts |
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Maryjane Lee
True Blue Farmgirl
2195 Posts
Maryjane
CA
USA
2195 Posts |
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Alpaca Farmgirl
True Blue Farmgirl
59 Posts
Katy
Fairhope
AL
USA
59 Posts |
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Carol Sue
True Blue Farmgirl
4033 Posts
Carol Sue
Washingtonian
USA
4033 Posts |
Posted - Oct 19 2008 : 9:40:25 PM
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Katy,
Thanks for sharing, what fun things to learn about Alpacas, I think our mobile home park would object at alpacas....darn, but we do have chickens....lol
Welcome to the farm.
Carol Sue
Farmgirl #39
www.Quitemoments.blogspot.com |
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Alpaca Farmgirl
True Blue Farmgirl
59 Posts
Katy
Fairhope
AL
USA
59 Posts |
Posted - Oct 20 2008 : 05:30:51 AM
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Carol Sue,
Thanks for the welcome. They might object to the alpacas. lol.
But how fun that you can have your chickens. One of my daughters is dying to get chickens. I hope to have them on our next farm. That will be a new adventure.
Katy
Visit me at www.alpacafarmgirl.blogspot.com |
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GreenAcreGal
Farmgirl in Training
17 Posts
Bev
DeGraff
Ohio
USA
17 Posts |
Posted - Nov 04 2008 : 10:16:59 AM
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Katy, you are a sweetheart!
Thank you for all the information on alpacas. I've got alot to learn!
Appreciate your time.
Blessings!
~Bev~ |
Edited by - GreenAcreGal on Nov 04 2008 10:18:19 AM |
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Alpaca Farmgirl
True Blue Farmgirl
59 Posts
Katy
Fairhope
AL
USA
59 Posts |
Posted - Nov 04 2008 : 6:00:01 PM
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Hi Bev,
Glad you are learning about alpacas. I had no livestock (or farming) experience when we discovered alpacas. The good news is that it was a pretty easy learning curve. But some of the things I do now, I would have never dreamed of in my former life. Cutting my fingernails off and greasing up to the elbows to help with a delivery, and drawing blood are two examples that come to mind. :) I wouldn't trade it for anything. Our babies will be coming soon. First one is due Monday, November 10. I can hardly wait!
Cheers!
Katy
Visit me at www.alpacafarmgirl.com |
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farmmom22
True Blue Farmgirl
616 Posts
Tammy
Scottsville
KY
USA
616 Posts |
Posted - Nov 05 2008 : 7:37:26 PM
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Welcome Katy, I think you are going to love it here. I think alpacas are so cool. We have Boer goats and I just love them. Especially the kids! They are like sweet little puppy dogs. Good luck with finding a farm, farm life is the best life to live!
Best farm wishes |
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**Welcome Wagon: New Alpaca Farmgirl |
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New Alpaca Farmgirl
