Alpacas: Pets or Business?

Donald Trump says, "Find a job you love and you'll never work a day in your life".

This quote pretty much summarizes why I am so excited about having an alpaca farm. I want to do something fun and that I'll enjoy. I love animals. I always have. Having a farm is so me I can't believe I haven't considered this before. The freedom of being my own boss will be a very welcome latent effect of starting my farm.

I went on another farm visit yesterday (yes I was scared) but it was a very nice farm. It was huge. There are over 400 animals. Again it was pleasantly educational. The farm's owner kept emphasizing the financial end of alpacas and continuously reminded me that they are a business and that by having them, I am going into business. This is the part of the alpaca business that disturbs me. Her focus is on the breeding end of the business and I'll have to say from the number of ribbons she and herherd have won, she's very good at it. She emphasizes the very thought process that have turned me off of the breeding end of this business. Yes it's a business and yes the alpacas are livestock. But I view them as pets and I try to treat them with the same respect I want to be treated with. I can't look at an animal and say because your face is long your not good enough to breed. She is very good at looking at the animals and detemining who was show quality and who wasn't. I would love to learn how to do that. What amazed me was that in spite of how hard core business she was, she was very sweet and very loving with her animals.

She has so many that they all have name tags. And that's great for visitors. When we were discussing animals, we could address them by name rather than "that one". She has several that I liked but her prices are bit a high end for me. I view it like this: in everything cars, homes, clothing, restaurants there are different levels to meet almost everyone's budget and comfort level. She sells high end (Maserati) and my budget and comfort level is economy. The last time I flew I had a bargain seat and had to wait until the first class people got on and off the plane first but at the end of the day, we all took off and landed at the same time. I might be paying economy prices for my herd, but I still have good quality animals.

Being the savvy businesswoman that she is, she realizes that there are going to be more people like me visiting her farm and she's already preparing to divide her herd into two levels so that they are affordable to everyone. I hope that the animals I liked fall into the affordable tier and are still available when I'm ready.