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The very first thing to determine is, do you love or even like alpaca?
You need to visit a ranch and have them introduce you to alpaca. There are a
few things that you may not be aware of when checking out alpacas. Sometimes
they can spit and kick. The kick will not hurt you but it will get your attention.
The bottom of their foot is like the palm of your hand (soft). The rule of thumb
for any camelid is, they usually do not spit at anything or anyone that is larger than
they are. Sometimes you will get caught in the cross fire when they are spitting at
each other over food. You will have to clean up after them. This means mucking
(cleaning up community poop piles) and racking up old hay they do not eat.
Keeping areas clean cuts down on potential parasites.
Having determined that you would like this life style (after a few visits to
different ranches) you need to decide what size ranch you would like to run (small,
medium, large or pet). Visit as many different types of ranches you can, this will help
you make your decision. Most people start out small but eventually develop into a
medium or large ranch. We started out small (3 alpaca) and are now at medium and
do not plan on growing to a large. We have about 32 alpaca and it takes about 2 to
3 hours a day to maintain them. You will spend more time working when it is birthing,
shearing and vaccination time. Alpaca are shorn once a year and vaccinated 4 to 8
times a year, depending upon where you live.
By now you should know what type of ranch you want. The next choice you
have is, do you have the land available or are you going to have to purchase it? If you
already own a ranch you are ahead of the game. It can be a large ranch or just a couple
of acres (5 to 8 animals per acre). If you are going to have to purchase land or a ranch,
I would suggest buying a ranch with all the buildings and fencing on it. We purchased
the land and built our ranch from scratch. A word of warning “whatever you think it will
cost you to build a ranch, double or triple it”. One other important note is to have an
easy location to find, with good access for the public.
Now comes the fun part, purchasing your alpaca. The one thing that is never
mentioned in the industry is “Everything is negotiable”. It’s like buying a new car, you
can haggle on the price and services (boarding, breeding, shearing, etc.). If the alpaca
is priced from $6,000 to $10,000 there is not a lot of room to haggle on the price, but
you can talk about the services. If the alpaca are priced $10,000 on up, you can haggle
on the price and services. Pet quality animals can be purchased between $500 and $1,500.
These are the non-breeding fiber producing animals. There are different views when it
comes to buying alpaca. The first is to buy the best alpaca you can afford. The second is
to buy lower priced alpaca and breed up. This means to breed more desirable qualities
into your alpaca. The first takes more money, the second takes more time. This is a choice
you will have to make. Talk to different ranches and find out how they did it, and is it
working for them? Some people will buy the alpaca and work out free boarding or a
reduced cost of boarding for a year prior to taking possession. If you buy 3 pregnant
female alpacas you should be able to take home 6 after one year. Ask about reduced
breeding fees. Those 3 girls will need to be re-bred before you take them home. Do not
worry about purchasing a stud until all your breed backs are done. When you purchase
your alpaca you will most likely need insurance on them. It will cost about 3.25 to 3.5%
of their purchase price per year per animal. On a $10,000 alpaca that will be about $350
per year. Most people carry insurance on their alpaca until they become self-insured. After
you have decided which alpacas you want to purchase, you will be asked to sign a contract.
Have the seller give you a blank contract and explain it to you. The contracts are very
straight forward. The contract protects both you and the seller. Make sure you understand
it. The contract can be amended to accommodate any changes you wish. At this time you
can insert any requests that both you and the seller have agreed upon. You should also put
in a clause asking that the female alpaca be tested for proof of pregnancy. If the seller does
not have proof of pregnancy within the last month, then you need another test (progesterone
or ultrasound).