Like many folk, Gillian and I had been successful business people; been to many places; and seen a lot of things. Never had we considered becoming animal breeders or farmers - until we hugged our first ‘paca. They looked so cute and gentle, especially the huacayas, that we immediately bought into the 'cuddle factor', but we needed to know a lot more before we could decide if we wanted to raise and breed them. So, we began to study them, carefully.

We dedicated ourselves to researching all aspects of raising alpacas, and spent over two years in the process.

We read everything we could find on the Internet; we spoke to experts and breeders by phone; and traveled all around the country talking to breeders, veterinarians, animal nutritionists, biologists, university professors, marketing analysts, and economic forecasters.

This face-to-face, and hands-on, experience gave us a true perspective and understanding of the animals and the business of raising them. We finally concluded that with careful planning and execution we could develop a five-year plan that safely minimized the 'downside' and realistically presented us (anyone) with a high probability of success - a wonderful lifestyle, positive cash flow, and substantial annual appreciation in herd value.

So we sold our home on the water and moved into the beautiful rolling countryside of north central Florida - long renowned for raising Kentucky Derby winners - where we built a ranch home surrounded by sufficient acreage to raise alpacas. And now we live there...with our new children.

              WE MUST WARN YOU, HOWEVER - ALPACAS ARE ADDICTIVE !

Not only that, but they often sell themselves to visitors. Look at the picture above of an innocent visitor surrounded by alpacas 'selling themselves'. What chance does she have?

Alpacas seem to know if you love animals. They show lots of affection to young and old animal lovers alike.

In case this change of lifestyle sounds dull and uninteresting to some people, let us point out that during the summer of 2004 we survived four major hurricanes, and later that year we had many gorgeous cria born on the farm – several of which were premature due largely to the storms that literally passed right over us. We have also taken in some abused and mistreated alpacas that had been abandoned by a bankrupt circus – they had been badly mistreated with open sores, broken noses, a broken hip, and a face full of scar tissue, and we brought them back to full health and fitness and slowly developed in them a new trust in people. They are now living happily on farms owned by loving and responsible people, and Rusty, the most injured of them all, is still with us and eats carrots out of the hands of visiting children.

We have also re-bred all of our females numerous times, rescued many abused or unwanted animals, cleared another three acres of land for additional pasture, installed more fencing and an irrigation system, built a barn, four more shelters, and a workshop; had over six hundred people visit our farm to look at, and learn about, our alpacas - and we have taken our animals to schools, churches, and assemblies so that children could learn about them and where they come from.
 
In addition to the things we have done with the alpacas, we have also trained four Great Pyrenees dogs to act as guard dogs for alpacas we have sold to clients, as well as the four we have on the farm to guard our own animals.

Trust us when we say - there is always plenty to do, and plenty of satisfaction to go along with it!