Happy days are here again!

I'm feeling much better about my farm and farm plans. I have found a new girl to add to my herd. Her name is Jasmine. She's a bred girl and she comes with a male cria at her side. I've named him Captain Gold. I'm very excited about my new additions. She's bred to black and has a silver grey mom, so I could end up with a grey female. I understand she's overdue for a female.

Next summer I'll start looking for a light colored herdsire. Because Jasmine is a blue eyed white, The herdsire I buy will have to be a solid male with no white on him.

Now that my farm is back on track, I'm seriously debating having my own mini-mill. There are so many latent costs associated with processing fiber that I understand why some breeders are not looking to process their fiber. I'm not sure but I am excited to have a new research project.

Paying for Respect

Just when I thought I'd recovered from the surprise to my plans, I get hit with another blow. I guess I need to clairfy my previous post. This business is about selling alpacas. "A bird in the hand beats two in the bush" So yes, I understand selling an animal if you have someone standing in front of you with cash in hand. But when you have a verbal agreement, it really isn't too much to ask for a phone call saying "Hey we got an offer on the alpaca you wanted to buy and we'd like to go forward with the sale".

For a while I was thinking about getting out of the alpaca business, but at this point, I have invested too much to simply walk away. And I have found an incredible deal that I believe can help me get back on track. And I have to remind myself that simply because one person does something, doesn't mean another will.

I'm choosing to use this as a "live and learn" moment.