I was thinking of keeping a few alpacas (and/or llamas) when I retire, maybe in a couple of years. Not to make money, just as big pets.
Anyone here have any experience with them? I will start to visit farms that keep them, lucky I have a business trip to New Zealand coming up and there is big producer near the city where I will stay.
I have 20 acres available, so space is no problem, and winter is cold enough. We have hot summers, so I am worried that could be a significant problem. If you ask why alpacas, just look at them:
You could also visit the Santa Ynez valley in Ca. Lots of alpaca in that area. Over the years that area has transformed a few times. First horses, ostriches and alpaca and now much of the acreage turned over to grapes.
My uncle had llamas that they hiked with - they were ornery and not the greatest pets. They were not particularly personable. Other llamas may be nicer. My BIL went on a pack trip with him once and said that they were not much fun to hike with either.
No point of reference here other than an odd getaway my husband and I took a couple of years ago. I grew up on Cape Cod and in all the years we have been together , I have never taken him to either Nantucket or Martha’s Vineyard. Most of the time we visit , it is off season and not an optimal time to go to the islands.
But an opportunity came up and we booked a cottage in Menesmsha on the Vineyard. Since we didn’t book the car ferry, we took our tandem bike and rode to the other end of the island ( the longest way we could possibly have done )
It was such a quirky part of the island…a dry town with no restaurants open that time of the season . We had panniers and carried a bottle of wine and walked through the woods and a marsh where we literally had to roll up our pants because the tide was up and we had to walk through water to get to the fish market to pick up a couple of lobsters and steamers to bring back to the cottage…the woods were a bit hilly and as we were making our way , we happened upon an alpaca farm ! They were some of the animals we encountered while trying to get our dinner home…not as alarming as the skunk that was digging up grubs outside of the door to our little cottage.
It was one of the funniest trips we have ever taken…and I can’t tell you much more about the alpacas other than I wasn’t expecting to see them in the woods while walking for my dinnah
There are a few alpaca farms near me. I hear that the people who own them are super friendly and happy to talk about their hobby. People love talking about what they love.
Don’t quote me but I think alpacas are nicer than llamas. I think llamas can be mean.
There were people who lived around the corner from me when I was i high school who had a pet llama. He was adorable ad very sweet. He was always out by the fence and we would stop and pet him. His name was Larry.
As someone who knits and spins (not lately on the spinning, which is too bad!) and has known people who have alpacas and llamas, I love seeing a thread like this get posted.
When I lived in Maryland, there were llama and alpaca farms around. I think it was borderline too hot for them, and I saw big fans in a barn full of llamas. Llamas are also good at protecting sheep from foxes and even wolves so that probably explains their usefulness and also their temperament. As a knitter, there are not many yarns that are softer than alpaca yarn. Llama is good too but alpaca is like buttah!
Not a llama/alpaca resource, but have seen them in fields in the northeast once in a while. I do remember the @ 25 year old Sesame Street vignette, where a young, urban dwelling kid (and apparent llama owner), brings the llama to the dentist, singing about their trip. The juxtaposition of city streets and an animal of that size portrayed as a pet that needed to be walked to the dentist made me wonder what the inspiration was.
Glad OP has lots of room! Interesting to read about these animals.
