Phase 2

Now that I've worked out the expenses portion of my business plan, it's time to move on to the reason for being in this business: the potential income. Key word here is "potential".

Patti started talking to me about fiber yesterday and we'll really get into it next week. One thing she told me which was a bit disturbing is that fiber loses quality over the years. In fact, in Peru, alpacas are eaten after the age of 7 because as far as the Peruvians are concerned, once the fiber is no good the animal has no value except as food. I could never eat one of my babies. But the information got me to thinking: if the fiber loses quality over the years, what do I have left if the quality goes down half way through my angels life time? Now I'm really understanding why people want to focus on breeding rather than fiber. Not only can one make more money with the breeding program, but apparently it's income is more long term as well.

Thank you Susan for being a ray of light. She told me that one of the boys won a blue ribbon for his fiber - at the tender age of 12. So I guess it's a matter of breeding for fiber rather than breeding for shows. So I am going to have to be careful with my breeding and breeding selections regardless of my motivation.

Speaking of my herd, we weighed Michael and Ewok yesterday and at 7 and 6 weeks they both weigh 37 pounds. Big boys. Momma's very happy.